Funky Fall Decor

Most of you are already aware that i absolutely love the fall season. I always dreamed of living somewhere that had a legit season change every fall, but then I moved to Texas. Regardless, I love the change in weather, because summer in both Texas and Florida is rough. Fortunately my good friend MC shares my sentiments regarding fall. Remember when she did this awesome guest post? Well now she has offered another guest post about her other specialty, fall decor! I'm excited. She's is one of the craftiest and most creative people I know, she just has an eye for those things. I do not which is why I'll stick to baking. So everyone pay close attention to what she has to say because this is probably the only worthwhile decorating post you will ever see on my blog. Plus she's also just really funny, or at least I think so, which is probably why we are friends. And for some strange reason she thinks I'm funny too. 

And when you're done please go to the nearest Michael's/Hobby Lobby and decorate for fall, it'll make you a happier person. 

............

Ok everyone. It may only be September 21^st, and I may be a resident of the great ole non-seasonal state of Florida, but I have a slight, alright major, obsession with fall. Once September 1^st rolls around, not only is crisper, cooler weather on the horizon, but it is also time for the pumpkin craze, Halloween, boots, sweaters, Gator football – the whole shabang! How could this NOT be your favorite time of year? That said, Meghan and I have taken our obsessions to the next level and are sharing them via blog post for the whole world to see. Meghan, nurse by night / baker by day, has written a blog post on baking fall goodies and embarking on fall adventures, while I have chosen to write about Halloween and fall décor.

During my time in college, I never really decorated for the holidays – not even Christmas! I don’t know if it was the fact that I was a starving college student, or that I felt like the home that should decorated was my parents’ house, or what. I just don’t know. What I DO know, is now that I have my own place and bit more money, I can’t stop thinking of ways to decorate – especially for the upcoming holidays. I’ve been trying to find two things: 1) cheap decorations that I can craft myself and 2) autumn decorations that can span September through November. And, lemme tell ya, with Pinterest, that is definitely NOT a problem. Let’s start off with the crafty side of this year’s fall décor. What I’ve seen a lot of and fully intend to create are fall wreaths. I have seen so many different varieties of these things, I can’t even begin to go into all of the options, but here are a few that I think are super cute and pretty doable:

In addition these to these Halloween-inspired wreaths, another way to be cheap and crafty this season is to work with pumpkins! Pumpkins are obviously the staple of Fall, Halloween, October, Thanksgiving etc and we must take full advantage of them. Here are a few simple, yet totally clever ways to use pumpkins to spruce up your place, autumn-style: 

Pumpkin Bowl

Perfect for that Halloween-themed dinner party you're planning or for when you're just having a few friends over for drinks. All you need to do is carve out a pumpkin and place a bowl in the center, and voila! You've got yourself one fine serving dish. 

Pumpkin Votives

This is the perfect way to use all those cute little pumpkins you see everywhere. All you need are a few baby pumpkins and some tea candles. Again, carve out a place in the center of the pumpkin and place the tea candle in the center. This is a cheap, easy way to get that cozy, fall look!

Painted Pumpkins

By the looks of things (or I may have just been way out of the loop in past years), painted pumpkins are all the rage this season. I've seen pumpkins painted like candy corns, gold spray painted pumpkins, pumpkins painted with chalkboard paint and then written on, I mean, seriously...what hasn't been thought of? the great thing about painting pumpkins is that you can tailor it to your space-have crazy colored walls? Paint your pumpkin the complimenting color. Want to keep a classy, elegant look around the house? Paint your pumpkins gold, or silver...or even white! The options are endless. 

Using Pumpkins in...umm...unusual places?

Like on top of a candle holder, per say. This is one crafty piece of decor I HAVE tackled- and it turned out awesomely. All I did was buy three different sized candle holders at Ikea, and some fall "berry" branches at Target to wrap around the base of the holders, on which the baby pumpkins will be placed. Super easy. Super cozy. The perfect fall decoration. 

You will see below that there are actually candles on top of my candle holders- well, sadly (and embarrassingly) I have searched for baby pumpkins and they are no where to be found- YET. As soon as I find some, they will replace those candles...or I may keep one candle just to keep that spooky feeling alive. We'll see. Mix and match as desired. Add as many candle holders as you want. Get creative with the base decorations! Fall "berries" are not the only option. 

