It's Official!

Ok, so now that Fall has been official for about a week, are you enjoying it as much as I am? ;) {I hope I didn't fool anyone with the title of this post...some of you were probably thinking I had exciting news or something *wink*} No guys, I'm not pregnant or anything, just excited about the autumn season being here! I'm excited to take my little man to the pumpkin patch, trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treating, boo at the zoo-ing, playdating...(we have lots of plans for this season!)

And this week, we are actually even having more fallish weather, so that is even more exciting! (It's hard to get into the Fall spirit when it's 90 degrees out...)

Here's a few things I have been up to so far this Fall season:

Cluttering my house with tons of fall decor...

Trying new recipies...

{Curried Chicken with Couscous}

Taking pictures of my sweet little man ;)

"What's in Your Bag?"

Hey guys! I am linking up with Roo and her "What's in Your Bag?" blog party at Nice Girl Notes. Let me start off by saying that I did not 'stage' my bag before doing this (as tempting as it was to do so...) I just grabbed it off my vanity seat in the bedroom, unloaded everything & started taking pics! The contents of my bag varies day to day. Today wasn't anything too interesting, weird or random. But it's not unusual for me to have a snack container filled with animal crackers, a paci, random toy or even a sippy cup in my bag. Today, you can't even really tell I'm a mom from the contents of my bag :( (Except for the massive amount of junk in it...and the pictures, of course.) Ahhh yes, the pictures. I keep a bunch of 'em in my wallet so I can whip them out & brag on my little guy but he is usually with me so I hardly ever take them out. Kinda sad. Anyway, enough of that. Here is what's in my bag. Don't judge ;)

First, this is the pile of trash that was in there! (And this is not including the junk in my zipper compartment, but that has 'girly' stuff in it & I didn't want to embarrass any guys that happen to stumble across this blog (or myself for that matter) so I did. not. go. there.)

And here it is...all piled up on top of my bag!

And just for kicks, here is an itemized list of the contents of above picture:

Checkbook (that I NEVER use aside from bill-paying--which is done from home and I hardly even use it there since most of our bills are auto-drafted, yet I insist on carrying it 'just in case.') wallet, spiffy new handheld video camera, cell phone, deodorant (what? I'm a heavy sweater.) Midol ('nuf said) tanning goggles, keys, V.S. lotion (Heavenly-one of my hubby's fave scents. I wore it on our wedding day.) pens, lip gloss (a must, I literally panic when I swap purses & forget to throw a couple in the bag i carry that day. I probably have like 30 tubes of the stuff) cash (I almost never have cash & when I do, it is gone in no time!) hand sanitizer (another must) bobby pins and sunglasses.

The pics that I carry in my wallet...

Quck, Easy, Yummy Fall Recipe!

This recipe is one of my favorites & pretty much my go-to recipe for company since everyone always loves it & it's easy! I got this from my mom, but I think it's an old Longaberger recipe. Anyhoo, I certainly didn't come up with it ;) Oh, and did I mention it was easy?!?!

Taco Soup

1lb gound beef

2 cans black beans (rinsed & drained)

2 cans pinto beans (rinsed & drained)

2 cans diced tomatoes (I personally use the petite diced with onions, but that is just preference.)

2 cans creamed corn

2 cups water

1 packet taco seasoning

1 packet ranch dressing seasoning mix

Brown beef (I usually use lean beef & leave the little bit of fat that cooks off in the pan for flavor, but you can drain it off.) Add all other ingredients and bring to boil. Reduce heat & let simmer for about 20 mins.

Please note: This makes a lot of soup!!! I always half the recipe (unless I am feeding a ton of people) and it is plenty for at least 5 hearty servings. If you half the recipe, don't forget to just use 1 cup of water but don't worry about halving the seasonings (I always use the same amount & its not too strong.)

Also, I personally love this dish topped with sour cream & served with tortilla chips (great for dipping!) I never even use a spoon ;) Hope you enjoy!

Feel free to post your fave fall recipe (or any recipe!)

Fall tablescape for around 10 bucks

I hosted a dinner party (mommy night) for my friends tonight & did this little fall tablescape. Let me just start off with a little disclaimer...first, this 'looked' better in my head than it turned out in reality. Second, I got the supplies and even did a trial run on our dining table which is a small square shape. Well, I made a sort of last minute decision to put one of the leaves in the table to make it bigger (even though there was only going to be 4 of us) so that we would have plenty of room & not feel cramped. Well, once I got everything on the 'bigger' table, I noticed the scale was a little off & the candlesticks/candles looked a little small for the table. Of course, I wasn't going to go buy all new stuff, so I just left it but I was sad that my table didn't look as good as I hoped. :( Anyway, its perfect for a small table, though. And I got most of the stuff from the Dollar Tree (love that place!) I already had the fall dishes and cloth napkins, but I bought the faux leaves (3 packs), candlesticks & candles at the dollar tree and the little pumpkins were 2/$1 at the grocery store.

