Fall Around Here

This weekend is the official start of Fall, no more pretending, waiting or wishing! Are you all just as excited as I am?! A few things we are looking forward to this Fall include a trip to the pumpkin patch, apple picking & of course, a pumpkin carving party! Can't wait to share some details soon! We also do Soup Sundays in the Fall every year, where we make a different homemade soup every Sunday to eat during football (and to have lots of leftovers for the week!) so we are excited to kick that off this weekend as well! :)
What are your favorite Fall traditions?!
I love that Harper is old enough this year to enjoy some of the festivities a little more! 

I am still waiting to get my hands on some more pumpkins, but for now we finally put some decorations out around the house. A few ombre pumpkins & some felt garlands are making our fireplace extra festive, especially with Hocus Pocus playing on repeat!
FALL-LA-LA-LA-LA!

Felt Leaves Garland | Yellow Gourd | White Felt Garland from West Elm last year

And one can not decorate for Fall without a caramel apple spice in hand or a pumpkin pecan waffle scented candle burning in the background. 

PERFECTION.

Speaking of perfection, our weather has been in the 60s/70s the last few days, say whaaaat!? So we have finally broken out the hammocks again & are getting a real taste of Fall in our backyard.

 Striped Pajamas | Boots | Sippy Cup

 Even though our weekdays can be a little bit hectic, it was pretty epic to pretend it was the weekend for an hour & go swing outside this morning. And yes, there is totally a string tied to hers so I can "push" her from my hammock! Husband is a genius.

Sending cool weather vibes your way, friends! Happy Hump Day!

Our Weekend in Pictures

Our first real Fall weekend... cool weather, spicy chili, pumpkins & lots of football. We kicked off the weekend Friday morning with some pancakes on the patio, the weather was just too amazing to stay indoors. Plus, toddler cleanup is a breeze! ;) Pancakes are one of my favorite foods, I love trying new recipes & can't wait to try my hand at some pumpkin ones soon!

Saturday was a full day of college football, with our Hawkeyes pulling off a win in the evening! It's a family tradition that we play a little football in the yard before the game & during halftime. Harper has become obsessed. About as obsessed as I am with her crazy, bonkers PIGTAILS!

Iowa Onesie

 Throw some chili (and a few cold ones!) in the mix & I would say that is a total win for everyone.

{recipe here}

There are pumpkins & mums at all of our local stores, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on some! Usually our church has the best selection (that's when I really go nuts!) but since they haven't arrived yet, I just grabbed a few to put on the back porch. Pumpkin picking day (with a tasty coffee in hand!) should be a holiday in itself! ;)

Also excited to share some pictures of our finished screened in porch! So far, Harper (and the cat) are loving it!

And Brandon discovered that if he pushes the chairs to the far end & leaves the door open, he can watch football from outside. Will I ever see him indoors again?

 Hope you all had a fabulous (Fall-feeling) weekend as well! :)

Giveaway Kickoff: Fifteen Fridays of Festive!

We are so excited to kick off our Fifteen Fridays of Festive Giveaway! Think ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas... only better! ;) You know we love Fall & the holidays (and most of you love it just as much as we do!) so in the spirit of the season, we want to make things even more exciting around here!

 

 Each Friday, from now until Christmas, we will be giving away one of our favorite things! We have partnered with some of our very favorite brands to bring you so many goodies, including baby products, clothing, festive decor & more!
I have always wanted to find a way to thank you all for all of the love, support, encouragement & comments over the past few years (years? whoa!) of blogging. I love reading your comments & emails so much, and while I don't always have a chance to reply to all of them, know that they mean the world to me & they are the reason why I keep blogging. This giveaway is sorta my way of thanking you all, so the only thing you have to do to enter? Just keep following along! :)

To kick off the series, our very first giveaway is brought to you by one of my favorite brands of all time, 4moms! Wanna win a 4moms Breeze, so your little one can kick it outside with you & your husband while you grill & drink sangria? :) Or maybe just because it's the best looking, easiest to use playard of all time? Well here's your chance!

