Life Lately | Fall | Apple Cake | Decorating

Welcome October!! Just a quick post about life lately. We've been prepping the house for fall and enjoying some yummy fall dishes. We are also still working on those built-in's for the living room and trying to finally get the last of the house renovation projects complete. Here is a peak at some fall decor that has arrived. I found these cute little pumpkins at the dollar tree... for you guessed it, $1. 

How sweet are they?

These is a sneak peak at our built-in's in the living room. We found a neat old box to use to cover the cable box and I was able to add my adorable bee knobs to the middle cabinet. They are shaping up to look really great - can't way to share the whole project!

I did some fall baking this week and made these adorable mini apple cider pound cakes for gifts. The perfect little treat to say Happy Fall Y'all!  I tried both the crumple topping and the bourbon, both were a hit!

We said good-bye to some dear friends last night... which I know is not good-bye, but see ya later! Wishing you lots of happy memories ahead in PA, little ole' Lex is going to miss you terribly! 

They are also expecting baby #2, how precious is this annoucement!

Off to Wingate for the weekend to start a new AOII chapter... excited for some Pandemonium! 

A D.C. Getaway

We traveled to Washington, D.C. last week for a work meeting and then stayed over the weekend for some fun in the city with our good friends! It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but relaxing and really a great time! Just a few highlights...

We ventured out and hit lots of hot spots for dinner and bevs, including Old Ebbitt Grill on night one... The Hamilton on night two... followed by drinks at the Round Robin in the Willard Hotel, and Off the Record in The Hay-Adams. Two really swanky DC bars that made you feel like you were right on set of Scandal or House of Cards. It's amazing to be in the energy of that city... it never stops.

Round Robin | Off the Record | Old Ebbitt Grill

Friday night we had a low-key dinner and caught up with our good friends, Show and Leigh. They cooked us a wonderful meal and we downed a few tasty bevs before heading out to a neat area of bars in their neighborhood. The Adams-Morgan neighborhood is adorable, you are in the city, but feel worlds' away with the beautiful brownstones and tree lined streets.

Saturday we hit-up the D.C. zoo, which is part of the Smithsonian, so it's free - thank you government! After a round-trip tour with the animals, we headed to a local "preppy DC bar" called Town Hall for some football and wings. They actually serve your beer in a koozie - heaven! 

One last highlight of our trip was dinner at B Too Saturday evening. Simply A-mazing! It is a Belgium place - and we joked going in about it being a waffle bar - low and behold, even my venison was served with a mini waffle. I loved it! 

All-in-all, a great weekend in D.C. Thanks for the good times Show and Leigh, we can't wait to come back and visit! 

Meet Warby Parker

There are some things in life that you just don't realize you're missing out on. Some are fun and exciting adventures that you don't even know exist, others are everyday adventures or outings that you've just never had to take. Like a trip to the playground to let the kids play, or a road trip with your 12 year old's baseball team for state tournament... or maybe a trip to the international wiffle ball tourney. One can dream, right? What I'm really talking about today is more of the mundane things in life that you only do if you have to or need to... such as a trip to the eyeglass store to pink out new glasses. Thus, the topic for my blog today. I didn't wear glasses growing up, and although one of my brothers could have certainly used a pair {sorry, Rob}, neither of them did. Nor did my parents {until age 50 when they picked up some dollar store magnifiers}, so we never had an excuse to make the trip to pick out frames.

Fast-forward twenty years and during one of my hubs and I's first trips to the mall I spotted some neat frames in an eyeglass store, and said, " Let's go in an try on some new frames, didn't you say you wanted some?"  His face said it all... "why do you think this is fun?"

I had never thought about the fact that trying on glasses at age 25 was totally different for those that had never lived through many years of childhood enduring awful trips to pick out glasses... dreading having to put them on and walk in class on the first day of school. Hello ruthless 4th graders with nothing else to do than pick on the new kid with glasses. All that to say... meet Warby Parker and the home try-on box. You simply go to their website, pick out five frames that you'd like to try and they arrive on your door step in 2 days, free of charge!

 

I loved their packaging, so clever - and such a fun way to jazz up picking out new glasses {for all ages}. 

I even tried on a pair for fun... I could sport some Warby's!

Many thanks to my girls, Ale and Dottie for introducing me to Warby Parker. J has a fun new pair of glassed en route to Lex!

AOII | Pumpkin French Toast | Falling Spring Falls and Sunday Supper

Happy Monday readers!

Good weekend?

Ours was a good mix of work and play, however, as always, it went by too fast!

Friday morning I headed to Boone, NC to visit with my AOII gals. They had sisterhood round of recruitment. It was exciting to get to attend an actual parties and see the excitement on the young ladies faces coming through recruitment. They have no idea what's in store for them... a lifetime of sisterhood and friendships. Just a few pictures I stole from their chapter advisor from bid day.

