Whoa Nelly!

I have missed the blogosphere!  Life gets busy sometimes, doesn't it!?  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  Discuss.  :)

We have some lovely crisp weather here in Houston.  I am loving fall and looking forward to decorating for Christmas.

The crazy pups are doing great.  Fall weather makes them very happy and excited too.  They are full of energy right now.

Wags and Sammy

Look at Wags; she's so cute.  You want to meet her don't you?  I know you do.  Email Red Collar Rescue now for details: info@redcollar.org.

Who is already putting a dent in their holiday shopping?  I am usually close to finished by now, but this year I haven't even started.  I am behind.  Last year I even had all my presents wrapped right after Thanksgiving.  I am a little stressed out about my lack of organization this year.  I haven't even ordered my Christmas cards.  I want to do a little picture collage of Italy this year.  Here are some of the pictures I am considering.

Along the Arno in Florence

In Pisa

In Rome

And I love this gondola selfie, I am thinking it definitely gets included somehow.

Now I just need to get it together and order so they will be here in enough time to mail before Christmas!!!  Sigh.

Have you started your holiday preparations?

Hope you are doing great!!

Weekend Recap

Phew!!  It has been crazy here.  I have missed all of you so much!  It was a great weekend.  We kicked it off with a little live music on Friday.

We saw Gary P Nunn at Blanco's.  It was kind of goodbye occasion, Blanco's is closing in a couple of months.  It has been around a long time and it is weird that it will be gone soon.

On Saturday one of the BFFs Rebecca had the ladies over for a pumpkin painting party.

And paint pumpkins we did!

There was also some mod podge going on.  I love how the fall leaf pumpkin turned out.

I adore this chest that Rebecca has in her living room.

Doesn't it look fantastic decked out for Halloween?  Love.

There was also a lot of snuggle time this weekend.

Check out how great Sammy and Wags are getting along!  Wags is our foster pup that I introduced you to a few weeks ago.  She is a sweetie.

Sammy has been an only dog for a long time, so she had a little trouble adjusting to having Wags around.  Although she won't admit it, I am fairly sure she is loving her foster sister now.

Proof in the smiles.

Wags is available for adoption through Red Collar Rescue and is so excited to find her forever home.  She has lots of love to share.

 

And she is happy to provide entertainment.

Silly girl.

I hope you had a fantastic weekend!!

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Welcome Fall

We don't really have any fall temperatures here in Houston yet, but that doesn't mean my decor has to lack fall touches.  I have already been bringing fall into my home.

I like my fall mantel this year.  I changed it a up a bit from last year.

If you have been reading the blog for a while you know that the husband and I took over my childhood home and have been making improvements as we go.  Along with the house I also inherited some awesome items from my mom and grandmothers.  I wanted to incorporate some of those into my decor this year.

The first piece I used was this silver dish propped on a small wire easel with sparkle pumpkins pouring from it.  I found the sparkle pumpkins at Pier 1 and I love how the react to the camera flash.  I used them in one of my hurricanes as well.

In the center of the mantel I used some clearance bird houses I got from Willow House when they were phasing out their home goods.  Silly Willow House, I liked their home goods.  I don't know why they decided to do away with them.  Sigh.

I tied bows on them and added these hand written welcome notes that I made with scrap book paper and a metallic sharpie.  I thought it turned out kind of cute.

The right side of the mantel remained the same as last year, but I incorporated gourds into my large hurricane.

I am a fan.  I love sitting in the living room in the evening with the candles lit.

Another silver piece I used from my stash was this footed dish to elevate one of my pumpkins on the top of the piano.

I like how it makes the pumpkin stand up above the music stand.

Are you already decorating for the fall?  Or even better do you already have some fall temperatures where you live?

Enjoy your Wednesday!!

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Weekend Recap

I had a fabulous weekend celebrating the return of football and the coming of fall.  Saturday I decorated while watching college games.

There will be a fall decor post coming later in the week.  I wish I could order some cooler temps to go with my decorations.  Sigh.

Sunday one of the BFFs, Rebecca, invited me and the husband over for some Packers football.

Rebecca, I know you are happy you let me snap this picture of you!

Yes, we are in Houston and yes the Texans are the husband and my favorite team, but we do also enjoy the Packers.

Packer fans reporting for duty!!

And yes, there was cheese!

Sorry, I could resist.  Rebecca was serving an awesome Wisconsin inspired spread complete with brats stewed in beer!

She has some recipe highlights up on her blog today if you want to check it out here.  They were pretty darn tasty.

I don't think the cookies had anything to do with Wisconsin, but they sure were yummy.

Rebecca's pups, Ava and Leo, were very excited to see us.

Okay, Ava was very excited to see us and Leo was happy that we gave him treats.  Not to worry, Ava got over her excitement eventually.  :)

Unfortunately, the Packers couldn't pull out a win for us.  Hopefully our Texans will bring home a win for us tonight!

I hope you had a fantastic weekend!

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Weekly Finds

Hello friends!  Can I tell you how excited I am to decorate for fall?  So excited.  I found these super cute squash for my fall decor collection at Pier 1 this week.

I will start decorating this week and weekend, so pictures will be coming soon.  You know there will be a fall mantle.  Do you already have fall decorating ideas rolling around in your head?  Started in your home??

Now I'd love to introduce you to a new blog.  You might remember my dear friend Rebecca from some of my posts, like this one, this one, or this one...anyway she started her very own blog this week!

She'll be posting recipes, cleaning tips and fun stories about life and her pups.  Go check her out at Rebecca's Daily Recap and welcome her to the blogosphere!

Linking Up:

Weekend Recap

Let's start with birthdays!!  Today is my sis-in-law's birthday and Friday we went and had a great girl's dinner at Crappito's.  Since I am terrible, I have no picture of the SIL and me, so here is one from last year's birthday celebration.

We were this cute this year too.

The weather in Houston was pretty great over the weekend so on Friday we dined outside on this great patio.  I love the food and the patio at Crappito's.

(source)

It was a great evening!  Happy Birthday Dawn!  Love you lots!!

Saturday morning I went to the Houston Garden Center and bought plants for fall planting.  I wish my backseat always looked this good!

The car is no longer this pretty, but the deck looks great!

Mums, pansies and blue eyed rivieras.

More pansies.

I got this awesome jack-o-latern squash at my grocery store at the end of October last year for 4 bucks!  I love him.

I finally got my Texas stars hung.  I was happy.

This bougainvillea was on sale since it is not really a fall plant.  I hope it does okay, I think it is super pretty.

We had the most awesome cool-ish weather this weekend.  I wish it would stick around longer.  Sammy had a great weekend playing in the yard.  Sunday night she was worn out.

And for your entertainment at my expense...have you seen this new magazine ad for the new UN-scented oil of olay lotion?

Yep, I scratched and sniffed before reading the ad.  FAIL.  I laughed out loud though and took a picture to add to the blog, so I guess this is a successful advertisement!

Happy Monday!!  Did you have a nice weekend?