Just a Few Festive Updates

It's been pretty chilly in our area the last few days, and I have been absolutely loving it!  In honor of this "Seasonally appropriate" change in the weather, I thought I'd document a few of the Halloween/Fall things that have been happening.

I've had my Fall decoration up for a while now, but I don't think I've taken any pictures of it all set up.  

This picture is in our entry way.  It's the fall craft I did a few weeks ago (I ended up making one for my mom too), a black cat mug that I ordered off Totsy about a month ago (it's where T unloads his wallet/watch/knife when he gets home), a Pumpkin Spice candle I bought at CVS, a homemade print I got as a gift a few years ago, and a really neat Fall garland Mom got me for The Christmas Tree Shop.

 

This black cabinet is in the living room.  The cat plate is something I ordered from West Elm last year after Halloween.  My Grandmother made the pumpkin (I think), and another black cat mug (I obviously ordered 2)

 It a Frankenstein spoon rest that I also got from Totsy

Our pumpkin carving masterpiece!!!!  It's Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin

Here he is all lit up!  I have NEVER been more thrill with how one of my pumpkins has turned out

Dad and Betsy did the other 2.  They all looked really good on the front porch

We decorated our hall at work on Friday.  One of my jobs was to draw a "spooky Halloween scene"... I don't know about "spooky", but I think it works

This isn't really Fall related, unless you count the Fall-ish ribbon I used to hang it.  But I've decided, in an effort to try to make myself more productive, I would hang up a weekly To-Do list.  I thought I might get more things done if I could see the list every time I sat down to watch TV!  It's only been up for 4 days,,, we'll see how it goes.

And I couldn't end this post without this picture.  I just loved the way the yellow/orange leaves looked against the green grass in the front yard!  I think I might end up cropping and framing this picture... it'd look good hanging in my house!

So, what Halloween/Fall things have y'all been up too recently?

My Easy Fall Crafts

This past Saturday we had some down time at the house before T's brother and sister-in-law came over to eat and watch football.  So while T was using his time to clean out the shed, I decided to do a quick Fall craft.  And when I say quick... I mean very quick.  It probably took me 15 minutes (plus drying time)

I gathered my supplies and set up my work station in the garage.

What I used:

a scrap piece of wood that T cut to size

an exact o knife

Mod Podge

a sponge brush

and this cute Fall printable

I also had a fantastic cup of coffee* in my favorite mug.

All I did was lay the piece of wood and use the exact o knife to cut off the excess.  Then I put a thin layer of Mod Podge on the wood, and put the paper down on top.  Next, I put a thin layer of Mod Podge on top of the paper.  Then I just let it dry for and hour or so (although I don't think it needed that long)

I put it on a plate stand by my front door.  And I really love the way it looks.  I think I'm going to make my mom one.

 See how cute it is.....

I also found this cute fall paint chip printable, and decided to throw it in a frame.  Here's a picture of it hanging on my wall...

So now I have 2 cute almost free Fall decorations in my house! 

After T finished cleaning/organizing the shed (a really wish I had taken a picture of this), he put together 2 rocking chairs that his mom had gotten for us.

I think they look so sweet on our front porch.  They'll look even better after I get some mums to go with them(along with my Halloween welcome mat and maybe a pumpkin or 2!)

I really love the fall!

TV Goodness

T and I didn't used to be big TV watchers.  We'd sit and watch it a little... but we only really had 1 show that we REALLY liked, and we'd try to catch that every week if we could.

But that all changed when we got our first DVR!  Now we have SO MANY shows that we like to watch!  The DVR really is one of the greatest inventions EVER!

Our list of tv shows pre-DVR:

Bones

(I guess that doesn't really qualify as a list)

Our list of tv shows post-DVR:

How I met your Mother
Bones
Go On
Last Man Standing
New Girl
Once Upon a Time
The Office
Revolution
The Biggest Loser
The Big Band Theory
Modern Family
The Walking Dead 

Quite a difference.  I might've even left some off the list.  And, I'm sure I'm not alone in say this... but I can't even tell you the day/time that most of these come on.  Because we usually just let them record... the watch them on the weekends!

As it turns out... I like tv a lot more when I can watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it!!!  (but I guess that's probably true for just about everything!)

Probably time to start this back up again

So... I haven't written in a while.  I have no great excuse for not posting... mostly I just don't think about this blog.  Ever.  But I thought I might start back up again. 

And, in honor of getting back into something I've overlooked for nearly 10 months, I thought I'd show you another project that I finally resumed (and completed).... after ignoring it for a year and a half!

The forgotten project was my Bride/Wedding Book (I'm not really sure what they are called). 

Shortly after I got engaged I started looking for a book that I could have at all my parties (and at the wedding) for people to sign, and to be able to document other special moments during our engagement.  But as I started looking for such a book, I ran into 2 problems:

1)  All the books I saw were very fancy looking.  They were either made of linen, or silk, or some other elegant material.  And, while they were all very pretty, that look just isn't me.  I'm pretty simple... so I wanted my book to be simple too

2)  All the books I saw were really expensive... like, $200 expensive.  I'm sorry, but I'm not paying $200 for ANY book!

So.... I decided I would just make my own book.  And I really enjoyed picking out what paper and pictures I would use for my wedding scrapbook.  And for our whole engagement I did a really good job of keeping up with it.  I think, by the time we'd been married for a month, I had the scrapbook completed up to the wedding (all my showers/teas were documented, as well as my bridesmaid's lunch). 

And then, I guess life got in the way and I completely forgot about it (we started looking for a house, then we found a house and started getting ready to move, then we moved and now it seems like there is always another project to do around the house!)

This summer I decided that it was time I finally finished our book.  So I ordered the rest of the pictures I needed (that's right... I had yet to order any of our wedding pictures... oops!) and on August 1st 2012 I finally completed the scrapbook I started almost 2 years earlier!!! (we had been married a year and a half on August 2nd).  I was very excited with the way it turned out!

Here are a few pictures of the finished product.  Hope you enjoy it!
The Project: Our Wedding Book
Started Project: September 2010
Completed Project: August 2012

Richmond Revisited

T drove most of the way (I don't think he likes my driving...)

We stopped at the North Carolina welcome center to eat lunch.

Yeah!!! We finally made it to Virginia

Watching a little TV

Measuring fabric

Audra did all the hard work

Checking out maps at Thomas Jefferson's house

I got in trouble right after I took this... apparently you're not supposed to take picture inside historic mansions.