Saturday I headed back to Lex for a small going away cheers to Alecia and Curtis! We managed to take a girl pic to say hello to Kara.

We're going to miss you guys so much, but I am SO excited for your new adventures in PA!

Sunday we had the Hastings over for a delicious fall brunch - hello Pumpkin French Toast. So, So Good! If you're looking for an easy fall breakfast and something to use up that extra bit of pumpkin you have from leftover fall baking... this is your ticket.

via cooking classy.

After breakfast we decided to get out and explore a little in Virginia. We headed west towards West Virginia to Covington, Va. and enjoyed exploring their small quaint little downtown. Next, we headed up into the Alleghany Mountains to soak up the views. The leaves are just starting to change and the air is warm, but crisp! We found a treasure in the mountains as well - Falling Spring Falls.

It was beautiful!! Such a fun little sunday outing with the hubs! 

We had a delicious Sunday supper, Maple and Mustard Glazed Salmon, Smashed Spiced Sweet Potatoes and Creamed Spinach. One word - yum. Healthy, easy and full of flavor.

Cheers to Monday friends! Where did the weekend runaway too... 

Orange & Blue for the Heezey

It may be a Thursday.... but it's game day for the Auburn Tigers!! This may be our first Thursday game in ages, but it's a big one. The Tigers are headed to Kansas State for a big non-conference/top 25 match-up tonight and I can't wait! Any excuse to chat about my favorite color combo is a happy day for me! Today, I wanted to share some fun orange & blue items to add a lil Auburn to your heezy. Here are a few of my favorites:

Pouf / Alabaster Lamp / Meadow Pitcher / Pillow / Croc Tray / Alabama Cutting Board / Tiger Door Knocker / Duvet Cover / Chirp Pillow / Cathedral Window Guest Napkins / 3 Oranges on Blue 
 {sorry for the funky collage, was working from my laptop with no Indesign last night.}

Don't forget this free downloadable print for your room!

Have a wonderful Thursday friends! With an Auburn game tonight and a road trip tomorrow for work/sorority fun, it feels like Friday to me. Cheers to a great weekend!

 

The Tassel Trend

Who knew that tassels would be so hot this fall? Last summer I went to a fashion preview at Julian Golds in San Antonio... and when they said that the tassel was coming back, I almost laughed out loud. We all know that what we used to consider as "not so fashionable" are now the hottest items on the market. Like many of those trends, I'm not usually the first to jump on the band wagon. I mean - tye-dye, stone-washed denim, neon - heck, even bell bottoms have made their debut, left, come back around, and are gone again {don't worry, I'm sure they'll be back}. One trend I never thought I would get into was the tassel. However, after seeing them around for a year or so, I'm starting to warm up to them.  Here are my favorites:

Macy's - $34

Etsy - $18.00

GiGi New York - $145

Etsy - $14.99

Etsy - $12.99

I also love the tassel for decor. Here is a great idea for a simple and easy DIY tassel garland. 

via.

Are you loving the tassel trend? I haven't made any purchases yet, but I'm thinking after #nospendseptember, a few purchases may be in store. 

Bacon, Basil and Peach Burgers | Pumpkin Favorites

For Sunday supper this week we kicked-up burger night {just a tad} and tried something new - the bacon, basil and peach burger. Y'all, it didn't disappoint. It was delicious!

We followed the  Recipe  exactly, with the exception of the jalapeños because we forgot them, but I'm sure they would be delicious! 

We had a really productive, low-key sorta weekend and are so thrilled that fall is finally here! It was a crisp 70 this morning, and I couldn't be more ready for pumpkins, sweaters and delicious fall treats. Kara and I ran into each other at the store Sunday and got excited for some pumpkin baking... so after  picking up some pumpkin and applesauce, we dove into some pumpkin recipes. Here are two recipes I'm going to try this week.

Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal Pecan Cookies

via skinnytaste.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

via the minimalist.

It's nice to have a productive weekend at home to do some planning for the week. I actually ironed shirts for J and myself... and ironed our whole stack of napkins. I sorta felt like susie home-maker ironing on a Sunday morning {which is totally not me}, but it was nice to see them all done. 

We also made a meal plan for the week, hoo-ray! 

Here is what's on tap for the week:

Sunday - Bacon, Basil and Peach Burgers with Sweet Tator Fries

Monday - Leftovers for T, Meeting for J

Tuesday - Mexican Sweet Potato's 

Wednesday - Pecan-Crusted Chicken over Kale, BBQ Ranch Salad.

Thursday - AUBURN GAME = Pizza and Salad Night!

Friday - Tracy traveling. 

Have a great week, friends!