pretty view, new products and a catchy tune

Well this is how I started my weekend.  Can it get any better than that?   I escaped with some friends to the lake. Some down time. No internet and spotty cell coverage.  Should be blissful to toss my phone, but being a phone addict, I clung to my occasional bars like water in the desert.  Seriously.  But I survived...and happily. I threw dinner in the oven and caught a few minutes by myself on the porch to shift gears and snap a shot for you guys.  Cause, for real, what words could describe this view? 

It was good spending a weekend chilling out and laughing and talking and eating with the girls. (I've got some GF goodies to share in a sec.) We even kicked it old school (sort of) and roasted marshmallows over a fire under a blanket of night time stars while we took turns DJ'ing on our phones.  My buddy Nic always has new music to share with me and this time I had a goodie for her, too.  Have you heard this song?  It's catchy, and makes you wanna stand up and dance, so guaranteed to be all over the radio soon. 

I finally cracked open this soda I picked up at The Fresh Market.  I'm all over going to the Fresh Market in the fall.  It's Pumpkin Spice Coffee Season and tis the season for new products throughout the store. Like this one:  My opinion on Hot Lips Pear Soda is...  Eh.  It's sparkling water with pear juice basically. I'd say the marketing is more interesting than the soda itself. Not worth spending the money or another second on. Onward.

Now the King Arthur GF muffin mix I bought there was worth talking about.  It's basically a muffin base and you can add what you want to the mix.  I threw in some blueberries. Pretty good for GF.  The texture was normal, which is a plus.  I'm gonna work my way through the King Arthur GF collection before holiday baking time.  We talked about what I would do during holiday baking and panic set in.  How the heck do you do the holidays when you're gluten free?  Crap!

Aleia's Peanut Butter Cookies. They tasted homemade and remind me of the flourless old school recipe for Peanut Butter cookies my Granny Milton clipped from her newspaper and sent me when I was a kid. Super crunchy and sugary and an awesome fix for the cookie monster that rose out of me when I went gluten free and a total life saver when I start panicking over holiday baking and am digging for comfort food.  They have these at the Fresh Market, along with a huge selection of other Gluten Free Products.  And listen folks, just cause this says Gluten Free doesn't mean you shouldn't try it.  I swear I'd buy them if I was eating gluten.  They are good!

I'm totally stoked about hitting up The Owl and the food trucks in town to check out their new menus in the coming weeks.  If you've been to any of these, go back now cause they're switching things up for the fall! Ah, the fall.  The weather, the leaves, cloudy days... hot chocolate.  Marshmallows.   I just dig it. 

Happy Monday.