Things to Make - Homemade Pumpkin Yogurt Facemask

Welcome to Day 2 of GROWN UP WEEK on the blog. Today I'm going to make something myself for myself. How fun. In winter my skin tends to get a little "blah" looking, sort of grayish if you know what I mean. In order to solve this problem, I usually treat myself to microdermabrasion at Elizabeth Arden (or buy a Groupon for it somewhere else). But this year I'm working on frugality, which requires a new skin-improvement plan as microderm is a little on the pricey side. A year or so ago, I read about a homemade face mask recipe on DesignSponge and a few weeks ago I finally decided to give it a try, all I needed was 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree (available at every grocery store) and 2 tbsp whole-milk yogurt (harder to find, but available at farmer's markets and Trader Joe's and some grocery stores). When I mixed them together I had the best face mask ever. If you want to try it, leave the mask on for about 15 minutes and then rinse with water. You will glow. Trust me.

For more homemade bodycare recipes, check out this post. I haven't tried any others yet, but they look wonderful.

Places to Go - Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground (Burke, VA)

Tuesday started out as a blah day. First of all, we had to take P to the doctor for her asthma, which always makes me sad (I know a ton of other parents have had to face the same issue, but it's really scary when your kid can't breathe). Then T cried all morning. And one of F's headbands broke (always a tragedy). I wanted to quit.

So when my friend called me asking to go to Burke Nursery's Pumpkin Playground, I was ready for just about anything that would get me out of the house and around other adults. Luckily, Burke's Pumpkin Playground was so awesome (yes, I'm in my thirties and I still use the word awesome, it's a sad state of affairs), that we ended up spending all afternoon there. It is VERY VERY similar to Cox Farms, but on a much smaller scale, making it much more manageable if you have multiple small children. As with Cox, there are slides, a rope swing, a haunted forest hayride, petting zoo, etc. Burke also has these large tubes that kids can roll down a small hill in (the older kids could have spent all day in these). For T, the biggest hit was those riding machines they usually have in malls (you know the type, they sort of gyrate), anyways they had tons of these (a carousel, horses, a car, a motorcyle, etc.) all FOR FREE. the kids could just push the button again and again. They also have food and pumpkins and tons of cheesy decorations. Totally worth the $9 admission ($12 on weekends). But it closes after Halloween, so if you're interested, you need to get there asap.

Have a great holiday everyone! Don't eat too much candy! I'll be back on Monday.

If you need some inspiration, this 8 year old boy's description of fall is just too perfect. Plus, his mom's pictures are pretty amazing as well.