Finally, I'd like to leave you with some Halloween/Fall/Autumn/Thanksgiving interior decor inspiration photos: 

The orange flowers and orange pumpkins against the black backdrop make this the perfect Halloween table setting!

If only I had a front porch like this!

For all of you with fireplaces and mantles!

Love those black flowers mixed with the pumpkins

If you have a million wine bottle, why not? Uber spooky.

Alright folks, that's all I have for you today. Meghan and I, of course will be collaborating in the future because we're just awesome like that and have the same weird obsessions. Like, our next post will probs be all about Garden State...or LOTR elves...or something totally riveting like that. Who knows. But you'll definitely want to stay tuned. 

Happy Fall!

ACL

As previously mentioned I went to Austin this past weekend for Austin City Limits, a 3 day music festival that takes place every fall. I've attended plenty of concerts in my day but this was my first festival and it was awesome. I was really excited for this, especially after hearing countless stories of Nick's experience at Bonnaroo in 2009 (seriously, I've heard them all, you can stop now, thanks). However, I realized something very important, music festivals aren't for everyone. Compared to some ACL is pretty tame, it occurs during normal daytime hours, usually ending around 10, everyone stays in hotels and you can easily leave and walk to a restaurant down the street if you need a break. Even with all the luxuries of a festival in the city, it is still pretty rough to stand for 2-3 hours straight with no bathroom break because you want a good spot for a show. The relentless sun beating down on you doesn't help either (I have a pretty intense burn on my scalp to prove it). I also came down with a cold at the end of the first day, which is really my own fault since I never sleep. All of that is pretty negligible considering how much fun I had.

It was about 95 degrees with very little cloud cover when this picture was taken, I think I was a pretty good sport, right? I also have coffee, a cocktail of various cold medications, and maybe some other cocktails to thank for that (I'm referring to water and lemonade of course). I was also really stoked on seeing the Antlers play. 

The heat eventually gets to you though so napping becomes a necessity 

They look like they needed it don't they? Trust me, they did. Some of us were barely hanging on just a few hours into the second day. Let's just say they were really fortunate to have a nurse with them. 

All the stress and heat was worth it for some really awesome shows. Yes, Coldplay was there but since I've already seen them I opted to see Kanye's show instead and it was really awesome

It was difficult to get good pictures with all those hands and iphones in the air but we got a good one of his surprise entrance. If there's one thing that I'll take from his performance its that if I love someone I should hold on to them tight. He was really feeling the importance of this statement. Thanks for life lessons Kanye.

In total we saw about 11 bands. We planned to attend more shows but extreme exhaustion will make you do weird things like take naps on picnic tables, or in trucks, or in the middle of a field and it tends to be time consuming. 

So if you need tips for a future trip to a music festival here they are:

1. Hydrate. No, a "Jolly Delicious" doesn't count, nor does beer, or warm rum (I wish someone would've told the 17 year old that was trying to offer that to us, yuck) 

2. Wear sunscreen 

3. Beware of camelbaks, they make you drink a lot more than you expect, which also means more bathroom breaks

4. Never say "I'm really feeling this music bro." It's obnoxious. 

5. Just suck it up and stop whining

6. Never wear a strapless dress if there is a possibility for even a very tame mosh pit. Trust me, it gets sketchy. 

7. Rain is your friend. I'm not just saying that because we're in the middle of a terrible drought, it's really just because you get so sick of the sun. 

I've been asked by a few people what bands i saw and it's difficult to fit in one text (ok, I'm actually just lazy, give me a break). Instead I'll list them here in case anyone is actually interested:

Friday:

Wild Beasts, James Blake, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Kanye West (awesome show with some really awesome choreography)  

Saturday:

The Antlers (definitely one of my faves), Twin Shadow, TV on the Radio (another fave-ok I'll stop using "fave")

Sunday: 

The Walkmen, Broken Social Scene, Fleet Foxes (fun fact: Christian Bale was actually on sage for this because he was filming something with this crazy girl who was dancing in front of a camera. I essentially have no idea why he was there, but I saw him and the show was really good), and Arcade Fire (which was also awesome and another favorite) 

Of course my very awesome group helped make the experience so awesome

Nick was of course included in this awesome group but is not pictured because he was taking all these beautiful photos for me since I'm lazy. I'm working on changing my bad habits, starting tomorrow or whenever I'm caught up on sleep which will be never. 

