Owl Pumpkin

When I was a kid my family didn't participate in anything Halloween related. A couple years ago was my first time dressing up for Halloween, and a couple nights ago was my first time to carve a pumpkin. We went over to our long time friends Jen and John's (See Jen, I linked you instead of you linking me. You're readership will increase by approximately 2 people now) house to get our carve on. Since I'm really into owls right now, when I found this adorable owl pattern on Martha Stewart's website I got super excited. I let Jordan do the hard/nasty part of cleaning out the pumpkin and I traced the pattern. I had picked up a $4 carving kit from Walmart that came in quite handy. He and I went back and forth taking turns when our hands got too tired that's what she said. At first I was wondering why people enjoyed carving so much, but once I got the hang of it I really had fun. And I'm really happy with the way it turned out.



I have it sitting on our front porch with a lantern I found at HomeGoods this week ($20!) and a pot of mums.



Now if the Halloween candy survives until Sunday we will be all ready for trick or treaters!

Dictionary Wreath

Ugh. Me. Crafts. Darn you. But after seeing this adorable book page wreath I just had to give it a try. During my weekly outing to the thrift store I picked up a $1 dictionary and a foam wreath form at Joann Fabrics. I opted to roll my pages so each word from the dictionary page stands out. Roll, glue, stick, turn. Do that about 112 times and you'll have a wreath.

I got most of my pages from the "D" "E" and "F" section of the dictionary.



The strangest word that ended up on the wreath was "death march" and the one I enjoyed the most was "dapple grey".



For now it's home is in the far corner of our dining room.



I got the book wreath idea from the same blog as the burlap wreath idea. I won't be trying to sell this one in my Etsy store, but I might make some Christmas ornaments. There are plenty of dictionary pages left.

I might take a flower piece off of one of these to put in the center of the book wreath.








My next craft project will definitely not be a wreath.

Our Favorite Weekend....Apart

I spent one of the best weekends with my co-workers in Sarasota for another co-workers wedding. We stayed at the Ritz-Carlton where the wedding was held, drank premium drinks (I've never drank that much champagne before!) and had the best time us crazy nurses could have asked for! The wedding was absolutely amazing. I've never seen a happier couple.

Me and my roommate on our balcony overlooking the intercoastal.



All dressed up at the wedding - have you ever seen a hotter group of nurses?!



The beautiful bride walking down the aisle with one of the proudest dad's



Watching the sunset at the reception.



Their first dance as Mr. and Mrs. Barrett


The DJ had great music so we were all dancing. These girls know how to party.



After the wedding was over we spent some time detoxing in the hotel jacuzzi



The morning after we went to St. Armand's Circle to have lunch at Columbia.


While I was having a blast with my girls, Jordan drove to the Auburn/LSU game. He got a free media pass for the game so he was on the field. His pictures came out so good. Sunday night, while we were reminiscing about our weekends, we both decided they were our favorite weekend trips, although we didn't spend them together..... uh oh....!

Fall Fell

Fall fell into this house this week and I came to realize how much I dislike holiday decorating. I always thought it was just bad timing or I wasn't in the mood, but after five years of having my own house to decorate I now know I just plain old don't like it. I love looking through pictures of other people's decorations, but I just can't get it together for my own home. I think one reason is I don't like having things out of place, and while in the middle of trying to make something pretty, other things are scattered all over (man, that really makes me sound OCD). And I have a hard time spending money on a non-permanent items for our house. I'd rather spend money on something we will enjoy all year. But, it's the week before Halloween and I needed to get it done. Since I took a picture I can do the EXACT same thing next year!


Last year I bought the arrangement of fall flowers from Old Time Pottery (one thing they do well) and I bought the faux pumpkins from Walmart for $1 each ($5 for the big one). That's our staple almost-made-it-through-the-whole-bottle-but-not-quite-yet wine that always seems to be sitting around.



I don't know why, maybe it's the colors, or the non-traditional fall items mixed in, but I love this grouping in the middle of our table. Jordan helped with the placement (he has a great eye for balance that isn't symmetrical, unlike myself). The cream and sugar milk glass jars were a vacation find in an antique mall. I found the acorns in Shenandoah National Forest. There was a group of bikers staring at me like I was crazy for filling my pockets with these big, beautiful acorns. When I got home, all these little fat worms (I call them worms cause if I used the word maggot I'd have a hard time keeping the acorns on my table) had eaten their way out. Maybe that's why the bikers were looking at me so weird, they knew I was filling my pockets with maggot acorns.



Our entryway has always been brown, beige, and subtle hints of red. After switching to the fall decor, it's still brown, beige, and has subtle hints of red. It was the last of my fall decorating and this was as good as it was gonna get.

Drool Drool Drool

I found heaven in the form of cookies. My friend is having a fall party tomorrow night so I decided to try out pumpkin cookie baking. I switched up the original recipe a little to make them somewhat healthy and they are to die for. I can't imagine how good the inch-you-one-step-closer-to-diabetes version would be. Be prepared with a glass of milk when they come out of the oven




Ingredients
* 1 can pumpkin
* 1/2 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup splenda
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 1 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup whole wheat flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon milk
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
1. Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
2. Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
3. Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes if you like your cookies gooey, longer for more crunchy

Next time I will replace the oil with applesauce, I just didn't have any available this time.

Home Again

All last week Jordan and I were on vacation with my parents. We went to Raleigh, Williamsburg, DC, Shenandoah and Roanoke Rapids (my dad's home town). We visited a LOT of family and saw a lot of sights. We ran the heck out of my poor car. I forgot to take my camera (the one thing I forgot) so I had to rely on Jordan's awkwardly large camera and my iPhone, which means I don't have any decent pictures to share. Instead I'll leave you with one completely non-vacation related photo. Jordan took it at Duke University (his brother attends Duke and took us on a tour) and photoshopped the crap out of it. He's pretty much amazing.