I Need a Repair Week

Happy Monday everyone!

I hope you all had a great Halloween weekend. Mine was tons of fun- almost a little too fun if you catch my drift. After three days of late-nights, parties, eating mostly variations of cheese and bread (grilled cheese, mac 'n cheese, pizza), and sugary drinks I feel bloated and sort of gross.

So this week I'm proposing a repair week. It's kind of like a detox, except less formal and less extreme. I'm thinking of it as getting myself back to where I should be health-wise. This week I vow to:

• Eat three sensible meals a day and some snacks, instead of waiting until I'm starving and then stuffing myself (not that I ever do that).
• Drink tons of water and tea to stay hydrated.
• NO pop. This is always hard after a few days of drinking tons of it.
• Make most of my meals at least half vegetables or fruit. Catsup doesn't count.
• Get back on track with running- I think I only got one run in last week. Eep.
• SLEEP. 8-9 hours a night. Easier said than done.

All simple stuff, we'll see how it goes.

PS: Unexpected silence last week due to a series of massive projects due and some power outages at my apartment (fun fun). Hopefully this week will be better :)

Pumpkin Hunting Weekend

Happy Monday Readers! I hope everyone had a great weekend?

I went pumpkin hunting with my sister Becky and the Lil' Bro. Here are some pictures we took.

At the pumpkin farm:

Typical Midwestern fall weather:

Pumpkin in progress:

GUTS!:

The finished product:
In case you can't tell, I'm really excited for halloween. How about you?
*Crappy Blackberry pictures courtesy of my sister. One day, I will own a real camera. Please do not use without permission.

Etsy Finds: Fall Fashion

Today I'm feeling materialistic, so I thought I'd share some of my favorite current Etsy finds. Right now I'm thinking anything cozy and autumn-like.
Like this great leather carry-everything-even-textbooks bag...
And a cute floppy hat.
A girly top in my favorite autumn color...
And gorgeous twig stacking rings.
Maybe even some leg warmers (Confession: I think legwarmers are cute, but I feel ridiculous wearing them. Thoughts?)

What's your favorite fall fashion?

All images property of their respective etsy sellers (see links).

I Heart October

Autumn is by far my favorite season (in case you couldn't tell) and every October I fall in love with it all over again. So today I thought I'd just gush a little bit.

I love Autumn for...

• Pumpkin pie (and pumpkin bread, and pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin rolls, and...)
• Snuggly sweaters (like this one)
• Haunted houses and hay rides
• Tights under a summer dress
• Flat boots over the tights under a summer dress
  
• The end of what I call "the sweaty season"
• Hot apple cider and hot cocoa
  
• Jack-o-Lanterns!
• An excuse to hold hands and snuggle (it's cold!)
• Apple pie candles (mmm)
• Gigantic scarves
• Crisp fall air
• Running outside in the crisp fall air
  
• Driving over a hill and seeing all the trees lit up in red and gold, and having my breath taken away.

Happy October everyone! What's your favorite season, and why?

(PS: Apologies to everyone for the lack of updates last week. I was unexpectedly slammed with schoolwork and other responsibilities, so I couldn't get on and write. Hopefully this week will be better.)

Image: "October Love" from briefmoments' etsy shop.

Busy Day

Another late post- today ended up being surprisingly busy. I accidentally woke up late and had to run out the door to get to class by 8:30. There was just enough time to grab a sandwich between classes, and just enough time to grab a coffee between my last class and work. When I finally got home from work and classes, all I wanted to do was collapse, but Lil' Bro was starving so I ended up making potato soup instead.

Now I'm going to snuggle up with my bowl of soup and my textbooks and read the night away. Sometimes I actually don't mind having busy days, because they make me appreciate the calm moments at night even more.

In other news, it's finally feeling like fall. Today was chilly and overcast, which didn't do much for my energy levels but does make me appreciate my warm house and a cup of steaming hot tea (I like this kind). I can't wait until the leaves change and start to look like the picture above (which you can check out here).

Image via dahliahousestudio's etsy shop.

What I've been doing instead of blogging...

Sorry for the slow posting everyone. I have no good excuse other than the fact that I have been feeling rather lazy. I spent most of my weekend either outside enjoying the autumn weather, or on the couch watching movies with Lil' Bro. Sometimes you just need a long-walks-and-movies kind of weekend.

Back to a regular posting schedule tomorrow. In the meantime, check out the posters for my four favorite movies above, then leave a comment with your favorites (I always need something new to Netflix).

I hope you all had a great weekend :)

Images via wikipedia.

New School Shoes

Today marks the start of a new school year for me, a day after the official start of fall.

For some reason, autumn always makes me feel nostalgic. I remember when I was in elementary school my grandma would always insist on getting me a pair of new school shoes to start the year. I have always had big feet which were hard to fit, so we would spend hours driving all over town, looking for the perfect pair of new school shoes. I don't remember a lot about those early shoes, except that they always smelled like rubber and I was always SO excited to pull them on for my first day of school.

Flash forward a few years- here I am, 20 years old with a job and over halfway through my college career, and my grandma still insists on going shopping every August for new school shoes. So today I'm going to be pulling on my brand new size 11 navy blue Converse and heading off to my first class of the year. The shoes still smell like rubber and while I'm not quite as excited for classes as I was back in elementary school, I still love the tradition of new school shoes because they remind me that I am cared for. They are one of my favorite parts of autumn.

Happy autumn everyone! Now tell me: what's your favorite part of the season?

My rockin' new shoes.