Hocus Pocus - a story of decor

It's Friday and I'm ready to share my Fall decorating, so it's a good day all around!

Over the years I've come to really enjoy Fall and Halloween. I don't remember Halloween ever being a favorite holiday, but I've never been a fan of scary, gory, horrifying things, so that makes sense. Over the last couple of years, though, I've found myself getting giddy over the thought of Halloween. That being said, I've started my own collection of decorations. 

This year I didn't buy anything since our house isn't 100% set up yet. I don't really decorate private areas of the house and I scatter just a few things around the kitchen, so there is only so much decor that can fit in these small 1200 square feet. 

First off, here is our entry. 

(edit: I was looking back on old posts and found this guy below. Look at what a difference about 2 months, some black paint, and decor makes!)

I'm so glad I got the black door and trim painted before this holiday. I cannot imagine this looking good with a maroon door!

All of the orange pumpkins are real pumpkins that Mark and I picked up at Home Depot last weekend. The white one is a fake I got a few years ago. I don't remember buying that galvanized witch thing...Kelly, is that yours? If not, I probably picked it up at HomeGoods.

I found the skull and the black jack-o-lantern at Target and we picked up those mums at Home Depot when we got the pumpkins.

I had an extra strand of leaf garland (snagged at Joann's or Hobby Lobby on sale one year) that I couldn't place anywhere in the house, so I literally just rolled it up and stuck it in the middle of my burlap wreath (seen here). Also, that "B" came from the wreaths I made for our wedding and it fell off in the move.

(there's the original B's location at our old apartment)

It was just lying in our front closet so I grabbed it and stuck it right in with the leaves! So, yeah, DIY cheat, none of that is actually being held in place. Less work for me! :)

I ended up moving this scrolled side table into the entryway to serve as a semi-entry table when we got the new couch. I'm still working things out as far as layout, since the space is a little odd! I have the same cheery books (Blink and The Happiness Project) all together with a glow-in-the-dark skull, purple glitter "EEK!" and a Yankee Candle Company "Autumn Festival" candle. I highly recommend this candle, by the way! Plus, I LOVE the spooky shadow it casts on the "EEK!" sign! 

I have a never-ending assortment of pumpkins, so these are just scattered around the living room. My favorite is still the wicker pumpkin and its slight chevron pattern. :)

Kelly calls this orange and black pillow my 'Halloween pillow" and while I have it out all year, it definitely gets moved to the front in October. Also, I picked up that pillow at the very back from Target a few years ago. On one side it has black and white stripes and on the other it has words like "spooky" and "scary". It's a favorite! As you can see, I laid my other leaf garland here on the windowsill.

I re purposed the $20 TV stand I bought at Wal-Mart a couple years ago into a lonnnngggg end table by the sofa, and I really like it there so far! Mark has a war plane book entitled Ghosts and it works perfectly with book 7 of the Harry Potter series to give a spooky backdrop. I throw in a mushy photo, a glitter pumpkin, two fake baby pumpkins, and a raven and we've got ourselves a vignette! 

I'm a sucker for seasonal candy (even though you can't tell - that sunlight in the back made for a washed out photo!) so I always fill glasses and vases with seasonal M&M's. They don't tempt me much (I'm more of a cookie/cake type of girl) but Mark already warned me that they would be gone soon. I think they are about half of that now. Also, I scored this SWEET little vulture baby at Joann's a couple years ago. It sits appropriately by another glitter sign, "BEWARE". I got it and the "EEK!" sign in the dollar section at Target when I first moved to Dallas.

So, that's my decor for this year! I'm proud of myself for not buying any new items and just working with what I've got! Does anyone else LOVE Halloween out there? Do you decorate your house to the max, or just here and there? I'd love to hear!

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One more thing - I still haven't done anything with this mirror but I'm hoping to use my weekend to get something done. I'm taking votes! Should I paint it? Leave it natural? Distress it? Give it a wash? Give me your thoughts!

Have a happy weekend!

It's fall y'all!

It's October 2nd, so we are already well into fall-talk within the blogger world. Heck, I even know people who have had their Halloween and Autumn decor up for close to a month! I'm not naming names (coughandreacough). With temperatures slowly cooling down here in Texas (mid 90's) and getting nice a nice fall tease (mid 80's) on the weekends, I'm ready to fully commit to the season change. 

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Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Fall. In my book, though, it's pretty much a tie with summer. I might be one of few southerners that loves the summer, 100+ degree heat and all. There is just such a freedom, newness, relaxation, and adventure about summer. Now that we are in October, though, I'm ready to embrace this new part of the year. I do think I can honestly say October is my favorite month! 

In honor of this new season, I'm sharing some of my favorite fall pins. You can check out all of my pins and follow me here on Pinterest, or just click on the button under my profile picture!

First of all, can Texas please look like this in the fall? Beautiful!

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And second on my fall list: layering!

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LOVING her cowl here:

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This girl has got pattern mixing and layering DOWN. Love it!

