Welcome Home, Fall!

The rumors are true...fall has officially arrived in the Dorman Household! And it is definitely a welcome visitor. I started decorating at the end of last week and I'm feeling pretty satisfied with how it's all coming about. And I've only spent $1 on fall decorations! Even better!!

Here's a sneak peek at the decorations so far:

Pumpkin and leaves in the entryway

Zoom it out a little...aww aren't they cute?

I have big plans for these little $1 finds from Michaels

My fall entryway table

That pitcher was up in my kitchen cupboard and just begging to have some fall foliage put in it!

Little Guys

On the dining room table...need a candle for that middle one.

I just stuffed some leaves and a pumpkin scented tea light in these and they're good to go

And now for the best part... Pumpkin Banana Bread!!

Now my house even smells like fall!!

And here's the recipe if any of you want to "fallify" too!

Pumpkin Banana Bread (from Country Living Magazine)
Makes 4 small loaves or 2 large loaves (or in my case 2 small loaves
and 1 large loaf)

Ingredients:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup cooking oil
4 eggs
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. apple-pie spice (I used pumpkin pie spice b/c I didn't have
apple pie spice)
2/3 cup apple cider or water
1 15-oz can pumpkin
1 medium ripe banana mashed
1 6 oz pkg dried cranberries (optional-I didn't have any so they're
not in my bread)

Grease loaf pans. In a very large mixing bowl with an electric mixer
on medium speed beat sugars and oil.
Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, soda, salt, and pie spice.
Alternately add dry mixture and cider to sugar mixture, beating on low
speed after each addition just until combined.
Beat in pumpkin and banana. Stir in cranberries.

Spoon batter into prepared pans.
Bake at 350F oven for about 45 min for small pans or 50 to 60 minutes
for large pans or until wooden toothpick comes out clean.
If necessary, cover with foil the last 15 minutes to prevent overbrowning.
Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 min.
Remove from pans. Cool Completely on wire racks.
Wrap and store overnight before slicing. (Yeah, right...this so did not happen.)

Here's to a happy fall home!

p.s. For those who are following my 90 day journey, I made baked "fried" chicken with skillet corn and green beans last night for dinner. It's a keeper!

New Challenge

Daryll and I were enjoying a lovely evening out at our favorite little Italian restaurant on Friday night (after we burned the biscuits and decided that the leftover chicken looked like cat food), when I brought up the idea of creating a 90 day challenge for ourselves. I had put some previous thought into this and announced that for the next 90 days I'm not going to repeat a meal for dinner at the Dorman household. If you're a long-time follower of my blog, you'll know that this is indeed a challenge for Marie Calendar's chicken pot pie lovers such as ourselves. But you'll also know that I love to cook and have a bazillion cookbooks. Sooo, we'll see how many new meals I can cook before new years (yes, that is about 90 days away...yikes!). I know that it won't be 90 meals because of leftovers and what not, but I still think it will be a good challenge! Tonight was the first night of the challenge and I made Summer Chicken and Mushroom Pasta. Daryll and I both stepped out of our comfort zone a bit and at least tried a cherry tomato that was part of the dish. (I didn't think the cooked tomatoes tasted too bad, but Daryll proceeded to turn green and chug his glass of milk to mask the taste.)

We had a nice weekend of culture, family, and of course football. Yesterday Daryll and I went to the Museum of Contemporary Art with our free Museum Day pass. I wouldn't say that I exactly recommend the museum. In fact, my favorite part was looking out the large windows at the ocean. But hey, at least we tried it. Yep, we're cultured... Last night we ventured to Redlands for my cousin's belated graduation party. We enjoyed catching up with family that we hadn't seen in a while, and Daryll enjoyed swimming in the pool. (Pictures coming soon.) When we got home poor Ella was coughing like crazy. We're not sure what's she's sick with, but it makes us sad to see her miserable! Hopefully she'll be better soon! This morning we headed to church and then came home with the intention of fixing up some things around the house. Welllll....Daryll found out that Boller was playing for the injured Bulger, so we had to find a place to watch the game. The bad news is that the Rams lost anyways. The good news is that Boller threw 2 td passes (that's more td's in one game than the team has this entire season). All in all, not a bad weekend at all! And tonight's the season premier of Desperate Housewives, so the good times keep getting better!! :-)

One Year Ago Today...

