Thanks for Fall

Another beautiful fall day in Houston, TX. It was a crisp 54 degrees this morning as I drove into work. It amazing how much weather affects my mood. Continuing with my Thankful Thursday theme, let’s get to it! Missed any previous posts…. be sure to check em out!

Thankful on Thursday

National Ice Cream Day and Super Easy Salmon Packets

Thanks for A Capella and Garlic Presses

Drowning in Apples

Thankful Thursday: Feels like Home

1. Halloween Candy Wrappers

If I were presented a bowl of candy, I would never pick the plain milk chocolate bar. When it comes to sweets, I normally follow the more is better motto. Bring on the peanut butter, caramel, and rice krispy fillings. But around Halloween season, it all goes out the window. I find I pick my candy based on packaging. This boring old Hershey’s bar is so much more appealing with Paul Tergeist’s tomb on the wrapper:)

2. Perfect Fall Colored Leaves

In retrospect, it seems pretty obvious that the leaf in the photo is fake and made of silk. But I swear it looked real at the time. When I walked out of work yesterday, I spotted the leaf in the grass under a tree. I was so excited and immediately thought how I should press it and make a bookmark like I used to do when I was little. It didn’t occur to me, that none of the leaves in Houston had changed colors… including the tree the leaf was under. I rushed over to the leaf… and realized it was fake. What a let down. Someone probably put it in the grass just to mess with me! I still might make a bookmark.

3. Sweet Bumper Stickers

I love all things pirate and skull and cross-bones. So when I parked next to this truck at the gym, I immediately shot a pic to Ryan. He told me I should get one for my car… but put a whisk and a wooden spoon instead of the wrenches:) It made me think of Duff on Ace of Cake’s whisk tattoo.

Source

4. Random Weeknight Dates

Since Ryan started working on shift again, we haven’t been able to see each other as much as we like. His schedule is working 4 days 5 am- 5 pm, 4 days off, 4 days 5 pm- 5 am, 4 days off, repeat. Sometimes it works out great when his off days fall over the weekends, but other times we hardly see each other all week! So last night we had an impromptu date night mid-week!

I was so psyched to hang out with this fellow:) He even got dressed up! We went to Signature Bistro, a local restaurant we have been meaning to check out for a while. The coupon I bought from Restaurant.com was from last March! Good they never expire. We didn’t take too many pics since we were starving and the lighting was really low. But the food was delicious and the company even better!

Fresh bread with sun-dried tomato pesto. There was also a traditional basil pesto. I think these two sauces were the best part of the whole meal! I love “creative” bread toppings. I ordered the Fisherman’s pasta.

Mussels, shrimp, and scallops over whole wheat pasta with a creamy, Cajun spiced tomato sauce. I loved that the menu let you choose whole wheat noodles. The sauce had a kick, but the cream helped to mellow it out. I love ordering scallops and mussels in restaurants because they are foods I rarely cook at home. As usual for pasta entrees, it was huge! I brought home half for Ryan’s lunch.

Ryan ordered the chicken oscar.

The crab meat and hollandaise sauce were out of this world! Signature Bistro was definitely a great little local find. Next time we want to check out some of the wines.

5. Halloween Music on Pandora

I was so excited when I discovered that Halloween music is now a Pandora genre. This afternoon I enjoyed the “Spooky Symphony” station. While not all of the selections were particularly “Halloweeny” (The theme song from Harry Potter?), I loved this station and added it to my favorites. the best song that popped up was the theme song from Psycho. That piece always sends chills down my spine. I can’t wait to check out some of the other Halloween stations tomorrow.

Questions: Do you ever go out to dinner mid-week?

What is your favorite Pandora station? Besides these new Halloween ones, I love Hard Rock Strength Training and Randy Rogers Band. What can I say, I have eclectic music taste.