Snow and Ice Part 2

All of us photography enthusiasts here in Georgia have been rushing outside to take some photos of the gorgeous snow and Ice we've been having. here are some favorites from the past two days.

View out my living room windows this morning

Our mountain cabin, our house is so pretty in the snow!

Echo liked the snow a little better this time but still didn't want to walk in it

My Dad and I built a tiny snowman! it only lasted about 30 minutes before it started to melt.

Autumn Bucket List

We are coming up on my very favorite time of year! I love autumn so much. In my mind the only good thing about Summer is that Fall is right around the corner. Now that I have a daughter with an autumn Birthday it is all the more special. Because of this birthday however I missed out on quite a few of my favorite fall activities last year. I was too overwhelmed by being a new parent and not ready to venture out as much as I normally would. Well not this year! In order to not forget any of the awesome things I want to do this fall I am making a list. There is so much to do this time of year that it's hard to squeeze it all in but I'm planning to give it my best shot :-) Things in italics are already done, hooray!

1. Apple Picking
2. Attend at least one festival
3. Camping
4. Get coffee at land of 1000 hills and walk by the river
5. Take Echo to feed the ducks
6. Hiking (Sope Creek?)
7. Have plenty of fire circles in the back yard, preferably with beer and/or s'mores
8. Go on a picnic
9. Make home made apple sauce
10. Make lots of time for sitting on our lovely back deck, enjoying the view and the nice weather
11. Resume our weekly walk to the grocery store (we had to call it quits over the summer because of the heat)
12. Do a fall photo shoot with Echo
13. Bake lots of bread
14. Sew a halloween costume for Echo (suggestions welcome!)
15. Take Echo trick or treating (probably just to my parents house but still)
16. Road trip! (it's in the works)
17. Carve pumpkins
18. Consume as many pumpkin products at Starbucks as possible :-)
19. Make lots of soup
20. Corn Maze
21. Make time for date nights with my wonderful husband :-)

Happy Anniversary To Us!

It is just over a year since we closed on the house, my how time flys! I still can't believe that all that paperwork and all the headaches that go along with buying a home are so far behind us. It's a great feeling to be settled in to our own home and we have been working diligently to pay off our mortgage ahead of schedule. It will be another amazing milestone to pay off the house but that is still a long way off.

Needless to say a lot of my short term plans for home improvements have been put on hold because of the impending new arrival to our family. We are putting away as much money as possible to save up for baby so that has caused us to slow some of our bigger projects. On top of that I am totally wiped out and nauseous all the time which basically means I have no energy (or desire) to do home improvement projects. Apparently growing a baby is hard work because it has left me totally exhausted. Oh well, it's supposed to get better in the second trimester :-)

Eric was able to find time to put in a new light over the sink in the kitchen so I wanted to post a picture of that to share with everyone.

We got this nice little pendant light at World Market, it is a big improvement over the ugly florescent fixture that used hang above the sink.

Other changes around the house all have to do with the coming of Spring. We've had such a warm Winter and I know things are blooming early everywhere. Our yard is no exception although we do seem to be a little behind Atlanta proper since we are little higher altitude and it tends to be slightly colder here in Marietta. Here are some of the things that are starting to sprout and bloom around the yard.

Daffodils coming up but not quite in bloom yet. I planted about 25 of them last Fall, it's exciting to watch them come up.

Azaleas starting to bloom but not up to their full glory yet.

Close up of Azalea blossoms, my white Azaleas aren't blooming yet for some reason. 

Fall Colors

October and November have been super busy for us. This is my absolute favorite time of year and I feel like it's going to be gone before I know it! I finally grabbed a few moments today to photograph some of the fall foliage in our yard. It reminded me yet again of how beautiful this part of the country is and how lucky Eric and I are to live in a house surrounded by trees. I made a little collage of some of the lovely scenery around our home and here it is :-)

More Fall Decorating

Fall is really in full swing now and I have been adding some more seasonal decorations in preparation for Halloween and Thanksgiving. We have so many acorns and pinecones falling in our yard that I decided to make these candleholders using square glass vases and candles left over from our wedding and filling them part way up with some of the natural items from the yard. We also have a little pumpkin left over from a pumpkin carving party we went to so I may use all three of these things for a Thanksgiving centerpiece.  

We also carved pumpkins last weekend (at the afore mentioned party). The larger one is mine and is loosely based on a tiki head. Eric's is the little one, he made a cute little candle.

That's it for now, I'll let you know what I end up doing with the Thanksgiving centerpiece, I think it needs a bit more tweaking, I may be adding a table runner or something along those lines.

Fall Floral Design

Late Summer/early Fall is a particularly stunning time of year in my opinion. I've been noticing huge fields of wildflowers popping up around our neighborhood. I thought it would be another opportunity for me to practice my floral design by taking advantage of the natural abundance of beauty we have here in North Georgia. I ended up with mainly golden rod (one of my favorite flowers ever!) and a few white flowers that I have no idea what they were. I also added in a few different kinds of grass to really give it that autumn feel.

A Touch of Fall

We are coming up on my very favorite season, Fall! There's something about the crisp weather, the smells of spice and woodsmoke and the golden light makes me feel that there is a bit of magic in the air. I have to say, this time of year puts me in an incredibly good mood. I gather that it's not technically Fall until this Friday but the weather has been so Autumn like that I couldn't resist a little Fall decorating. I have been so looking forward to decorating the house for the Fall and Winter holidays, this place is just crying out for garlands and seasonal decor. Today I made a lovely little leaf garland to hang above the fireplace.

Leaf garland in place

close up leaves

 I've also been collecting pinecones, both big and small, from the yard for quite a while. Right now they are being displayed on a lovely wood platter but I have plans to make  a Christmas garland out of them later this year.

I also walked around our yard today to take some pictures of some signs of early Fall. I love to watch the seasonal changes starting to make themselves apparent.

lots of pinecones showing up on our Eastern Hemlock tree

acorns are starting to fall and the squirrels are having a feat!

the berries on our holly bushes are starting to turn red, can't wait to make decorations out of these for Christmas!

some fall colors are just barely starting to turn up in yard, I can't wait until it is in full swing!

I don't know about you all but I'm ready to take a hay ride and drink some apple cider. Hope you all are enjoying the season as much as I am!