Fall Finds at Target

Hey everyone! I'm back today with some fun fall finds (like that alliteration lol?) from Target. I was there over the weekend and wanted to buy EVERYTHING. Don't worry Mark, I refrained!

One | Two | Three
Four | Five | Six
Seven | Eight

It's still pretty warm here but I'm excited to pair some long sleeved (one, four) dresses with ankle boots (soon) and then leggings and taller boots later in the year. So many cute options!

This lace-up sweatshirt is way cuter in person. I love how it will be easy to throw on for a breezy day but isn't too heavy. I am imagining it layer with a vest when it gets a little cooler as well. They had an olive green version in stores but only had large/ x-large left. Bummer!

Christmas is definitely my fave holiday to decorate for but fall is a close second. I love all the earth tones for Fall and you can't go wrong with plaid. Finding different patterned pumpkins in various sizes is one of the easiest ways to decorate for fall. Cluster them in threes and boom you're done. I have a few grouping of pumpkins in my house right now.

I change out the throw pillows on our brown couch throughout the year and the fall pillow are my fave! I have a plaid pillow, a few pumpkin pillows similar to the one pictured, and a velvet "gather" pillow. Such an easy way to change the vibe of a room.

Hope you have a wonderful day and yay for fall almost being here!!

Five on Friday

Happy Friday everyone! Can I get a hallelujah for the weekend??? I am so excited for some down time because I don't have anything planned. I'm going to work on some house stuff and then the world is my oyster. Woohoo!

Trench Coat Love

buy it here

I am on the hunt for a really great trench coat. I wanted one last season but never got around to buying one. Then I wanted one of my fave Youtubers video on styling a trench coat and I knew I had to have one lol. Dramatic yes, but they are so cute for fall! I have my eye on a few but don't love the price tag. I'll let you know if I find something better!

Nordstrom Rack Goodies

buy it here

I went to Nordstrom Rack a few weeks back and picked up this sweater. I am in LOVE with the material and how cozy it feels. The temperature is finally dropping enough to wear it at night. YAY! Plus you can't beat this $29 price tag!

buy it here

This shirt has also become a fast fave of mine as well. It's super flattering on and looks adorable with dark skinnies and ankle boots.

New Read

buy it here

I just finished the book I Found You by Lisa Jewell and I really liked it. It was a little slow in the beginning but the story takes some very interesting twists and turns. I found myself glued to it towards the end. The story is based on a man who mysteriously ends up in a seaside town and a woman, Alice, takes him in. 

The story then switches to a woman whose husband has gone missing. The two are connected but exactly how is unknown. The author does a really good job of explaining the characters in depth and giving you a good sense of who they are. I think that's why it takes so long for the story to get going, but like I said, it's worth the slow start. 

Pioneer Woman 

buy it here

During our recent move, a lot of our dishes were broken which was such a bummer. The good news is that it gave me an excuse to get some new cute ones! I found these at WalMart (not my favorite place lol) but I knew they carried the Pioneer Woman line and it's so dang cute! These dishes were under $25 and totally match my style. LOVE!

FINALLY Found a Rug

buy it here

I have been on the hunt for a runner for the entryway since we moved in. I knew I needed something pretty long but I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for it. Thankfully my friend Emily reminded me to look on Overstock (thanks Em!) and I found this beauty. It's 12 feet long and was only $70 when I bought it because I had a coupon. It's still a great deal on Overstock though and it was delivered within a week. Love it!

DIY Fall Sign

Hi everyone! I'm back today with a fun little DIY project that I finished over the weekend. I knew I wanted something for my front door but wasn't feeling the wreath I made last year. It was just too small. Plus I have been dying to use my Silhouette Cameo for more projects. So I started scrolling through some Pinterest ideas and combined a bunch that I liked.

For this project you will need:
- a wood sign: I found mine at A.C. Moore
- sand paper
- a stain or paint color of your choice
- paint brush
- a stencil or vinyl cutout of the words
- fake leaves or garland
- hot glue
- twine to hang your sign (mine already had twine attached)
- felt pads (for the back of your sign)

I started by sanding the wood sign. I used a 100 grit sandpaper and then moved my way up to 220. If you have a sandpaper block it makes sanding much easier. Then I applied the stain. One word of advice... wear gloves! I splattered it on my feet and hands because I was staining it on my deck. It was sooo hard to get the stain off my skin lol.

