Leaving Fall behind & A Giveaway

I am going to miss Autumn

I have come across some really beautiful scenes from fall

this year through the blogs I follow

One of my favorites is Delores's

Vignette Design

Her homes are stunning

 one is on a vineyard

 and she is such a good photographer

she travels to Europe

and takes us along the way

you have to check out her blog for

~breathtaking beauty~

and I'm not just saying this because she is having a

fabulous

~giveaway~

please don't enter because I seriously want to win

just kidding....not!

Check out these beautiful fall pictures

Here is my attempt at creating fall in our home

We leave in less than 2 short weeks for the desert

It seems like I just got my fall decorating done
my favorite new thing is the banner
Jen made...
I just LOVE it
It says
Welcome Fall & Friends

Look what's hiding on my mantle

courtesy of

My Sweet Savannah

At the entry way

there are little lights in the wire gourd

looks so pretty at night

learning to take pictures with no flash

As you can see I

don't have much for decorating
 it seems we have always been
 gone during the fall

Went  to Europe for two years in a row

during the fall to be with my daughter...
look how tiny Mattie was then

The Germans love the fall & 

~Oktoberfest~

My sister & I had a blast

Can you guess where this is?

Wonder where Fechy is?
Switzerland is also beautiful in the fall ..
Ok I'm getting off track here.....I must do a post on that place!

Before that we loved going to
New England
 in the fall

traveling back there in our motorhome
ours is behind the Sister-n-laws pretty one
 I love this picture

So we didn't get to enjoy the

~Northwest Fall~
Now granted it's not as spectacular as Germany or Vermont

But it can be great if all the stars align....

usually it is windy, rainy and the leaves are just

brown & mushy

But this year we lucked out

a few days ago  was a record breaking 77 degrees

Wow we were all

~blown away~

(excuse the pun) 

This is a little leaf maple at our gate
I've never seen it so pretty before

A pretty red leaf maple at the neighbors

my little guy doesn't have a leaf left

Oh you should see those Rody's behind the red leaf maple in the spring...spectacular

Mary's wisteria so pretty yesterday

My little weeping cherry is pretty this time of the year

But our glorious sky is what everybody was

talking about 

The good weather got me outside to take some pictures
See Spanky waiting by the door wanting to go out too....

The back door my sister built

This is our *back door* where 99.9% of our guests enter...

I have plans (see the wall on the right)

to fix our entry so everyone will know where the front door is..

someday....

The front door is under the arch in the middle of the house

but everyone parks at the top of the driveway on the right

and enters here...

~the back door~

My ivy even turns slightly red

Well it's all coming down shortly and we will button up the place

for winter

Good night Fall

Buffet Party

Miss Kim at

Savvy Southern Style
&
Kristin at
My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

are having  parties and I'm invited

they want a a before & after

My friend

~Jen~

The Uber talented

designer & artist

found this piece at auction

$40

Look what she did to it

I was BLOWN away

This was an OMG moment for me

when I saw these panels she did

This very cool piece

found a home in the

"apartment"

The room above our garage that the kids stay when visiting

with our Grandson

notice the changing table & diaper genie

Jen & I have been working on making it a

~Beach House~

doesn't that sound so much better than

apartment?

Well we have a long way to go

Jen made this for me as a surprise

We have a long way to go

but oh so much fun with

~Jen~

she is working on getting her blog up and running

in the mean time if you live in the N.W. around the

Puget Sound Area

She would love the work of designing or transforming your pieces

I will have more next week on

Kim's

Savvy Southern Style

Before & After Party

P.S.

Thank you Kim for continuing on with

our dear friend

~Debbie's~

Party 

I am sure you make her proud!

There are so many people joining you

I am headed over to browse right now!

I am new to

 Kristin's Party

 but I love her blog

go check her out

Pumpkin Pie Martini's update

Fun Fall Party

~Jen~

 made this banner

(remember my designer friend)

She sewed this the day of party
to bring as a gift....
How lucky am I?

I had a Cabi party

Heard of one of those?

Carol Anderson is a designer who has a

line of clothes

remember her...

Nordstrom carried her

dresses and skirts

Well they are now sold like

~Pamper Chef or Mary Kay~

So I thought since it was a couple of days before Halloween we
should make this a real party..

I made Pumpkin Pie Martinis

We had another party for voting last night

and enjoyed more of those

Pumpkin Martini's

Recipe:

2 oz vanilla vodka (I freeze mine)

2oz of creme de cacao

1/4 cup of heavy cream

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 shaker of ice to shake the heck out of

rim with real whipped cream

top with fresh ground nutmeg and a cinnamon stick

Yummmmm!

Go to Kara's Creations

She's got a party going on over there where we can see

what people have created

lots of great stuff

 

My girlfriends had a blast

notice this one is gone...

my BFF Becki

made some over the top

appetizers

wish I would have gotten

~ before they were served pictures~

they looked so good all plated perfectly

Pumpkin Trifle

Tammie got the shopper of the night award
she loved this line and is set for fall/winter

What could be better than

eating, drinking & shopping....

Having a good friend spend the night

and staying up until 3:00a.m.

drinking pumkin Martinis!

Our special Halloween

Have you heard of Toy Story?

That is Matthew's favorite DVD

He can't get enough of Buzz & Woody

So this year his Mom found this hat and so

he is

~Woody~

She made the shirt & vest

Madeline and Charlie are the

Cheerleader & star football player

Sorry for the blurry pictures

taken on the kids I-phones and they

just don't come across that well

We have never had a

~Trick or Treater~

So when the door bell rang

we RAN to see ...

....could we possibly have one?

Yesssssss!!!!!

He was a little skunk

Ok so maybe we knew him...

his Grandma is my good friend

but they surprised us when they brought Max over

We were so excited, we called a couple of neighbors

to see if they had candy if he dropped by

Mary came running over with a cupcake

Denise said she had some and please send him over

So you can see he made quite a stir in this small

out of the way neighborhood

wishing we had more little ones

during Halloween

Today we are eating the left over candy

and having a sugar high!