A few fall favorites

In honor of getting ready to put my trees up this weekend, I thought I'd do a recap post of a few things I've been LOVING this fall.

1. Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars (Paula Deen)

I have mentioned before that I've been a cooking/baking maniac this fall. I've been particularly fond of trying new pumpkin and apple dessert recipes. So much so that a few weeks ago Allen kindly asked me to take a break as he was getting tired of fall desserts (WHAT?!?). However, when I saw this recipe a few weeks ago I knew I had to try them and they are the clear winner for fall. Not only did Al and the kids gobble them up but they also received rave reviews from friends that tried them. Seriously, you have to make these!

Go here for the recipe:
Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars

2. Scentsy

I have been a huge Scentsy fan for a few years but my love is always renewed in the fall. A few of my favorite scents right now: Pumpkin Roll, Clove & Cinnamon, Sentimental Cider, Spiced Grapefruit, Snowberry

3. Fall Dining Room Centerpiece

Over the summer Al and I were strategizing our life (heh) and decided that since we are planning to be settled down and back into our own house in the next couple of years that we should acquire some new furniture before we become "house poor" again. You know, when you spend your money on paint, remodeling and landscaping instead of furniture. Anyway, we made a general plan, set a budget and I started shopping (you don't have to ask me twice to buy new furniture!)

I have had the urge to "grow up" my house over the past couple of years. My style has definitely evolved and I want some more formal, yet versatile spaces in our home. I had some pretty strong ideas about what I wanted in a formal dining room so we decided to make that our first purchase. There is still a lot of work to do in this space but here is what we ended up with:

The chairs are parsons chairs from Ballard designs. I've had my eye on these chairs for a few years. I LOVE that they are slipcovered so I can change things up any time I want to and wash them when they get dirty. I actually had a hard time choosing a color but went with something super neutral, which was not my original plan. It's a long story but I had a bit of a customer service issue with Ballard and was not able to get exactly what I wanted. My intention is to have a set of light colored slipcovers for spring/summer and a darker, richer set for fall/winter. Obviously this is my light set since I could not get my first color choice in velvet. There's always next year!

The table was a tiny bit more tricky and I spent forever shopping around for it. The shopping in ABQ is horrible and I just could not find what I had in mind. I was super leery of shopping online since colors can be skewed so much. In the end, we found this table in Utah while we were there for Mindy's wedding. It is from Pottery Barn (but I got it for a steal at DownEast Home) and Allen very grudgingly strapped it to the top of our car and we hauled it home (seriously). I love the style and the color of the table and that it easily seats 10-12 people with both leaves in. Dreamy.

I'm still shopping around for a couple of wicker chairs for either end of the table but have yet to find a pair I love. I have something like this in mind:

I have plenty of ideas about the rest of the space so hopefully I can pull it together soon with my limited shopping resources.

4. Candles

My favorite purchase in forever has got to be those creamy white pillar candles you see on my table above. I KNOW they look like your average, run- in- the- mill candle but they are not. They are flameless (electric), remote controlled candles!! I got the entire set at Costco and have seriously had to restrain myself from buying a second set. They are fabulous. One button click and the entire set turns on or off. They provide great ambiance and are SO versatile. I raved about them so much that my mom and sister had to buy a set. They did have a hard time tracking them down though so if you're interested you might want to pick them up soon. Trust me, your kids will be as enamored with them as you are and you might have to occasionally hide the remote from them!

5. Midnight Pomegranate Body Cream:

Yum, yum, yum. This is hands down my favorite winter-time lotion. It smells SO good and I use it every single day. I even put it on twice a day sometimes because I love it so much!

6. Third Trimester!

I can hardly believe I'm officially in my third trimester. Only 10ish more weeks until this baby girl joins our family. This pregnancy has FLOWN by in so many ways and we are all super excited to meet our new little gal. We have chosen a name, which is a HUGE relief, and which I will only share over the phone so if you're interested call me.

For the record, I can't believe Thanksgiving is NEXT week. That lull just hasn't been long enough for me!