The Brink of Fall

Today was the perfect balance of productivity and relaxation: Internet and TV time, outdoor run, grocery store, lunch with fun new groceries, intensive cleaning of apt, more TV time, home-made black bean burgers, prep for tomorrow, blog, and then reading The Help for the rest of the evening! Don’t ya just love days like that? Poor Matt is intensely studying for two big exams and I know he’d kill for the kind of free time I enjoyed today.

The weather was also nice and breezy thanks to the tailwinds of Irene. The first hurricane of the year typically signifies that fall is just around the corner. And, I’m very excited for fall this year because I’m back in my home state and I have so many good memories of the NC state fair, crisp October nights, pumpkins and sweaters, and football games. Though I’m sad not to be going back to school this year, moving to Durham and being so closely tied to the incoming class at Fuqua has brought may of the fun activities that go along with going back to school. Hanging out/working on a small campus in the south, going to parties, and meeting new friends– this is about the closest I can get to going back to college myself! Speaking of new friends, I had a blast bowling last night and somehow managed to score a few strikes. Little did those around me know that I’m horrible at bowling!

My new groceries inspired me to actually cook rather than just heat things. I made my go-to black bean burger by Anne and dressed it with blue cheese.

Mmmm. You just gotta love veggie burgers because not only are they fun to eat and remind you of a burger, but they are so darn good for you. If you’d asked me a few years ago if I’d like mashed spinach and black beans for dinner I would have been disgusted!

I found these local purple yams at Whole Foods and was so excited to make fries with them. I was imagining those blue potato chips you get on Jetblue, but these were just blah. They tasted much more like a white potato than a sweet potato and even with ketchup, they were boring. And I made extra to pack in my lunches this week, so I’ll probably just end up shoving them down even though I’d much rather have a sweet potato! I hate wasting food.

This little pour makes me smile. Matt and I split Big Boss’s Hell’s Belle – a traditional Belgian brew with that nice citrusy finish. And just so we’re clear (there was some confusion in the comments), when I say Belgian, I mean the style of the beer, not where the beer was made!

Enjoy the last moments of your weekend.