Lookback

Here's a look back to some of the things that filled my time in October. I'm so behind in my posts for the simple reason that it's just been super busy and life has been crazy. October and then November just whizzed by. Sometimes I wonder how I find the time to hold a full time job in addition to all this other stuff that goes on in my life. Somehow I make it work, and even though it's been really busy lately, it's also been good. I've been stressed out of course, but maybe a little less than usual. Or maybe I've just learned to deal with the stress better. I have enjoyed this beautiful fall and been a little kinder to myself too in the process.

We went to a lovely wedding at the De Seversky mansion at NYIT.

I wore my new Samuji dress for the first time. I saw the dress in the Samuji store in Helsinki last summer, tried it on, but it was too tight. After I came home from that trip, I searched for the dress on the internet, and found it in a store in Canada. A couple of clicks, a little wait, and the dress arrived and I am super happy with it.

At some point in October, I started a new easy scarf project. Knitting is the best meditation and so relaxing. But the project has to be super easy where you can just "go with the flow". This is exactly the case knitting this scarf. 

 We had play dates, and baked Halloween cup cakes.

 The softball season ended and basketball season began. Sundays are still busy!

We carved our pumpkins on the eve of Halloween. 

And of course we went trick or treating! 

The yellows were so amazing this fall. They're almost gone now, but I enjoyed looking at them blaze in the sun. 

I agreed to chair the Finnish School parent board. I've been involved for many years, and helping out with a lot of stuff, but this kind of took the job to another level... Like I didn't have enough on my plate already. But I guess I never quite managed the "less is more" lifestyle. Anyway, there's been a lot of fundraising bake-sales, and here are the yummy cinnamon buns we baked for the school. 

And of course, October is the birthday celebration month. This one turned 14 and we celebrated  few times. The above picture is from the celebration with the friends, a dinner at Maggiano's with her squad.

And this is from the family celebration that took place at Eataly. 

Oh yeah, we baked Karelian pastries a few times at the school too. 

There was a lot of horsing around and having a general good time with the fam. 

What I Wore on One October Saturday

I love buying new clothes in the fall, but this year I've been so busy I haven't really been able to shop much.. I'm dying to find something in velvet, and maybe a nice new woolly coat, either in dark blue or a lighter gray. I should go through the kids' stuff too - a never-ending story as they grow faster than weeds! But in the meanwhile, I have to make do with old stuff. Which, come to think, I have aplenty. Here's what I wore on a Saturday a few weeks ago. (I promise I'll try to catch up to current time fast - so expect posts to come fast and furious until I do!)

I love these boots. But they didn't have my size :-(

Agreed. 

Corn Maze

I've fallen so behind again...so many pictures to post, so little time. Here are the photos from the rest of our apple picking birthday in early October. We had fun in the corn maze and the huge farm stand.

Apple Picking

The second part of the birthday was spent apple picking at the Lewin farm in Riverhead, Long Island. It's a great place to visit, and has a huge farm stand, and a big apple orchard that has smaller trees perfect for kids to reach and be able to pick the apples too.

The birthday girl really enjoyed our day out apple picking. She told me she wrote about it in class too. 

We came home with tons of apples, and have since made two kinds of apple pies, the traditional American apple pie with a criss cross crust top, and an apple crumble pie, which by the way, is the easiest to make and comes out good every time - you just cannot botch it. And is of course super yummy with some vanilla ice-cream. I love apples, and eat them on most days. An apple a day keeps the doctor away was really drilled in me since I was a kid growing up in Finland. (Omena päivässä pitää lääkärin loitolla). But I do have my own little quirk..I only eat apples that are peeled and sliced. I love eating apples with peanut butter, some cheese, yogurt, in a smoothie, oatmeal, etc. Sometimes for dessert I peel and slice an apple, arrange on a plate, sprinkle some cinnamon on top, and microwave for 2 minutes. The healthiest dessert ever!

Birthday Breakfast

My youngest just turned six, and if I had my way, I would like to slow down time so that I could enjoy this time period a little bit more. Fill my life with moments where you have time to sit still and appreciate it. But since "time is no man's friend" we have to just squeeze in whatever moments we can. Last weekend we took a day to celebrate the little one's birthday. First we went to have a stomach stretching breakfast at a Long Island breakfast staple, Maureen's Kitchen in Smithtown, and then apple picking a little further out on the island.

The Good Girl

"I cannot remember the books that I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me." Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am sure that this book (The Good Girl by Mary Kubica) will be a movie. I had the movie flashing in my eyes while reading it. Or maybe it was very similar to some movie I've seen..I can't really tell, but all I could think when reading the Good Girl was that it was like a movie. It's a kidnapping thriller written from three different characters' perspective, and the story moves to before and after the kidnapping.  It's one of those books that I read very superficially, and will probably forget pretty soon. Even the twist on the last page was not that surprising. It would probably actually be a much better movie than a book. This book has been compared to Gone Girl, but I don't think that it comes close. The Gone Girl developed its characters much better than this one, and was a book you're not going to soon forget. In sum, I wouldn't recommend this book if you have access to something that might be better. If it's the only book available in a hotel library, and you need a book by the pool, then go ahead, it's a quick and light read, and you can skip ahead some of the more boring parts in the middle...