Things I'm Loving

Fall around here has been a little on the gloomy side. These are all little pick-me-ups that are making fall a little more cheerful at our house. Some are birthday presents and a few are old favorites. 

Sources: 1. Desert Bloom Mug from Anthropologie (now discontinued).  2. Serving Set from Anthropologie. 3. Mulling Spices from Williams & Sonoma.  4. Amy Tangerine Date Stamp from Impress.  5. Attack Cat Rug from Urban Outfitters. 6. Teal Polka Dot Washi Tape from Freckled Fawn.  7. Faux Foil Pie Plate from Crate & Barrel (unfortunately has been discontinued, different yellow pie plate here).  8. His & Hers Stamps made by Elise Blaha Cripe.  9. Le Creuset Classic Teakettle in Dune from Casa.com. Other. Rag Rug in the background is also from Urban Outfitters.

And of coarse, not everything nice comes in a brown box from the UPS guy. I'm also loving...

... spending time with family & friends

... soup, particularly posole

... surprisingly, the color orange - its a new favorite

... listening to my "Jack Johnson" pandora station

... drinking red wine in the evening with Joe

... baking & eating pumpkin pie, and really, any other kind of pie

... getting into the Word at our Bible study

... catching up with project life. I'm so stinkin close!

... thick wool socks & warm sweatshirts

... laughing at the cat's antics & giving him lots of hugs

... drinking hot beverages of all varieties

... the smell of my "leaves" candle. seriously, its the best.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend! 

Photo Walk: Gray

The weather has been gray and rainy around here. I've still been going on walks, less often than I'd like though. Taking my camera with me is one way to keep it a little more interesting! I already have so many colorful pictures of the park that I decided to go with a gray theme this time. Definitely fit the mood. 

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

P.S. The idea for photo walks came from Elise from Enjoy It. You can find her blog here. 

Monogrammed Mini Pumpkins

I love pumpkins, especially at this time of year. I found some little mini pumpkins at the grocery store last week. Not the weird little flat ones that I usually see. These ones look like regular pumpkins, but tiny. I've seen all sorts of ideas on pinterest and blogs, but decided carved monograms would be more up my alley than the glittered variety. Quick and easy little project, took less than an hour. Now they are living on my fireplace mantle. And as a bonus, these ones have seeds inside that you can bake for a quick snack!

Recently.

I finished working a five day stretch. The good news is I think they are finally going to change my schedule. Which means only two more long stretches and I can kiss working five twelves in a row good-bye! That is super exciting for me! 

Also I've been

... trying to squeeze in as much fall stuff as I can before winter gets here.

... drinking hot tea, hot coffee, and fresh apple cider from Greenbluff.

... to Walter's to pick out a pumpkin.

... taking walks in the park.

... watching all the poor kids running their cross country races accross the street at the park.

... putting Cholula Chili Lime on everything.

... to visit Joe at work and hung out in the shop.

... making lots of chocolate chip cookies for the college kids.

... dreaming about finishing some projects.

... hanging out my cat, he's been around more since it's getting cold outside.

... excited about my "Mister Malcolm" book that finally showed up!

Fall is here, I love this season! (Well, I love most seasons actually). The leaves haven't quite turned yet but they are well on their way. This year I'm ready to say good-bye to summer and embrace fall with all its cozy loveliness. I've spent my last few days off doing "fall" stuff. Hoping to go up to Greenbluff tomorrow. Yesterday, I went for a walk (and side note, ending finding a lovely green trunk at a garage sale). Anyways, this time of year is fun at the park, seeing all the squirrels scurrying around, finding acorns and what not.

Ever since I was little, my mom would take us on walks in the fall to look for bright leaves. We would take our favorites home and press them between wax paper. 

Today, my sis and cousin invited me over to make fall wreaths with them. It was so much fun. I had seen this fun fall wreath on Elise Blaha Cripe's blog earlier in the week, tutorial here. It got tucked into that "Wow, That's Cool, Maybe I'll Get Around To Making One Some Day" folder in the back of my brain. This was perfect timing, now I have my own hanging up by my front door instead. Some times you just need someone else to help kick start your crafty side into gear.

Here's mine all finished. (Of coarse I couldn't wait for decent lighting to take pics, so impatient.) I love how it's so not a typical wreath. Today brought back fun memories of making wreaths with my grandma when I was a kid, still remember my first hot glue gun burn.

This cornucopia has been at every Thanksgiving I can remember, after being moved, removed, box to bigger box to garage sale to my trunk, it had lost most of it's innards and was pretty pathetic looking. It deserved better than that, so when the new Hobby Lobby opened up, I got it some sprigs to spruce it up a bit. ... much better. Also busted out my favorite "Leaves" candle, smells perfectly of fall. And one of Gram's electric candles to finish it off. I still miss her so much. Thanksgiving this year is going to be hard...


And it wouldn't feel like fall with out a good piece of pie! Kicking off pie season with some pumpkin pies! There is something really therapeutic about making pie crust. Also made a batch of spiced cider to finish off the first weekend of fall! Off to enjoy the last glass!

Free Fall Decorations - Pine Cone Garland

On my walk yesterday, I gathered a bunch of pine cones to make a pine cone garland. I like bringing the outside in, so it feels like fall even when its too dark or too cold to be outside. Which for me is almost every day I work. It's dark when I leave in the morning, and dark when I get home in the evening.

