pumpkin cinnamon rolls

As you may remember, I had some ideas when it came to Dane's birthday shindig. The most important was making pumpkin cinnamon rolls in place of birthday cake. I'm actually not going to post the entire recipe, because I copied this recipe from smitten kitchen almost to a t (my only change was adding 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice instead of the nutmeg/ginger/cardamom). I feel like it would be unfair to try to pass off this recipe as something I've improved or tweaked. Sometimes, you just have to follow the pro's instructions.

Oh yeah, I also have to admit that I cheated by using store-bought Buttercream frosting. Sometimes, you just have to save a few minutes.

Another confession: these photos were taken two days after I actually made the pumpkin cinnamon rolls. They finished baking at 8pm, and my kitchen has less-than-photogenic lighting. Yesterday I had to work, so these were the last three rolls left this morning when photo time "rolled" around (ha!). And I ate them afterward (in my defense, they were mini-sized).

We were excited to have our first party in our new home. We only knew a few people here before we moved to LA, so to have a growing group of new friends is exciting! Making new friends as an adult is difficult--luckily the other students in Dane's program are friendly and fun, and our friends from college are excited to show us everything LA has to offer. I feel so lucky to have friends living in nearly every area of the country, so I know that wherever I may go, there will be a familiar face to help with the transition. I do miss the familiarity (and autumn colors!) of Chicago, but I must say that I'm really starting to feel less like I'm visiting LA and more like I live here.