Fall.

It's definitely feeling like fall around here lately, which makes me very happy. Spring and summer have always been my favorite seasons, but fall has grown on me over the years. I like the crisp, cool evenings.

Last night D and I took the dogs on an extra long walk around the neighborhood and admired all of our neighbors' Halloween and fall decorations. Sadie was startled by a decorative scarecrow. She jumped back and sort of squealed, and then when she realized she wasn't in any real danger, she let out a few little pathetic woofs. Man, it was cute.

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Fall also means its time to get crafty. I'm gearing up to do some knitting. I think I'll go to the craft store today and get a bunch of yarn and some new needles. Right now all I have are really skinny needles and really fat ones. I like the fat ones better because the knitting goes faster, but I think I want the tighter weave that smaller needles produce. What I need are medium-sized needles. I've decided that I want to make a scarf in a celery green color, kind of like the celery green on this page. I'm absolutely in love with celery green lately.

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And what would fall be without an increase in baking? I've decided that I want to make some spider web cupcakes like these to bring into the office next week.

I also want to make a from-scratch apple pie soon. Last year, D and I drove down to Julian, which is in San Diego county, with the goal of picking some apples to bake. Julian is a delightfully quaint little town known for its apple orchards. I love Julian because the whole town is apple-themed. All of the restaurants there boast "the best apple pie in town," and they all serve various other apple dishes as well. There are also a million little shops that sell apple everything - apple soap, apple candles, apple candy, apple, apple, apple. It's pretty neat.

Anyway, last year when we got there, we were told that apple-picking season was over. Oops. Guess we should have done a little research before setting off. Oh well! I mentioned to D recently that I want to go down there again before it's too late, but he's none to eager to make the drive again. It was a reeeeally long, boring ride last time. I may just have to settle for grocery store apples for my pie. That'll be fine. I'm determined to make the crust myself, though. Absolutely NO store-bought crusts for me, no sirree.

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All of this planned baking is going to make me super fat if I don't keep up with running. I've still been running 3-4 times per week, 3-4 miles per day. I don't think it's enough, though. I'd really like to lose some more inches, and I've pretty much hit a standstill as far as that's concerned. Today I stepped up my run to five miles, and it felt great. Another reason to love fall: the cool mornings are perfect for running.