I Love the Smell of Pumpkin in the Morning

Am I the only one who waits anxiously all year for pumpkin flavored treats to pop up again? Does anyone else possess a peppermint palate or a gingerbread gusto? 

Let's face it the old standards are around all year long; chocolate, vanilla, red velvet, carrot, lemon...and don't get me wrong, I'm a HUGE fan of these flavors. And clearly there is a reason they are in for the long haul. But there is something sweet about an old familiar essence arriving at my local coffee house or favorite bakery. Boy am I thrilled the wait is finally over.

For instance, this morning I tasted my first Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha and I was delighted, you can't get that at Eastertime. Admitting the free coffee postcard I received in the mail was addressed to a "Beata Cuffee", and she probably would have enjoyed the coffee as well as I did if she truly did exist. But as luck would have it, the card arrived at my house and my coffee nickname became "Bee" for the morning. 

I'm the type of person who will drift from milk chocolate in search of some seasonal savory. I'll pop an eggnog treat or two, and have even tried a fruitcake in the past. 

And I do agree that these periodic pals are more than welcomed, they are some of the scents and tastes that help define a season. Without the balance of nature, we'd be eating pumpkin muffins all year long and would have nothing to look forward to in the fall. I'll go along with it and I'll even raise my glass of spiked apple cider to prove it. 

Falling in Love with Fall

It’s fall again. My favorite time of the year. School, football and the holiday season are upon us.

I love the pumpkin lattes, the gingerbread Just a Bite Cake Pops and anything else with snowflakes or tinsel. This season always feels like family. It feels like a movie on a rainy Tuesday, or a football game on a Monday night. The tourists have gone home and I can reclaim my beach city. Nothing about fall isn’t delightful, except maybe the threat of California fires.

With that being said, this year was a bit different. I sent my eldest daughter off to Kindergarten. I miss her already. I miss knowing what she is doing, seeing who she is playing with and I miss having lunch with her every day. This may be a bit dramatic, but it seems like the beginning to a whole lot of not seeing her. She will be going to school for the next 13 years, and hopefully after that, she’ll be off to college. It seems like a long way off, but man, it seems like it’s just around the corner.

 

At least she's still young enough to enjoy crunching the leaves under her feet and picking out a costume for her favorite holiday. Maybe I'll order myself some Halloween Just a Bite Cake Pops and head off to the pumpkin patch while I still can, her little hand in mine.