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Wow – this month has FLOWN by – one minute I’m heading to NYC, and the next minute you know, November is knocking at the door. I feel like I’m 20 paces behind and if I’m not careful, life is going to Gibbs’ smack me upside the head. Don’t even get me started on holiday planning.
While October was busy with lots of recipe development, appointments, meetings and the like, the month ahead has me contemplative. November is always “interesting”. This week, I’ll be turning yet another year older and with each approaching year, I wonder “what if”. My bff, Meowmix, always tends to tell it like it is, reminding me what I have done and what is ahead but still.
This past year has been full of changes, some good, some great and, of course, some bad. This year, the saying that people are in your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime was abundantly clear. Sadly, there were people who I thought were lifetime friends that were on a different path and ties had to be cut. It doesn’t make it any easier but we all must move forward and not look back, right? With my aunt’s passing, I’m reminded how short life really is and how my friends and family are such a blessing.
I’ll be spending some time back at the cottage this month, which I’m really looking forward to. Jeffie and the Evil Minx both seem to relish their time there– whether it’s obsessing over the ducks, geese and those evil swans that swim by, taunting them with their incessant honking or finding the furballs sitting at the front door or the kitchen door just staring out at the world going by.
One part of the adventure is the travel to and from the cottage. It’s like Milo and Otis with those two. As a diabetic pug, Jeffie has to have his special electric cooler in the car to keep his insulin chilly and his favorite turkey “on ice”. Whenever he sees that cooler come out, he knows a long road trip is at hand (and this cooler – my heavens – best thing I have bought – plugs right into the car lighter – so easy!). Traveling with a diabetic pug is always an adventure. He has a special “go bag” packed with his meds, Karo syrup, etc and of course his toys that he can’t part with. I have to now add sweaters to the mix because the diabetes has caused a lot of his fur to fall out. His vet says it’s a canine version of alopecia but Jeffie doesn’t seem to mind. He just rolls on his back to show his pink belly as if to say “Look Iz Nekkid!” For all that he faces on the daily, he’s such a happy pug.
In other news, I’m so thrilled to say I’m helping this year with the Online Blog Conference. I attend every year and this is one conference that has helped me with my blogging since the first year I participated. There’s a fab line up of speakers and I’ll definitely share more as we get closer to the event. If you are interested in learning how to take your blog to new heights, this might be the conference for you!
With the holidays just around the corner, I am also so excited to share some delicious recipe ideas for your holiday menus as well as brainstorm some fabulous menu options for the leftovers. I also picked up a few fall cookbooks that I will be reading like novels at the cottage, like the Barefoot Contessa’s latest as well as the latest cookbooks from bloggers like Damn Delicious, Skinnytaste, Steelehouse Kitchen formerly In Sock Monkey Slippers and more. My book bag is packed!
Oh – and because it’s Halloween I MUST share what some of my fave Philly peeps did. As you may or may not know, many of us all met on the set of a dance show way back in time in the 80s and the “Regulars” often did dance routines that were nothing short of amazing. Well, just for fun, some of the alumni have been getting together and this new webseries – “The Regulars” has begun. You need to check out their tribute to “Thriller” – soo soo good! Keep an eye on “The Regulars” YouTube channel – it’s a must subscribe!
