Sunday Social!

We're going to try something new this week - I'm linking up with Ashley for the Sunday Social for the first time!  I'm kind of sad that Ten on Tuesday is no more, so I was kind of excited about stumbling on this!

This week's questions are all about fall, which I am never as excited about as other people.  Fall makes me sad to see summer go!  But I'll admit, this whole marinating-a-baby thing does indeed make you super hot (temperature wise) so I might be looking forward to it more than I have been in years past.

1. What is your favorite fall activity?  Halloween, hands down.  I love costumes, I love handing out candy, I love listening to my same favorite Halloween songs on repeat ("Superstition" by Stevie Wonder, anyone?)  It's just the best.

2. Do you follow a football team? If so which one and why?  I "follow" a football team in that I endure football when PB has it on the TV and I glance up from Pinterest/Facebook/Twitter/my Kindle from time to time.  I do like going to UNC football games when I get the chance, but I just like basketball a whole lot more than football.  Can't help it. Just don't have the attention span.

3. What is something fun about fall in your area? Hmmm.  Can I say Halloween again?  I mean honestly, I don't know of anywhere else where people decorate their yards more than they do for Christmas and thousands of kids go out to trick-or-treat.  I cannot emphasize Halloween enough.

4. What are your favorite fall outfit staples?  BOOTS!  That is one thing I adore about fall.  I'd wear boots every day if I could, and that becomes socially acceptable in the fall.  Boots to work, boots with jeans, boots boots boots!

5. What things are you looking forward to most about this coming fall season?  I'm looking forward to finding out whether this baby is a boy or a girl!!!  I must KNOW!  

6. What is your favorite fall holiday? Traditions?  I don't know if I mentioned...Halloween?  I always hand out candy at my parents' house because there are SO many kids who show up.  Literally, over a thousand kids.  I just can't get enough!

trying to love fall like everyone else

On a daily basis, there are some things that just go wrong. I don't think I could tell you of a time in my life when I have had an empty laundry hamper. Giant success for me is if the laundry pile is small enough that it fits in the confines of the hamper. Unlike this situation, which is what we have going on right here at the moment:

Now you may remember the various laundry crises I've had in the past. I'm trying to be better. See these clothes in my dryer?

Well, I have to say that even if they've been hanging out in there, they're at least dry. And they don't smell like a moldy cheese wheel. And, as of tonight, a miracle of the dear sweet 8lb, 60z baby Jesus occurred, and I FOLDED LAUNDRY. I think the cats were a little perturbed by this, since it never happens, ever. But mainly, this is my vow. One load of laundry, washed, folded, put away every two days. I have GOT to be better. You know what a bad feeling it is to be scrambling for clean underpants three minutes after you were supposed to have been out the door? Not a good feeling.

Other parts of the house, however, have managed to not look like drunken baboons run my household. I've been trying to embrace this whole "fall" thing, even though I might be the only person in the world who really doesn't like fall. Fall just means the end of summer and imminent bleak, cold, yucky winter. I could pretty much hibernate from October to April and be just fine with that. But I figured that maybe a few fall decorations this year would perk me up. And lo and behold, I found what I was looking for on a recent trip to...wait for it....WAL-MART. I know, seriously, I found awesome home stuff at Wal-Mart! Crazy.

I got some fall garland (which actually was a Hobby Lobby find for $5 when I was there on a yarn run). Sticking it up on the mantle makes me want to have some kind of greenery up there all the time now, because I love the way it looks and also that it covers up my gross-looking DishNetwork DVR for the most part.
The fall garland is also Twyla's favorite. Doesn't she look sedate here? Let me assure you that that is not the case. Sometimes, Twyla will sit right underneath the garland and you can hear the voices in her head getting cranked up, and then all of a sudden, after hours or days of the garland being a non-issue, it MUST BE KILLED. So the garland and my picture frames get snatched down at once. And then attacked again, just for good measure. And then Twyla gets yelled at and sprayed, if I can find the water bottle in time. But even if she does, she just looks at me all indignant like, "Well, it was worth it anyway." I can't imagine what shenanigans are going to go down when I finally put up my Christmas tree. I'm foreseeing Twyla IN the tree for most of the holiday season. Probably I should just skip putting the tree topper on at all, since Twyla will likely be on top of the tree most of the time.

Fortunately, she has not yet discovered my bowl of $5 Wal-Mart vase filler. I didn't get a good picture of the bowl, but it was made by a friend of ours who lives at the beach and makes the most beautiful hand-thrown pottery. She's getting ready to start up an Etsy shop, seahagpotter, and when she does, you'll definitely hear about it from me, because she makes amazing things. This bowl had been full of keys, hair ties, random papers, and other ugly stuff until I found this and forced myself to clean it out and let the bowl live up to its potential as something other than an above-the-counter junk drawer.
Finally, I found these Better Homes and Gardens fall placemats at Wal-Mart too! Cheap! I just took them out of the dryer (I know, amazing) and they need to be ironed (ha, don't get me started on how ironing never happens!) But they do a great job of covering up my Craigslist-probable-dumpster-rescue-spray-painted table!

I would ordinarily already be getting in the spirit to put up Christmas decorations but I've been too busy what with my terrible law school schedule and such the past few weeks. I'm just going to fire up my pumpkin pie candle, make some butterscotch coffee, and try to relish the fall feeling for a little while longer, before we gear up for Christmas.

Do y'all decorate for fall?