This week has felt so strange to me--I felt so anxious! I even thought about turning my car around yesterday on the way to work so I could go home and get back in bed. I just felt like taking naps. But I worked through it and even managed to run really fast and for a long time a couple afternoons this week, and I made a recipe I was really proud of, so I can't really say that I've had a completely off week. Is it a full moon or something? I even had only one cup of coffee yesterday!

Either way, I wanted to share a few things that made me smile this week. Hope you enjoy them.

[Rocky is totally in his element when on a boat.]

Fairy Tales for Twenty Somethings. The Tinkerbell one is especially good.

Robyn is such a world traveler--sometimes it kind of takes my breath away!

Did you know that foxes love marshmallows?

My friend Jenna introduced me to Audible, and now I'm actually looking forward to driving four hours this evening!

Please look at these photos of these sweet dog friends.

I love getting a little peek into the lives of my blogger friends, like this one from Eliza.

I've been using my Cuppow! this week and it's awesome.

Another gorgeous post from Sam--On Hope (And How).

I'm off to see Rob in Northern Virginia this evening--I haven't actually been there at all this month, so it will be nice to get away. We're going to a Halloween thing on Saturday, which will be fun because we actually met at a Halloween party four years ago! What are you up to this weekend? Happy Friday!

PS Sponsor Freckled Italian in November!

I have sponsorship spots open for November! And I've made the switch to Passionfruit Ads, which I think is going to make it a lot easier for everyone involved. You can now book a space right from my blog--so go ahead and do that! And please, send me an email if you have any issues or feedback--I don't want to keep doing it this way if you don't think it works!

Go right here to view more information and grab your spot!

PS Be back later today with some Friday Favorites!

This recipe was inspired by several things. First of all, fall is the perfect time for apples, isn't it? But more than apples, I have been eating a lot of dark chocolate recently. Like, really dark. I eat it at night, with a glass of red wine, while I read or listen to music. It's really nice, and it makes me feel fancy. And finally, I don't think I need to remind you how much I love bacon.

I sent my mom a text message before I left work last night that said, "Do we have apples, bacon, and chocolate?" and believe it or not, she didn't say, "Get a grip, Megan!" She actually said "Let me check," and then "Yes," so I rushed home with excitement.

This is what we're going to do--we're going to dip some apples in dark chocolate and then we're going to cover them with homemade bacon bits--because, why not? Ready? Let's do it.

 

Ingredients:

One Honeycrisp apple

A bar of dark chocolate (I kept it Paleo with this one)

Several strips of bacon

1. Cook the bacon until it is really, really crunchy. You're going to turn these into little bacon bits.

2. Once it's cooked, chop it up. I used a chopper to get it as fine as possible. 

We're talking almost bacon dust, people.

3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler.

4. Slice up your apple and set up an assembly line with apple slices first, then chocolate, then bacon.

5. Dip a slice in the chocolate, let it drip a little, and then sprinkle the bacon bits on the chocolate.

6. Plate them, show your friends, and feel like a culinary genius for a few minutes.