Happy Friday Everyone!
Today I’m sharing some Fall GOODNESS, since we’re officially into September. Let’s get started with Friday Five!
One – Labor Day Weekend/Surprise Picnic Date Day
Did everyone have a good Labor Day weekend? I surprised Brian with a Fall Picnic at the Grand Basin in Forest Park. We used to do picnics quite a bit, but we haven’t as much over the last few years and I miss it! It was a lot of fun! I recently purchased an insulated picnic basket on wheels with a pull handle at TJ Maxx for only $19.99 and it was so easy to pack up and go with it. And, if you’re wondering what I packed for this picnic, here you go:
Red Blend wine from my VineOh Subscription Box (will be sharing their Fall box soon!) and a couple of water bottles
Charcuterie Board: 3 Cheeses from Trader Joe’s (Unexpected Cheddar, Italian Truffle and Creamy Gouda) and the Mixed Cracker Assortment from Trader Joe’s and some Ritz crackers. We also had cantaloupe cut into balls, cherries and red grapes.
Sandwiches: Nathaniel Reid Bakery Smoked Turkey & Havarti (Tellicherry peppercorns, croissant) Sandwiches that I picked up. This bakery has AH-mazing sandwiches!
Dessert: Trader Joe’s Macarons (they come in the freezer section, but thaw them out that morning and they are JUST as good as bakery macarons!) and some Pumpkin Macarons I got at HomeGoods (these were sadly not as good!)
Enjoying a glass of wine together!
These are the macarons from Trader Joe’s… a variety of flavors and I promise you, these ARE DELICIOUS!!!!
Two – Fall Porch Ideas
Photo Credit: Love of Family and Home
Last Fall, I was working hard on decorating our new farmhouse style kitchen… but, this year I was itching to decorate something new for the Fall. So, I’ve decided it is time to update my porch decor for the Fall and I’m wanting to go with more of a farmhouse feel (big surprise, right?). I created a Farmhouse Fall Porch Ideas pin board on Pinterest (see it HERE) and I’m just in love with Tonya from Love of Family and Home’s farmhouse style porch! I’m adoring the layered front porch mat (a regular mat on top of a gingham one), the white mums and neutral pumpkins. I’ve also pinned some wooden crate ideas and I’m thinking about picking up a couple of them at Walmart (they’re only $9 each) and spray painting them white and using them as a decorative shelves outside. I already have farmhouse style pillows for my bench and a wreath that will work.
Shop This Post:
I couldn’t find a Fall doormat on Amazon or in any stores that I liked, so I found this adorable Hello Pumpkin doormat on Etsy.
Shop This Post:
I plan to layer it under this larger gingham doormat that I found on Amazon.
I’ve wanted one of those tall farmhouse style signs that say ‘Welcome’ and found one at Hobby Lobby. It is two-sided and if you flip it around to the other side, it is painted orange and says ‘Harvest’.
Photo Credit: Love of Family and Home
See these lanterns? I have one lantern downstairs, but I may get another. I love the gingham bows on top. but I found some white and gingham pumpkin mixes at Hobby Lobby and I’d love to fill the inside of them with the pumpkin mix. Wouldn’t that be cute?!!
I’m planning on using this gingham pumpkin wreath on the door, which I made a couple of years ago when I was doing a 12 Months of Wreaths on the blog.
I have a flag stand and I found this ‘Hello Pumpkin’ flag on Amazon. For only $9.99, it went in my cart!
And, this isn’t going on the front porch… but, I LOOOVE these wipe off placemats that HomeGoods carries. I got yellow gingham ones for the Summer when I was doing the lemon theme in my kitchen and I wanted some Fall ones… and, I found these adorable black and white gingham ones with green pumpkins on them. They’re great on our kitchen table and I love how easy clean up is, because my kids (AND husband!) are messy eaters! Lol! (You might also spy some pumpkin macaroons in my cart!)
Three – Products I’m Loving
Shop This Post:
I was wanting this Kendra Scott Leah Mood Ring in Rose Gold for my birthday, but they were sold out on my size. So, I was excited when my husband surprised me with it in the mail while he was gone most of last week on a work trip. I first found out about this ring from Kellyann at This Blonde’s Shopping Bag and she even showed me her ring when I saw her on our Disney trip last July.
The Kendra Scott Leah Mood Ring came with this little card that lets me know what my mood is, based on the color of the ring. How fun, right?
Shop This Post:
In one of my Sephora Play! boxes, I received the Laneige Lip Sleeping Mask in berry. I loved it so much, that I decided to buy it and went with vanilla. They also have it in apple lime. This is such a treat for the lips, I put mine on before bed after I brush my teeth and my lips feel so soft and buttery the next morning.
