Feeling Fall In the Air and Life Updates

Hello friends and happy fall to you!

I decided to take a few minutes to check in and let you all know I am still alive. LOL!

Most of you probable heard about Hurricane Matthew hitting Florida as well as other states on the east coast. Fortunately for my area, we didn't suffer any major damage. We had some wind and very little rain. Other areas if Florida were not so fortunate. As bad as it was on our east coast though, I feel so bad for Haiti. Those poor folks had nowhere to go and the death rate there is staggering. My prayers are with them. 

Due to the hurricane approaching and not truly knowing how bad it would be in my area, school was cancelled Friday, which gave me a 3-day weekend. I had a lazy day Friday and played around with my Heidi Swapp light box that I purchased a few weeks ago. I bought some beautiful clip art on Etsy and designed a fall sign.

Here it is unlit. It was glaring in the photo so I had to turn it off. It adds some fun to my buffet vignette.

I didn't purchase anything to decorate with this year. I just dug out all my stuff from the shed and picked some favorites to use. I love this wooden pumpkin and the Scrabble tiles. 

I also love the fall colors with my favorite aqua blue color.

Here's the light box again.

The china cabinet just got some fall foliage and the banner I made a few years ago using tags and grapevine twigs.

I finally used my chalkboard blocks I purchased from the Target dollar spot several weeks ago. 

A couple items on the bookcase. I would like to put some fall colored candy in the pumpkin, but I would be too tempted to eat it!

The table centerpiece.

Another candy dish on the bookshelf. Yes this one is empty too.

And here is the entire room. I draped a floral garland around the chandelier above the table to add some more color. I love how it turned out, 

I also changed up my kitchen shelves a bit. I added some branches to the milk pitcher and placed a fabric pumpkin beside it. Sorry about the quality of the photos. It was dark when I took these and even when it isn't I don't have good natural light here in the woods. Anywho, I was excited to find a set of saucers and small bowls to match my fall plates and large bowls that I got a couple years ago. I found them at TJ Maxx for $7.99 a set. So, I fibbed when I said I didn't purchase anything new. I forgot about these. I placed a set of vintage glassware beside them that belonged to my hubby's granny. They have orange, yellow, and green bottoms and match perfectly. I thought we might use these dishes more if I left them sitting out, and I can enjoy looking at them as well. They are so pretty and the colors are so vibrant.

And that is all I have today my friends. I do have a couple blog posts planned to share. Hopefully I can carve out time soon. I am happy to report that I am still working out 3 days per week with my trainer and getting stronger every week. My goal this week is to start walking on the days I don't work out now that the weather is cooling off. My workouts are outside and I work up a sweat in this lovely Florida humidity, so I haven't felt like walking and sweating too. I know that's not a very good excuse, but baby steps! I am sad to say I have never been a very active person so the fact that I am working out hard 3 hours a week and loving it is huge for me. I feel so much stronger than I ever have! I am really hoping to get up to North Georgia to see the fall leaves on the trees and go hiking at the end of the month. I have always wanted to do that and never have. Hopefully this is the year! I am excited about and loving life more than ever. I have some good news about my daughter, Miranda too. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but she works for a travel company about an hour away and is loving her job. It is her favorite job yet. She is hoping to move  closer soon. Also, she is dating a very nice guy and they have really hit it off. She is happy and doing well and I am so happy for her! We recently celebrated her 27th birthday and just a few days later, on October 8th, the hubby and I celebrated 28 years of marriage. I am blessed with a wonderful husband and can't imagine life without him. 

I hope you have a delightful week! 

Until next time.....

Fall is Finally In the Air

Hello! I'm Vicky....do you remember me? LOL! I've been so busy recently and can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post. I miss blogging and hope to carve out time to post more soon. Until then, I'll share a few things from the past couple weeks. I finally decorated for fall this past week and am enjoying the warm colors. Check out my cute new squirrel plates I found at Wal Mart to add to my tablescaping stash. Aren't they adorable?

Let me share some of my decor. Here's the tag & twig banner I made last year. I still love it! 

In the living room, I placed a few decorations here and there.

Since time has been limited lately, I just printed this banner and made it two-sided  so I could enjoy it from the living and dining room. I added a fall leaf garland to the shelf above. Simple, but pretty!

The bookshelves have a few pumpkins and fall leaves scattered about.

The buffet also got a few fall decorations.....

as did the shelf.

I made a fall snack mix to give out to some of my teacher friends at school...:)

It was so tasty....rice Chex cereal, butter snap waffle pretzels, candy corn, candy corn M&M's and white chocolate.

Yum!

I did just a tiny bit of thrifting yesterday. I had a Dr appointment and ran to the Goodwill after to look for something for an upcoming project. Anywho, I stumbled upon this beautiful solid wood coffee table for $29.99. It is super sturdy and I love the drawer. 

I opened the drawer in the store and saw this inside and knew it cost far more than $29.99 new. I found one just like it online for $158! I would say I got a great deal! It is like new...just a couple tiny scuff marks. And, I love the black, so no paint job needed!