 Enter here to win & be sure to show them some love on their facebook page!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway is open until next Thursday at noon, winner will be contacted via email & announced on Friday! For reminders & sneak peeks of prizes, be sure to follow us on Facebook as well! :)
Happy Friday!

Mama + Mini All Gold Everything

Can you believe we are already a third of the way through September? The official start of Fall is almost here, wouldn't it be wonderful if someone gave mother nature the memo! Bring on the cool air!

Gold is one of my favorite colors, especially gold glitter & especially in the Fall. I wear my gold glitter belt with just about everything. Actually, I take that back, I wear pajamas like 80% of the time, so I guess I just wear the gold belt with the rest. Either way, I love gold accessories, especially since they always match all of Harper's gold glittery headbands. And they are perfect to stick around all season well into the holidays & for the new year! ;)

Here is a little roundup of all things GOLD that we are loving!

One | Two | Three | Four | Five

I am telling you, Old Navy is really on top of their game this season!  I could not scoop up those gold polka dot leggings fast enough. I just know they will be a staple in Harper's festive Fall & Winter wardrobe. Of course, all of these gorgeous gold goodies can be paired with some of our favorite headbands, like the gold stars shown below or this gold feather & floral headband, one of my all time favorites!

Gold Star Headband | Black Knit Dress | Leggings

Gold is not just for wearing this time of year, we have it sprinkled all over the house with our Fall decorations!

I scored these gold leaf branches on clearance last year right before Thanksgiving (you can find them here) & was so excited to put them out again this year. Do you shop after holiday clearance?! It is an addiction for me. Target also has lots of affordable gold & bronze mercury glass beauties that I can't get enough of.

And now that Harper is snoozing away for her afternoon nap, it might just be the perfect time to put out all the rest of our Fall decorations. Have you started decorating yet? :) 

Happy Hump Day!

Our Iowa Trip

 We are finally home. I know I have been totally MIA for the last week (or two), we have been in Iowa visiting family. This type of traveling, which involves long road trips & bouncing around from house to house with a toddler, makes you lose your mind a little. We got home Sunday, I am still a little disoriented from the craziness & of course we all have colds.  But here's a recap of the rest of our ten day trip, listed as pros & cons, because that might be all I can muster up at this point.

PRO: We got to see all of our family & friends, more importantly, they got to see Harper. This is obviously the hardest part about living so far from family, it is so hard to say goodbye every time.

CON: It was a fourteen hour road trip & it did not go well. I felt prepared, I brought toys, crayons, glowsticks, snacks, the ipad, the ipod, nothing short of a three ring circus. And all my kid wanted to do was throw them at us to make a point that she did not want to be in the car anymore. Oh, and when we did get out of the car? Brandon convinced me that she could play in the McDonald's playplace (against my will) & I literally watched her almost lick the floor. #allgrosseverything

PRO: We got to go tailgate for the first Iowa Hawkeye football game.

CON: They lost.

 PRO: Harper got a new Hawkeye jersey for football season!

CON: It was eight million degrees in Iowa, so she couldn't wear pants with it.

PRO: We took Harper to the zoo for the first time. She had a blast, called all of the animals "puppy" & got to ride the carousel.

CON: Did I mention that it was eight million degrees? Of course it was 60 when we left the house in the morning but the poor kid ended up riding home later in just her diaper.

Baseball Tee

PRO: Iowa is the food capital of my heart. We got to eat Happy Joes, Pancheros (which turns out, isn't that good anymore), Maid-Rite, Taco Johns, Pit BBQ, my mom's spaghetti & Brandon's grandma's meatloaf. Hell yes.

CON: It is like pulling teeth to find a good iced coffee when there aren't any coffee shops nearby. The convenient store cashiers were staring at me like I had two heads as they watched me try to concoct my own (and I burnt my hand). Thank God for Iowa City.

 PRO: We got to frolic around our old college campus.

CON: We had a kid with us so we didn't get to pound patio beers. (Although it was pretty epic watching Harper play in the ped mall splash pad!)

 PRO: We got to eat these cupcakes. Oh yes, that is a rice krispie treat you see on top of that one.

CON: Now I have to eat purely fruits & vegetables for the next five hundred days to make up for it.