Little by little, I’ve been trying some of the products offered at Trader Joe’s that aren’t just grocery items. I’ve heard good reviews about the Trader Joe’s Hair Serum made with Shea Butter and Coconut Oil. I picked this beauty up and OHHH does it smell good (makes me think of the beach). I think it is truly comparable with Moroccan Oil Treatment, plus it is a lot less expensive! Just do your wallet a favor and get this instead. It’s only… wait for it… $3.99 a bottle!!!
Shop This Post:
While in Target a few weeks ago, I noticed these Love Beauty and Planet hair products (for frizzy hair, but they have a wide range of products for other hair types) in the natural aisle. I decided to pick up the shampoo and conditioner and try them out. Now, I’ve been using these every other day and haven’t noticed any ‘product build up’ and that may be why… but, the shampoo doesn’t ‘lather’ like a normal shampoo since it is sulfate free. My hair does style great after using these and they smell OH so good. I did a little research on how natural these products are and they aren’t 100% natural. As for animal testing, this company does animal testing on their other products (Dove, Axe, etc.), but not on the Beauty and Planet brand. I would probably buy these again, BUT I’d like to do a little more research and see if there is something a little more natural out there.
Shop This Post:
I’m a huge fan of face AND hair masks. I picked up the Love Beauty and Planet hair mask and was pleasantly pleased with it.
Shop This Post:
I’ve been wanting a leopard coat for awhile and when I saw this cute and cozy one on Jane for just under $40, I decided to grab it before it was sold out. I know I’ll be wearing this A LOT this Fall and Winter!
Four – Dance in the City Photos
I signed Autumn up for a photography session with some of the other gals at her dance school (I believe there was 6-7 girls total there that night) for some photos on downtown St. Louis with Lace & Lola. I only have a couple of ‘sneak peak’ photos from that evening, but I am just in love with them and had to share them today with y’all. I love how serious she is in this photo… they did take quite a few photos of her smiling, too… but, I don’t have those yet! I wish I could pull off the ‘serious face’ in my fashion photos, but I always look silly when I do it. But, Autumn has it perfected!
She is just glowing in this photo… these were all taken during the magic hour (an hour before sunset!). Once I get more photos, I’ll be sharing them!
Five – Guinea Pigs Habitat & Diabetic Cat Update
Brian has been busy! He built this 2 story guinea pig habitat for our 6 piggies. If you’re new here, Petsmart accidentally gave us a boy and girl guinea pig instead of two boys and we landed up with a pregnant guinea pig and she gave birth to 4 babies. Brian ordered this cage kit online and spent almost an entire day building it. It’s been great, though and we put it next to a couple windows in the basement so they get some natural sunlight.
On the top floor are the two girls and the dad (we had him neutered, we don’t plan to have the other 3 boys neutered and they won’t be placed with the girls). Penelope is the mom (she’s far right, the furry one!), Maverick is the dad (center, he’s gray with some brown and white patches) and Storm is in the very back and she’s really furry like her mom and is black and white.
Then on the bottom are all the boy babies. Double Stuff is the white and black one and then Snickers is the one with the white diamond on his face and Ginger has the brown diamond on his face. Can you see that Brian got Superman bedding for the boy piggies? Lol!
We’ve been having a hard time getting Bratchey’s blood sugar levels where they need to be. She has done a few blood glucose curves, where they check them every hour for 7-8 hours and she is still getting some in the 400-500 range. We decided to switch vets, because we wanted someone a little more experienced in diabetic cats and a place that wasn’t a 20+ minute drive one way since the glucose curves require you to drop them off between 7-8:00 a.m. and pick them up between 5-6:00 p.m. (ain’t got time for that with rush hour, school and after school activities). The new vet is only 2 minutes away and already had her switch to a diabetic food she is liking more and has us feeling a little more confident that we will get her blood sugars under control soon. Bratchey is on 4 cc of insulin twice a day right now, but the vet told us that she has cats that receive up to 8 cc of insulin twice a day. She said it just takes a lot of time to get it right with cats and that if we aren’t seeing results, we’ll need to switch her to a human insulin. After each glucose curve, they usually raise her insulin by 1 cc, but I’m hoping we’ll see better results soon. Once her blood sugar gets to where it should be, she won’t need the biweekly glucose curves, which are really stressful for her (she HATES going to the vet!). Brian was out of town for 4 days last week and I was alone with giving her the insulin shots and I was SO proud of myself, I did it!! That really boosted my confidence in caring her her alone, as I had given the insulin shots to her here and there without Brian’s help, but usually I hold her down and Brian does it. Needles just freak me out, but I’m getting better at it.
Well, I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing weekend!
