First Hurst Fall Weekend

Greetings family and friends (and you people out there that I don't know but read random blogs),

Emily, Delilah, and I are celebrating our First Hurst Fall Weekend! While Emily is accustomed to decorating for the different season, I have never really celebrated a season. Sure, there are holidays and such, but I've never soaked up the joy that comes from Summer changing into Fall. So, I asked Emily if she would like to have a day/weekend dedicated to Fall. Of course she obliged. Here is what we have done so far to celebrate:

(1) We started the weekend off right with Oktoberfest in Glen Allen, Va underneath the beer tent at the Capital Ale House. I took a couple of photos with my phone that I'll try to post later. 'Twas tons-o-fun. The scene was complete with a massive crowd of jolly beer drinkers, an Oompa Band (include the little oompa kinder), beer girls wearing little and flirting lots (Em was more than over this fact), and scrumptious eats. Em and I both enjoyed fresh bratwurst served on a baguette and with German potato salad. Emily, of course, passed her serving of brown mustard to me which I then smeared all over my plate of food. I could eat German food everyday. Other menu options were Jagerschnitzel, Knackwurst, Herb Grilled Chicken, Red Cabbage, Spaetzle (C. Larson/M. Bennett/J. Ross eat your hearts out), and other amazing side dishes. Emily enjoyed a 1/2 liter (which was poured more like a 3/4 liter) of Oktoberfest beer and I had the original Paulaner (also 1/2 [3/4] liter). When around a ton of other people drinking beer from liter steins (WHICH WERE PASSED OUT FOR FREE AT THE DOOR!!!!!!) Emily and I both felt comfortable and at home. We weren't stressed out as many might be at a place like McCarthy's. P.S. - Shamrocks, you still remain near the top of our list :)

(2) After coming home from the Ale House, Emily made us some amazing ice cream sundaes. Em's was Mint Chocolate Chip I.C. with chocolate syrup. I had Butter Pecan I.C. with walnuts and chocolate syrup. Mmm. Enough said. We fell soundly asleep shortly after that and woke up at 11:30am the next day.

(3) Saturday brought with it a slow wake up, good cups of coffee and tea, shopping, cooking, decorating, football, sporcle, and general Fall-e kinds of things.

(3a) Emily and I have taken to having some coffee and tea together in the morning on weekends. It's either mint or green tea for her and Folger's instant for me. We bought some heavy whipping cream on Saturday and it goes epecially well with coffee:)

(3b) We went to many different places to do our Fall shopping: Target (a must), Michael's (surprisingly good deals there), and Wal-Mart (mainly food - should be avoided at all costs on a Saturday). We also stopped into Pier 1, Old Navy, K-Mart, and Best Buy. I'm in the market for a new computer.

(3c) After coming home with our bags of goodies, we set out to make a smorgasbord of Fall food: Punkin (as Em says it) soup, feta-stuffed chicken, and apple-struedel pie. Here is a link to her blog detailing the recipes and other fun stuff.

(3d) After gobbling up our delicious creations, we snapped a picture of our dozing Delilah, watched our two teams (Army and UK) get creamed, and decorated the house. Here are a few pictures of our creations. Most of the materials came from Michael's and Wal-Mart filled in the gaps. Just looking at this stuff makes me feel good. When I walk around the apartment I feel happy...Fall-e.

(3e) I capped the night off with a cup of Captain Morgan's Spiced Cider. However, I warmed the cider first, added some cinnamon and nutmeg, then added the rum. It was good, but a little too strong. Next time, less rum (although the buzz wasn't bad at all).

(4) So, here we are now, it's Sunday and we're just getting started. We plan on having brunch (as it has become our Sunday tradition), watching football while sipping (cider through a straw) pumpkin soup and eating chicken and dumplings, and finishing up some homework. Pernaps we'll head out for a bike ride!

Cheers! Comments are welcome!