First Day of Autumn!

Fall has always been my favorite season. I especially love it now that I live in NC because the weather actually goes through stages and it starts a lot earlier. In Texas it just goes from hot to cold around later October. Here it starts getting cooler a lot sooner. The leaves are already starting to change and the nights are cooling down.

I love to watch the leaves change. We don't really get that in the part of Texas I'm from. For us it's more like they go from green to brown. Here, it is a gradual change of color from green to yellow to orange or red. It reminds me of my Mama. She went to New England once after my parents divorced to watch the leaves change in mid-October, and it was one of her happiest times after my dad tore her world apart. The colorful leaves always make me think of her.

These are the boots I am planning on getting for myself as a hey-I-haven't-gone-crazy-yet present. The closest store is about 6 hours from us so sadly these will have to wait until we go home on leave at the end of next month. But don't be mistaken. These boots are SO mine!

I am also a HUGE Halloween fan. I love to carve pumpkins and dress up. We also have a costume party every year (I love theme parties) that I go all out for. This year we're going to be in Texas for Halloween, a first for us since Aiden was born, so I'm really sad we won't be doing the party and stuff. I have informed Ethan that we're going to go crazy trick-or-treating like I did when I was a kid though. I plan on wearing the Monster out.

  

Oh yeah I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but I have a slight pumpkin addiction. I love anything pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin cheesecake, even the scent of pumpkin {pumpkin spice candles, etc.}  I love decorating and carving pumpkins. I love finding new recipes with pumpkin. I get a few months to just shove my entire addiction into a year of waiting for this wonderful time of the year.

Oh my gosh and don't forget about these TASTY little morsels of pumpkiny heavenly goodness.

Alright moving on from that pumpkin business...because I could keep on going...

I also really like Thanksgiving. There are only two times a year where I get to see my whole family, even when all of us lived in the same city, and that is Christmas and Thanksgiving. Of course Christmas is a very special time for us, but since I now have a family of my own we like to spend Christmas together, going to see family {if we're in town} on Christmas Eve. Thanksgiving is simply a time to catch up and spend time with people that you call family, whether they're actually blood-related. When we are back home we spend half the day at my family's, and then the other half and Ethan's parents' house. Every other year when we are in North Carolina I like to host a huge dinner for all of the families and "barracks boys" as I like to call them. I mean I go all out; turkey, ham, deviled eggs, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, rolls, at least two different types of pies...I love having a crowd around the holidays.

I am so happy that it is finally autumn. I think that this weekend I will definitely have to make my husband take me out to Starbucks for my favorite cold weather drink, a caramel apple spice with whipped cream and extra caramel sauce on top. Mmmmmmm.

If you love fall like and I do and if you want to participate in the Fall Favorites Swap go check out Nicole at Flip Flops and Combat Boots for all the info. We could be partners!