Happy Halloween!

We were in Little Rock this past weekend and Saturday night our friends, Rachael and Zach came over for dinner and carving pumpkins! We had such a blast.

Dad of course had to break out the scary mask and scare Ra! And not sure about what Marc is doing to my mother. I swear this was not posed.

Finished product!

I thought they turned out so good!

Marc and my mom carved the "chevron" pattern one. Marc is very detailed and it turned out perfect! I saw a pumpkin like this on pinterest and told Marc he should try it, so he did. Ra and Zach carved the other one which I thought was great as well. It was a great night to get in the fall Spirit.

Fall Blog Hop Tour

I love Fall! My house was made for fall because of all the orange in it and it makes me so happy.
I'm also thrilled because I had my mom do a little re-decorating when she came into town the other weekend! Another little happy is that I hit up the I.O. metro warehouse sale and I found a little treasure, which is just so exciting to have a new piece in my house!

So here is what I have so far...

these sconces are new and I'm still waiting to get some large candles. I know these look dinky.

new fall arrangement

this is my new piece! I've been looking for something tall to put my tv on and I finally found the perfect thing!

If you love Fall as much as I do, link up below to show a tour of your home decorated for fall or what your favorite thing about fall is! I thought it might be a fun way to get in a Fallish Spirit. I'm also absoutely loving the weather right now.

Football and Fall Y'all

Happy first of September. Can I just tell you that I'm super excited about the time of year that is coming up!

First of all I'm excited about this starting in just 1 day...

I love SEC football.

 I heart the Razorbacks big time. I unfortunately do not heart the ticket prices enough to pay big $$ to go attend these wonderful games. Sometimes we ge free tickets from lovely people, which always is nice, but this year will be a shot in the dark to get any since we are supposed to be so awesome... I guess we will just have to wait and see about that.

 Secondly, FALL is right around the corner. I can't wait for cooler temps and pumpkin inspired food and drinks all around me! Probably my most favorite time of the year ever.

This year I'm going to attend my first ever corn maze! Obviously it is awesome since it is shaped like a razorback. If you live in NWA you should check it out. http://site.ozarkcornmaze.com/

Only a few more days till I can get one of these!

Happy {almost} Fall Y'all!

Pumpkin Craft night

A few nights ago I had some girls over for a fun night of painting pumpkins. We all got a couple pumpkins a piece and then I pulled out the trusty ole chalkboard paint. I had a few skeptics about this project once we began painting, but in the end it turned out good and they were happy with the end result!

 

Rachael is a little unsure about the black pumpkins

monogrammed with chalk for Marc and Michelle..awww

 this one Louise did with paint pens for her and Ben

my finished products!

We also made yummy caramel apples! This was a caramel apple kit. It came with the caramel, parchment paper, and sticks. The caramel was so yummy and draped perfectly over the apple.

unfortunaltely we cut them before I snapped a pic

they were still yummy though!

This was such a fun and easy fall craft. It would be fun for kids too, especially since chalk is easy to erase. It is pretty cheap as well. I bought my chalkbaord paint at Lowes a few months ago to make my framed chalkboard if you remember. It cost about $12 and then throw in a couple of $2-3 pumpkins makes for a fun, cheap craft! I still have a ton of paint left over, so it goes a long way.

Yummy fall dip

Who doesn't love a yummy fall dip recipe? I had this yumminess at a work lunch and it was so good.

Pumpkin Dip:

2 cups powdered sugar

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese

1 can pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

2 cups Cool Whip

Beat softened cream cheese until light and fluffy. Stir in powdered sugar and blend well. Add pumpkin, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice and blend well.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Chill and serve. You can serve it in a cue bowl along with vanilla wafers, ginger snap cookies, graham crackers or whatever sounds yummy to you!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin spice and Everything nice

Thats right, if you haven't ever had a pumpkin spice latte, then you are missing out. Nothing screams fall quite like this drink. It's amazing. It just has a small, little touch of pumpkin flavor. I had my first one this morning and now with the weather much, much cooler I officially can say it is Fall!!!

You should definitely at least try one this fall season!

Happy Fall Y'all!

