spooky, huh?

We sure have come a long way in the pumpkin world... I used to be a two triangles and a crooked smile kinda girl, but then I met Josh's wise co-worker, Shane, and he changed my pumpkin carving life. He trained me to kick ass in pumpkin carving contests which led to victory the last carving contest at work with LB (booya!). Winning design you ask? A haunted house carved and shaded to perfection, complete with bats and ghosts. I hope your Halloween is as fabulous as my carving skills... if I do say so myself... :)

Happy Halloween!!

tickets are booked...

We're heading home for the holidays! After a year in New Zealand and their lackluster approach to holidays, I am VERY ready for some Prescott "Christmas City" lovin. No real agenda, but I told my mom I DO expect a tree. We can decorate it when we get there, but there better be a tree. And stockings. And Christmas breakfast. And hot cocoa. And blankets. And Mariah Carey's Christmas album. And a fire every night. And Zoe actually being nice to me. And It's a Wonderful Life. And snow. And chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. And dad's world famous stuffing.

Okay, Okay. Let's be honest... I could deal with just the tree and the fire every night... but seriously, mama... seriously... you know what I like... :)

twinkle toes

I am in love with J Crew's selection of shoes this fall. I pretty much love everything fall and most things J Crew, so it makes sense, but just looking through their pumps, boots, and flats makes me VERY happy. Where is your happy place?

he's so tyra...

First of all, Josh would hate the title of this post. Especially since this post is about him. And if he and Tyra Banks were ever in the same room in real life, Josh claims he would punch her. Now - obviously he wouldn't as that would just lead to a big lawsuit, but let's just say that she is not his favorite. At all.

Anyway - Josh got his Top Model on this weekend. My mom, the talented and creative woman that she is, has designed a line of t-shirts that are adorable and are on sale at etsy.com. They are mostly for women, but Josh is now the face of the men's line... or at least the burger t-shirt line. Check him out in all his glory...

Yep. He's ALL mine, ladies!

**And if I do say so myself, I make one hell of a Nigel Barker, huh?

no olympics for me quite yet...

So you know those speed walkers that compete in the Olympics? If you don't know - they're CRAZY. They do this swivel walk, toe flick, crazy arm move and they do it for a whole 26 miles! It's NUTS. Well, just yesterday I thought I'd go on a walk from Los Gatos to Campbell on the Los Gatos Creek Trail... and try to speed walk it. It's 6.5 miles. Today, my shins are KILLING ME!! I didn't do the whole swivel walk, crazy arm throw, but I'm still sore. My hip flexors and shins are burning today - but I'm glad I did it. A beautiful walk along the creek - leaves turning color and falling on the path... it was quite the sight. I would totally do it again - perhaps not speed walk it like the pros, but it would be a lovely fall walk to take with my hubby... but not today -- I'm still sore.

long time, no see...

Sorry dedicated followers! I know you have been frantically checking back at our blog in hopes of new, witty details of the lives of the Dunlops... I apologize for being MIA! Much time has passed, but there's not much to report on... we're boring!

• Our friend Dominic is still in town, but I think he's starting to get antsy about all his travels. My prediction is he'll probably take off next weekend to head towards Mexico... bye roomie!
• This past weekend we went to Campbell's very own Octoberfest... brats, beers, music, and lederhosen a plenty! (the lederhosen NOT worn by us... the beer and the brats... yeah, that was us...)
• We've started to utilize our coat/jacket closet a lot more due to the very fall-ish weather. Sweaters, coats, scarves... I love fall!!
• Soups, cassaroles, and anything that you can stick in the oven is on the menu! And yes - that includes lots of pumpkin baking...
• Speaking of pumpkins - we are pumpkin hunting this weekend - perhaps we'll have a USA vs Canada vs England carving contest!
• We are going to SLO (San Luis Obispo) for a friend-filled Halloween weekend... road trip!

I think that's it for us - like I said, we're pretty boring. Hopefully I'll be checking in a lot more frequently in the next couple weeks but no promises. Happy fall!!

the forecast...

So tonight/tomorrow is supposed to be the "first big storm of the season" -- EXCITING! It's supposed to rain over the ENTIRE bay area - from Napa to Santa Cruz - and be pretty consistent. I am SO excited for this.

1. I love the smell of rain.

2. I love hot chocolate and popcorn and TV.

3. I love to snuggle up in blankets.

4. I love to fall asleep to the rain (the most used app on my phone is "rain sounds" that makes the sound of rain falling on a timer of 45 minutes - just enough for you to fall asleep to and then it shuts off... genious!!)

Bring on the real thing!

spoiled kids vs hippies...

On Saturday USC came up to play Berkeley in some good ol college football. My dear friend Sam and her alum of a boyfriend came up for the game so we drove up to Berkeley to meet with them to tailgate and watch part of the game. Upon arrival to Berkeley it was madness. Just pure Blue/Gold and Red/Gold madness. Swarms of people flooded the streets, beer, hotdog, and pizza in hand, and it was... well... it was so NOT Westmont! I just didn't know what to do with myself. I think Josh was in "Find Sam/Jayson" mode and Dominic totally soaked it up. I mean, we walked by a fraternity and he immediately went into Old School/Will Ferrell excitement mode. Sam's tailgating crew had been there since 8:30 that morning, with 3 TVs/satellite dishes set up to watch NFL games all day, tons of food, and beer galore. We ended up watching some of the game at a restaurant/beer garden type place and overall had a great time. Berkeley lost big time, but did I even watch any of the game? Not really... it was just fun to catch up and see my Sam. :)

butternut squash... meet Dominic...

On Friday night I decided to utilize that 3 lb butternut squash staring at me since Sunday's Farmer's Market. What to do, what to do... When I told Dominic I didn't know what I wanted to do with it, his eyes got all big and said "I've never had butternut squash before! Can we put it in a soup like in the movies??" Now - I'm not sure what movie he's talking about, but apparently there are certain "American" things that Dominic has been trying to check off his list... root beer (which he HATES), meatloaf in a 50s diner-type restaurant, American sporting events, milkshakes, Costco, etc, etc. So butternut squash soup it was.


The soup was good, but what stole the show was the sage-parmesan croutons I made for the soup. A big hit. This, paired with some FNL...? Now THAT's a good all-American Friday night...