Here is my original inspiration picture from Twig & Thistle. She used what I call "question mark hooks" to hang the pine cones but I only had one of those on hand, obviously not enough. I ended up using pushpins instead and then punched a whole smaller than the top in my ribbon so that it would stay in place.


With the way I hung them it kind of looks like the pine cones are floating from far away. But I'm ok with that.

One of these days, I'll develop the patience to wait and take pictures when it's lighter inside :)

Embrace Autumn

Well, it's back to work for five days tomorrow. So today I decided to enjoy fall by making some pumpkin pie. It makes the house smell so delicious! Now, I need to find someone to help me eat the rest...  Also hit up yoga class today, had dinner with Sarah and Nathan and cleaned up part of the house :)

*Two regular size pumpkin pies, plus a mini pie*

Also, doodled some pumpkins and a squirrel on the to-do list window today. On that note, anyone have suggestions for photographing glass without getting all the glare and reflections? 

Happy fall everyone!

More Greenbluff Photos

*Sheep at Hidden Acres*

*Log cabin & Tepee at Hidden Acres*

                 
                                       *Pumpkins*                                                                              *Inside the Tepee*

*Old wagon with Scarecrow Couple*

Greenbluff

I love going to Greenbluff! It's one of my favorite things to do in Spokane, especially in the fall. Joe and I went up there this afternoon. Enjoyed some pumpkin doughnuts from Harvest House and then we picked out a pumpkin over at Siemer's. Mister Pumpkin Head is pretty round with a nice sized scar on the side of his face. Lol. The merits of pumpkin picking. Who knows, I might end up carving him an actual face, but we will definitely be roasting the pumpkin seeds! Yumm! Had some fun messing with my pictures with Picnic (free online photo editing website). I'm putting off cleaning my house... and exciting news for me, I'm getting a new camera soon! Yay!

Mister Pumpkin Head protecting the house. Mal's been letting down his guard recently, too distracted with bugs, birds and naps, as rumor has it.

Fall Happenings

I always look forward to the change in seasons, it's kind of like a new beginning. New smells, the change in weather, seasonal foods and all the different festivities. With fall, I look forward to warm drinks, pulling out cozy sweaters and coats, the crisp cool air after hot summer days, crunching leaves on walks, all the vibrant fall colors and the smell of autumn. Plus, there is Thanksgiving, gathering with family, and trips to Greenbluff to pick pumpkins and apples. This fall, I'm thankful to be living in a place with four distinct seasons, thankful for having my family nearby, and for having so many wonderful supportive people in our lives. Right now, I'm sitting out on my porch drinking a pumpkin spice latte and listening to the rain pattering on the patio and the X-Country race going on across the street.

Enough of the mushy stuff... I've had some time off work and it's been nice getting stuff done around our place. Of coarse the to do list is never completely finished and things always seem to take longer than expected. But none the less, it's nice to be crossing some things off! Did a goodwill run today and dropped off eight bags of no longer needed stuff, we've been trying to trim down around here, which also means exercising restraint in what I "find" and take home from thrift stores... Today, we mowed the lawn, weeded some of the backyard beds and got some new shrubs, on a side note Joe actually told the guy at Judy's we were looking for "a shrubbery" just like the guy says it in Monte Python. Epic. We rode the Hiawatha Trail on Saturday, then came home and had a lovely barbecue with friends, Joe made ribs! They were delicious! Yesterday, we had a family get together at my aunt's house, my great uncle was in town from California. We ended up having an "indoor picnic" instead of going to Arbor Crest since the weather was threatening to rain. Anyways, hoping to get a few more things scratched off before I go back to work in the next few days.

Some pictures from our ride on the Hiawatha Trail. The ride is on the route of an old train track near the Montana/Idaho border. It takes you through ten tunnels and over seven high trestles. The longest tunnel is 1.7 miles, and is absolutely pitch black inside so you need either a head lamp or a lamp on your bike. Its a gradual downhill grade so is a fairly easy ride, about ten miles long I think. Definitely far from hard core biking, but was a fun experience!

October 11 - Mushrooms in our front yard, I came home from work for lunch that day and snapped this. The VA Cafeteria is closed on Holidays and Weekends. Does anyone pay attention to Columbus Day? I never remember...

October 12 - Mal's food bowl that I fill up before leaving for work. It reminds me of eating off of my Grandma's blue china, you don't get to see the picture until you eat your food!

October 13 - The Finished Sidewalk! No more worrying about twisted ankles, possible broken legs or concussions.

October 14 - The best Cherry Apple Cider from Hanson's at Greenbluff, love this stuff!

October 15 - Tiff and I made apple butter, it's a 24hr process - here's the after photo - all finished, canned and "gift wrapped".

October 16 - African Daisy in the flower box out front, the frost is starting to take most of the flowers.
October 17 - Kitty rolling on the kitchen floor. Despite his mischievousness, he is probably one of the best things that has happened to us so far in 2010.

October 18 - Amy came over to learn how to make pie crust, we made 2 apple pies and a pecan pie. Lattice crusts are difficult, I always cheat and just overlap the pieces.

October 19 - New Plants for out front, I don't remember all their names. I should start a little folder to write all that stuff down. The gal who helped us pick them out is the owner of Judy's on Northwest Blvd - she is super helpful! Yay for sales and clearance plants at the end of the season!

October 20 - Malcom watching House MD with us

October 21 - Country Living Magazine, I love getting things besides bills in the mail!