Instagram: @margomangooo

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"Vegas planning w my fav cousin!! BFFs BAAHAHAHAH!! @ks_malan22 "

It's October!

I LOVE FALL!! I obviously grew up in San Diego my whole life because my view of fall is probably pretty different than what the rest of the country thinks...

Things I love about fall:
- pumpkin
- Bath & Body Works fall themed scents - wallflowers and candles, specifically. I love making my house smell all warm and cozy and yummy.
- the color orange
- Trader Joe's holiday themed items
- the weather in San Diego during the fall is gorgeous beach weather and all of the tourists are gone so it's not crazy crowded
- CHEESECAKE FACTORY PUMPKIN PECAN CHEESECAKE OMGGGG

Ugh... I love that cheesecake. I think when I have the time, I'm going to try to make a healthier version. Hopefully it will satisfy me. I DO always love pumpkin and pecans and cheesecake and yummy spices so hopefully any way I make it will still taste good!

Satisfying a sweet craving

Tazo Passion tea with stevia to sweeten!

Lunch!

Salmon baked with lemon, dill, and capers; roasted brussel sprouts; baby lettuce mix with red wine vinegar and olive oil; and celery with spinach and kale greek yogurt dip

Failed zucchini bread turned zucchini biscotti!

My coworker brought in more giant zucchini!! I wanted to make a whole-wheat sugar-free zucchini bread, but kind of messed them up in multiple ways...:

1. I forgot to mix the grated zucchini into the liquids before adding in the dry ingredients. I was thinking "why is the batter all crumbly and weird?" then I realized it was because I didn't add the zucchini... I mixed it in  to the batter after so the zucchini wasn't well incorporated...
2. The bread pan I used was too big for the amount I had made. I could've switched to another smaller bread pan, but I really wanted to use this silicone bread pan that I bought a while ago and never used. I just figured I would cook it less and settle for a kind of flat, weird-shaped zucchini bread.
3. I fell asleep with the bread in the oven.... Yeah, I know... BAD. Luckily the bread (or my house) didn't burn, but it was just extremely overcooked and hard.

The next morning, I sliced them in to strips and toasted them to turn them into biscotti! Actually turned out pretty good! Tasted really yummy with the Celestial Seasonings Sugar Plum Spice tea (a special holiday edition tea that I found I still had in my pantry)!

Awesome Beach Weekend (and yummy gazpacho)!

The weather in San Diego this weekend was ridiculous.... San Diego's real summer is usually  mid-August through October anyways, but this past weekend was BAD. 105 degrees even along the coast... WHICH NEVER HAPPENS IN SAN DIEGO. When you live and have grown up in San Diego in a neighborhood that is only 2 miles from the ocean, the only bearable temperatures are from about 73-80 degrees. Also, Carlsbad (the city I work in which is also along the coast) reached record high temperatures this past weekend.

Of course, when you live so close to the beach and you can't stand to do anything at home but sit and sleep in front of a fan (I've never lived in a house with AC because we've never needed it), so of course we must spend our weekend at the beach.

My regular beach spot is Del Mar Beach because it's the closest to my house and always so clean and pretty, but I knew this weekend was going to be crazy crowded there.... Luckily, I learned of a lesser known beach just a little north of Dog Beach in Del Mar. It has a little hidden away parking lot (that still had lots of empty spots!) and there weren't that many people over there either! And the beach was warm but still had a pretty nice breeze. It was PERFECT.

Not too many people!

Look what I found! Part of a lobster tail shell

We set up a mat and some umbrellas and spent our day boogie boarding, walking, reading, and napping. We packed a couple giant frozen water bottles, sliced celery and cucumbers, lemon cilantro hummus, baba ghanouj, nuts, and fruits. I also made a cucumber mint gazpacho the night before that we brought to the beach. It was so refreshing and perfect for the hot day! I made it by basically blending up some peeled cucumbers, plain nonfat yogurt, jalapeno, red onion, mint, olive oil, and a little water to thin it out to the consistency I wanted. I let it refrigerate overnight for the flavors to come together, threw it in the freezer for an hour before we left for the beach, and topped each of our cups of gazpacho with grape tomatoes and mint. Definitely making this sometime again on another hot day.

Adventures later that night included Louisiana-style boiled shellfish at Crab Hut (I was craving crawfish from finding that lobster tail shell haha) and a cigar lounge with my boyfriend. New discovery: cigar lounges are actually kind of fun. Even better discovery: a cigar, coffee, and dark chocolate taste AMAZING together.

I got a short little baby cigar haha. My boyfriend laughed at me because I'm pretty short and the cigar is called Short Story...

I felt bad for my dog because she was locked up in the hot house by herself while we were at the beach - we did leave the windows open and fans on for her though - so we took her to dog beach the next day :)

Then we took her to lunch at Station Sushi in Solana Beach after. Dogs are welcome on the patio!

Zoey likes going out to eat too!

HUGE protein roll - no rice! MMMMM

Instagram: @margomangooo

"This stuff tastes so good you'd think it's bad! Per 2 tbsp serving: only 30 calories, 2.5g fat, and 2g carbs. No sugar, saturated fat, or trans fat. #traderjoes #healthyhttp://instagr.am/p/PxVFoEM9t_/"

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