Fall Weekend Mind Cleaning...

So there have been lots of things I've been wanting to post lately, but I've not had much time this past week-- lots of driving. By the way, a really good gift to give me would be a membership to the Audio-Book-Of-The-Month Club. That and a towel heater for my bathroom. But seriously, its beginning to be ridiculous how much time I spend in my vehicle (its not just me, many other small-town solo practitioners do as well, especially those of us who maintain two offices-- don't scoff- there are a LOT of attorneys who have more than one office!!).

So, this weekend, I skipped the Ole Miss-Vandy game and stayed home to clean, rest and relax. I cleaned a lot and, more importantly, I got out my Fall Decorations!! If you know me, you know I LOVE decorating my house for any and all occasions, or if there is no occasion, I like to redecorate whats already there. I like to think that one of my talents is taking what I've got and making it look good in my house. I'm a gal on a budget. Which I usually ignore. Okay, I didn't say one of my talents was staying ON a budget.

Also, about this time every year there is a very important philosophical (it literally took me like 5 times to get that word correctly spelled!) debate that goes on in my mind. Now that I've determined its time to put out the fall decorations, do I put out Fall decorations? Halloween Decorations? Both? It gets really deep inside my head. I mean, its "fall" time, but most "fall" decorations coincide with Thanksgiving-y decorations. And Thanksgiving is AFTER Halloween. But it really seems strange to put up Halloween decorations in the middle of September. And yet, it seems okay to put up harvest-y decorations in the middle of September. Do you know see why I don't sleep at night?

But this year, I silenced the voices in my head (for now) and put up pretty much ALL my decorations. I love to buy decorations at the end of the season and put them away till next season, so then I get a great "Surprise" when I pull stuff out, having forgotten about the new stuff! That is one of my favorite things about decorating, and a trick I used a lot during law school-- Oxford had ridiculously beautiful Christmas decorations which were ridiculously priced as well, but when you came back from Winter Break, most stuff was 75% off!! Fabulous!!

I had a blast decorating yesterday and was pleasantly surprised I was able to get it all cleaned up before I went to bed last night. As you can see, I took down a lot of my regular decorations, pictures, etc., and basically put up all new stuff. I'll do the same at Christmas!!!

I'm also including some pictures and commentary on my trip to NOLA last weekend.

Penny and I at Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel, NOLA.



Parker and I went to New Orleans City Park Sunday afternoon before we left town. She had been such a sweet girl all weekend and we didn't get to play outside very much because of all the rain, so I promised her we'd go play! Penny and her friend Sherrod had gone the day before and I was so glad we went! I cannot wait to go back when its a bit cooler.



I had a snack of my cupcake from Be Sweet.



Parker spent a lot of time waiting for me to drop some of that cupcake on the ground.



We walked on the pretty walking trails. We had fun running and playing but it was very hot.






We took a self-portrait on the bridge in front of the fountain. She didn't like doing this, but I insisted. Especially since she would not let me take a picture of her on this cool looking twisty tree that would have made an adorable Christmas card. She's such a diva.



The cool modern art scupltures and the New Orleans Museum of Art, that I plan on visiting soon! Parker doesn't really like modern art though.





Some of my souvenirs from NOLA. I bought my mom some candy, my aunt some Bloody Mary mix, my friend Lori some Hurricane mix and my cousin a cute picture (which I haven't given to her so I didn't photograph it since she is an avid reader of my blog [though not an avid commenter. Leave some comments, people. I love them!])

A cute magnet. I love magnets. This one is currently holding Nicholas' new "calling cards"! So cute!!



Some crown napkins to use for the Miss America party. They rang up as $25,447.96. I thought that was a bit overpriced. I mean, $20,000.00 was a bit expensive, but there was no freaking way I'd pay $25,000.00 for them. I know the economy's tanking and prices are rising, but they aren't that cute. Luckily, the cashier gave me a discount of approximately $25,444.01.



Now for the Decorations!!!

So we'll know when mom is at home. She is home now, hence the sign.



All decorations from the dining room! Love my purple-- it looks really good with Halloween decorations!






The hallway telephone shelf



Decorations in the living room:

As you can see, I've replaced the other picture with my new Easely Amused picture, "Groovy Grove". I promised Karen a blog post about it, so here it is!! I had the best time and I think my picture turned out pretty good!! More about that later!!



My "Spooky" wreath on the front door. Actually, on the inside of the front door. We don't use the front door ever.





My favorite thing in the entire house is my mantle. I love it!! I think it looks like something in a store or something!! I sometimes have a hard time getting my mantle and my piano top to look good, but I'm pretty pleased with both of these. I even think the terrible wall color doesn't look bad with all these decorations up!!



Parker watching me decorate and take pictures. She didn't even offer to help.