It's Finally Fall!!

Fall is my favorite time of year and October is my favorite month. I should apologize in advance for the abundance of blog posts I will do this month since I get way too excited about fall activities. The kids and I have spent the week decorating and making Halloween crafts getting ready for our annual trip to Yahoo Farms in Jasper, GA. We made Pumpkin necklaces for the whole crew which I will cover in another post. The day we go to Yahoo Farms every year is seriously one of the highlights of my year. I love this place. It is such a throwback to simple times and the perfect speed for my little ones.

They always enjoy the pumpkin wagon ride.

And this year, Ford even enjoyed the pony rides!

We ventured through the big corn maze for the first time this year and the kids loved every second of it. It was the highlight of the day for them and I loved the light filtering through all the giant stalks.

Of course, there are pumpkins galore or every size, shape, and color and I can never take enough photos of that vibrant orange hue.

We spent the weekend at the cabin in Ellijay where Ford wore his Halloween Costume most of the weekend. Here is the super hero hard at work making s'mores.

On Sunday, we ventured to BJ Reece Apple Orchards where we picked apples, shot apples out of cannons, walked long paths, and went on a hayride.

It was the perfect fall weekend with 60 degree weather. I wished we could live in this month all year long!

Zig Zag Crazed

I lost a whole night of sleep over the Missoni launch for Target. I've been counting the days until the shelves were to be stocked with zig zag designs. I found most of the items, over 400 in the collection, online beforehand and had mapped out a plan of what I coveted most. I saved my money all month so my budget could handle a mini Missoni spree. I logged on at midnight to shop online but nothing was posted yet. From there, I set my alarm every couple of hours to try again. Finally, at 6:30am, I logged on and was able to get the items I wanted the very most, matching shoes for me and my girl and a tower of espresso cups with matching plates.

By 7am, Target's website was shut down for most of the day. By the time it came up again later in the day, most of the Missoni line was sold out.

After a night of no sleep, I woke my kids up and made them stand in line at Target with me until the stores opened at 8.


There were so many things I liked from viewing them online but I wanted to see them in person. The lines were starting to form when we arrived. When the doors opened, most people went for the clothing and shoes first and the great pieces were gone in seconds. I was able to get the things I loved most from the kitchen section.


It was a crazed frenzy and all the Target employees were stunned at the turnout saying they had never been so busy on a random Tuesday.

What a great line Missoni turned out with their iconic designs and colors and affordable for the masses. This is the only time in my life I will be checking out with Missoni shoe boxes!

Moving on Out.

Well, after 8 years the time has come to give up this loft I love so much. We are putting our place on the market today. Instead of blogging lately, I have been cleaning, and purging, and organizing. I have very mixed emotions. My family is ready to move for space and schools and other things so I will go along with them knowing that I have gotten to live in my dream building and that hopefully someday I will get to live in an industrial space in the city again. Several readers have asked to see photos so here they are:


Almost everything in our house is from Ikea, Homegoods, or Lakewood Antiques Market which I dearly miss! I love these Flor squares covering our concrete floors. They are great because they are tiles that can be replaced one at a time if your kids are too messy!


The building we live in was built in 1913 and was a Seed Factory. When we moved in, our space was raw and my dad, who is a builder, built it out for us. One of my favorite things we did was build this table into this strange hump that is the headroom to the common area building basement. It is great for serving and working puzzles. You can see this hump, minus the table of course, in the opening scenes for Sweet Home Alabama which was filmed in our space before we converted it. Our space was used for the NYC fashion design studio shots.



The red seats are some that my grandfather got from the old Fulton County stadium. And the Texaco sign is from Lakewood and special because Brandon's dad worked for Texaco for much of his career.


Here is Delaney and Ford's room. Delaney hopes to get her own room soon so she can have more of her "ownself time". Their bunkbeds are from Ikea as well as their storage area. The diner is from a friend who got it at a garage sale.



This is my studio. The cabinets are Ikea and can be customized with photos as doors like I did to the middle row.


This is a view from my studio looking back over the main room. You can see our little catwalk library to the left designed by metal artist, Andrew Crawford. We added that on more recently than we converted the rest of our place.



Our bedroom photos give you a good look at the awesome columns in the building. They are giant poured concrete.


The doors to our closet are from Lakewood and are out of an old Chicago hotel. My dad gave them to me for Christmas one year when my favorite song was Martina McBride's "You Must Think My Heart Has Swinging Doors".

If you are looking for a place, here is the listing.

Indian Birthday Party

We celebrated my mom's birthday with an Indian themed dinner party at our place. I have always loved Indian food and am learning more about it these days. I owe a lot of my new found knowledge to Aarti Sequeira, winner of last season's Food Network Star. I love her show Aarti's Party and her blog. For this meal, we used mostly her recipes. I love her tin of spices called a masala dabba which are found in most Indian kitchens. I found mine at World Market for about $10.


We started out the evening with her recipe for newspaper nuts. I upped the flavor by adding a bit more spice than she calls for and I added raw sugar at the end for that wonderful, sweet gritty texture that I love it for.


For dinner, we ate a roasted root jumble over polenta with haloumi cheese. This was my first introduction to Haloumi cheese which was available at my local Publix. I thought it was a wonderful cheese to grill, saute, etc. It holds up well instead of melting similar to a Feta but with a less intense taste.


We also enjoyed beef kababs stuffed with dried cherries and cashews which is a recipe I will be making again and again. I loved them! I used Trader Joe's Naan bread which is a staple in our freezer and my husband will eat anything I ever cook as long as he can wrap it up in this bread. It is that good.


I made lychee aqua frescas with lemongrass and coconut. It was a very different taste for me that I have not ever had before. I thought they were refreshing and would prefer them on their own rather than with a meal.


We preferred this selection of beers with our food instead.


For dessert, I deviated from the Indian theme to make my mom's favorite dessert (and mine too cause nothing beats it). It is a Rachel Ray recipe that I have made for years that is a quick twist on Baklava and Ice Cream. You should definitely make this!!!

Here is the recipe:

• 3 (13 by 17-inch) sheets phyllo dough
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1 pint vanilla bean ice cream
• Honey, for garnish

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Spread a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Top with a layer of phyllo and brush or using a spritz bottle, spray with butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon and cover the sheet of pastry 1/3 cup sugar. Repeat with 2 more layers of pastry, then top with the finely chopped walnuts. Cut pastry into 3-inch squares with sharp paring knife. Cover the pastry with another sheet of parchment paper and another cookie sheet. Place pastry in hot oven and bake 10 minutes or until golden. Serve warm squares of pastry with ice cream and a drizzle of honey.