Weekend Update: fall festivities

My friends, here we are again! The 'fast forward' button is still pressed and these fall days go by like a blur. Nonetheless, we had such a busy and fun weekend--hope you did too:)

Some pics. First, OOTD's.

My furry vest is a fall favorite and I wear it so much I'll bet people are tired of looking at it.  And my boots (recent TJ Maxx find you may recall); I refuse to take them off of my feet except to shower.

My ON shirt; I love it.  Heading back for another color.

My precious cowboys.  We had a birthday party this weekend and it was so much fun.  My 5 year old refused to ride the pony (he felt the pony was too tall, ha!) but my 3 year old gave it a try.  We've been to a couple of fabulous birthday parties lately at friends' homes and they are so much fun.  I think I may try to be brave next year and have a birthday party at our house for the first time?! I'm inspired! Clearly I'm renting the pony.

I had coffee with Bailey's on Saturday evening (after the birthday party and dinner with friends), biscotti, and attempted to read my book.  It was so relaxing.  This book is not my cup of tea and I hope I can finish it soon to end the misery.  (It's Pictures of You and I just don't love the characters but I also can't put it down because I'm halfway finished.)

Some playground time; the leaves are amazing, I wish they could stay this way a little while longer.

The hubs made me a yummy breakfast; avocado, fried egg and ham on toast.  Delish.

And I couldn't resist this reality check.  I've had a few emails about my hair (bless your hearts, you must be trying to make me feel good;) and my routine is simple.  I just blow dry, then use velcro rollers (I roll the middle straight back, the sides straight down).  My hair cannot handle a flat iron, it starts smoking then falls off. Not good! Pay no attention to my unclean laundry room as it cries out for help.

Coming up this week (hopefully):  big boy room plans, living room update, and probably something random.

Happy Monday!  What've y'all been up to?

Linking today with my blog bestie Andrea, as well as The Weekend File and Life on Leroy!

Midweek randoms

Let's see, there's been a lot on the brain this week. The kids were out of school for election day and we've had lots of miscellaneous stuff to get done.  No complaints because I hate being bored but a warning this post may be all over the place!

I made a silent pact with myself to try to limit  (limit, not eliminate because that would make no sense) alcoholic beverages during the week.  I admit that mommy loves a drink at the end of the day.  I also suggested to myself to slow down on shopping.  It's a terrible mistake to plant these rules in my head because all I can think about is shopping and drinking.

On that note, I found some really cute weekend clothes for Mr. C at ON.  I feel so selfless shopping for someone else.  And the Mr. deserves some hip clothes too:)

I also treated myself to this tunic because they only had one in my size left (you know how that goes). FYI It's so much cuter in person.

I found the most perfect boots (aka, the right color, the right fit, the right price) at TJ Maxx.  I had no choice but to buy them since my 3 year old equestrians got a hole in the zipper this week!

Aren't these cute too? I never wore flats until I became a mom (and twisted my ankle on my welcome mat while holding a baby, things change!)

I also had to get the boys real coats.  Tennessee winters are chilly (although nothing like the old Pennsylvania winters from our early marriage days).  Mr. C has always remarked that the fancy coats I get the boys don't really keep them warm and dry, they just look cute, and he had a point.  So I found these at L.L.Bean and I'm really happy with them.  They are ski worthy, waterproof, warm but not too bulky, and a classic navy.  I considered Boden's version but they are only shower proof, not fully water resistant.  I still always match the boys and will do so until they leave for college but this meant that I had to order my 5 year old a size that is technically smaller than what I wanted to order.  But...LLB has an extra seam (called a growth cuff, very cool!) you can rip out to add an inch and a half to sleeve length, and that makes all the difference. The coat actually fits him perfectly.

{find here}

In other good news, it was wonderfully overcast on Monday and I threw the boys in the truck and headed to my favorite photo shoot park in hopes of capturing the Christmas card picture.  I don't know if this is the one but if I don't get any more chances, it'll surely do!  SUCH a relief to get the picture done!  Mr. C was grateful, photo shoots are stressful!

Have y'all tried brownie brittle?  It's quite yummy with cold milk (or coffee with Bailey's:)

Until tomorrow friends, I'm hoping to do a post of my living room before and after, stay tuned:)

Weekend Update, a day late:)

Friends, I missed you yesterday!  We still had family in town and have been super busy but I'm here to share some fun pics with you today.

First, in my Friday post I wished our friend Ed good luck in the Marine Corps Marathon, thinking it was last Sunday.  I am an idiot.  It is next Sunday.  Good luck Ed--next Sunday!

Now for the weekend!  My husband's parents are lifelong New Yorkers so we took them off to the pumpkin patch for some down home fun.  I'm pretty sure this was Jerry's first time roping a steer.  He did great!

We ate hot dogs, ribbon chips, rode the train, said hi to friends, picked out pumpkins, and drank real Coke (it was ice cold and delicious).  Made some good memories.

The boys love Aunt Sarah.  She lives in Manhattan so it was fun to see her run through a corn maze and ride a John Deere train.

Also fun having another photog around..

Candied pumpkin spiced pecans--SO GOOD!

• Fun hanging with Sarah at dinner!  She ate her first fried pickle, we're turning her into a country girl.
• Channeled Shanna and since I didn't have time to run to Old Navy and buy that vest she wore that I wanted, I cut the sleeves off of last year's safari jacket! HA! And I love it!
• Made Andrea's banana bread.  You have to make it.  It was almost gone within 10 minutes, delicious!  I added chocolate of course.
• We also roasted marshmallows. Mr. C has been wanting a fire pit forever and couldn't resist getting one with his dad in town.  I am looking at this picture wondering what I was thinking letting my 3 year old hold fire?!!?

We made great memories this weekend and I'm exhausted (probably most of all from our attempts at a Christmas picture...I'll share later this week)!  Happy Tuesday gals!

Brain dump

I miss talking about my life this week.  Here's what's in my head.

Last night I had a meeting with a physical therapist at our local Fleet Feet to discuss my knee pain.  Does everyone have Fleet Feet?  Oh I hope so, they are the bomb diggity for all things running.

I'm having moderate to severe pain in my knees again and I want to nip this in the bud.  I love running and I ain't gonna stop so we need to get these knees fixed.  I've always had weak knees due to my screwed up patellar tendons but you've got to work with what you've got.  After a hysterical series of tests like balancing on one knee and doing "clam" exercises for strangers, it was brought to my attention that I need to strengthen my core and glutes as well as undergo 4-8 weeks of PT.  The therapist also taped my knee up in some fancy configuration that makes me feel like an Olympic champion.  I really like the tape.

I love this trail mix from Whole Foods.  I've never even been a trail mix person. But this trail mix is better than ice cream.

I did a DIY and turned this ugly topless coffee table..

into this bench...(DIY coming one of these days)  PS I hate the carpet.

My boys are precious and love donuts.

I got this vest from ON (of course) and I love it.  Ma-hajor improvement on last years' which was a weird kind of shiny and reminded me of a trash bag.  This year it rivals the JCrew one.  Love!  Also, my ON just started carrying jewelry--does yours?  Lots of cute necklaces!

buy it here, lots of cute colors

Brain empty.  Have a lovely day!