Sunday Social

Carrying on with my week of new link-ups, I am participating in The Sunday Social Link-Up with Neely over at A Complete Waste of Makeup. 

Fall is my favorite season, so I was very excited to see the theme this week.

1. What is your favorite Fall activity?

Hands down my favorite fall activity is going to the pumpkin patch. We made a day of it last year and went on a hayride, did a corn maze, and bought pumpkin butter. I just love season activities that really make it seem like fall. Going to the pumpkin patch is only trumped by going to get the Christmas tree. 

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2. Do you follow a football team? if so which one and why? 

I graduated from the University of Georiga, so I love when they win. However, I am not the biggest football fan by any means. I have no idea how many days it is still the season starts, and probably couldn't name more than a few players. I will always cheer for UGA when they are playing, but I don't really go out of my way to watch. I know this makes me a total anomaly in the SEC world. 

3. What is something fun about Fall in your area?

I haven't experienced fall here in Upstate NY yet ( we only moved in February), but I fully expect the leaves changing to be gorgeous. 

Looks I Love Board on Pinterest

Looks I love Board on Pinterest

4. Fav Fall outfit staples?

Leggings, boots and sweaters. I like to be comfortable and warm. I also wear skirts with tights all the time. 

5. Thing you are looking forward to most about this coming Fall season?

My one year anniversary, picking out pumpkins and carving them with Lane, taking a family picture for our Christmas cards, and enjoying the final months with Lane before deployment. 

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6. Favorite Fall holiday? Traditions?

Decorating is absolutely one of my favorite traditions. I make mulled cider and Lane and I watch Christmas movies at least a few times starting in late November. I am excited to have trick or treaters over this year and carve pumpkins. My mom always made roasted pumpkin seeds and I definitely plan on carrying on that tradition. Honestly, my favorite bits of fall are all the excitement as we get closer to Christmas. I love Christmas and the weeks preceding it. 

I love finding fun new link-ups and The Sunday Social Totally fit the bill. I hope everyone has a relaxing and happy Sunday. 

Fill In The Blank Friday

I am changing up my weekly link-ups and participating in The Little Things We Do Friday Fill in the Blank Friday. 

1.  I am proud of My marriage.

2.   This weekend I will Go see the Dark Knight, take Asha to the dog park at least once a day, cook amazing meals for my tuckered out husband, and do about twenty loads of laundry. Yeah, not very glamorous at all. 

3.  A secret dream I have is To open my own bookstore. I know that bookstores are a dying business, but working at Barnes and Noble was such a good experience for me. I love everything about books. I would want to open a small carefully curated book store where people could come for gifts just to browse. There would clearly be an attached coffee shop. Reading without my latte is unthinkable. 

4. I can't handle People who complain about a situation, but have no inclination or motivation to change anything. If something bothers you, DO SOMETHING. I have such a hard time being compassionate or empathetic when people don't actually want to change anything. They just want to complain. 

5. The most annoying thing in the entire world is   When people cut their nails in public. I cannot understand how ANYONE thinks this is socially acceptable. I am equally uncomfortable with people filing their nails in public. I think that is more accepted in public, but it still drives me crazy. I just hate the sound. 

6. The most relaxing thing in the entire world is To lie on the warm boards at our lake house. There is nothing better than jumping into the cold water and then stretching out on the sun-baked dock. I am convinced that is what heaven will feel like. 

7.  I think everyone should  Register to vote

WILW

I am linking up with the lovely Jaime at This Kind of Love for What I Am Loving Wednesday. This list is entirely lovely things that have been on my mind this week. 

1. You and Me Print from Red Bird Ink on Etsy. 

I probably look at this Etsy shop once a week. Their prints are sold in a few stores in Atlanta, and I really want one for my walls. I am thinking it may end up on my Christmas list. 

 

2. This wonderful artist posted an outline for this card she made for her husband last Valentines Day. In her extreme generosity, she posted the template online. I definitely want to download and print off two of these. I think painting/coloring them in would be a fun date night. 

Via Pinterest

3. So this isn't the happiest quote, but it perfectly describes my week. Lane has been gone and his absence touches every other part of my life. I love how perfectly this quote describes how someone who's not there can still have such a presence. 

4. This face. I think we are on the final leg of puppy destruction. She is improving every week and I love seeing her figure out what we are trying to get her to do. Also, look at those ears. 

5. The Women's Gymnastics Team. Team USA was flawless yesterday and I watched on live stream to cheer them on. I had yesterday off and spent multiple hours watching gymnastics and swimming. 

Hope everyone else is having a wonderful Wednesday too! 

