There's nothing better...

Than actually sitting down to eat a meal! 

Ok, maybe this is a close second to an actual couch for our living room. But we’re celebrating the daily growths around here. And we finally have our kitchen table. And I just LOVE it. 

 

Magnolia Wood

Sorry it's blurry... the kitchen has so many windows that it's hard to get a good shot. The lights had to happen. 

Things are coming along around here. The kitchen still isn't complete... but it's pretty close. The updates will be coming up soon. 

-Nicola & the little pup

Goodbye humidity and mosquitos... Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

fall makes me happy for three reasons:

 1) I can go outside again.

2) I'm no longer itching all day.

3) The holiday festivities are about to begin!

I always wondered why cardigans and scarves showed up in the “fall”. Don’t get me wrong, I love them both, but the 85 degree (Californian) weather really doesn’t make either of them suitable.  Now that I’ve moved, I understand…

fall is real.

It is actually completely different than summer. Things are FALLING everywhere. The leaves are evacuating their tree posts. The acorns are bouncing on my patio (I thought I was being bombed by my squirrels at first). And the temperature is dropping fast. 

The attention being paid to pumpkins seems to be the same on both coasts… Just how it should be. 

We’ve done our fair share of fall decorating. And by decorating, I mean buying EVERY pumpkin that I stumble across.

Baskets of gourds and pumpkins... Miles thinks they're festive balls.

The start of the porch collection.

Leaves are beginning to fall. We need a rake....badly.

And to be sure that Pinterest gets involved, I've been cooking and baking some of my "to do" list. I want to get through most of my recipes this year. Call me Martha Stewart, because decorating, cooking, and baking have been a daily occurrence around here. 

There are a few recipes that I highly recommend (you can find them on my Pinterest board "I'm Hungry"- which is usually true):  

Pumpkin Snicker Doodles- THE BEST COOKIES EVER!

Chicken and Dumpling Soup (I added a bouillon cube for more flavor) 

Dark chocolate bites filled with almonds, pumpkin seeds, and dried cranberries.

And to make things even better... this week MORE FURNITURE ARRIVES! I don't think I've ever been so happy about deliveries. I feel like a little kid again practically running to the door when I see the mailman (or better yet, the UPS folks) parking at the end of my ridiculously long driveway.  

Still counting down for the couch though....
- Nicola & the little pup

I found a new house.

So today I got lost. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone because Raleigh and I just don't see eye to eye. It's all tree filled and green here and I can hardly see the driveways until I am just about past them. 

Anyway, I was trying to get to a park (without using my GPS) and I stumbled across this charming little place. I'm not sure what I was thinking when I decided that the GPS and I needed a little bit of a break, but it was my best decision ever. 

Let me introduce you to VINTAGE VILLAGE. The name alone sucked me in... but the tractor and pumpkins helped. I forgot to get a picture of the while street set up. Typical. 

VINTAGE VILLAGE

Here she is... you wouldn't think it was such a find. 

The pumpkins were awesome and the place was owned by an older man named Sam. We're friends now. He's the best. 

Just look at all these little places... full of things to reuse. 

 This is where I want to just move right in... 

The outside. Has a nice county porch for the hubby and I. And a good look out for the pup.

Look at those walls. You would never need art. And you can't see the curtains, but they match perfectly. 

 And everything else was amazing too. 

Lessons of the day:

1) GPS ruins adventures.

2) Get more pumpkins from small businesses (you meet nice people that way).

-Nicola & the Little Pup