Foraging for Mushrooms and Other Important Events

I am long overdue for a new post. Aaron and I have had a busy three weeks. Aaron graduated with his doctorate three weeks ago--what an accomplishment! My in-laws, sis-in-law, and niece came into town to celebrate with us, along with Aaron's friend Jerry from CA. Aaron and I also celebrated our anniversary--I can't believe we have been married three years!

A week after Aaron graduated, Dacia put on a Project Runway dinner which was so much fun! Read all about it here. Dacia made such delicious food and my sis-in-laws made scrumptious desserts. Our next Project Runway is already in the works.

About a week ago Aaron and I went hunting for chanterelle mushrooms with our neighbor friends, B & S, who are really into the outdoors. We promised B & S we would not disclose the location of their secret spot to anyone. (Mushroom hunters are very secretive about their mushroom spots.) We all mountain biked a couple of miles into the forest and then walked through the dense woods for a few hours, hunting for these golden beauties. We had a blast! It was one of the best afternoons we have had. We took our dogs along and they had the time of their lives. We ended up picking 4 pounds all together.


Chanterelles are easy to spot against the dead autumn leaves.

Project Runway Part 1

Have you ever wanted to be a designer on Project Runway? I sure have! Then I started thinking...why can't I participate in another version off camera? Over dinner with a friend, a plan was devised. My two sister-in-laws, two friends and I each have a month to create a dress from scratch. But the night of "the reveal," there will be no contestants sent home. Instead, we plan on wearing our dresses and celebrating our hard work over dinner.

I started my dress on Friday, and got over my initial anxiety of the whole thing after I started cutting the fabric. I am creating my dress in muslin first, then will start cutting the prettier fabric. This dress form is making the job SO MUCH EASIER than I imagined. I can pin and fold and cut and pin, right on the dress form.