I also found this wall planter. I love these plastic resin pieces. This one will get a paint job and will be used on my new porch. Speaking of that new porch I've been dreaming of for years, we are planning to start building it in December. I am so excited! I have big plans for it and already have lots of decorative items I've been collecting for a few years. 

After my Dr appointment yesterday, the hubby and I went to Home Depot and bought a new heater. We do not have central heat/air and since we remodeled, we did not want to put a gas heater back in the house, so we decided to try one of these for now. I love it! I really love the fact that I can turn the "fire and flames" on without the heater part. It's very cozy...:)

I enjoyed looking at it last night while enjoying this.....brown sugar, pecan pound cake. Homemade by my Aunt Loretta....toasted with a little butter on top and a cup of hot chocolate. We've finally been having some cooler temperatures and I take advantage when we do. 

I've thoroughly enjoyed the last two weekends. Both full of family, fun, and laughs. I am blessed. 

Hope life is treating you well. Have a wonderful week.

Oh...be sure to check in this week if you are interested in participating in my Christmas Ornament Exchange this year. I will be posting information this week.

Until next time.....

Autumn Blessings.....

I finally did it...:) 

I finally had my hubby and son drag all my fall decor out of the shed so I could decorate for my favorite season of the year! I love the warm colors of fall decor and I had fun decorating with my white pitcher and milk glass vase collections this year. I have little touches spread around the house and am enjoying looking at it even if I do still have the air conditioner running because it is still hot here in Florida!

 Here is my buffet and the shelf above. You may remember the shelf from this post. I love the fall colors with the jade color of the shelf....so pretty!

 

This is my favorite pumpkin. I bought it at Target years ago. It is glass...even the stem.

One of my little fall bears I have had for years.

And another one...:)

Here is the top of my entertainment center in the living room. I just moved a basket of green ivy, added the gold metal pumpkin and fall leaf garland and called it done.

I had forgotten about this pretty wreath I got on clearance a couple years ago at Wal Mart. Better Homes & Gardens.....normally $20 or $25 and I got it for $2!

A couple touches of fall on my little round table in the living room.

One of my two fall pillows I got on clearance from the Dollar General for a couple bucks a couple years ago.

An end table in the living room holds some fall flowers and my walnut candy dish with the little squirrel on top.

An apothecary jar in the kitchen holds some pine cones, acorns, and a gourd.

A small corner shelf in the kitchen holds more touches of fall.

I love this small bell shaped cloche.

A glittered pumpkin rests inside my aqua & white, vintage Buffalo cup and saucer. I love the aqua and orange together.

This small table houses our phone chargers, keys, and such. I added some pumpkins in the glass pedestal bowl and a sprig of blingy fall twigs in my vintage Pepsi bottle. 

My favorite project of the year and also my first ever tag project is this sweet banner. I had the little hand stenciled leaf prints that I thrifted earlier this year. The tags were made by hot gluing pieces of grapevine to form the letters. It was time consuming, but well worth it. I love it...:)

I moved the cone from the door to the china cabinet since I found my big wreath for the door.

Here's a close-up of one of the tags. I have wild grapevine growing everywhere in the woods bordering my yard. It is very flexible when you first cut it and very easy to work with.

Here are the stenciled leaf prints up close. They are stenciled on a flocked tag board. They were in a frame and I had forgotten about them. I was looking in my craft room closet Friday night for something for another project and spotted them. I was trying to decide how to use them in my fall decor when inspiration struck to make a banner! The banner cost absolutely nothing to make since I had everything I needed on hand...:)

I also used some grapevine to make some napkin rings. My mother in law bought me the prettiest plates today when we were at TJ Maxx for my upcoming anniversary and I didn't have any napkin rings that went with them, so I made my own.

Here are the beautiful plates! I fell in love with them the instant I saw them. I went ahead and bought the bowls to match. The colors in the plates are simply gorgeous and I love the square shape!

Here are the napkin rings. I needed something simple. 

I have some beautiful fall place mats, but I felt they took away from the plates so I went wit these. I am in the market for something different though since I am not loving these with the plates. They will do for now though...:)

Not the best photo but here is the whole table. I went for the less is more look here...:)

What do you think?

I love the little acorn shaped top on the tureen.

I am so happy to finally be feeling better. I missed a day and a half of work earlier in the week and ended up going to the doctor. I had a sinus infection and seriously don't remember ever feeling any worse. I am finally feeling better though and have been very productive this weekend. I am off to type my lesson plans for the week now so I can feel accomplished and ready for the work week. I love to be prepared before the week begins! Looking forward to having two early release days this week as well as the Homecoming parade Friday, then I'm going to Tallahassee to spend the weekend with my beautiful daughter, Miranda. I love our girl time together...:) So many autumn blessings to be thankful for. I will definitely be posting a couple times this week since I have some special blessings to share. I pray each of you have a beautiful week.

I leave you with this.....a little hello from Sadie. She's growing so fast. She is the sweetest little thing and is so happy to see me when I get home from work every day.

 I love her so much...:)