Spooky decor...old school style

Our time in the UK changed last night and we are feeling a bit out of sorts as a result. Our friends and family stateside have one more week to soak up what's left of the autumn sun but we are in full on blistery weather mode here.

With Halloween this upcoming weekend I was looking around for some Vintage Halloween decorating ideas. Better Homes and Gardens is one of my favorite magazines and they have a great online piece with some fab Vintage inspired spooky decor. http://www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/indoor-decorating/vintage-halloween-decorations/

I realize that some of larger and more elaborate halloween displays might eclipse both time and budget restraints for most, but most all of us could manage something along the lines of this festive tablescape.

Photo from www.bhg.com

Wouldn't that be a fun place to gather Halloween night with friends for a bowl of chilli and a beer!

The Road Home...

Hubs and I came back from the states on the 13th but I am just now getting back into the swing of our lives here in the UK. It's been a little bit harder this time and I think that is a direct result of this trip being the best one we have had home in a long time! We were able to really spend some quality time with family and friends, although as usual we didn't get to see everyone we would have liked to I feel like we saw a lot of people without spreading ourselves to thin. Highlights of the trip home included a great weekend at Rock Creek with family, hiking and seeing the gorgeous fall leaves, a trip to http://www.downhome.com/ to see Spring Creek with my mom and dad, a UT game for Ben and tons of Mexican food and bbq....perfection! I didn't get much...no make that absolutely no vintage shopping in...but it didn't matter that's not what this trip was about. It was about seeing those we love, spinning old yarns, making new memories, touching base with our roots...checking in so to speak. Its funny living overseas we've had the amazing opportunity to see a lot of beautiful places...but fall in the mountains of East Tennessee and Western North Carolina holds its own against them all. I think I'll find a cool vintage frame for the last pic...a quick glance at it and I'm back on the road home.

On the road again.....

The hubs and I leave bright and early in the morning. We are heading stateside and I've been quietly or not so quietly singing this all day long as I debate the merits of only packing 4 pairs of shoes (merits....you can buy more there!) Ahhhh Willie...that ones for the hubs.

Besides packing and getting insanely excited about seeing family...oh and eating vats of mexican food... :) I wanted to post some pics of a quick project I threw together yesterday. I am one lucky girl, I have a dressing room...and I heart it sooooo big time! In any house we live in hereafter a dressing room for moi' will be a high priority...its good for the marriage. I have been looking for a small dressing table and yesterday while digging around I found some old scrap wood and table legs...well a few screws and a coat of french gray paint on the top later and viola' a dressing room table shabby chic and all re-used!

My tuffet that sits next to it I had classes up a couple of months ago. The hubs somewhat reluctantly had pulled that chair out of a dumpster in Germany for me last year ;) It's 1960's and was thrown out when Heidelberg University was remodeling....I remember wanting more...but appearantly carrying two dumpster chairs down the street in a foreign country is significantly more embarassing than one! I painted the back french gray as well and covered the seat with some batting and great English fabric I found at a Vintage show. I am loving how it turned out!

Sneak peak....shhhhhh

This week I've been fighting with my computer and getting ready for our trip back to the states and I've also been busy working with Kathy the incredibly talented mind behind Modern Polka Dot Designs! Check her out at http://www.themodernpolkadot.blogspot.com/

We are working on a new blog design and logo items for my "in the works" Etsy shop. She's posted the first draft of the blog design on her site...can you find it? :)

Here is a sneak at the logo...its looking good! Thanks Kathy!

Rectory Tables and Giant Apples oh my!....

We are heading home to the states for visit next week (so excited!!!) and in all the preparations that go along with that, things have been pretty crazy. However, yesterday I had the chance to sneak away for a couple of hours and hit up a riverside antique's show under the guise of helping our friend Mr. S pick out a birthday gift for Ms. S. As soon as we arrived I dropped Mr. S like a hot potato and made a b-line for this table...its a very old pine rectory table...which incidentally...I heart super big time! The table is put together with pegs and the base is painted a lovely aged french grey while the top is a gorgeous pine with the greatest patina. In short...I want this table...I feel like I am cheating on the bookcase I have been saving up for and that makes me feel a little guilty..but only a little. The show runs until Sunday and poor hubs has no idea that I am going to drag him there and ambush him.

When I got home yesterday afternoon I needed to pick some apples from the cooker tree for apple pies for a little bash we are having this afternoon. I am happy to announce that I almost certainly pretty sure just maybe might have grown the biggest apple in the UK this fall. This thing is ridiculous! I popped it on my pink kitchen scale and it weighs 2lbs! So I'm off to make my apple pie using 1 apple......1 big ass apple :)

Autumnal Equinox...

In honor of the Autumnal Equinox today I thought I post a little something fallish. I both love and hate this time of year. I love it for the snap in the air, the leaves changing color, hauling out the sweaters and boots, the one pot comfort food and the excuse to have a fire and a hotty toddy at night. I hate it for one reason....the shorter days, its not so bad right now but I know that here in the UK I am about 4 weeks away from it being dark at 4:30pm....4:00 on a bad day. So for the last few weeks its been as though I am preparing for whats to come, stocking up on essentials you know bottles of red wine and crockpot recipes. But no, I have found myself getting together supplies for lots of projects. Projects with no set date for completion, projects to be done on chilly fall nights next to the fire.

Last week I ran across a bag of 100 wooden discs and bought them with no idea of what they might become. Well over the weekend I made these little guys. Count down to Halloween Advent Magnets. I think they turned out pretty well. I painted the disks and number tags popped in a few nails to hang them from and threw some magnents on the back.

It's also cool enough here now to get pumpkins without the risk of them rotting and I decided to paint a couple of the ones I grew with some sassy green polka dots. Who else is has caught the fall bug and started filling the house with pumpkins?

side eyes....

{Poor "mistreated" Jack after a swim at Culzean Castle Scotland on his trip to the British Open 09'}

As my dog Jack stalks my every move in the house through the windows giving me some serious side eyes and the occasional disgruntled bark... (I mean really Jack you are a dog...it is actually nice outside...5 minutes alone is not torture), I thought I would pop on quickly to say...my computer is working! For the moment...after being rebuilt by both me and the hubs 5 times in the last week! I see a new computer in my future but I will live with this old thing for as long as I can because I also and perhaps more importantly see a kick-a$$ new pair of jeans for fall in my future...priorities people priorities....Back this afternoon with some actually relevant content :)