Happy October First! I am feeling similar to Anne of Green Gables today when I say, “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.” The afternoon high may still be in the upper nineties here in Memphis, but our crisp mornings spent sipping coffee on the front porch bring along with it the promise of all things fall.
We’ve been in our new house for a little less than two months and it is starting to come together and feel like home. It’s undergone quite the transformation! You could say the same thing about our lives right now too. This fall is continuing the season of change for us with new-ish jobs, a new school, a new neighborhood, new grocery stores, (oh how I miss you, H-E-B!) and many new friends too. So far everyone seems to be adjusting quite nicely! It’s been easier than I expected to settle back in Memphis and call Tennessee home again.
Today, I’m sharing a peek into what I’m thinking is only the start of our fall decor on our front porch – along with a bit on what we’ve been up to lately, details on our outfits (naturally) and a status update on current home projects too. Head on down for more!
Shop this Fall Fashion Look:
Annie’s Dress & Shoes // My Top (Similar & Similar) Jeans, & Fringe Booties
Front Porch Fall Decor: Flowers
Patrick discovered this ahhhmazing nursery here in Memphis called Urban Earth. He had such a great experience chatting with the team there about landscaping our backyard and our garden plans for spring. I thought I’d pay them a visit on my own to pick up mums and pumpkins for our front porch fall decor. There were so many shapes and sizes of pumpkins and colorful fall mums I almost didn’t even know where to begin! Again, the Urban Earth employees on hand were nothing short of amazing and helped me pick just the right colors and sizes of mums & pumpkins to get started.
It really makes a difference shopping small and local as opposed to heading on over to your chain hardware store or supermarket for pumpkins and mums. You can just see the love that must have gone into growing this fall harvest from the people selling them.
Fall Fashion Trends I’m Wearing Now
Even though the weatherman says 90 degrees, it somehow seems strange to wear my favorite summer sundresses all of a sudden. I’m switching my wardrobe to the fall season this weekend and pulling out transitional pieces now like lightweight blouses, midi-dresses in fall prints or darker shades, along with blue jeans and booties. I slipped on a pair of tall boots the other day and won’t be making that mistake again! Booties get the point across (it’s fall, y’all!) without actually giving in to dressing for the weather we wish we had.
What We’re Up To Lately
I’ve been on a traveling kick lately and am thrilled to take a good long break. Aside from a big camping trip planned this weekend with a group of friends, we will be home for the most part throughout October and November. This camping trip marks the very first time Annie has ever gone camping with us! How we’ve made it 2.5 years without doing so? I have no idea! We’re planning on doing a bit of canoeing and hiking during the day and spending our evening whipping up delicious dishes over an open fire. My fingers are crossed we get a cold front just in time!
Aside from a few small trips to visit family across Tennessee, we’re planning on buckling down and finally getting all of these cardboard boxes scattered about unpacked! As I type this, I’m looking at 8 cardboard boxes stacked high in my office just waiting for their contents to be placed somewhere. One of these days!! Who else took forever to unpack after their move?
Family Life
On the family front, I’ve got big news to share … Annie is officially potty trained! I thought this day would never come – even when countless people jokingly said, “Nobody goes to college in diapers!” as a form of encouragement. It wasn’t very encouraging haha. Annie’s new school required that she be potty trained by day 1, which was August 9th. Truth be told, we pretty much failed at that… With a busy summer and our moving day scheduled on August 8th … it was only natural that our potty training plan was interrupted.
We had attempted potty training several times, once in April and once again in July. In April, we all got sick 4 hours in – even visiting the doctor later that day. In July, Annie spent 3 days pretending to potty with no success. We tried it again over a weekend in early August – before the moving trucks came – and things were going great!! Afterward, I flew to Houston to help Patrick pack the moving truck then the movers arrived which caused total chaos & not surprisingly wreaked havoc on potty training. One thing I’ve learned throughout the process is that consistency is key. (And picking up the book Oh, Crap! Potty Training helped immensely by the way!) A few weeks ago, we rethought our potty training process after reading this book and went into it with an entirely new mindset. Round 4 seemed to stick and we’ve been so pleased with Annie’s process since – as have her school teachers!!
Home Projects We’re Working On this Fall
We’re currently in the midst of dozens of home projects, but right now my big goal is to fully finish the kitchen-dining nook. All I have left to do is reupholster the chairs and find a chandelier. At that point, it will be ready to share with the world! Aka, my blog. But that aside, it will just feel really good to have at least one space in our home completely finished. After that, I’m hoping to finish up the front porch and Annie’s bedroom. It’s a slow-moving process but I’m enjoying the ride!
—
I hope you all are having a great start to the fall season, whether you’re living where it’s still 90s degrees or the leaves are changing outside of your bedroom window! As always, thanks for stopping by and following along our adventures!
—
xo, alice
