Happy First Day of Fall!!!

Fall is my most favorite of all the seasons and now it is officially here! YAY

Oh my dear, sweet Fall…..I love you so. I am so glad you are finally back and I am looking forward to the next few months we have together. You bring so much joy and happiness to my life, you are truly the BEST of all the seasons…and I don’t care if the other seasons know I think that.

Here are some of the reasons I fell in love with you in the first place:


The weather changes and we have cooler days and nice chilly evenings.

Having the windows open to enjoy the cool, fresh air.

The leaves changing color – SO pretty. (I love going home during the fall because we have the prettiest trees back home)

Wearing fall clothes! Scarves, sweatshirts, jeans, boots, sweaters….ahhh – love it!

It is not light out at 9pm.

Those Fall days where it is really really sunny but really cool, perfection.

Drinking Apple Cider (both hot and cold)

The Smell of Fall

Halloween!

Apple Cinnamon Spice Candles.

Big pots of soup or stew for dinner.

Sitting outside by the fire…..we can do that now!

Thanksgiving!

Though it is not an essential or all weekend long activity, I do like watching football during the fall months.

Snuggling under the blankets on those extra cool nights.

Not sweating or freezing the minute I go outside. It is just perfect.

Pumpkins!

The return of new TV shows.

Hay rides, corn mazes and anything outside

Going shopping at outdoor malls in preparation for Christmas. The fall is the only time I really enjoy shopping.

Fall decorations

And pretty much everything else that I may have not mentioned!!


If you love fall, please share your favorite things.

I Love....

This weekend T & I purchased a little something special for our patio. We got a fire pit, and I have to say I (we) LOVE it!

Why did we get a fire pit, you may ask. Well because T & I like to sit outside during the cooler evenings and just chill and talk and there is something about the crackle, smell, and warmth of a fire that makes that time outside that much better.

Saturday night we sat outside on a very cool night for over an hour and a half and while I drank a nice warm hot chocolate, we spent the evening talking and listening to the fire.

It was SO calming.

Here is a picture of our lovely fire in our new fire pit. My hubby did a fine job getting that thing started!



We got a medium sized fire pit as we do not have a huge patio. We also wanted something that was not cheap looking, but not expensive - this was perfect and very reasonably priced. It ended up being a perfect size for the space we have and it produces a good amount of heat for the area we use. (It doesn't get so hot you can't sit around it but warm enough to take the chill off you during the brisk fall months.)

If anyone would like to come over and drink some hot chocolate, wine, or T's very own hard cider and sit by the fire, please feel free to stop by! :)

I would also say every couple should get one of these, as I think the time spent around one is therapeutic and calming and great for your relationship to just have that time together.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TERRY!!!!

From early on in our relationship.....



...through our engagement.....



....to the moment we became husband and wife....



....we have continued to be partners in this relationship, walking together side-by-side....



.....while also remembering in this busy life to just stop and make time to be with each other.......



......so we remind ourselves of the vows we took.....



...so that even through the highs and lows, our life together will continue to be full of lots of love and laughter....



.....And I feel so blessed that I can call you my husband and that we get to share our life with each other!






Why I love you….

- Your smile and unbelievably infectious laugh.

- You never try to be anything or anyone other than yourself….you are always and around everyone, just you.

- Your hugs.

- The opinions you have that are your own and not always what is viewed as “the norm” and the way you are able to express them to people in such a logical and intelligent way.

- That when you talk to people about sensitive topics like religion or politics you are respectful of others opinions, state your own opinions, get people to listen intensely to what you have to say and though you never try to make people change their beliefs you bring in other viewpoints that make them think past the basics and really get into the heart of ones beliefs. This is such a special gift.

- Your very sarcastic and dry humor.

- That you will always be a child at heart.

- Your gorgeous blue eyes.

- That you collect and listen to records, collect coins & silver, that you love antiques and appreciate things from the past…your tastes are those of someone 30-40 years older than yourself....but that is ok!! :)

- Your eclectic taste in music - you love metal, classical, blues/Jazz, old time country (i.e Hank Williams), and Christmas Music…oh and the Spice Girls :)

- That you know how to deal with me and my wonderful mood swings.

- That we can talk for hours and that I can listen to you talk for hours on every subject from sci-fi to Religion, to politics, to food, to cartoons. (this is the thing I first fell in love with)

- Your ability to retain nearly all the information you read or hear.

- Because you truly love and care about my family.

- That you are laid-back and easy going and because of that, together we balance each other out perfectly.

- Your beliefs.

- Your collection of t-shirts.

- That we both recognize the importance of time together and time with friends and there is a perfect balance between the two.

- That you have a Godzilla toy on the dash of your car.

- That you can make me smile with just a look.

