Is it Fall yet?

Well, my wonderful parents have come and gone and I am so SAD!  We all are pretty bummed around here.  Rosie said this morning, "Nana and Papa better come back really soon!"  I completely agree!  We had such a lovely time.  A lovely and BUSY time.  We went to the Apple Festival, toured the Biltmore, visited Chimney Rock and even threw in some fun shopping, as well.  The only down side was Kiki was pretty sick almost the whole time they were here.  Probably the sickest she has ever been.  One night, she woke up 6 different times and I had to end up nursing her every time.  I was pretty exhausted the next morning.  Thankfully, she is on the mend and seems to be back to her crazy-go-lucky self.  I wish I took more pictures!

Biltmore Tour

 This face pretty much sums Kiki's weekend up.  

 Sweet Rosie

 All ready for Church 

Sleepy Kiki

Nana and Papa and their girlies

In super exciting home-decorating news (wink), my coffee table has been a thorn in my side for quite some time now.  I can't figure out what to put on top of it.  I used to have a metal basket with those decorative ball things on it.  That is until Kiki literally ate two of the balls.  I had to remove them and have been lost ever since.  Last week, I tried out about ten different possibilities.  Here are just a few of my tries...

This is what I have there now.  Are there too many birds?  

I think I'm going to paint the tray cream and weather it a bit.  I'll show you my final product when I get it all finished up.

So, I am a huge sucker for deals and I am an even bigger sucker for grab bags.  Pretty ridiculous, right?!  Well, last night, I ran to Michael's to get something and was met at the door with a bin full of grab bags for $2.  I had no clue what could be inside, but my curiosity got the best of me and I bought two.  Well, I am now the proud owner of two bags FULL of junk!  Actually, I can now throw an amazing fiesta party.  I have everything from invites to decor.  So be waiting on that one.  You wouldn't believe all of the stuff they fit in those bags.  I had to throw away quite a bit of it, but it was definitely worth the $2, just for the fun of it.  I would show you a picture of all my loot, but I'm tiny bit embarrassed.

So, I have a question for you...When is it okay to start decorating for fall?  I think I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE fall decor.  It's my very favorite season and I just love everything thing about it.  When I lived in Tulsa, I was known to start putting out my pumpkins in early September.  Well, it's early September and I'm ITCHING to get started.  I even started on a new craft project yesterday.  I'm completely smitten with this picture from the blog, Life as a Thrifter and really wanted to make the door hanging.

I have been looking for a big embroidery hoop for quite some time and finally stumbled across one yesterday.  I couldn't find burlap/jute with that tight of a weave, so I ended up getting some tea-stained linen and set to work on recreating my version of that door hanging.  I wanted to make the "M" a little bigger.

I wish the linen was darker, but I think it will work.  I also want to add some color to it.  Maybe some ribbon or something.  I'll let you know when I finish it up.

I can't wait to start doing some front porch decorating.  Here a few more pictures I just adore.  I can't wait to try some of them out!

 http://circadee.com

 http://www.shelterness.com

 http://www.shelterness.com

 http://www.shelterness.com

http://debbie-debbiedoos.com/