Fabulous Fall Challenge #7

Day 7: Fall Recipes

I'm going to clue you in on a little secret.  I'm not much of a chef.  I try to look the part by having a really cute Vera apron, buying tons of cookbooks and cooking magazines, and even pinning a ton of recipes.  But I'm not that big on cooking.  I aspire to be but I don't have the drive or initiative.  So this post will leave you with pretty much nothing.  My mom has a great stew recipe (we call it Super Soup) that I make whenever it gets cold but do you think I have the recipe???  I get it from her every year, write it down on some random piece of paper, and that piece of paper never makes it to my recipe book.  I know it calls for V8 juice, ground beef, lima beans, corn, carrots, peas, and thats about all I remember.  So unfortunately I have nothing to share with you.  Maybe I'll find the recipe tomorrow and I can share it then (but don't hold your breath). 

But I'm stoked to check out everyone's recipes and more than likely steal them for my own use!!!

Fabulous Fall Challenge #5/6

I was planning on taking a little blog vacay due to my grandpa's passing but I need a little care free fun after my first day back to work and my first day having to talk about what happened (aka I cried too much today).  So I'm taking on Friday's Blog Challenge along with todays!  So thanks again to Amber and Neely for giving me a little escape!




Day 5:  Things You're Looking Forward to for Fall

~ temps below 80 degrees (although not too much lower)
~ decorating my house for fall
~ the USF game we're going to!!!
~ Baseball playoffs
~ Halloween costumes for the kiddos
~ Christmas shopping (I know this says fall but this year I want to get a head start)

Day 6: Fall TV Shows

I am a huge Glee fan.  I've loved it since day 1.  I was over the moon for it to come back!  I can't wait to see what they come up with this season!

Zooey Deschanel is such a kooky chick!  I've loved her in every thing I've seen her in.  I couldn't wait to check out New Girl.  It's following a great show (Glee) and its actually pretty good.  I kinda wish she was my IRL friend!

This one is so out of character for me because I am not into guns, shooting, etc at all.  But the Hubs and I stumbled across this show while we were in NYC on our trip and it's pretty cool.  Its a reality show that brings together a handful of expert marksmen and makes them do competitions using a variety of weapons (like hachet throwing....how cool is that?!?)  We even saw one that had this expert archer who hit a single aspirin that was tossed in the air from like 100 feet away.  Yeah, they're that good.  Plus the host Colby is nice to look at ;)

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers being said for my family.  It's a lot harder than I thought it would be but I'm comforted by the fact that Grandpa is in a better place. 

Fabulous Fall Challenge #4

Post #2 of the day....It's Fabulous Fall Challenge Day 4 which is all about Fall Decorating.  Amber and Neely have really come up with some great topics for this challenge!!!!

My fall decor is really kinda boring.  I know I said yesterday that I don't like Halloween, and I know that Halloween isn't the only way to decorate for Fall but the Hubs just loves it!  I'll put out a few pumpkins here and there.  My owls come out in full force {If I haven't mentioned it, I collect owls.  The owl is Chi Omega's mascot and since I'm a Chi O, of course I love owls!!!)  My owl collection is usually on display but I have some fun Halloween themed owls that come out around this time.  If it were up to me, this is what our house would look like for Fall/Halloween:

source: http://www.centsationalgirl.com/ via Jessica on Pinterest

source: http://sweetsomethingdesign.blogspot.com/ via Jessica on Pinterest

But sadly, this is the only holiday that the Hubs actually likes so I tend to let him make some of the decisions when it comes to outdoor decor.  He does not think cutesy fits with Halloween.  He's about zombies, tombstones, spiderwebs, and fog.  No cute ghosts or witches allowed.  This is what the house looked like for our first Halloween as homeowners.  Now imagine it with fog, more cobwebs, and a few other items.

The one about Halloween

Day 3 of Amber and Neely's blog challenge is all about Halloween (What do you do for Halloween/a Halloween memory).  Halloween is a holiday I honestly could live without (although it is the Hubs's favorite holiday ever).  And before you ask, no, I'm not one of those people who never dressed up or went Trick or Treating.  I just don't get that into it.  I think it's great to dress up my kiddos though!

So what do I do for Halloween?

Growing up, we lived on an orange grove.  We didn't have any neighbors (which I always wanted) so there were no houses to walk to.  My parents used to dress us up, throw us in the car, and they'd drive us to our grandparents, aunt/uncles, and friends houses.  I didn't know until I was in about 4th grade that not everyone Trick or Treated like we did.  Once this realization occured, we started going out in my bff's neighborhood (and made a KILLING!)  Now we live in a neighborhood and wouldn't you know....there's no kids on our street so no one celebrates.  Our next door neighbor brings some stuff over for the kids and then they go out to dinner.  We had more trick or treaters show up at our apartment than we do in our neighborhood.  So we head over to my parents and hit up their neighborhood....think block parties, people sitting in their driveways waiting for kids, the works!