Olympic Fever

I have been scheduling my days around certain Olympic events. Yesterday I was sure to catch Men's All Around Gymnastics and Women's Swimming. I was so proud of Missy Franklin when she won the 100-Meter Back stroke. She competed less than ten minutes before that, but pulled it together to win gold.

Also, she is adorable. 

My heart broke during the Men's Gymnastics Final. After the score were compiled it ended up with China at Gold, Great Britain at Silver and Ukraine came in at Bronze. However, Japan protested and the scores were reviewed. The protest was upheld and Japan was moved to second place. This meant that Great Britain was bumped to Bronze and Ukraine was fourth. Seeing how excited these guys were was inspiring. Then the devastation after the scores were changed. 

I have a hard time with sports like gymnastics and ice skating because the scores are SO subjective. It ends up with situations like this where teams have medals in their grasp for mere minutes before they are snatched away. 

I have been seeing some adorable ideas for Olympic parties. Here are some of the things I am keeping in mind for future parties. These are all on my Entertaining Board on Pinterest. 

Today I will be watching the women's gymnastics final as well as some more swimming. I hope Michael Phelps can pull it together. 

My Dog Rocks

Yes she is the cutest thing in the whole world 

This weekend was pretty focused on Asha. She finished all her vaccines this week so we have been at the dog park at least twice a day. It gives her a chance to socialize with other dogs, and get loads of exercise. An added benefit is that I have met so many new women from around the neighborhood. It is really nice to recognize more people as I take her for walks, and get to know my neighbors. Making friends as adults can be sometimes tricky, but Asha is the best ice breaker imaginable.

Asha hung out with two great danes and had an absolute blast. She had no concept of the fact that they were  80 lbs heavier than her. She tried to steal their toys and jump on top of them.

I am ready for Lane to get home. We have another few days till he is out of the field, but I am ready for him to get back. I have been so spoiled since September with seeing him all the time. When we were still long distance going a week and a half was nothing. Two-three months was the average time, and I could breeze through it. I need to toughen back up before deployment.

I finally finished our wedding albums and should get the last one in the mail tomorrow or Wednesday. I am relieved to have them done but have a feeling I may make one more. I didn't have enough room to put all the family portraits in a book, and I love the pictures from after the ceremony. Candid photographs are great, but there is something timeless about the traditional family all standing together photo. My lovely readers ( the married ones anyway), what did y'all do for your wedding photographs? If you made albums do you find yourself going back to look through them? 

Lazy Sunday

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I got this wonderful book at the on-post library book sale on Friday. It is a collection of First Lady Jackie Kennedy's favorite poems. 

There are some gorgeous poems and I wanted to post some of my favorites. I haven't done a Sunday Art post in a while, but felt inspired reading this book last night. 

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Fog 

By Carl Sandburg 

The fog comes

on little cat feet. 

It sits looking

over harbor and city 

on silent haunches 

and then moves on. 

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Fireflies In The Garden 

By Robert Frost

Here come real stars to fill the upper skies, 

And here on earth come emulating flies, 

That though they never equal stars in size,

(And they were never really stars at heart) 

Achieve at times a very star-like start . 

Only, of course, they can't sustain the part. 

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Hope Is The Thing With Feathers 

By Emily Dickinson 

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul, 

And sings the tune without the words, 

And never stops at all, 

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm 

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm. 

I've heard it in the chillest land,

And on the strangest sea; 

Yet, never in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me 

I think this is just the loveliest book. It would make a wonderful Mother's Day gift too. The poems were compiled by Jackie Kennedy's daughter Caroline and include memories and stories about her parents. I am only part way through and can already tell this will be a book I will  return to over and over throughout the years. 

Opening Ceremonies

Happy Saturday! I know that some of y'all probably caught that Olympic Opening Ceremonies last night. I was certainly watching. I thought that it was really interesting and a little weird at some parts. 

The kids in their beds was kind of strange, but I loved Mary Poppins coming in to save all the children from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. 

The skit with the Queen and Daniel Craig as James Bond was amazing. She is such a good sport.

The "Queen" skydiving in 

The rings being forged was an absolutely gorgeous scene. 

Also, I was not a huge fan of the uniforms for the United States. I know there was a huge scandal over them being made in China, but I just didn't think they were stylish at all. On the other hand, I loved what the ladies of Belgium wore. 

Not so much a fan of the Czech Republic's Rain Boots and knee length spandex. 

Photos are from here and here

I have planned my day around being home to watch Michael Phelps compete with Ryan Lochte at 2:30. I found the NBC schedule super confusing, but Huffington Post has one here that was much easier to figure out. 

My guest post went live yesterday. If anyone wants to read about my love of trays, head over here.