Pumpkin, spice... and everything nice!

I love Halloween. Specifically I love the weather around Halloween. Its crispy cold, but with the sun still being able to warm the days. It's also fun to trudge thru the fall leaves and sit outside warming your hands with some Gingerbread Lattes.

I would of said pumpkin lattes... but that does not exist here in England.

Well pumpkin -does- exist, but not in the mass quantities available in the States. Pumpkin muffin? No. Pumpkin doughnut? Ermm, no. Pumpkin coffee? Definitely not. PUMPKIN ICE CREAM?! No... but we have tea!

Sad panda.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/pumpkin

Luckily with the Halloween season one can go out and buy field pumpkins and (finally) be able to cook with this veritable vegetable.

Tom and I will be making pumpkin soup thanks to seeing this recipe featured on Saturday Morning Kitchen today. I love the idea of serving the soup in the pumpkin itself. Clever.

We will not be doing that this time though-- no no. Mr. Pumpkin is destined for a carving not serving-ware.

Tablet Talk Travel Blog: I recently subscribed to this blog after salivating... er, I mean reading about eating ones way through Portland. They seem to have a lot of interesting articles about destinations all over the world, with the latest being Copenhagen.

Birthday: Update!

First off I want to thank everyone for the well wishes. I had some from as far away as Japan and Hawaii. Arigato/mahalo!! It's fun having friends all over the world.

I think birthdays are a natural time to reflect on life. This year is no different. I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin so now I want to set all sorts of goals... so off we go!

Do you guys out there have any goals? What are they? Do you think its better to have open ended goals or time specific?


Health 
 Not too shabby, I got plantar facitis on my right heel and it is really starting to hurt my running. Well, to be fair I spent all last week in Buffalo noshing on chicken wings, beer, and pizza... so I do not think that helped either! My uncle gave me some exercises to do and I have been doing (most of) them. Plantar facitis is this awesome thing which causes your heel some pain, and its worst in the morning/when your body has been at rest. It's tricky because it really 'goes away' during a run so you feel great, only to get hit after you step out of the shower. (more info on the cause/treatments here)

Goals: 

• Run a half-marathon by Spring 2012 (this is actually quite attainable, but with my job I do not know my schedule yet)
• Start spinning 1-2x/week (now that I have a UK debit card)

Financial/Job

I got a job! Its official as I got my VISA! I will be working for Foundstone as a Senior Consultant. What does that entail? Well quite a gambit-- forensics/malware/IR/teaching/pen testing. It's a bit overwhelming but I hope once I get settled it will be good fun! I would love to teach the wifi hacking in Switzerland in November-- fingers crossed!

Goals:

• Breathe-- don't drown! I have been 'out of the field' for 6 months now so getting back in will feel daunting. I just have to have faith in my skills and put forth the effort!
• Learn a scripting language -- I have decided on perl, I learned a bit of Java but I think scripting is more for my needs in the field

Love/Relationships

Evan - July 2011 

Anya - July 2011

My family is amazing, especially my niece and nephew. They are growing so fast, and I am not home a lot I am so worried they will forget about me! My parents are supportive and accomadating of my quirks. My dad even tried a halloumi burger-- and said he liked it! I love my family and I know that even though I am a few (*cough*) miles away they are there for me.

Mr. Tom is a bit stressed right now, and I am trying to be accommodating to it. He has a lot of stuff on his plate and I want it to go smoothly for him, thus making it easier on me! I love living with him though, something which at first I was apprehensive about, but turned out so much more than alright ;)

Goals:

• Try to talk to family more often (Skype is my friend here!)
• Try not to snap at Tom... it just stresses things out more

Social
I think this is a bit where I am lacking. Tom and I have a lot of mutual friends, but I have only a few of 'my friends' here in England. My travels do not help that-- although I meet amazing people that way too! I think I could do a bit more on this side, I may again have to wait until the job/moving thing calms down....

Goals:

• Join a running club --AND STICK TO IT--
• Attend at least 1 meetup event a week

Personal
So this section is all about me... well so were the others... never mind. These are things I want to do for me, for no other reason because I want to.

Goals:

• Keep up with German (Rosetta Stone, listening to German Radio, buy a book in German, watch a movie in German)
• Take more photos 
• Go With the Flow -- remind myself that all the fun about life is getting thru it. After that-- well, you're dead.