 PRO: We got to go visit my BFFs in Des Moines, Harper got to see her future husband & us girls even got a kid free afternoon to get pedicures. (Was that real life?)

CON: Two toddlers will never stand still enough to take cute pictures. Although Harper is killing me in this one.

 

PRO: We broke the trip up into two days on the way home.

CON: We didn't think to check for a hotel ahead of time, meaning they were all booked & we had to stay in an overpriced one that was way too nice to just sleep in for six hours. Although they did have a french toast buffet in the morning. But no iced coffee.

Breaking the trip up helped, but Harper was still just as restless. She also caught some sort of cold & turned into a bronchiti-saurus-rex for the drive home. Brandon & I took turns getting carsick in the back seat, talking about how we will never do this roadtrip again & arguing about how many bags of okee-do-ke cheese popcorn I was bringing home. A clusterfuck of mass proportions.

We really did have a great time seeing everyone though, there's nothing like Iowa Fall, food, friends & family.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow, time for a long night's sleep in my own bed.

Love List

Still blogging from Iowa, can you say longest trip ever?! Having a blast with all of our family & friends but traveling with a toddler is an enormous pain in the ass. Not to mention the fourteen hour roadtrip home that we are really looking forward to this weekend. How about a little love list action for some distraction? :)

1. Kelly green. Is this Harper's color or what?! I can't get enough of this outfit. One of my very favorite pictures of Harper as a baby is her in a kelly green onesie as well.

 Headband | Syrup Shop Shirt | Leggings from Gap (last year) | Moccasins

 2. Old Navy Sweatshirts. I rarely find anything for myself here, but they are killing it right now with lots of cute tops for Fall. Loving these embellished crew neck sweatshirts with sequin dots or this perfectly fitted hoodie just in time for football season! Plus you can not go wrong with the price!

 

3. Caramel Apples. Just another Fall snack that I can't wait to have, thinking we need to incorporate a little Caramel Apple Bar into our Halloween party festivities?! Toppings like nuts, cereals & crushed candy bars would make for a pretty tasty treat!

4. These "wear the wild things" dress up masks are so fun for Halloween photos! A quick & inexpensive way to squeeze just one more festive Halloween costume out of this season!

5. Maid Rites. You've probably heard me mention them a bunch of times on the blog, they are one of our favorite meals, a total Iowa thing. We hit up the real Maid-Rite restaurant while in Iowa this week & I was reminded why I love them oh-so-much. You can find an original style recipe here.

6. EOS Hand Lotion. Are you a huge EOS chapstick fan like me? You know, the pretty colored round chapsticks in the checkout aisle at Target. I just discovered that they make this hand lotion too!! The berry & lemon are my favorite, plus they are a perfect small size to throw in the diaper bag! I heard they also make a shaving cream?!

7. Saving the best for last, our screened in porch is finished! With cool weather on the horizon, I am so excited to spend more time outside! We have big plans to make it extra cozy, with two of my favorites being this pumpkin striped throw blanket & one of these mini concrete fire columns, both on clearance! Of course, we will probably need another bottle opener to mount inside as well! ;)

Happy Friday Eve!

Happy September First!

So very excited that September is finally here, kicking off what I consider the official start of Fall. And also college football, the most wonderful time of the year for a beer! My very favorite season! :)

I am blogging today from Iowa, and although we are having a blast seeing all of our family & friends, part of me can't wait to get home to the cooler weather. And boxes on boxes on boxes of Fall decorations.

To kick off all of the fun things to come, here is one of my favorite chalkboard prints for YOU for free. This print is fun for Halloween but is also perfect for a nursery or playroom. All you have to do is download it (open full size or right click to save), save it & have it printed! For best results, I have them printed either on cardstock or from a photo finisher (like Shutterfly or Mpix) as a matte finish 8x10 print.

Hope you love it! :) And if you have your eye on a different print from my shop, you can use coupon code HAPPYFALL all month for 30% off your purchase!

Also, later this week, we will be kicking off the most exciting giveaway EVER. It has been in the works for weeks & I can't wait to share it with you!! :)
Happy September!!