Stuff. Is. Happening.

New Foodiddy business cards have been designed and ordered. The blog template, software, and plug-ins have all been updated. A new camera strap has been purchased, and photos have been taken and archived. Tweet up events have been RSVP’d too. My Foodbuzz blogger festival ticket and hotel has been booked. Fun/swanky restaurant outings have been planned… it’s about time I put aside hours to actually enjoy my hobby of food blogging. The diet has been on the front burner, but as I near the point where it’s just my new way of life, time management seems to be getting easier. I’m about to finish the last round of teaching my evening classes/presentations and then the kitchen, foodie events, and cooking classes are all mine again.

I’m ready to start on more recipe creations, making fall soups, holiday baking, and coming up with quick and easy/healthy meals.

A new round of cooking classes is also starting soon and I have my eye on a couple of fun ones. Fall is my favorite time of year for cooking and eating. I am definitely a fan of comfort food, so exploring healthier ways to prepare those meals will be a lot of fun. I generally fluff up the minute I start seeing displays of Halloween candy – so this is going to be a challenge, but I’m up for it and glad I already have 60 plus days of eating healthy under my belt. Translation – no processed foods and next to no sugar (except the sugars in fruit and some whole grains).

If you have any fun recipes to share, leave a comment or send me an email. I’m also excited to try some recipes from my new cookbooks and favorite bloggers.

Mama Pea (Sarah Matheny) who blogs over at Peas and Thank You recently came out with a new cookbook. Sarah’s blog makes me laugh and smile with every post –  I love it! She’s a vegan Mom who creates the most amazing recipes and shares them with her family and the world through her blog, book #1 and now book #2 – which is currently in the works. I briefly met Sarah at the Foodbuzz Festival last year and I plan on bringing my book in hopes that I can get her to sign it this year.

Heidi Swanson’s blog 101 Cookbooks was one of the first food blogs that I started reading back in 2005. Heidi’s photography is amazing and better yet, she lives in San Francisco – my most favorite city within driving distance. Both Heidi and Sarah’s books made it on the New York Times bestseller list and they’ve both been featured in many publications, including Vegetarian Times – which I started subscribing to last year. I’m all about more natural (less processed) ingredients and I’m looking forward to diving into both cookbooks.

Speaking of magazine subscriptions…

My mailbox is starting to fill up with lots of Fall delights. I also subscribe to Vegetarian Times, EveryDay w/Rachael Ray, Saveur, Food & Wine, Everyday Food/Martha Stewart and yes, I’m well aware that I may indeed have a problem.  In my defense, 3 of the subscriptions were gifts…but yes, I also realize… that leaves 7 that were purchased on my own. What can I say? There was a fundraiser for my niece’s Girl Scout troop. I have a short attention span and I like that I can just flip through, cut out recipes, and then throw them in the recycle. It would be so cool to one day have one of my own recipes featured… Mental note: get to work on that and stop making everyone else’s recipes, ha!