- That patience, compromise, understanding, trust, honesty, friendship, respect, and love are not just words to you, but things you believe make for a strong marriage.

- That you are going back to school so you can do something you want to do. I am SO incredibly proud of you.

- That there are SO many different layers to you and the longer we are together the more that unravel.


And for so many MANY more reasons than these is why I love you and so happy to share this journey with you! I can't wait to see what the next year has to hold.

I love you xoxoxo! *MWAH*

Holy Crap, We Got A Lot Of CRAP!

Alternative title: Where did all this shit come from?!

Over the past 6 months I have noticed in our house that we have been collecting more and more STUFF. We always had a lot of things, but those things were piled away in boxes and therefore, didn’t exist to us. But this past year I have noticed that the stuff seems to be multiplying and making its way into the living spaces of our house to the point where it is now taking over our house.

1) First we tried the “move one pile of crap to another room” organizational method. This allows the once overfilled room to look great and we don’t have a problem with clutter until the next room is full. Then when that room is full we would move the extra piles to a different room. We continued this until we realized….we had run out of rooms.

2) Next we tried the, “just move it to the storage unit” organizational method. This was great until we went to the storage unit and realized we couldn’t find a damn thing.

3) We also tried the “shove it in a box/put it in a closet/hide it under the bed/place it behind furniture” organizational method. This worked very well, until we needed to find something we had shoved in a box, put in a closet, hid under the bed, or placed behind furniture. Not fun.

4) When it got to the point of complete frustration we considered other options like just selling our house and including all our crap with it or just leaving the stuff in our front yard and letting people go through it…neither of which seemed like the most logical way to solve our problem.

So we decided it was going to have to be done the old fashioned way – take time, go through everything, and throw away what we no longer wanted/needed. sigh

Now I have made it my mission for the past few months to remove ALL excess clutter (excluding my husband of course) from our house in an attempt to re-adjust our feng shui, re-center our Qi, simplify our life, and just get rid of all our extra SHIT!

So I decided the best way to do this was one group of clutter at a time. I started a couple months ago and I decided to go through all my clothes first. I brought over 3 large tubs & 2 big trash bags from the storage unit and a couple smaller bags of clothes from our house. (And to think with all those clothes and still nothing to wear) In the end I filled up two big tubs of clothes I want to sell next year and two bags for the Goodwill. Ahhhhh, more hangers available for new clothes.

Next I hit the big bags of receipts, old check books, past bills, and other documents that I have put in a “need to shred” pile/heap over the last 3 years. After a week and a half of shredding documents Enron style, I ended up shredding everything in the pile and filling up nearly 3 large trash bags. Ahhhhhh, it feels good to shred documents.

This past weekend I decided to conquer the massive amounts of shoes I have. My sister and I took my 64 pairs of shoes (eeek, that is a lot) and all their boxes down to the living room and we laid out all the shoes. I put them in groups: heels, flats, boots, tennis shoes, etc.. I then went through and picked out the shoes I didn’t like anymore, that didn’t fit, or that I had pairs that were very similar and put them in a bag to give to family or to sell* when we have our garage sale next year. (*I didn’t think I could sell them but I heard this was ok, but what is the rule on selling previously worn shoes?!?!) Some of these shoes were circa 1998 and WHY I have never gotten rid of them before is beyond me. But when it was all said and done I got rid of 29 pairs of shoes! I also had enough clear plastic boxes for my shoes and tore up all the original shoeboxes I had kept when I had bought the shoes (22 boxes). Ahhhhh, more room for new shoes!

Then Sunday I continued my cleaning and I went through every old magazine we have kept over the last three years. Normally we just throw them in a basket in the living room or put them in the library aka the bathroom. I divided magazines so each person had theirs and let everyone throw away what they no longer wanted. T & I threw away at least 30 magazines…K. still has to do hers (slacker). Ahhhhhh, goodbye potential fire hazard in our house.

I know by the sounds of it, you might think our house was one big mess…but really we had learned the art of hiding our crap. But now, it just looks great and it has created a lot more room in our house so we can get more stuff! ;) Next on the agenda, organize recipes that are on paper. I am typing out and saving in a word document our stack of recipes we have printed out or have written down over the years that are stacking up in the kitchen.

It seriously feels SO good and almost therapeutic to get rid of all that extra stuff that we obviously don’t need and is just taking up space!

Sex and the City 2 - Should They or Shouldn't They....

I am a huge fan of Sex and the City, so much so that my wonderful hubby got me the entire series a few years back. I really liked the movie and though I am excited for another movie I am not sure where this new movie is going to go without being too ridiculous and wonder if they should have just left it at one movie and not a sequel. My doubts were increased a bit when I saw these photos released from the filming.