I would definitely go again next year, especially since it'll be in October which is a very nice month with very nice weather. I like October, can it just hurry up and get here already? I could use a day where the temp is below 90. And speaking of October, stay tuned for a fall related post later this week by my favorite (and only) guest blogger, MC. But now its time for sleep and by sleep I mean I'll pretend like I'm going to bed but I'll actually wait another 2 hours before I really get into bed. 

Growth

Remember this?

No I'm not referring to the day when my 3 closest friends and I wore our graduation gowns and ran around the football field making silly faces and acting like children. Although that was one of my favorite days. No, I am actually referring to how long my hair was. This picture was taken a month before I chopped off about 13 inches of hair and donated it to Locks of Love for the second time in my life. Since then I had gradually taken off more hair each time I got it cut until I finally settled with a length that I liked. The problem is that in order to maintain that length I have to cut my hair every 6-7 weeks. I know I told pretty much everyone that I loved my short hair, loved how low maintenance it is, and that I never wanted to have long hair again but I changed my mind. Impulsive, I know. But just in case you were wondering, yes it is extremely expensive to get a hair cut every 6 weeks. The funny thing is that I really like saving money, almost as much as I like spending it. So I figured that now if I'm getting my hair cut 4 times a year rather than 8 or 9, I could use the money to treat myself to more pedicures, more Starbucks, maybe a standmixer? Or I could just save it, we'll see. 

Now, you may be wondering how much influence Nick has had in this decision. He did actually prompt me to grow out my hair but it wasn't because of him that I decided to go through with it. A few months ago he started talking about how much he missed my long hair, I of course completely blew this off and basically told him to get over it because it was never coming back. But the idea stuck in my head, not to mention that i was really getting sick of the whole financial factor. So once I reached the 6 week mark last week I thought about it some more and just didn't make an appointment and still haven't made one for this week. I'm barely 2 weeks in and the length in the back is starting to annoy me but I am really loving the fact that I can actually get my hair into a ponytail which is extremely rare. There will be plenty to distract me from the annoying in between length of my hair these next few months, like working 3 in a row starting tomorrow (blah), or all the online shopping I did last night, unfortunately I spent way more than the cost of a haircut, lets end this discussion before I decide to hate myself. It's going to be rough but please, don't worry about my emotional state during all this, I'll survive. 

I'll keep some updates regarding my hair growing process (because I know everyone really cares about the state of my hair). And I'm trying to update the blog more often, yes I know I've made similar promises before, but now I have a post planned regarding my awesome experience at ACL this past weekend, I'm just waiting for Nick to send me the pictures (like maybe today????). 

Things I'm lovin' - End of Summer

Hi folks. Look at me posting a second time in the past 2 weeks. I know, I'm sooo motivated. Anyway, the three of us are all moved into the new house and its glorious. I took some pictures but I've spent most of the past week cleaning and organizing so its not quite settled yet. Also Nick refuses to give me permission to use a drill or touch/move the TV's so some things will just have to wait. Honestly though, can you blame him? However, since I'm awake and feeling halfway inspired I'll do a short post about things I'm loving lately.

1. Rainier cherries

Seriously these things are like crack. My obsession is definitely nothing new but a few weeks back I was at Whole Foods and picked these up since I knew they would be gone by the end of August. I paid $9 for a bag of them and then proceeded to eat more than half of that bag while driving home. It was a dangerous and expensive day, and totally worth it. 

2. My backyard is awesome, just ask Willow. It also helps that we have had amazing weather the past few days. It was actually 60 degrees when I got home from work Tuesday morning. This picture doesn't really do it justice but its all I have so far. I haven't take many pictures outside because I unfortunately slept through most of this week's beautiful weather. I'm not too upset though because I feel like there will be plenty more over the next few months. 

3. I did not take this photo. It was taken by the genius who created these heavenly cookie dough balls. I find it difficult to get good photos every time I make them (which is often) because I'm too busy eating 3 at a time. They're the best thing that ever happened to my life. They're also vegan which does not mean they're healthy but I don't care because they are amazing. Make them and see for yourself.

