Whirlwind Start to October

Happy Monday, Happy October! It was a whirlwind day, and this'll be a whirlwind post. 

Terry and I are still recovering from a lack of sleep over the weekend. I must have squeezed in about eight hours of grading over two days, and I'm still not caught up. It's lucky I truly love English literature and the art of writing; otherwise I might go absolutely crazy.

Today did not start off too well. It was our first official day no longer carpooling (it only lasted a month, because Terry just moved offices a bit too far away from my school), which was a bummer but not too stressful. Then I noticed I had forgotten my laptop and had to function without it all day (normally I take roll and refer to my laptop for miscellaneous tasks throughout the day). I just wasn't able to catch a break in the first few hours of school.

But this week is Homecoming week at my school! It's so fun to see the students dressing up for spirit days, and tomorrow I'm volunteering to supervise their float-building. Later this week I'm excited to attend two football games plus the school's Homecoming Parade; it sounds like a really fun tradition. 

After work and a stop at the grocery store, Terry joined me for a quick three-mile jog around our neighborhood. It was the perfect way to wake up, get energized for an evening of school work, and unwind after such a tough Monday. Then I used a pre-made pizza crust (leftover from last week's pizza roll up thing) to whip up a super easy pizza with bell pepper, asparagus, and mozzarella. And an egg on top!

It's amazing how eggs make everything even more delicious. Except perhaps dessert.

This week is going to be insane, so I tried to create a fairly easy plan to keep me calm and together in the evenings. Thanks to Trader Joe's, we're all set for dinner for the next several days:

• Monday: Pizza, carrots, and egg
• Tuesday: Crock pot chicken, cottage cheese, roasted broccoli
• Wednesday: at UCLA for a volunteer event
• Thursday: Enchiladas or quesadillas using leftover chicken, plus asparagus
• Friday: Out for the Homecoming parade and game!

For lunches we'll do leftovers tomorrow, perhaps a chicken-feta-chickpea salad one day, and certainly a sandwich at least once. I'm craving one of my veggie sandwiches!

Fall is already speeding by way too quickly. It was over 100 degrees down here today, so I'm hoping it cools down soon. It hard to feel all cozy and enjoy a hot cup of tea in the morning when you're trying to stop sweating.

But I'm finding ways to get excited about pumpkin season. I'll leave you with a few more fall decorating ideas. I took these photos at my aunt's house over the weekend. She loves fall and decorates her house so beautifully every year, as you can see!

I love it all! I'm so excited to someday have a bigger place to decorate!

What do you top with eggs that suddenly becomes all the more incredible?

I believe my very favorite egg-topped dish is tamales. SO delicious!