Now I look forward to Noah's school Halloween party/parade.  All the younger kids (PreK-2nd or 3rd grade) all dress up and go on a parade around the school.  The 4th-8th graders all line up and hand out candy.  It's really cute and we've made out like bandits on the candy front for years (my mom works at the school so Noah's been going almost every year he's been alive).  I can't wait for this years party!!!

Man....I'm kinda boring now that I think about it.  I hope everyone else has more fun Halloween memories/plans!!!

   

Fabulous Fall Blog Challenge #2

It's Day 2 of Amber and Neely's Blog Challenge! 



Today is all about Fall Clothes/Makeup/Trends.  Again, I'm going to remind everyone that I live in Florida.  It's still 90 degrees for a couple more weeks.  Hopefully it will start cooling off soon.  We had a couple mornings in the high 70s/low 80s but that didn't last all that long.

Fall means sweaters, scarves, oranges and browns.  I love the idea of introducing layers into the wardrobe.  I have a very small comfort zone when it comes to temperature so layers are a must!  These outfits are inspiring my fall wardrobe (in my head for right now since I haven't really gone shopping lately)


I want this to be my typical day to day outfit! via

via



I love the mustard color!!! via 

This eggplant color....swoon! via

 But until the weather cools off, I think I'll stick to outfits like this:

A little bit of summer, a little bit of fall via

Fabulous Fall Blog Challenge #1

Well let me tell you how exhausted I am.  I went back to work today (finally) after a long 3 weeks of being useless.  I thought going back for a 10 hour shift wouldn't be too hard but boy am I beat!  My feet hurt, my body hurts, oh and I got kicked right in the stomach.  Yep.  Right at the belly button where my fabulous surgeon so nicely pulled my gallbladder out.  It's one of the few times I hate working with kids....their flailing extremities hitting and kicking you.  But those instances are few and far between.  But I survived and I'm so happy that I have tomorrow off to recover.  Hopefully my next 3 days will be a little easier.

But on a more fun note....I'm linking up with Amber and Neely for the Fabulous Fall Blog Challenge! 



I think these girls are geniuses for coming up with this!  I'm more of a spring/summer girl (I think living in FL all my life contributes to this) but as I get older, I'm starting to appreciate fall more and more.  So this 2 week blog challenge is going to be so much fun!!!  I love the idea of a different fall topic each day.  So for the first day, our topic is Fall Traditions.

1.  College Football! 

I'm a sports girl.  Always have been.  It's one of the reasons the Hubs fell madly in love with me ;)  College football is huge in our house.  I'm a big supporter of my USF Bulls....yay for being ranked #18 this week!!!  I'm so proud of how far the team has come from the first college game of my college career (way back in 2000....man I'm old!)  I love donning my green and gold!!!!  Every Saturday in the fall you can find me watching the Bulls (while the Hubs watches the Gators)

2. Baseball Playoffs

Again, I'm a huge sports fan.  I live for baseball season.  We're lucky to have a MLB team in our own backyard.  The Tampa Bay Rays have turned into quite the team.  The Hubs and I loved them when they were the Devil Rays and, for lack of a better word, sucked.  It's nice that they're playing well again.  And it's even better that they have made a miraculous turnaround and might actually make the playoffs this season!  If they get into the playoffs, maybe we'll go to one of the games.  We've been to at least one game in every playoff series the Rays have been to over the years.  We were even lucky enough to go to Game 1 of the World Series in 2008!  Hopefully going to a Rays playoff game this fall will be on our agenda this year too!!!

I've realized that I really don't have too many traditions that don't revolve around sports....some fall girl I am ;)

3.  Trick or Treating with the Kids
Having kids makes Halloween that much better!  There's something so adorable about little kids dressing up in costumes, looking so cute!  This year, I'm looking forward to having my very own Captain Hook and Little Mermaid walking around the neighborhood! Here's some of our pics from Halloween's past....

Noah's first Halloween as a Turtle. 2007



2nd Halloween. 2008....dinosaur



Halloween 2009.  Thomas the Train and a Pumpkin

Halloween 2010. A firefighter and Tinkerbelle

I hope everyone has better fall traditions than I do!  I guess since we don't exactly have a fall season in Florida, I don't have great fall traditions.  Oh well. Can't wait for the rest of this challenge!!!

Now it's off to get some much needed sleep after my first day back at work!!!