4. This is nothing new, I'm always lovin' on this dog. 

5. I am most definitely loving this house. Maybe someday soon I'll have enough motivation to actually take pictures. We'll see. 

Ok that's it. Now it's time to eat way too many peanut butter cookie dough balls. See ya

Moving on

I just took a serious blogging hiatus this month. I really only have laziness to blame. But now that I actually have things to do I decide to return.  You may call it procrastination, I just like to think of it as inspiration. That's kind of the same thing, right? What I really mean by all this is that Nick and I decided to move. On Saturday night we talked about it, on Sunday afternoon we put our plans into action, and on Monday everything was confirmed. It was a very spontaneous decision but the truth is we had gradually begun to outgrow our current house these past few months. It was perfect when we first moved: small enough to not need too much furniture, low rent, and a fenced backyard for the baby. Lately, however, we've been unhappy with the persistent bug problems that come with a old, not well maintained house, not to mention the one bathroom, and lack of closet space, or just lack of space in general. When we first moved we were living off one income and were fresh out of college. Now with two incomes and having acquired more possessions , I think we are ready to move on. Another reason we jumped into moving so suddenly was that we found an awesome house, in our price range, that was just a few blocks away. The house is newer, the neighborhood is nicer, and it has walk-in closets and a master bath with two sinks!

There's only one problem I have with moving: I hate packing. Who knew boxes and packing paper were so expensive? Plus I really don't like packing away my kitchen with the realization that I may spontaneously decide to bake before Tuesday morning. This may cause problems. The one positive aspect if packing is that I now have an excuse for my house being so messy. Excuses like that are hard to find especially, when I'm trying to convince Nick that I have a perfectly reasonable explanation for not cleaning before he returns home at the end of every month. Our dialogue is usually something like this:
Me: "I know its messy, it's just that I was working the last few nights and I was tired and I only found out you were coming home 4 hours ago"
Nick: "Well I was working for the last 28 days and I found time to clean within the first hour I was home"
Can you tell which one of us is the OCD, neat freak, overachiever in our relationship? Is it pathetic that I sometimes fantasize about hiring a cleaning lady even though I have no children and only work 36 hours a week?

Anyway back to moving. Even with my complaints about the old house I still have been happy living here. I will definitely miss my awesome neighbor, Betty, as well as the big backyard with too many squirrels that has kept Willow so entertained. However, I will not be missing the bugs I have to squish because Nick is gone and its just me at home, or the room that I thought I was painting light green and ended up being lime green (sorry to everyone that had to spend the night in there). I have a lot to look forward to, including no carpet to vacuum (yay!), TWO bathrooms, and fruit trees in my new backyard! I promise I'll post pictures once we're moved in and settled. For now its back to packing, ugh.

Snuggle Dog

It's pretty clear by now to pretty much everyone that I love dogs. One dog in particular, but also all dogs. I was inspired to write this post after I walked by the window today and saw Willow sitting under a tree in the backyard, waiting for squirrels. She's crazy. 

About 2 weeks after Nick and I started dating we went camping in Georgia. There was a sweet black lab that was timid and wouldn't approach people but he would stand across from our campsite and stare at us until we gave him food. After that we could not stop talking about how we wanted a dog, especially when we dropped food on the floor and felt too lazy to pick it up. Eventually I couldn't stand it anymore and was browsing Craigslist one day and found a 6 month old black lab mix who was being given away for free. Yes, it sounds sketchy which is why I made Nick call them. I happened to have a week off from clinicals so the next morning at 9am I was standing in the parking lot of my apartment complex with two crazy, backwoods, redneck people from Palatka. The owners were not very impressive but they seemed nice and genuine enough and the dog was so sweet. Nick told me that its best to get a dog thats smart, fast, and capable of catching frisbees. I told him that its best to get a dog thats cute and snuggly. Anyone who has met Willow knows who won that argument. She'd rather tear a frisbee to shreds and then go lie down on my bed and be loved, but I'm pretty sure Nick is more than ok with that. 

Look at that little baby

After having Willow for a day I decided I needed to break the news to my parents. I called and told them that Nick got a dog and she was just staying with me for the first week because I didn't have to be at school. They saw right through that and were not happy at all. Three days later they met Willow and the conversation never came up again. Now they spoil her and send her stuffed animals that she mutilates in the backyard within minutes. 

