Musical musings for September

I feel like I should start this month's musings with a big yeehaw! Another month dominated by country music with the pinnacle being last night's epic concert featuring Thomas Rhett, Jake Owen and Jason Aldean. The concert was fantastic and saw me wanting to chase them to another part of the continent for another round of country. I even went so far as to look into country music festivals today, which again had me so close to booking a 2014 CMA Music Festival package. Alas, reality set in and I took a step back for a few moments, well my computer's battery running out did assist with this. For September, I thought I should let a little bit of mainstream chart music sneak back into my iTunes rotation, whilst still purchasing some new country songs:

1. We Were Us (Duet with Miranda Lambert) - Keith Urban
2. Heaven - Jake Owen
3. Royals - Lorde
4. Surefire Feeling - Jake Owen
5. Roar - Katy Perry
6. Settin' the World On Fire - Jake Owen
7. Something to Do With My Hands - Thomas Rhett
8. Days of Gold - Jake Owen
9. Little Bit of Everything - Keith Urban

Keith Urban is next up on the concert schedule in January and I haven't ruled out going to the festival, but for now I should take a bit of a reality check.

September's music can be found on these albums (images courtesy of iTunes)

Brown sugar cupcakes with dark chocolate salted caramel frosting

When it comes to baking cupcakes, I love that the options of what to bake really could be endless. Sometimes I just seem to pluck random flavours out of thin air with no particular reason behind the choice. This past Sunday I knew I wanted to bake cupcakes and I got it in my head that they needed to be brown sugar ones with caramel frosting. However, I ended up compromising on the frosting, as I decided to use the ingredients I had on hand. For the brown sugar cupcakes I used the recipe I found here. For the frosting, the key ingredient was a small jar of dark chocolate salted caramel dessert sauce that I received as part of a gift. The other frosting ingredients were:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp meringue powder
• milk, to create the desired consistency

The butter was beaten by itself in my KitchenAid stand mixer for about thirty seconds. I added the vanilla, meringue powder and icing sugar next at a low speed. Lastly, I added in the dessert sauce and milk, mixing until I had achieved the desired consistency. I used my Wilton 1M decorating tip to pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes and finished them off with a dash of fun confetti sprinkles. This was definitely a winning combination as proven by the three I ate. Now I wonder what flavours I will bring together next time.

2013 fall days

Today is officially the first day of fall so as the leaves turn and scatter across the ground, I look forward to what this new season could be full of. Before I dive into the new possibilities, I have to wave a goodbye to an awesome, fun-filled summer. I may have only gotten through about half of my to do wish list, but I had a fantastic summer full of concerts, travel and plenty of sunshine. This fall already has television galore, a concert, a musical, a hockey game and an all-important visa renewal. I am not sure how I can possibly make it even better at this point, but I definitely plan on trying to by doing the following:

1. Make an apple pie from scratch
2. Really get into the Halloween spirit
3. Take a trip to Seattle and go to either a Seahawks or college football game
4. Go to Richmond Night Market before it closes for 2013
5. Have high tea at The Secret Garden or a new place
6. Do some or all of these cheap and fun things with friends

I think when I have too many items on my to do list then I don't really give myself the chance to fulfill them all, which is why I have a shorter fall list in comparison to summer. Now it may begin to get colder in the coming months, but I have lots to be excited about.

A new season, another run of TV show watching

Fall officially starts tomorrow, and whilst Vancouver is trying to hang onto the last drops of summer, I am quite excited to dive back into some serious television show watching. I have to say that the number of shows I watch these days is a bit out of control, but I really don't want any of them to end anytime soon. So whilst I shouldn't be taking on any new ones, I can't help but do so courtesy of the abundance of interesting options available. A quick mental tally sees me looking forward to the following eight new television shows:

• Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox Network)
• Hostages (CBS Network)
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC Network)
• Trophy Wife (ABC Network)
• Super Fun Night (ABC Network)
• The Originals (CW Network)
• Tomorrow People (CW Network)
• Ravenswood (ABC Family Network)

Two shows about to enter their sophomore season that really impressed me were Arrow (CW Network), which is filmed in Vancouver, and Nashville (ABC Network). I feel like the latter of the two is to be expected considering my most recent musical musings. I definitely have to mention the shows that have been around for two or more seasons now, which I have a vested interest in for various reasons:

• White Collar (USA Network)
• Modern Family (ABC Network)
• The Vampire Diaries (CW Network)
• Grey's Anatomy (ABC Network)
• Supernatural (CW Network)
• Hart of Dixie (CW Network)
• Revenge (ABC Network)
• Once Upon A Time (ABC Network)
• How I Met Your Mother (CBS Network) - the final season

I guess the above may seem quite excessive and I have to agree, but maybe some of the new shows won't make it to the end of a full first season, as is so often the case. I can see my selections have evolved a bit from last fall's viewings. Fall does mark the return of TV in a big way, but I always manage to have some television shows on the go. In addition to my summertime TV viewing, I spent some time watching all three seasons of Veronica Mars on dvd in preparation for the 2014 movie release. Now I am catching up on four seasons of Rookie Blue (I am up to season three). Factoring in all of the above, it may sound like I don't have a life, but I promise I do. Instead, I tend to get really far behind and play catch up on episodes plus sometimes sleep becomes optional. 

Revenge TV show poster (image courtesy of IMDb)

Becoming healthier a few steps at a time

Being healthy and looking after myself are constant hurdles in my life. I realise as we head into fall and then winter that I really need to take the time to tackle these issues because inactivity in the colder months is too easy. With this being said, I plan to set myself three, obtainable goals for the upcoming weeks:

1. Rain or shine, walk for ten to twenty minutes each day
2. Drink more water, working my way up to the recommended eight glasses a day
3. Buy more healthy foods, preferably unpackaged

I think these goals are definitely possible and I look forward to challenging myself with them. Once I have these mastered I will add to them as I continue to strive toward a healthier, happier me.

Creative outlets

Sometimes I feel like my life isn't full enough outside of work when it comes to creative outlets and bettering myself. I definitely should push myself to try new creative outlets, whilst not forgetting about what I already know I enjoy. It is with this in mind that I decided to look into doing some classes or workshops in a few different areas. Well five particular areas at the moment - knitting, flower arranging, guitar playing, baking and writing. I look at this list and part of me thinks I am aging before my time, but honestly I know I will really get something out of having a go. Worst thing that could happen is I am just not that good at any of it. Well I know I am somewhat good at baking, but regardless I really just want to have fun at least trying. I thought I would give knitting a try first. As such I have found a store relatively close to where I live called Urban Yarns, which has a beginners knitting class starting next Monday. I was happy to sign up for this four week class by myself. It might be better this way seeing as I have never used knitting needles before in my life. I look forward to providing an update upon completion of this little knitting adventure including photographic evidence of any creations.

Vancouver Island

A few weekends ago, whilst a friend was visiting, we spent four days on Vancouver Island. The weather may have been a bit temperamental, but it was a great visit and one I definitely recommend. We hired a car, spending two nights in Victoria, one night at a cute B&B in Chemainus and one night in Nanaimo.  Being in a car these days is actually a luxury so I enjoyed the freedom it afforded and many a Starbucks' drive thru we visited. However, the real highlights of the trip were the whale watching (attempt number two) where we saw a pod of five killer whales and tubing down Cowichan Lake. The tubing was quite the adventure and showcased my inability to go in any direction without assistance, which was fun in itself. Our island road trip saw us take in all the sights from Jordan River to Qualicum Beach. Vancouver Island and its surrounding islands require more than a four day visit so hopefully I will return again in the future.