Fall's Explosion in my Living Room

As you have heard, I love decorating my house, especially for fall and Christmas.  The rest of the year it is pretty much just "normal stuff" - like candles and pictures and vases.  But when the holidays come around, they kind of explode throughout our main living area.

Because our current house does not have a fireplace *which in my opinion is just wrong* I also do not have a mantel to decorate {wah, wah....}.  My bookcase has had to stand in for my main focal point in our living room.

My favorite features here include the burlap-wrapped candle and flower vase *which are both new additions to my collection of fall decor that I created just last week*, as well as the warm inviting colors.  You will also see that I have printed out a copy of my Fall Bucket List and framed it on the top shelf.

We also have a banister-type ledge that sits above the stairway leading from the ground floor to the main level of our house.  This has come in useful as well in making up for the lack of mantel.

The empty third jar is now full of candy corn - but I was too lazy to re-take the picture.  If you missed it last week, you can see more about my pumpkins here.

Keeping with the Fall theme - Congratulations to Meghan from They Call Her Meghan for winning the Fall Adspace Giveaway!  Meghan will be receiving ad space from some of the great blogs that you will find on my sidebar this month!

One of those blogs where you will find >>> is Simple Moments Stick.  I absolutely LOVE Susannah's post from earlier this week about 25 Fall Date Ideas!  She has some great suggestions, so make sure you go check it out!

You can also follow Simple Moments Stick via

Bloglovin' | Twitter | Facebook

Leaves & Pumpkins . . . Fall is Coming

Earlier this week, one of my crafty blogger friends whose name is Katie {as in Katie Stories}, shared her checklist of things she plans to do this fall *see her list here*. I warned her that I would likely be copying her in the near future, and here it is - my Fall Bucket List:

As much as I love the warm, dry summer . . . I can't resist the beautiful colors of fall.  Around here, even though it was 95 degrees outside yesterday, the leaves are already beginning to change.  I guess it is time to accept the inevitable and make the best of it!

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*THIS WEEK IN PHOTOS*

*My car thermometer hit 103 on Wednesday.  I am pretty sure it is off my about 5 degrees...but still. We broke the local record for September 11th by 1 degree.

*A local fire department hung this massive flag off one of their ladder trucks, out over the highway on 9/11 in remembrance.  I wish the photo better portrayed just how big it was.

*I got my first FREE copy of Popular Photography in the mail this week!  I can't remember how many I get...I want to say 6 months, though.

*Work has been a little out of control this week - getting a little bit of OT!

And.....because technically it happened within the last week, here are some more camping pics!

It's not a camping trip without some "adult beverages."  If you like the various hard ciders that have become popular in the last year or two . . . you have to try it mixed with some cinnamon whiskey.  This SinFire is a local variety, but you can also use Fireball or something else.  Also important to note - the grocery store pic in the bottom right corner was my FIRST EVER Instagram upload!

Some of my favorite pictures from the coast are still to come - I need to put a little more thought into which ones to share, though.....

To wrap up Friday and head into the weekend, I am linking up with Whitney for #backthatazzup!  The inspiration for this week's song comes from the live Taking Back Sunday concert we were watching last night on AXStv.

Detached

Does anyone else start to feel lazy, tired and just kind of detached from life when the cold weather starts to set in?  I have started to notice that I don't really feel like doing much of anything these last few days.  Looks like I'm going to have to start battling my mind and dig deep for some motivation.  There are lots of things that I WANT to do - plan our housewarming party, make some banana bread and finish hanging pictures to start.  So we will see how much of that I can actually get done this week.

Last Saturday, I did fight the cold for a little while and met up with a friend to take what might be the last set of fall leaf photos.  Over the last week I have noticed that the majority of the leaves are now on the ground and beginning to disintegrate back into earth.

Here's some of my favorites - and yes, we found some pigs :)

SIDENOTE:

As I mentioned a few weeks ago when I did my first post, I contribute once a month at A Beautiful Day.  Julie, the author, is currently hosting an awesome giveaway to celebrate exceeding 200 followers.  I've contributed to the giveaway and am excited to help spread the word.  The total value is worth over $100 and there are some great prizes.  If you click on the photo below, you can enter to win...good luck!!

Colors

How beautiful has this fall been?  On the mornings that there is enough light to see, I can't help but notice all the different colors of leaves along the side of my street.  There is one tree that I pass on my way home from work in the evenings that caught my attention the last few days.  At the bottom, it still shows signs of green.  Then, there is almost a diagonal line where it switches to yellow leaves, then another diagonal to the top section that is red.  It is really beautiful, but now that the time has changed there is not enough light to take a picture after work...

I did bring my camera with me yesterday morning, though, to capture some of trees down the street before the city came to sweep the leaves away (they already did that on one street I was planning on photographing!).

Sometimes I like to play with the colors of my pictures during processing.  They may not be the original photo, but they turn out really fun.

I'd love to see some of your fall photos as well!!  If you have them posted, feel free to leave the link in a comment and I will be sure to check them out!

Falling

...into love with fall!

Leaves on the ground

Sun in the sky

A chill in the air

Pumpkin pie

Okay . . . that may have been totally cheesy.  But sometimes, I just am cheesy.  That's okay.

Anyways, I know I have already mentioned this recently, but

I cannot believe that I have never really appreciated the autumn season.  It is 

absolutely beautiful!!

Yesterday I took advantage of a short workday and the beautiful weather.  It was a little chilly out,

but the sun was shining and that's all that matters to me.

 

These photos were all taken within about 30 minutes of my house.  Isn't it wonderful to find peace and serenity right outside your door?

Leaves

In the last week or so, fall has officially set in.  We went from nice warm afternoons to chilly, foggy mornings.  I know I have said this before, but one of my favorite parts of fall is the beautiful colors.  Today, I could feel the leaves outside beckoning me and my camera.

I would say we are pretty lucky to have these trees right outside our house.  I would love for others to share some of their fall photos!!  Just send me a link!