She may seem vicious when she's barking at squirrels or tearing the stuffing out of pretty much anything but she's actually really sweet. Just last night I got sent home early from work because we didn't have enough patients. I arrived home at 1:30 am. I unlocked the door and expected Willow to start barking, instead there was silence. I opened the bedroom door and watched as she stretched her head up from my bed, yawned, and wagged her tail, waiting for me to approach and give her a belly rub. Such a good guard dog. The best experience ever is coming home to Willow after 12 hours of work, which, for her means 12 hours of sleeping on the couch. Her tail wagging is out of control, she always yawns and makes loud, obnoxious, high pitched sounds,  and walks under my legs at least 5 times before walking to the back door to go outside and investigate all the sounds she heard outside overnight. I highly recommend witnessing this ritual, its adorable. I also highly recommend getting a dog in general. They love to love you, they're always entertaining, they snuggle, and you can talk to them when you're alone for long periods of time and not feel like you're talking to yourself (not that I do that very often or anything). 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that you can dress them up during the holidays.

I also recommend that you watch this video. It's a day in the life of the Willowdog. 

I also forgot to mention that Willow has about 5 million nicknames. This includes: Willowdog, Littledog, Babydog, Willowface, Crazyface Angelface, Dogface, Animal, Willowhead, Dogbutt, Crazydog, and the list goes on. 

I know that most of this information is old news to everyone but I couldn't not have a blog post dedicated to my doggie. Also I'm very excited because one Willow's best friends is coming in a few days. She and Lia will be reunited and there will be a lot of this going on: 

Yup, I definitely found the perfect snuggle dog. 

Things I'm lovin' - New Hampshire

Ok let's be real its not like I just happen to be lovin' NH right now. It has and always will be my absolute favorite place ever. My mom grew up in New England and just happened to have some really cool parents who decided to buy a vacation house on Lake Winnipesaukee. Yes, after all these years (23 to be exact) of visiting the lake I still had to google the spelling, sorry Mom. Let's not talk about that. So as I was saying, my grandparents had several different vacation houses on Lake Winnepesaukee throughout my mom's childhood, but when she was in college they finally found a winner and have kept this house since the 70's. While the house itself is old, kind of musty, and probably in need of some new decor, but nobody really cares because it holds so much sentimental value, not to mention that it sits on one of the best lakeside lots in the area. Although I may be biased. Anyway, every summer we venture up to NH for at least 5-7 days of relaxing by the lake, swimming, canoeing, eating way too much pie and ice cream and, if we can wake up early and feel motivated, a hike in the surrounding area.

Sometimes we go a little early in the summer. For those of you who have never been there the summer starts in July, seriously. June is still known to be rainy, cold, and not anywhere near ideal swimming conditions. Last year we had to take vacation in early June because Nick and I needed to be in Houston by July. I don't think anyone really cared, but I know it took a lot of contemplating before jumping in the lake. Fortunately, aside from the chilly lake temps, we had beautiful weather and were able to stay for about 2 weeks. 

I don't know if the pictures will do it justice but maybe this will give everyone an idea of why this is my favorite place. 

The house is sort of a barn style. And the yard is shady and covered with pine needles.

And there are plenty of places to just sit down, relax, and just look out at the lake and the mountains in the background.

Last year Nick and I arrived early and went for a 3 day backpacking trip with Willow.

We camped in the woods on the side of a cliff, which had particularly chilly, but breathtaking sunrises. 

We also spent the next day hiking above the tree line.

Willow was amazing. She stayed with us the entire time, was always alert, and never stopped hiking. She proceeded to sleep for the next 2 days straight after we got home.

My family is always down for a day hike, and we usually have plenty of good weather to take advantage of. 

Unfortunately this crazy dog won't be joining us this year. Nick and I figured it would be a little too traumatic to have her fly. Oh and it costs about $400, no thanks. She will be missed but I have a feeling she will have lots of fun hanging out with a certain dog and cat here in Houston. 

It's been increasingly difficult for my family to coordinate vacations so that we can all get a chance to go up there but we still find a way to make it happen every year. On Friday, around 3am we will finally be arriving for a brief trip. We'll all be exhausted but it will be worth it to wake up and see this the next morning (or afternoon):