I wanted to 'dress up' my plain old dollar candles, so I used a little raffia and some faux leaves to give them a little fall touch :)

Is this not the cutest little white pumpkin you have even seen? I love the twisty little vine :)

My table might not have been what I wanted, but my party went great and I had a blast with my friends! I made a yummy, easy taco soup. I think I am going to post the recipe since it is a wonderful fall dish and did I mention it was easy?

Linking up to this awesome party!

Tennessee Valley Fair

The fair is in town! We took Hayden to his very first fair last night & it was a blast! Basically it was all about Hayden and we wouldn't have had it any other way. We took him on rides, showed him all the pretty lights and let him feed/pet the animals. We took about 70 pics (are you surprised?) but I will only post my faves on here :)

He loves animals. He just reached in and petted this baby camel

He fed them so good! He didn't even try to eat the lil kibbles like I thought he would!

Hayden thought it was funny that I was gonna kiss the mule ;)

He got to ride some of the kiddie rides as long as one of us rode with him (and paid tickets.) I didn't really consider this when we bought 20 tickets thinking that they would go a long way...so, a ride for 3 tickets was 6 (=$6) But he had fun, so that's all that matters. Who needs groceries, right? ;)

His favorite ride was this whale one he rode with daddy. He got a little mad when it was over & he had to get off :-/

I get the "Worst Mother of the Year" award for this! *wink* (No really, I do.) We gave him a lil bite of the fried snickers. I think he just got a small bite of the batter, though. Makes me feel a little better...a little.

If this looks strange to you, it should! This is a doughnut burger (NO, I did not order this!) Some man ahead of me in line did & was kind enough to let me take a picture of this heart attack lovely treat. Oh, and did I mention they were also selling fried butter??? By they way, the man who got this 'burger' said it was delicious. I must admit, I am a little curious to try one now...

The Famers Market at Market Square

We braved the rain saturday (kinda...we waited till it pretty much died down) and went downtown to the farmers market they have at Market Square. I just love farmers markets and it was a great time just hanging out as a family. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talkin' ;)

On a side note, even though I brought my camera with intentions of being a crazy lady snapping pics of everything in sight, I quickly became a little self-conscious about the whole thing once we got there. So, instead of taking lots of time getting interesting angles and composing good shots, I was just quickly snapping & hoping not to get noticed or told to 'please stop taking pics' by one of the booth owners. ;)

Little man was excited to be there :)

This booth was full of gorgeous colors!

I wanted to get Hayden one of these, but Jeff said he would have just thrown it...probably true.

He loved playing in this fountain!

Eating a yummy 'wild' blueberry muffin

I love those faces!

Family Friday :)

I love when dinner cooks itself! :) This time I tried a little something different with my roast. I marinated it in roasted red pepper vinaigrette dressing overnight, then added a can of tomatoes to my usual mix of carrots, onions, potatoes and onion soup mix! I can't wait to dig in after smelling it simmer all day in the crock pot!

Happy Friday to all of you!

"Fall" around our house part 2

So, I went out last night and got some more fall supplies! I think I am making up for not really doing much in the way of decorating last year. I guess I wasn't very motivated since I had a new baby occupying my time ;) Here are a couple pics of the new additions...

I found some pumpkins!!! I was waaaay too excited when I spotted them at the grocery store ;)

Added some wreaths to the outside of the front windows...

Too much? ;)

The inspiration from the two previous images came from this photo. My hubby called it 'intense.' Ha!

Another exciting thing that happened today was I received the new lens that I ordered last week. I am beyond excited!

My new glass!

"Fall" around our house (so far...)

So, I have been inspired by our cool weather (in the 50's!) that we have been having in the evenings and I decided to start getting out the fall decor. ;) I still have things I want to do, like decorate the outside and there are a couple projects that I can't do without real pumpkins which it is still a little early for. I took a few shots of what I have done so far. Maybe it will inspire those of you who haven't been bitten by the fall bug to get busy making your home all cozy for the season! I especially love the smells of fall. I currently have 3 reed diffusers with fall scents scattered around, a plug in freshener with some sort of spiced apple scent and a mulled cider candle on the warmer. Smells amazing. My house may smell like a candle shop, but I love it. :)

I had a small wreath I decided to add to the chandelier in the dining room & I love how it turned out! I think it looks very Pottery Barn-ish ;)

L.O.V.E.

A container filled with random fall items...

A little fall rug for in front of the sink in the kitchen...

Cornucopia a.k.a. Horn of Plenty for some more fall flair in the kitchen ;)