A is for Apple

Hey Ya'll!

I hope the weekend was good to everyone! After the busy {and car-less} work week I had last week, I needed a really relaxing weekend. It consisted of brunch, running "fun errands" {bookstore, The Fresh Market, Tarjet, outdoor mall} and lots of football! My Seminoles gave it their best last night, which sadly didn't equal a "W" for us. But I'm certainly glad it was a fight of a game! And the Bucs won today - so that was much needed! :)

On Saturday I ran to TFM and picked up some delicious produce and burgers to grill for the FSU game. I was really excited to see that my favorite apples "Pink Ladies" are already being harvested for the fall!! If you've never had a Pink Lady - you probably should run to your nearest grocer and get some! Apples are one of my favorite things of fall!! On the way home I stopped by our locally owned Ace Hardware - their entire store front boasting huge pots of mums - already in bloom!! I picked up two tiny pots of mums and one larger pot, to sit by my front door. I planted the baby mums in the pots I had made last fall - and they're nestled on my front porch. . . the larger mums are accompanied by a hand-painted FSU "Funkin" {pumpkin, faux}, some decorative berries, and an orange fall-scented candle! Little did I know, that today would be the most perfect fall day yet!! It was so enjoyable to sit out on the porch and read with a blanket over my legs!! In Florida, y'all!! :) It was heavenly.

In addition to craving fall's produce, I couldn't help but get excited when I passed the Methodist church where Handsome Man and I went pumpkin patch'ing last year. The men were out front putting up the stakes, fence and strings of lights... Pumpkins are due out Oct. 1!!!

I got to thinking during dinner {which consisted of my first soup of the season - Tuscan White Bean - yum! and a Pink Lady apple with peanut butter} - that there are so many ways that I love to eat apples. So I thought I'd share with you a couple of them ....








Slow Cooker Apples - Perfected by Mama B.

• 6 large apples
• 1/2 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. cinnamon 
• dash of allspice

Place your cored and 1" thick apple slice {we leave the skin on} into a medium-hot skillet with melted butter. Add in sugar, cinnamon and allspice. Stir until the brown sugar has dissolved. Cover and simmer til your apples are soft. These are perfect as a side dish to dinner or as dessert!!

Apple Pocket Pies - Recipe from Williams-Sonoma, Cute Pie-Maker from Williams-Sonoma
I'll admit, I first only bought this apple-pocket pie mold {2 yrs ago} because it was so stinkin' cute. I'm a sucker for "fun kitchen gadgets" - like, badly!! I've only used it a few times, and my first pocket pies were sad looking - to say the least! But they were delish!
Here's the recipe according to Williams-Sonoma:
Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 t salt
• 2 T sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 16 T cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 6-8 T ice water
• 1 egg slightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon water

Apple Pie Filling

• 2 or 3 baking apples, cored, peeled, and sliced. (I used one macintosh and one granny smith)
• 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 T flour
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of salt

Mix all together, fold / cut crust into the mold - Once assembled and filled, I freeze these for 20 minutes so that they retain their shape {blame it on the humidity down here} ... Bake on 400* for 15 minutes. Cool for 10 and then enjoy~ perfectly portioned for 1 pocket pie per person {say that 5 times fast!}









That's about it y'all - I'm going to relax and watch the Emmy's ... I usually hate awards shows... Probably won't make it past the red carpet preview! Enjoy your upcoming week! I'm praying that mine isn't too crazy and that next weekend will be here before I know it! And, maybe that it stays overcast and breezy and fall-like all week and next weekend. That's not too much to ask for, right??

xoxo
B

Menswear For All This Fall

Good Evenin' Y'all ~

I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend - remembering those who serve(d) our country, and finding hope in the 10th anniversary remembrance of 9/11. Our church service was all about hope, and I'm so thankful that I have hope, no matter how bad things in this life get.

This weekend I made a quick trip home to my parent's and enjoyed some quality time with family and grandparents. My sweet cousin Dan and his beautiful new bride Lindsey were also in town and it was wonderful to see them again! The drive back to my BigCity was quick+easy, and may have included a pitstop at the J.Crew outlet ... :)
With fall weather rapidly approaching, I scored a pair of slate colored matchstick corduroy pants and a sweet sweater with a zipper on one shoulder. My pants were 40% off and my sweater was 30% off, and then a 15% discount ... worked out to get it all for less than the pants alone at full price!! 
Earlier this weekend, my Momma and I scored some fall deals at Loft, all at 30% off and received $25 gift cards! I think all I lack are boots now to have a good basic fall wardrobe!

In the meantime, I put together a pretty awesome Men's Wear Fall 2011 moodboard ... hoping to see lots of these trends in person this fall :)

 

That's all I have for tonight... resting up for the work week & looking forward to FSU's first BIG GAME of the season next Saturday!!! 

xoxo
B

My Little Pumpkin

Hey Ya'll ~

Hope you enjoyed your last summer fling this Labor Day ... for me&mine it was mostly a day of relaxing.
I met with three awesome girlfriends of mine for brunch and pedicures, and then relaxed the remainder of the day.
 After an always-uplifting chat with one of my *bests* -talking about everything under the sun ~ I realized just how low I was running on creative projects. And in my current state, more projects would probably be really beneficial to my mindset. I have some small projects to learn {i.e. embroidery kit sitting in the craft closet} but earlier trials have left me frustrated. Then I got to thinking, it's officially the end of summer, so I can start decorating for fall - right?!
Well, fall colors aren't exactly in my seaside-cottage color palette, so I'm going to have to get creative.
First, I want to know when the pumpkin patches start to pop up around town ... I really have a thing against buying pumpkins in a grocery store. That is just not how it's meant to be. You buy pumpkins & indian corn where they cover the ground with hay. Outdoors. When it's supposed to be cool.
Now, back to the pumpkins and my decor. . .

 

ya'll saw above - that "orange" {I prefer "Creamsicle"} is my accent color

and when I say accent, I mean, use sparingly. As in, do not place orange in every corner of the cottage. 

So, pumpkins are orange. And pumpkins can be tiny. So I'm thinking of taking the inspiration from here on making this precious fall gem, match my decor. 

Instead of using all real pumpkins, I will use a few "Funkins" from my local arts+crafts store ... have you discovered "Funkins"??  They're just fake pumpkins. And they're awesome if you're going to put some time+effort into your fall decor and won't want to watch it rot by Thanksgiving.

Here's what I did with one a few years back ... 

FSU Funkin

  So, I'm going to score some Funkins, maybe a few of these awesome "albino" babies

and get to makin' nice. 

I think I'll paint some, add some ribbon, maybe run some ric-rac up and down the seams of the pumpkins, make a bow or two out of aqua bakers twine ... and nest them all in one of my very favorite antique finds from Raleigh, N.C. : a pretty little footed ceramic bowl, she's so crackly and perfect! {photos to come}

Sadly, I'm allergic to hay - but that doesn't mean I can't get a small bale or two to put on my porch. I'm thinking some mums would be the perfect addition to a welcoming fall front porch ... to me, nothing says 

"Welcome Friends + Lovelies" like mums and a festive porch:

That's all I have for now, hope to post some pictures in the next week or so of my little fall projects.

In the mean time, I'm looking forward to my upcoming back-to-back weekends of out of town trips. My little heart needs that right now. Have a beautiful week! 

xo

B