fall time.

in case you haven't looked outside, summer is over and fall is upon us. the sun sets earlier, the leaves aren't green anymore. the pool is closed.

i usually hate fall time. it started in grade school, when i dreaded going back to that red brick building and dealing with math homework and the bully who mocked me for being a bookworm. and who also called me a lesbian, a term i wasn't familiar with. 

i thought about it, and i've had a rough time with fall since my sophomore year in high school. 

sophomore year: just figuring out that i had been sexually assaulted several months earlier. 

junior year: my best friend got pregnant and our friendship was shattered. 

senior year: i had had it with high school boys only wanting one thing, so i ended up taking my revenge on a boy who had told me he liked me and then stopped calling after we made out. i ended up tricking him into "falling in love with me" and then once he told me he loved me, i broke up with him. over the phone. 

freshman year of college: i moved out and away from my first love, alex hansen. my acne went overboard that fall as well, which made living with roommates difficult. (trying to hide your acne when you share a bathroom.) 

sophomore year of college: alex left on his mission and i was devastated. spent most of my time writing him letters and listening to the voicemails i had saved from him.

junior year of college: okay, that fall was amazing, as i was living in hawaii having the time of my life. 

then i took a year off from college. that fall was awful because i missed hawaii so very much.

the next fall i was newly married and freaking out about that. 

the following fall we were trying to sell our house, i was suicidal and depressed. 

and then the next fall brings us to last year's fall, when i was pregnant and dealing with hyperemesis. 

phew. 

so this fall, i have been determined to enjoy fall. even though my favorite season, summer, is over, i'm trying to do all those cliche-y fall things to try to enjoy it more. embrace the seasons changing. 

plus it helps to be taking antidepressants. ya know. 

so these are the autumn-y things we have been up to the past month. 

scarves and boots. possibly the greatest wardrobe season is fall. 

dressing your baby in skeleton jammies. 

we like to call him "skeletor" when he wears these. and they glow in the dark. (!) 

pintresting our the front porch. 

visiting a pumpkin patch with smiley cyrus. 

having lots of soups for dinners. this was was the easiest recipe of all time. 

but still tasted good. like you know how sometimes easy recipes just taste like 

cream cheese and cream of mushroom soup? 

(don't get me wrong, i use those recipes too.) 

also, it's vegetarian, if you're into that. 

tortellini soup

1 frozen package of packaged tortellini 

1 package spinach

2 cans diced tomatoes 

4 cups vegetable broth 

i also added: 

a frozen package of veggies, including broccoli, 

snap peas, carrots, and water chestnuts 

salt, pepper, onion, garlic, sage, thyme 

black, white, and kidney beans 

i bet it would be even better with fresh everything. 

but using the frozen and canned items made it a five minute prep and 

twenty minute stove time. 

baking pumpkin chocolate chip bread. 

3 cups canned pumpkin puree 

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil (i used canola) 

4 cups sugar (i used 3 and it was plenty sweet)

6 eggs

4 3/4 cups flour 

1 1/2 tsps baking powder, baking soda, 

salt cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. 

i also made a glaze and drizzled over top using 

a combo of butter, milk, powdered sugar, and vanilla. 

just made it the consistency i wanted. 

beware, this bread will take over all your healthy eating. 

don't bake it if you won't be able to share it. you will devour it whole.

bundling up remy boy with furry hats. 

whelp, that's about it. 

i am enjoying this fall much more than those of the past. 

hope you are too! 

xo