Fall into Fall ???

Sitting by the pool drinking my morning cup of tea and it is positively glorious!!  The temperature is way down, there's a beautiful breeze and you can actually smell the rain coming our way. I'd say the weather is starting to transition to Fall and I'm excited to see what Fall in Texas is all about!  I actually dreamt of Fall decorations last night (which I can explain!). Fall is my favorite time of year and Fall up North is gorgeous and Fall in Birmingham was always fun and fantastic. Coach loved putting his TV on the back deck, having a fire in the pit and watching some SEC football.

Last night Cosmo and I went to the Rangers vs Mariners game and had a great time!  He's  been to that stadium many times before (honestly, where hasn't he been) but it was my first Rangers game. One of his vendors dropped off the tickets and we had great seats 25 rows up off the 3rd baseline. The stadium is nice but I really think Camden Yards is my favorite place to see a baseball game. The O's are coming to town next weekend so maybe we'll catch part of that series.

We couldn't figure out why the Rangers mascot, which is a horse, was running around wearing a tartan kilt and a set of golf clubs. And then Jordan Speith threw the ceremonial pitch. 

On our way to the stadium last night we passed this great little nursery by our house. On the way there I noticed they had some Fall/Halloween decorations up but couldn't get a good look. On the way home it was dark and the decorations were lit up and looked super cute so that's why I think I dreamed of fall decor!!  I love the layout and look of this house and think my Fall things are going to look great in this house! 

Pumpkin Chunkin'

We had such a great weekend!  Very "autumnal."  The weather was amazing -- lots of bright sunshine, temps in the mid-60's and lots of blue skies.  Cosmo was on a roll and cooked almost the entire weekend.  Saturday morning he and KJ made biscuits for breakfast.  That afternoon they made homemade white pizza.  Sunday morning he made us French toast.  Love a man who cooks! 

Thursday I didn't feel like cooking so KJ and I planned to meet Cosmo at Uncle Julio's, a Mexican restaurant we like which is close to Cosmo's office.  I wasn't paying attention when I entered it in my GPS and it felt like we were driving forever.  I actually said to KJ, "hmmm....I didn't remember it being this far."  Double-checked my Garmin and realized I hit the address for the Uncle Julio's in Fairfax, VA.  Fortunately, I was able to get off at the closest exit, turn around and found my way to the right Uncle Julio's in time for a yummy swirly margarita!  My fave! 

Saturday we went to a local orchard to get our pumpkin on and couldn't have picked a better day.  The weather was perfect and we had so much fun.  http://www.butlersorchard.com/  Lots of stuff to do -- we went on a hay ride, found our pumpkin (35 lbs!), pet some animals, slide, walked through the corn maze, etc.  Every year we went to a farm in Clanton http://www.alabamagrandolepumpkinpatch.com/ and going to the pumpkin patch is one of our favorite family traditions.  KJ's obviously too big for pony rides and face painting but this year was fun because she did a little Pumpkin Chunkin'!  It was AWESOME and her pumpkins went flying!!  They must have gone at least 100 yards. 

Saturday night we watched a bunch of scary movies -- the remake of the Amityville Horror (w/ Ryan Reynolds) and the remake of The Omen (w/ Liev Schriber).  I'm not a horror movie fan and had never seen either of those movies (originals or remakes).  Cosmo was out like a light on the couch and KJ and I were up until almost 1 AM watching scary movies.  She slept with the light on that night. 

Sunday KJ had her final rec league volleyball game.  It was one of those "play until you lose" kind of things.  (Un)fortunately they lost in their first round so it ended up being an early afternoon for us.  Since the weather was so good we did our outside Halloween decorations. 

Coming Along Nicely

Finally feeling like we've settled in and finally got around to taking some photos of our bedroom and KJ's room.  Our room is gigantic, almost a little too big. 

 

Here's a photo of KJ's room.  A little smaller than her room in B'ham and she didn't want to loft her bed so the desk part is in one of the guest rooms.  She said she's been sleeping better than she ever has but I think a large part of that is because we're upstairs with her.  She positively hated being the only one upstairs in the old house.  If T was out of town or at a sleep-over, KJ refused to sleep upstairs alone and would spend most nights on the couch.  And it got worse when T went off to college.  Even at a young age, I'm talking 2 and 3 years old, we'd find her asleep everywhere but her own bed.  She'd get out of her toddler bed and try to get in bed with T, we'd find her on the floor in T's bedroom and then T got smart and started to shut her door at night.  We'd find KJ curled up like a ball right outside T's door.  It was so pathetic!  Then KJ realized she could come downstairs to the master bedroom and she'd try to get in bed with us or we'd find her on the floor in our room with her favorite blankie.  

 

Started some of my Fall and Halloween decorating but I've got more I want to do.  It's raided the last couple of days so I haven't done anything outside.  I did, however, manage to get my table started. 

 

The water goblets are a new addition this year.  My mom picked them up for me at a garage sale.  

 

The sparkly pumpkins are in the living room and I have a few other things to go with them.  A purple sparkly skull for one. 



 

 

Just a Bill

Ed & Gins are coming for a quick visit this weekend.  The weather is supposed to be pretty good (unseasonable warm, in the high 80's) and I would have loved to go into DC but with the shut down and now with today's incident on Capital Hill (I always think of "I'm Just a Bill" from Schoolhouse Rock every time someone says "Capital Hill), that's not going to happen.  Maybe we'll go into Baltimore or Annapolis (I haven't been back to Annapolis since we left the first time!). 

There is a local Octoberfest on Saturday so we might be able to hit that depending on what time they get here.  I haven't done any of my Fall / Halloween decorating yet so maybe my mom can help me with that.  There's also a nice orchard nearby that is supposed to have a great pumpkin festival (as opposed to a Great Pumpkin festival a la The Peanuts).   http://www.butlersorchard.com/

I've had a touch of insomnia the last couple of days and end up watching mindless garbage on TV.  If I read, I can read all night and that's worse.  Mindless TV makes me drowsy and I end up falling asleep on the couch.  The last couple of nights I've watched a show called Life Below Zero on the National Geographic channel.  http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/life-below-zero/  This show is CRAZY!  I totally get folks wanting to living off the grid, etc. but I'm not a big red meat eater and don't think that I could survive.  Instead of seal meat or bear meat, I'd be craving a salad. 

On to the Next Holiday !!!

A friend of mine on Twitter was this past weekend complaining because she can't start her Christmas decorating because this year is her turn to host her large family Thanksgiving. Slow down girlfriend! Take each holiday as it comes and enjoy each one! And by all means, Don't skip over Thanksgiving!!! It's the best holiday of the year!!!

Halloween is over so now it's time to finish up my Thanksgiving decor. I like to do it in stages as many of my Halloween decorations carry over to fall and Thanksgiving . . . the browns, the orangs, the rust colors; the pumpkins (not jack-o-lanterns), sunflowers, scarecrows, etc. All of my scary decorations are down and now I need to fill everything in with turkeys and pilgrims.

I love searching the internet to get inspiration from various websites and different decorators (amatuer as well as professional). I love to see how over the top some people go with their decor and how simple some folks keep it. I think I'm somewhere in the middle. Certainly not spartan, but definately not to the extreme either.

I like looking for those little touches, such as the personalized pear placesetting below:


And, as always, thee are lots and lots of candles in mason jars all over my house!