All Things Fall

In light of last week's post, I thought I'd make this post a little more lighthearted.  

Here are my current favorite things for this fall season--

Last month, a friend and I went shopping at the Yankee Candle store and stocked up on seasonal tea light tarts...this new scent Pumpkin Buttercream is my favorite.  It is to die for. Your family will love you just a little more if you burn this in your home this season.

We love French Breakfast Puffs....better known in our family as "Duffins" or "Donut Muffins". 

We discovered this Pioneer Woman recipe last fall and they were a hit with all of our seasonal out of town guests. If you are going to make them I'll tell you that our family's secret ingredient is a 1/2 cup of pumpkin pie filling.  If you try making one new thing this fall MAKE THESE.  

I have Pinterest to thank for this next recipe.  We've made this Glazed Pork twice in the last two weeks.  It is a simple crock pot meal and absolutely delicious.   This meal is also fairly inexpensive because most of the ingredients are staple items you likely already have in your home.  However, if you feel the need to increase your grocery bill by say-- 10 or 15 extra bucks, you can add in the cloves that somehow mysteriously appeared in my parent's version of this recipe.  Love ya, mom ;)

Switching gears entirely-- 

Fall Fashion & Home Decor

My favorite fall fashion piece is this SimplyVera Vera Wang ruched scarf.  It is soft and looks classy and stylish under fall jackets or paired with a leather jacket and cute jeans.  

This is my final year to control what my daughter will be for Halloween.  Next year, I'm certain she'll be  insistent on choosing her own costume and like most stubborn, strong willed toddlers will want to be a princess or, (Lord, help me) some type of themed TV character like Dora or Barney or Sponge Bob.  With that future thought in mind--I'm going ultra creative this year.  Mack will be sporting this peacock getup.  I think it's adorable.  I'm also trying hard to ignore the fact that for weeks I'll be picking multicolored feathers off  my couch and out of my carpet.

I love these bright colors for fall.  Pam, if you're reading this...

I'm coming for your ugly couch pillows. 

I love this mantle.  I've been dying to recreate this look over our own fireplace.  
It may have to wait a few months until I can pull some budget friendly DIY pieces together but eventually I hope to create this look.


And, just for the heck of it ( because I'm on currently on a crochet kick)
Head to over to Hipknitized for a free pattern to make your own coffee cup holder.  I think my heart skipped a beat when I first saw this.  Come on Dad, you know you want one.

I'll leave you with some pictures of one of my favorite places to visit in the fall-- Estes Park, CO.

Last week we took our Seniors here for a scenic drive & a picnic to see the changing colors.  As we drove, I was overcome with memories of our engagement summer here just over 6 years ago.  Memories of snowball fights with our cousins in the middle of July and of our family devouring caramel apples on the side of an Estes Park hill. So much has changed since then-- a lot of life has been lived. Someday soon I hope that JB and I can bring Mack back and create some family memories of our own.

Happy fall everyone!  I hope you are enjoying this season as our family is.

Fall Wreath Inspiration

Here's the fall wreath JB & I finished tonight.

I was thinking deep purples and creams but somehow we ended up with a mixture of autumn colors.  And yes, I know that the number 2 is crooked and needs to be fixed.  It's staring at me as I type this.

In short: We found the house numbers at Michael's on clearance.  We used a 40% off coupon making this wreath only $3.00 at JoAnn's.  The flowers I took from work because we have an overabundance of dried flowers that will probably never be used.  After painting several coats onto the house numbers and hot gluing everything, we magically had this wreath.  All for under $5.00. And we love it.  The only thing I don't like is the fact that our house numbers are glaring at us from inside the circle of the wreath.  Just a little weird.

We gleaned our inspiration (thanks to Pinterest) from Teach.Craft.Love.  I loved her wreath ideas as soon as I saw them and I'm excited to make a Christmas one too.  I'm thinking silver door numbers with red flowers and silver bells. Can't wait to try it.  For now though, I'm thrilled that it's FINALLY Fall and I will milk this season for everything that it's worth.