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I seriously LOVE these kinds of sweaters. Victoria's Secret sells this style. They are perfect to layer like a coat, but they are super snuggly if it gets really cold. Plus they are long enough to wear with leggings!

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And I really like her boot socks with that chunky sweater! Curly hair is pretty too :)

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This is a cool idea for a centerpiece!

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And I love how warm and cozy this feels. LOVE the farmhouse sink in the back!

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One thing that really makes fall special is cooking soup and cooking in the crock pot! Nothing like smelling soup all day :)

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And, last, I just ADORE this American flag blanket. It would be great for summer picnics, too!

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What are your inspirations during Autumn?

Happy Fall!

My favorite Five on Friday yet!

I've got a sore throat, but I think I slept off all of the anxiety from last night and I'm here for another Five on Friday!

As usual, I'm linking up with April at A. Liz Adventures. Check her out!

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I have been checking the weather lately to see when a chill in the air will make it's way down to Texas, and I'm pretty excited about this outlook next week:

I mean, it's no Canada, but it's a welcome break from the heat and the signal of the beginning of fall!

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I saw that there was a sale on boots at Nordstrom a couple of weeks ago over on Shay's blog (yes, she is "Sean the Bachelor's" older sister!) and I've been slowly saving my pennies for a boot splurge, so I bought these puppies:

They are REALLY tall, great quality leather, non-slouchy, and on sale right now for 50% off! Yep, that's just $89.99 for a pretty nice pair of boots! Get on over there and buy some. Plus, Nordstrom always has free shipping and free returns. Can't beat that!

*update-I was a little annoyed when I went to link to the page where I bought these boots because I noticed they had been marked down even more and were now $40 less than what I paid for them just a few weeks ago. I planned on stopping into Nordstrom this weekend to see if I could return and re-buy the boots at the sale price, but on a whim I decided to give them a quick call. I didn't have to hold at all to wait to speak to a real person, and they INSTANTLY credited my card with the sale price difference. I was on the phone for less than a minute! I have to give them mad props for being the company that consumers want to buy from. Way to go, Nordstrom, and happy day for me!*

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I'm thinking this weekend calls for some blog TLC. I haven't been paying much attention to it lately just because my life has suddenly sped up over the last couple of weeks, so it needs some love! I want to add a sidebar feature about Motley and Mark, but what else do you think I should change or add? 

She's sad because she doesn't have a sidebar feature.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Speaking of Fall, I'm holding out as long as I can to put out my decorations. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE fall and Halloween, but with a combination of the heat, our unfinished house, and the effort of cleaning around fall decor, I just want to wait until the moment is right. Here are some photos of my previous decorations over the last couple of years:

A little decor at my first Dallas apartment!




I loved this fireplace...even though it didn't work!


Harvest blocks courtesy of Kelly. Aren't they cute?!


My sister as a TMNT and me as Amy Winehouse!

The spread from my Halloween party a couple of years ago.

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I mentioned I had high anxiety last night, and if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you'll know why. It's because Texas Tech (I might have mentioned them once or twice here and here) had their first conference game against a new rival, TCU. My sister and other family members went to TCU and if anything, they have some pretty die-hard fans. Tech and TCU haven't played each other much over the last 10 years, but TCU joined the Big 12 conference last year and I can see the early makings of a pretty big rival, even outside of my extended family. Mark and I joined friends at a "Tech" establishment with about 100 other fans and watched the game on the big screen. It was a nail-biter, but we pulled out ahead and are undefeated so far! Tech always seems to bring a dramatic game, and this one was no different. Here are the headlines this morning from the Ft. Worth Star Telegram and the Lubbock Avalanche Journal:

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Lubbock Avalanche Journal

Now, there is rarely a game with perfect officiating and this game did have its questionable calls, but all in all, my Alma Mater won and it was a great game! I'd love to address some comments from TCU fans on Facebook, but I'm trying real  hard to bite my tongue...and that's all I'll say about that! Wrecked 'em!

Happy Weekend!

Fall Bucket List

I almost let Monday get the best of me, you guys, but alas! Here I am!

I'm going to take a page from Emily's blog and do a little fall bucket list. I LOVE Summer and Fall (Autumn for all y'all fancy people) but it always seems they pass me by way too quickly. So here's my list of how I'll make the best of it, plus get a few things on my to-do list done:

1-re-do the kitchen counters and possibly the back splash

2-revamp our landscaping with some fall plants

3-plant a tree on our anniversary (maybe? if that's an acceptable time to plant trees?) and watch it grow year after year

4-visit an apple orchard or pumpkin patch

5-decorate/carve pumpkins with Mark or friends

6-try and eat healthier and lose some weight!

7-decorate my house for fall and Halloween and document it for the blog

8-cook a yummy crock pot meal once a week

9-go to a college football game

10-get pictures taken of Mark and myself

Well there are my top 10! I think most of them are pretty do-able and some will help me get out and explore during this awesome season. Link up with Emily and me if you have a bucket list!