I love that the weather is getting a little cooler! I decorated super early for fall, just because it is my favorite season to decorate for. Plus with orange being my favorite color, it makes it very easy!

Here are a few pics of my fall decor,

I'm still lacking a few things. But my goal was to make it feel like fall without going too overboard. Sometimes simple is better in my mind.
Happy Fall! Now go enjoy a yummy pumpkin spice latte. They are to die for!

Fall Celebration

The other night, my amazing friend Katie had us all over for a fall celebration. It was the perfect night to enjoy some yummy fall desserts and to get us all ready for fall! She is incredibly talented and thought out every detail to incorporate fall throughout her party.
You should definitely check the party out at The City Cradle. Leave her a comment about what you love about Katie's fall celleration and you too could win a giveaway! It really is worth looking at, especially if you need some fall inspiration!

Pumpkin cake anyone?

A couple of days ago I delivered a meal to our friends, The Blaggs, because they just had a beautiful baby girl.
I wanted to take them something that had some type of fall flavor. I was reading this blog and found this amazing pumpkin cake recipe. I have to say I was a little nervous about making it, but it turned out really good. I was nervous because it is all from scratch and I don't always do so well with the "from scratch" types of things. I usually go the cake mix route.

So here is the recipe for Pumpkin cake(or bread...or cupcakes...or whatever mood you're in!)
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 15 oz. can pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Cream cheese icing (you can make it or buy it- I bough it)

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together eggs, oil, pumpkin, and sugar.

Stir in other ingredients until well mixed. (I use the mixer for this part too.)

Pour into a very, very well sprayed (like, the cooking spray should almost be pooling in the bottom of the dish) 9x13 pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until center springs back. (Might take 5 minutes longer depending on your oven)

After the pan cools, frost the cake with cream cheese icing. But feel free to treat it like brownies, or bread, or whatever your heart desires.

It turned out really well, and very moist! The cream cheese icing is perfect for on the top.
I just though I would share it with you, because it was not hard and it is very delicious!

On another note, I'm very excited for this weekend. I'm heading to OKC to see my friend Liz and to go to a U2/Black eyed pea concert! It should be a super, fun girls weekend!
I will try to take pics and tell you all about it afterwards! Have a great weekend!

Falling in Love with Fall

Today is October 1st!

I can now officially decorate for fall and can say goodbye to summer. I have really been trying to hold out til now! I think since the weather has felt so fallish the past month, it feels like fall has been her awhile already.

Over the past 4 years, I have developed a serious love for fall that I didn't even realize I had. It started when Marc and I had our 1st apartment right after we got married, and I wanted to decorate the outside of it. I went all out with the cornstalk, hay bale, pumpkins and mums! Since then my love has grown. Summer used to be my favorite season because I'm madly obsessed with the lake, but fall is in close 2nd!

Yesterday was an exciting day! I got 2 fun punkins from hobby Lobby (its all 50% off already) and my sweet hubby surprised me with two pots of beautiful yellow mums! Yay I'm so excited. I think another reason I love fall is because I'm also obsessed with the color orange, therefore ALL fall decor matches pretty much everything in my house!

Getting excited for all things Fall......

the Ozarks beautiful foliage


mums ...


Punkins... Ahh I love them!


The ultimate fall decor



a taste of fall...

The smell of fall...

Now these little yummy looking treats I found on Bakerella's website !

Go there for the full recipe. If I get brave, I might attempt them sometime this fall!

I mean so adorable!

And of course.... Razorback football, no matter how bad we are!

So Happy Fall Yall! Enjoy it before the evil cold sets in!

Fall Fun Festivities

Last night we had a random, little fall get together. We had such a blast. I made lots of dessert, the boys played some serious ping pong, and then we had a pumpkin carving contest!

I love the fall, so this was such a great time!

Here are pics from our night!

Let the carving begin!


Marc getting to work on ours!


Me and Lou just chillin



"mYm" was our masterpiece

The Hartnesses working hard

Their finished product:

Ben and Louise's drunken pumpkin?

All the punkins

Ra and I made a "Boo Ya" punkin (didn't turn out so great :)


The Martins working hard:

Their finished product: Colonel Sanders (kfc)

All the girls!

All the boys!