A Few of My Favorite Things

Candy corn with salted peanuts.

They are the perfect snacking duo: creamy, salty, crunchy and sweet. It's nirvana in snack form. It tastes a bit like a Payday bar, only better. DH and I are seriously addicted to this stuff, but we only allow ourselves to have it in Autumn. Otherwise, we'd be the 800 pound couple.

And you gotta try the blistered peanuts from Trader Joe's. They're super-ultra-crunchy and have the perfect amount of salt. I am not a huge fan of the dry roasted variety of peanuts; they're just so dry. I like a little oil with my peanut. And these TJ's peanuts seriously rock the house.

Iris Nobile eau de parfum by Aqua di Parma.

Today marks four years since my solo trip to Roma. I was all about buying myself some expensive perfume while there, and Aqua di Parma had just launched this delicious scent featuring iris and vanilla. It's gorgeous. And I'm wearing it today, because I can.

See...in my superfantastic job, I cannot wear any scent. The team I work with does sensory work, sniffing and tasting coffees from all over the world. One whiff of Love's Baby Soft, and all sensory capabilities are shot to hell. So we have a strict "no fragrances" rule at work. Which makes me a cheap date for DH because the perfume he gave me for my birthday two years ago is still about 3/4 full. So weekends and maternity leave are the only times I get to wear scent. It's a bit sad on the girly front, but I've gotten used to not smelling like anything. Except for my perpetual coffee breath. So I just smell like coffee breath when I'm at work, which must be why I'm so popular with my cohorts there. Not. (Ew gross...rank coffee breath...)

When Juniper Sleeps by Seamus Egan.

Or as DH likes to call him, See-mus Eagan. Har har. It's the soundtrack to my Autumn. "Mick O'Connor's," track number 5, is one of my favorite songs of all time. The whole album is gorgeous, filled with jigs and reels and a few very haunting melodies. It makes me want to go on a Sunday drive for some serious leaf peeping. (How come East Coasters are the only ones who can say "leaf peeping" without it sounding totally lame? Is it because the West Coast has too many deciduous trees, and "peeping" always has other connotations out here?)

The return of a beloved magazine.

Victoria was my very favorite magazine back in the 90's when I was steep-and-deep working for Laura Ashley. I had a two year foray into heavy frou-frou, and Victoria was the perfect accompaniment to that time in my life. Gorgeous photos, excellent writing, decadent recipes. It went belly up about seven or eight years ago when Hearst closed it down. Now it's been resurrected by a new publisher, but with all the same visual charms. The new mag arrived last week, and reading it reminds me of where I was in life when I used to immerse myself in those magazine pages...it's surreal and inspiring all at the same time. And it got me to put down my coffee mug and pick up a(nother) cuppa tea. I'm digging it.


Shameless pictures of my adorable kidlet.


Need I say more?