What time is it? What day is it? My body + brain are a bit confused! Even though there was only a 1hr time difference in OR, late-night travel will definitely leave you confused + sleepy. Last night on the shuttle, at 1:30am, the driver was asking me questions about where I live. They had my address RIGHT there in the GPS. I think they were just trying to make small talk, but at 1:30am, I was not in the mood. Honestly, I was so out of it that I couldn’t even answer the questions! I apologized and told her I was really tired + new to town, so I had no idea. Finally walked in the door at 2:45am. Phew!

I got caught up today, took the dogs for walks and did a short indoor bike ride. My camera finally got unpacked around 6pm. I wanted to play with a few ideas for roasted nuts that I thought of.

They need more work, but are well on their way.

These are Sea Salt Smoked Paprika. Delicious, but not salty enough and need to add more paprika and garlic powder. I think this variety has the most potential.

Last week I picked up a few “daylight” light bulbs to build a light box at home. I haven’t built the box yet, but put 2 of them in my kitchen for what turned out to be pretty decent light!

These are the lights! I can’t wait to make the light box, but even having these hooked up in the kitchen is a huge help! A nice cool color that will just have to do through winter. This is a great cheap option if you don’t have money for an external flash or if you don’t want to use the nasty on-camera flash.

I used a mix of almonds, cashews + peanuts for the paprika mix. I used a really small amount, in case they didn’t turn out.

Cocoa cayenne! These needed more cayenne and maybe some honey?? Any ideas? They just weren’t right.

I also made a mix of Cinnamon Vanilla walnuts + almonds, but even those weren’t right. Definitely having an off night!

So then I just moved straight onto tea. This tea is delicious and was under $3. I typically heat up 1/2 water and 1/2 almond milk and then let it steep. Creamy, pumpkiny, YUM.

Tomorrow I’m off to the store to do some last minute Thanksgiving shopping. Luckily it’s not at my house, and I only have to make a few things. We’re headed to a friend’s house in Denver, just like last year. There should be about 15 people there. Last year was a blast, so I’m really excited for this year’s get together. Will definitely be missing the fam in Ohio though!!

This year I’ll be making:

vanilla mashed sweet taters from one of my favorite blogs, 101 cookbooks [thanks for posting the link Teri!]
Big Sur bread rolls, also from 101
Garlic knots, from White on Rice Couple
slow cooker stuffing – I’ll be winging this, but just doing something traditional. I’m not a big fan of nuts + fruit in my stuffing. More details soon!

We’ll see if I can get it all done!

Time to relax + get to bed early!

~Ashley

p.s. I guest posted on Abby’s blog the other day for her Barefoot Running series! You can check out my running story and transition to Vibrams here.