From the looks of it, they may be doing an 80’s flashback, like when the girls met?! Though I love me a good flashback scene, I am not buying it 100%. Mainly because a couple of the women look even older instead of looking younger! Particularly Samantha & Carrie. (Photos below) Charlotte and Miranda seem to be able to pull off the “I am in my 40’s trying to look like I am in my 20’s” look well enough, but the other two just look like they are in their late 40’s and in a bad Halloween costume. Not cute. I mean I think they are all beautiful and look amazing normally, I just think Kim & Carrie look older, not younger in these photos. I wonder if the special effects department can do something about that?
















Also, here are some potential secrets from the movie. Who knows if any of these are remotely true, but this is what they are saying.

A GAY WEDDING! - The shooting schedule calls for an elaborate wedding scene to take place at a Connecticut inn. All signs point to a gay union between Stanford and Anthony Marentino. Slated as the entertainment: Liza Minnelli! *Stanford marrying Anthony?!?! Maybe.

CARRIE GOES HOME - Carrie and Big might be having issues. The evidence: Several scenes are being shot at the location that serves as Carrie's old apartment from her single-gal days. One report says she and Big will have problems rooted in money trouble, another report says he will have an affair, and another says Carrie will become pregnant. *duh, I could see any or all of these things happening…there has to be drama in Carrie’s life.

MILEY CYRUS MAY HAVE A SUPPORTING ROLE - The teen pop star has gushed about being a SATC fan -- and now it looks like she may get the chance to guest-star. One day of shooting has been carved out for her, according to the schedule. "They've asked her," says an insider. "But she hasn't confirmed.” *This better NOT be true. I will be beyond PISSED if she is anywhere in this movie. Not cool SATC, NOT COOL.

JASON LEWIS BACK? – There are reports that Jason Lewis, Smith Jerrad, will be back. *He is hot, I would like to see him.




And on a side note: My sister just started watching the SATC series a few weeks ago. Aw, my little girl is growing up! I do have to say that as fun as it is to watch this with my sister (who as a reminder is 8 years younger than me) there are a few episodes we come across where I feel a bit weird watching with her….almost like I want to say “close your eyes and cover your ears, you can’t see this!”, then I remember how old she is and I get over it…...for the most part.

I Love and I Strongly Dislike…

I Love:

1. Sleeping with the air conditioning on and it is nice and cool in the house and I am all cuddled up under warm blankets.

2. Edwards Pie’s (I realize I am a self-proclaimed pie hater. And yes I still hate any fruit based pies or meringue based pies. However Edward’s has cream pies….and they are amazing. My favs: cookie & cream pie, key lime pie, Hershey’s chocolate cream pie. mmmm)

3. Three day weekends and four day work weeks!

4. Baby showers, my friend’s babies, baby clothes, baby toys….ok pretty much all things baby related!

5. That I have lost some weight! It is a start.

6. That as I was listening to NPR this morning and in-between stories they played a 60 second instrumental, slightly slower version of Beck’s “Where Its At” song. (two turn tables and a microphone) Awesome.

7. That fall is pretty much here and fall clothes, shoes and accessories are in the stores!

8. The perfect Saturday “to go” breakfast which consists of a Venti non-fat vanilla latte from Starbucks and a Bagel B.E.L.T. from Tim Hortons. Yum.

9. When you spend a lot of time on a crochet project (or art project) and it turns out perfect! Seriously, I made this hat for fall and it is PERFECT. I love it.

10. Kettle corn from the Black Swamp Arts Festival. (get yours this weekend!)



I Strongly Dislike:

1. When you are all snuggled up in bed in a nice cool house and you are laying in the perfect position….....and you have to tinkle.

2. Having to wake up to go to work in the morning when you are SO incredibly comfortable where you are at.

3. The first day back to work after a three day weekend.

4. That I still have a lot more weight to lose.

5. That schools did not allow kids to watch the President’s speech yesterday, even though it was known nothing political would be talked about. Heaven forbid kids are given the chance to think for themselves.

6. When you are at the bottom of the deodorant and as you are about to use it the deodorant falls out and onto the floor and breaks into pieces making it unable to be used.

7. Plantar Fasciitis/Heel Spurs. It has been 6 months - Um ouch.

8. When you get soup to eat and it is WAY too hot to eat. I am talking it is near boiling and you have to wait like 10 minutes to even try to eat it.

9. When your maintenance light on your car comes on and you are ignoring it but then your observant husband gets in the car and sees it and asks how long it has been on. My Answer: What light? Oh that one, it just came on like a day ago. Honest answer: It has been on for about a month or more.

10. When you are excited because you think you have extra money in your account but then realize when you go through your account that your darling hubby forgot to give you a big stack of receipts and then not so much with the extra money.