Small town, BIG fun!

The last two weekends have been so much fun that I just wish I could freeze time! October and November are two of my favorite months because I LOVE when the weather starts to get cooler - just enough that you have to bundle up a little but can still enjoy the outdoors. I love that October weekends are full of bonfires and carving pumpkins and that November weekends are full of Christmas festivals and preparing for the holidays. It's football season, baseball season and camping season. Volleyball moves from sand to court (my favorite!) and when you walk out your frontdoor you can often smell smoke coming from a neighbor's chimney. The leaves are dreamy shades of yellow to red and everything in between, and all the best flavors of baking are in season...apples, cinnamon, pumpkin...mmmm! Plus, it's time for sweatshirts, sweaters, boots and scarves - the kind of clothing I could live in.

I could go on and on...but I'll get back to this weekend :).  Friday night a group of friends met up for dinner at one of my favorite local restaurants, Taco Mamacita.  It was one of those simple nights where we just talked and laughed and enjoyed each others' company.  After dinner Libby & Jonny invited us over to their place for dessert and Modern Family.  They have a beautiful home and a CUTE goldendoodle dog (I mean, HUGE, but sooo cute!) and Libby made donuts filled with bite-size snickers that were deadly but incredible. :)  It was such a simple night, but I loved the people I was surrounded by and can't wait to plan more things with them.  I think this is just the beginning of an exciting and memorable season!

Saturday morning Nicki, Julie and I piled in the car and drove to Fayetteville, TN for the Host of Christmas Past festival.  Angie is from Fayetteville, so we met her there and started off the day trying the famous "slawburger" at Honey's.  From there we just walked around the square...popping in and out of various gift shops and antique stores.  I LOVE antique stores.  I can't even explain to you the excitement I get scrounging through random items to find treasure :).  I hit the jackpot yesterday!  I found a jar full of old letterpress blocks (if you ever find some...let me know!), an old metal locker basket (looks kinda like an old egg basket...very cool), two amazing wood crates for next to nothing...and then....the find of all finds...this beautiful quilt.

It's in pristine condition considering that it's hand-stitched and has a solid cream back-side (that is spotless!). It pretty much made my day :).

After a little shopping, we walked over to the local Baptist church to listen to Charles Dickens' great-great grandson do a reading of A Christmas Carol.  Now, I'll be honest, I thought that sounded pretty boring.  I pictured this guy just sitting in a chair reading a book - and a book of a story we've all heard a million times nontheless.  Um, I was wrong.  He was basically a one-man-show and acted out the entire book word-for-word (with some adlib :)).  It was phenomenal and probably my favorite version of the story I've ever seen/heard.  He was very engaging and very funny.

After the reading we walked over to Sir Fabrics (I was in fabric heaven!).  It's a large store full of fabric, fabric, more fabric, buttons, trims and more fabric!  I have been slowly piecing together a new design for my bedroom and one thing I'd been searching for was a ticking strip bedskirt.  When I saw the huge roll of red ticking stripe fabric for only $5/yd it was a no-brainer.  I called my mom to find out how much I needed and walked away with a bedskirt for $27 and change!  I still have quite a few more pieces to collect...but here's what I've got so far...

I have grasscloth wallpaper in my bedroom that I love and want to keep...so I'm mix-n-matching items and really liking where it's going so far.  Stay tuned for a before/after (but it will be a while yet).

After calling it a day shopping-wise, we piled back into our cars (I forgot to mention that Amy met us in Fayetteville later in the afternoon) and drove over to Angie's parents house for dinner.  We drove up to this gorgeous home sitting up on a hill...

I almost unpacked my things and moved right in. How beautiful is that?! We walk in the door to be greeted by her parents, a handful of adorable kiddos and the smell of all sorts of freshly baked goodness. Elizabeth (10 years old I think) explained how the Elf on the Shelf works and all the mischevious things he's gotten into in their house and Stewart told me about the shark tooth he found on the beach that his dad made into a necklace for him.  He then proceeded to hug me as much as he possibly could and hold my hand.  We sat around the table enjoying an incredible meal (I'm pretty sure I'm still full from it!), laughing about various things (pretty much the norm when you spend a day with those girls :)) and taking goofy photos with the kids.  I almost took Stewart home with me.  Love that little guy!

After dinner we took off once more to head to a local production of Sleeping Beauty that Angie's sister-in-law and niece were performing in.  The venue was a cute little museum and the courtyard/entrance was incredibly picturesque...

We were only able to stay for the first half before we needed to make our way back home.  It was a beautiful day full of small-town fun (my personal fave) with amazing people.  Looking forward to more fun memories with them...and even more, love doing Bible study every Tuesday night with such amazing women.

Now I'm off to do some baking and Christmas decorating before heading to the Belcourt Theater with my friend Emily for tonight's Brooke Fraser concert!  Perfect end to a perfect weekend!