It took quite awhile to dry and I think that's because I didn't wipe off the excess stain. I will for sure do that next time. In the meantime, I used my Silhouette cameo to make the lettering. I picked a font and welded the letters together, then printed on white vinyl. I transferred the vinyl onto the transfer tape and then applied it to the wood sign when it was dry. This process takes forever because you need to use a scraper or a wooden popsicle stick to get the vinyl to adhere. It probably took close to 30 minutes for it to actually work.

Next, I unraveled the garland pieces to make it more manageable to work with. I placed it around the wording until I was happy with how it looked. Then I just started glueing some pieces down. I'm not very good at hiding the hot glue but I did my best, and voila, it was done! I really like the way it turned out! :)

Life Lately {September}

Hey everyone! I thought I would give you a little life update since I've been so absent on my blog lately. I am trying to get back into a routine but my creative juices just aren't there at the moment.

As you know, we moved to Virginia Beach about a month ago. In that time, I have been unpacking the house and trying to get acclimated to my new home. I also started work two weeks ago at a public elementary school. This school has been a BIG change for me since I came from a very different private Christian school. To be honest, I'm having a hard time adjusting but I am working through it.

My classroom is slowly coming along piece by piece, but I need to purchase a bunch more. I'm also trying to get used to this new schedule because I am switching classes with a fellow teacher, halfway through the day. I teach language arts while she teaches math and science. So far it's pretty challenging to get used to having two different sets of kids but I'm working on it... with a few break downs here and there of course! I am missing my work wife aka Stephanie so much!

I really like Virginia Beach so far though. People love to complain how it's not as good as San Diego, but it's just different. The traffic is WAY less here and everyone seems to be going at a slower pace. It also helps that the highway is only 55 mph here haha. There are great restaurants and the people are so friendly. Of course, I miss MY people in San Diego and Vegas but overall it's awesome here. I'm also so excited for it to not be crazy humid any more and to stop raining lol. I think I was so naive to hurricanes and all the weather issues that go on here. I didn't even realize they had a "hurricane season" in Virginia Beach... I'm dumb lol. Obviously, watching everything in Texas, I am much more aware of the dangers and worried about my friends and family in Florida too. Praying Irma doesn't come here as well!

I'm looking forward to exploring the area more and being able to have a real fall. Although the native Virginia Beach people keep saying that fall doesn't exist here any more. I'm going to ignore them haha. I can't wait to explore the cities and states around Virginia Beach because I know there is so much history here and things I haven't seen before. I'm hoping Mark's schedule will slow down soon so we can explore together!

Being on the east coast is hard when it comes to traveling though. I really understand the pain of those friends and family members who have flown out for a west coast wedding or holiday. Holy moly it's hard to schedule those return flights without traveling ALL day haha. I will get used to it I'm sure. We already have some family coming to see us at the end of October and I am thrilled!!!! Bring on the guests, although our house is still not fully put together. I'm excited to show you guys more pictures as we make more progress on the house. Some things were put to the wayside this  week since we had to replace our water heater. Ugh, being a homeowner sucks lol.

Mark is working on a fence to keep the puppies from escaping :)

I hope you guys all have a great weekend! Praying that Irma stops in its tracks and leaves the U.S. alone. If you're evacuating, know that we are praying for your safety!!

Mets v. Nats game

Hey there everyone! I promise I'm going to get better with posting after school gets going and I'm in a better routine. Right now there is just so much going on! Last weekend, Mark came home (yay!!) and we went up to D.C. for the day to watch Chasen (hopefully) pitch. We met my friend Carly and her husband up there too. I love that we live close enough to see them more often!

love this girl :)

hi Joey!

The drive was super long because of traffic but we got to the stadium just in time. The weather was perfect and the game was super fun. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Chasen pitch because they had a double header and he pitched the late game. We were already home by then, but it was still a blast!

After the game, we went down to the field to say hi to Chasen and then we headed to the media area so we could go down to the locker room. It's a boys only situation so we just went downstairs but no locker room haha. Still so cool to see the underworkings of a ball field.

We are so proud of Chasen and love coming to watch him play! Hopefully I'll get to see him pitch in person before the season is over :(