I found my happy place

On Sunday afternoon my visiting teachers were kind enough to inform me that there is an ice cream & Italian ice joint in Santa Clarita that Dave and I have not tried... wait, what??  I make it a point to know about every good dessert place within 20 miles of our apartment - how had I missed Rita's??  Thank goodness for visiting teachers.  That's all I have to say.

And double thank goodness that we ran into one of our friends there who could give us the lowdown on their unique menu.  It turns out she grew up in Phili (where Rita's was born) and is pretty much an expert on all things delicious.  We were advised to start out with their gelati, a concoction that has a plop of custard at the bottom, is filled with Italian ice, and has another plop of custard on top... and, it was, you know, okay...

Lies.

It was amazing.

Turns out this is a beloved East Coast chain that is making its way westward, and now we've got one right in little ol' Santa Clarita.  I can say on good authority that it will get put to good use (the line was out the door when we left).

We'll be back...

3 months!

 We've hit month #3! 

A celebration was definitely in order.

The agenda:

Squash and salad for dinner

+

Episodes of Arrested Development

+

Mugs filled with homemade pazookies for dessert

 =

Great success.

 Also, to supplement the celebration, we hung twinkle lights all around our living room.

(not to be confused with Christmas lights)

They make me ridiculously happy.

I expect they will stay up on our walls until we move :)


P.S. Our wedding videographer posted a little sneak peak of the morning prepping for the big day!  It's too much fun - I CANNOT wait to see the full thing!

fall favorites

I was under the impression that everyone knew about these pumpkin cookies...until recently.

Allow me to introduce you to the easiest (and most delicious) cookies of the holiday seasons:

I confess I've never been much a fan of gingerbread cookies...sorry.

And that's it.

Seriously, that's all.

It's not fall without a few of these babies and a tall glass of milk.

p.s. I would have added pictures to this post, but, um...there aren't exactly any left to show.  Sorry again.

sweets

I don't know how I could have ever forgotten to post about these little goodies my sister-in-law and I made the other weekend:

Don't they just look divine?

And they are oh so simple to make!

Go here for directions and ingredients!