pumpkin obsession

My reputation precedes me

/ Meg / 15 Comments

Walking through the office last night, I ran into a coworker. I was overloaded with bags on my way home, per usual; I seem to carry a rotating set of objects back home each night.

Lunch bag.
Recycling.
Diet soda bottle.
Purse.
Cell phone I’m trying not to drop.

“I thought of you over the weekend,” she said. “I was out . . .”

“And you saw pumpkins?” I finished, laughing.

Indeed.

Pumpkin tablecloths. Table runners. Napkin rings. Pumpkin beverages and dishcloths, candles and body wash.

It’s always the same. As soon as fall rolls around, I get the most delightful messages from friends and family — all related to my favorite gourd.

My reputation as the Pumpkin Lady is well-earned, I’d say. Even folks I don’t get a chance to speak with often drop me little notes with recipes for homemade pumpkin spice lattes or coffee, pies and cookies, unconventional ways to use pumpkin as facial masks or home remedies.

If I’m super lucky, I even get pumpkin-themed gifts. A newspaper reader unexpectedly popped in last year with a set of pumpkin-scented candles — which has to rank up there as one of the nicest things ever. My lovely mother-in-law gave me pumpkin pasta sauce last year (delicious), then surprised us with pumpkin-shaped pasta shells on our last visit to New York.

Almost too cute to eat.

Almost.


Pumpkin pasta


Like the onslaught of Facebook messages on your birthday, hearing from old friends and new celebrating my favorite emblem of autumn never ceases to delight and entertain me. I started a set of bookmarks (plus my fall Pinterest board) with all things pumpkin ‘n’ spice, and I’m pretty sure these creations will keep me busy until Christmas.

And I have zero problem with that.

• Pumpkin spice latte cupcakes
• Pumpkin coffee in a Crock Pot (thanks, Jill!)
• Pumpkin snickerdoodle cookie bars
• Pumpkin spice granola
• DIY pumpkin spice latte
• White chocolate pumpkin snickerdoodles
• Easy mini pumpkin cinnamon rolls


My growingly alarming pumpkin obsession

/ Meg / 4 Comments

My Friday off — also to be known forevermore as the day my pumpkin obsession reached a fever pitch . . . and a point of no return. If I’d gotten over to Starbucks for my pumpkin spice latte, I think I would have had to enter gourd rehab. Instead, I got this early this morning, having breakfast with my sister and grandparents at Einstein’s:

A pumpkin bagel with pumpkin cream cheese! Now, if that doesn’t cure your pumpkin hankering . . . nothing can.

After I got my haircut (yay!), we came back home to take our family holiday photo and regroup. Then it was off to the pumpkin patch! Earlier in the month, I fretted over the possibility that it wouldn’t open this year — the first year in my recollection that we wouldn’t be able to gather up our favorite orange gourds. Well, rest assured — the stand is open, we got the pumpkins — and now all that’s left is to carve those babies.

Then we followed it all up with a little of my grandmother’s homemade pumpkin and cranberry bread. I only wish I were kidding.

And I’m wearing an orange sweater today!

Another delightful, pumpkin-filled afternoon! And once Halloween is over, I’ll still have Thanksgiving to look forward to . . . all those pumpkin pies . . .