Fun Fall Favorites

I absolutely LOVE Fall! It's by far my favorite season for fashion, temperature, events, food, etc. Maybe is has something to do with the fact that my birthday is in October, but I think it's more about coming out of crazy hot summer and getting to toss on some layers and snuggle in with my family....and the food!
Crock Pot cooking has become my best friend, but let's face it, baking will always be right up there with favorite things to do. It's a good thing (for everyone) that I have graduated from the days of experimental baking - mostly resulting in bricks not baked goods - to actually having a sense in the kitchen about what works! This fall I tried a recipe for Pumpkin Oatmeal cookies. Best part is it calls for add-ins, and I used chocolate chips and dried cranberries. They were AMAZING and not too sweet! I actually ate them for breakfast a few days (because they only lasted a few days before I ate them all!)

The batter...I wish I had remembered to take a picture of the finished product....

....before eating them all....

Photo from Sally's Baking Addiction

For the recipe click here

**The only thing I did differently was use splenda in place of granulated sugar**

 Two reasons: I was out of granulated sugar, and my mom (who lives with us) is diabetic - they still tasted AMAZING!!

We have been up to all kinds of fun this Fall so far! Dablet LOVED Halloween again this year, changing from Elsa, to Anna, and a last minute mind change to Zarina. In case you don't know, Zarina is the fairy in the Tinkerbell series of movies, The Pirate Fairy. Needless to say, I had to improvise a little bit - but she was SO excited! The movie is really cute too!

In case you missed last year - I made her a Pirate costume last year too....

I had more time last year - but the costume was SUPER easy to make!

Stitched elastic waist band with looped cut strips of fabric

Lace fabric and felt for sword cross body

Feathers and fabric braided into hair

Adorn with some coin ribbon and you're set!

In other news - we had Luke's Newborn pictures taken a couple weeks ago by Amber of Six Foot Photography. She did an AMAZING job!!! Three year old kids are quite a challenge to photograph with any kind of consistency, but she was fabulous with Dablet! I'll share more later, but here is one of my personal favorites! You should definitely check her out if you're in the greater triangle area (or NC anywhere!)

Until next time!

Weather Wonders

I wanted to take a minute to share something truly amazing with everyone today. I had to make last minute run out to Target for some final touches for Dablet's Halloween experience earlier this morning, and on my way home I was stunned by what I saw in the sky. I immediately called Kyle, who was off working somewhere about 30-40 minutes away from me, but he could see it too. I had never seen anything quite like it, and I can only assume that this weather phenomenon must have something to do with Hurricane Sandy...

There was a rainbow circling the sun....it looked as if it was keeping the haze away from the crystal clear bright light we finally had again today. The picture truly does not do this justice, but I promise it's real and I snapped this from my car. The rainbow went almost all the way around the sun! I had never seen an "upside down rainbow" before, and I had never seen one that acted as a weather barrier. Shortly after I got home, the clouds had moved in again and the rainbow was gone. This bright moment had been replaced by the cold dreary haze that most of the East Coast is still feeling. We were lucky with Sandy, but I know so many who were not. I thought this might bring a little joy into everyone's day. I'm hunting an explanation for this marvel, and when I find it I'll be sure to share!

**UPDATE**

Here is a second photo that Kyle took while he was out at the same time! It does a much better job of showing the full circle! 

Also, Lee Ringer, from News 14 Carolina, was nice enough to respond to my request for an explanation! So what is it?! It's a "sun halo" created by sunlight shining through tiny ice crystals very high in the atmosphere. Sounds like a giant prism effect I remember learning about in elementary school! You might see one of these photos as a weather shot of the day on the news one day soon!

Happy Halloween!!

Focus On: Thanksgiving Tablescapes

Happy Hump Day! It's a day of link ups with two other fabulous ladies, Lynda of Focal Point Styling and Julie of Simply Savvy to talk about the "Big Three Before the Tree: Fall Decor, Halloween, and Thanksgiving". I jumped at not only to opportunity to join forces with them, but also to snag Thanksgiving! There are so many ways to turn your family gatherings, even if it's a small gathering, into a stylish event quickly, reflective of your own taste, and in an affordable way!

