It's Fall Y'all

In the words of Jon Acuff via twitter "the weather today felt like it was ordered from an L.L. Bean catalog."

I volunteered at the Reading is Fundamental 5K/10K this morning and this was my view from my station. Not too shabby even if I was up at 5am and it was 39 degrees outside.

I made this pumpkin cake. She calls them pumpkin bars, but cake was a more apt term.

And apple crisps. I put wayyyy too much sugar on these bad boys and neglected to spray the foil with cooking spray first, so maybe the next time around.

I hope fall sticks around.

seeing double

I have the privilege of being AOII's t-shirt chair, and it is a job that I enjoy to a sickening degree. I designed the header for this blog, and I just loved it so much, I used it for our sisterhood retreat t-shirt. It's been so funny to see girls walking around campus in it, so I thought I'd share it with you all, too!

rubbing elbows

I am obsessed with Lands' End new Canvas 1963 line. I've bought some great items, including my personal favorite, this tangerine and ivory knit infinity scarf. (And it's on sale now!)

But one item I really like and regret not having bought is this ribbed open crewneck in teal with chocolate brown elbow patches.

Real cute with that vest, right?

Well, I'm not such a fan of how wide that neckline is, and once I found this I had already placed my online order and didn't want to pay for shipping again. It's been in the back of my mind in case I placed another order again soon, but I finally lost all patience when I saw a cardigan with heart elbow patches on Pinterest. I figured I could use the same tried and true freezer paper tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets and make my own shirt. So I bought this plain mustard colored shirt at Target, some microsuede material from Hob Lob (at a 50% discount, might I add), and some matching thread. I already had the Heat & Bond adhesive and freezer paper at home. This project didn't even cost me $15 total and it took me maybe half an hour.

It's nothing too incredibly special, but it does add a little zip and makes me look the part of an English major. I promise it looks cuter on with my brown puffer vest-- I just don't want to embarrass myself with the self pics. :)

Liebster Blog Awards

My sweet friend Ashley told me that I was one of 5 ballers to win the Liebster Blog Award! This is given to bloggers who have <200 followers. The word liebster is a German word that means dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, and many many other like words. I am so grateful for Ashley and everything she has meant in my life and for this award! (Also, please let me come hang out with you and EA over Thanksgiving!)

As a way to keep the award going, the recipients of this award are to nominate 5 outstanding bloggers with less than 200 followers.

The rules of the Liebster Blog Award are to link back to the blogger who gave it to you, reveal your top 5 bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog, copy and paste the award on your blog. Finally, have faith that your followers will spread the word too!

Here it goes...

1. Jana at I Will Hold On Hope. You can thank her for getting me started on blogging. That's right, positive peer pressure, people. And thanks to her I have a Twitter too. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? She is a highly talented photographer and I encourage you to check out some of her wedding and engagement work!

2. Emily Grace at Learning Grace. What. A. Champ. Emily Grace speaks God's truth with every word. She is always a encouragement and her blog highlights what she's learning through life as an undergrad.

3. Maegan at Lavished With Love. What a faithful teacher! She invests in me via her blog even hundreds of miles away. I have so enjoyed her honest (and usually hilarious) daily encounters with motherhood. What a blessing to be able to watch her on this journey!

4. Caroline and Alex at Untangled Lines. You want to be inspired to step back from the computer and live life? Take a look at the blog they co-author. If I didn't know you two better, I'd say all you do is just frolic around outside and hang out with cool musical artists. But I've seen your mound of chemical engineering work (Carol) and your stack of Burney novels (Alex).

5. Hillary at Essential, yet Appealed. She blogs about Jesus, America, and Southern culture. I mean, what more do you want?

(We have a class blog for my Milton class and I almost posted it for this award just to be funny. But I think it would make most normal, sane people curl up and cry.)

love thy neighbor

Our INCREDIBLE Fam Jam

I have a couple of favorite days in AOII: Bid Day, Initiation Banquet, any days new t-shirt shipments come to my door, and Big Little Reveal! This year was even tougher to keep my lips sealed since little Kendall tried her very best to extort any information out of me that she could. I didn't spoil the surprise and I couldn't have been more happy to become a grandbig to Morgan!!

Our Fam Jam is INCREDIBLE.

Wish we could have traded hair just this one night so your hair could have been full of secrets.

Carol, remember when your suitcase got held up at customs in Costa Rica because your sunscreen exploded? I'm glad we still have stories that are just as entertaining.

Annual tradition of being in the back of the group photo. But hey, that's what the zoom is for, right?

Lovely bible study friends! Real thankful we're delving into the Word together this year!

Sun's Out, Guns Out Part 2

The number of times I check the 10-day forecast in Auburn is borderline crazy. I just want the high to finally be in the mid 60s! I always forget fall doesn't come until mid-November in the South. Anyway, I am still trying to get better at freezer paper appliques, so I made some snazzy Auburn AOII tanks for my sister.

Comfort Color tank tops might be the most comfortable shirts ever.

This is before the letters are sewn down...

...and this is what they look like after.