Daryll and I are celebrating our one year anniversary today! It's hard to believe how quickly this year has passed. One year ago today, we were almost ready to walk down the aisle. Daryll was taking pictures with his groommen and I was sitting in my hotel room already dressed and ready. I remember feeling really relaxed at that moment (maybe it was something to do with the fact that it was too late to change things now...) and ready to start my new life as Mrs. Dorman. As I waited with my Dad to walk down the aisle I remember thinking that I was going to cry when I saw my mom and Daryll's mom pouring the sand. But then Giuseppe and Giovanni gave us some comic relief by drop kicking the ring pillow and I thereby avoided having all of my wedding pictures ruined by crying red eyes. :-) It was so wonderful to be absolutely surrounded by our family and friends. I am sure that it is a group dynamic that will never be repeated, but will always be cherished by both of us. The whole day was such a blur, even though I made a concentrated effort to soak it all in. I was and am still so lucky to be Daryll's bride and wife. And I'm looking forward to many, many more anniversaries and years spent together.

Before and After

Well, we finally finished another of our previously abandoned projects and this one is truly gratifying. Just look at the before and after pictures and you'll see what I mean. BEAUTIFUL!!!

Before

and...

After!

Not too much going on here in the Dorman household. I spent the week searching for jobs, sending out resumes, and taking a little time out to finally start scrapbooking our own wedding album. (I hear a year late isn't too bad, actually...) Daryll has been busy as ever with work, but is enjoying the shortened Labor Day week. We're gearing up for the game of the season this weekend: Ohio State v. USC. Yes, the rumors are true...it is more important to me than the superbowl (gasp!). :-) I've been drinking out of my 2002 OSU BCS Champions mug all week in anticipation of the showdown. Tonight we enjoyed a little bit of fresh air at Mission Bay before the start of the NFL season (good game so far...) and then saw the most beautiful sunset from our backyard.

On a final note, last weekend I ventured up to Burbank while Daryll attended his friend's bachelor party. I had an enjoyable time visiting with my mom (even if we did have to watch USC slaughter San Jose), helping George set up his new email account, and having an unplanned visit with my Dad, Amy, and my Aunt and Uncle (who were in town from Nevada) and my other Uncle.

DIY Diva Strikes Again

As I previously mentioned, this last Sunday we spent doing some home improvement projects around the house. There was a specific DIY project that had been brewing in the back of my mind for sometime now that I just hadn't had the opportunity to execute. Well, Sunday was that day! I grabbed my supplies (an old window, eyelet screws, wire, black spray paint, clothespins, and some scrap paper), assembled the project, and this is what I came up with:





Isn't it lovely!!! It makes me happy every time I look at it!

Happy Pumpkin Spice Latte Day!

Well, it's back to blog land for me and it couldn't come on a better day...a little day I like to refer to as "Pumpkin Spice Latte Day," aka the BEST day of the year to go into a Starbucks. I mean really, there's nothing that a little bit of PSL can't make better. Viv and I coined a phrase a few years ago when we first discovered the PSL goodness: "It's like drinking fall..." Oh, and it is!! There are few things that are more fall to me than the PSL. Of course the weather today was nothing like fall, and I'd venture to say that in San Diego we'd hardly be able to tell that it's fall at all without the PSL (and the start of college football!!! Go Bucks!).

Today is day 2 of no work after KA and the new job hunt. Am I looking forward to it? No. But alas, it's an undesirable but necessary part of life. And the PSL makes it a little easier. :-)

Daryll and I played some softball tonight, and he was inches away from having a "Kirk Gibson" moment. You see, on Sunday Daryll and I were being very productive and finishing some home improvement projects. Daryll's project was to cut the shelves for the wire rack in our kitchen...glass shelves. I think you can already see where this story is heading. Daryll snapped the glass and it took it's revenge on his right wrist. Luckily the gash was not too deep or serious, but I thought it was bad enough for Daryll to sit out of softball this week. He did not agree with me and proceeded to show me the infamous at bat where Gibson is a wreck and still hits a homerun. I gave in and Daryll played in the game tonight, where he nearly sent one out of the park. So close, yet so far...