Candles:

You have them around the house, in drawers, and guess what?! You can use and reuse them seasonally by changing how you display them! The top three show you ways of setting candles in common Fall things in somewhat more involved ways, but still very user friendly. What I love about the bottom three is that you could have had the same candles out the week before on the same table but with different accents. Grab your favorite shaped glass vase or small bowl, some dried corn, cranberries, or coffee, and you have instant centerpieces for your Thanksgiving table!

Leaves:

Let's face it, if we look out our windows the in the Fall (at least in all of the places I remember living) you see leaves! They're iconic Fall colors, textures, shapes, and even the delicate nature of the passing season come across from the outdoor foliage. My favorite three from this assortment are the pears (top right), napkins (bottom left), and the vase (bottom right). Each of these can be executed in less than 5 minutes to add color, texture, and the perfect Fall element to your table!

Pumpkins:

I've mentioned the importance of bringing color and texture to your table already, and pumpkins are perfect for that as well! We'll go ahead and include gourds in this too! I always love going to our local pumpkin patch and fishing through the bins of gourds to find the oddest shaped ones for decoration! Pumpkins are also perfect for painting, as seen in the bottom right photo to bring whatever color scheme you are going for possible with Fall nature. Not only can you paint them, but you can also add some bling with glitter (top left) as well! Maybe you're not the glitter type, but this would be a lot of fun for a kids' table! Just like the leaves you can stack them in tall glass vases for an easy way to bring color and height without fuss to your Thanksgiving table.

I thought this was genius and had to share! If you're lucky enough to entertain outside for Thanksgiving, use tiny pumpkins as table weights for your linens!

I know my "Focus" is supposed to be on Thanksgiving tables, but I warned Lynda and Julie when we teamed up that I would not be able to talk about the table without talking about the food you put on it! Every year I make the turkey and all of the things that go with it, and every year I wonder why I only do it at Thanksgiving! I LOVE everything associated with Thanksgiving cooking, and all of the Fall flavors! 

Here's the recipe for these Pumpkin Spice Pancakes:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  

• Directions

  1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
  2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

Recipe from AllRecipes.com

There is an infamous story in my family about stuffing a turkey! Apparently one year sometime before I was born my dad and my aunt (his sister who recently passed) got into it about which kind of stuffing would be made for the turkey and if the bird should be roasted breast up or breast down. It ended with my aunt getting to stuff the cavity and my dad getting to stuff the neck (it was a large turkey), and it was roasted breast up. Since then, we always have two kinds of stuffing at Thanksgiving which I love because it means more leftovers! Here are a few fun ideas I found for leftovers this Thanksgiving season:

Boxed leftovers to go with your guests names! This way you don't have to worry about not getting your tupperware back!

You don't always want to keep eating "heavy" food, so a shredded turkey salad with cranberry relish is a perfect option!

Thanksgiving leftover pie! For more info on this treat click here

I don't think I need to get into the pie recipes (yet!), but I'll share a couple great dessert table displays with you!

Even if you have simple desserts, remember to use varying height to make your table a bit more fun! Check out your local Goodwill store for cake stands, fun chargers for layering, and even short vases you can use as makeshift stands for plates. Just because you want to change your table decor for the season does not mean you can't reuse the same items year round! 

For even more inspiration check out my Fall Feasts board on Pinterest and head over to Olioboard to play around with some decor ideas there! 

To see this board and shop the look click here

As I mentioned before I've teamed up with to fabulous ladies today for the "Big Three Before the Tree". You can follow the buzz and join us on twitter by using the hashtag #Big3B4TheTree and check out the other blogs here:

Focus On: Halloween Steampunk Style

Simply Savvy

Focus On: Fall Decor