happy halloween!

happy halloween!  i was worried my boy wouldn't get to dress up for halloween this year now that he's in middle school, but he did!  he decided to go as a movie theater floor, so funny and clever.  he wore it to trunk or treat at church and everyone seemed to get a kick out of it.

for actual halloween we were in gatlinburg this year and just walked around the shopping complex there.  the highlight of the evening was the ferris wheel.  my friend sherri and i are both not impressed with heights, so we took silly selfies the whole time to avoid thinking about where we were in space.  ha!

and now i am all caught up with october blogging!  hooray!  now to catch up on november.  i'm determined to finish out the year with 365 posts!  i'm so close! ;)

youtube: my favorite peeps

if you've been hanging around here this year, you'll have noticed that i've gone gaga for planners, the midori traveler's notebook to be precise (and soon to be adding a hobonichi addiction as i mentioned earlier).  you'll also have noticed that i've become more and more enamored with youtube.  you can find several people i've found to follow (as well as all my videos) over on my youtube channel, but here are some of my absolute favorites:

hobonichi/midori:
palest blue
my life mits
the little ink
april wu
wei taillandier

lifestyle:
fleur de vlog
extrasunbeamsjess
anna brim

do you have any favorite youtubers?  i'd love to check them out!

p.s. the super cute planner stamp set from cocoa daisy (that i used above) is back in stock!  check it out HERE!

youtube: hobonichi haul

see!  i told you!  more hobonichi teases already!  ;)

quality literature: skippyjon jones

 

last year i set myself the goal of reading 52 books over the course of the year.  it was a little tight finishing in december.  i had to read a couple of my son's chapter books to make it, but i was quite proud of myself.  i thought to do the same thing this year.  i counted up my totals thus far yesterday and realized i was at 21.  a sad number unless it's your birthday.  what to do?  what to do?  why cheat, of course!  you all know me too well.  but is it really cheating if it's your own personal game.  i don't think so!  so anyway.  i'll be reading lots of children's picture books in the next few weeks.  i figure i can kill two birds with one stone in this particular endeavor since i've decided to take up hobonichi journaling and children's picture books make great practice material (see image below).  what is hobonichi journaling, you ask?  a new obsession.  i will be sharing more soon as i am addicted.

 

so, yes.  skippyjon jones books are all delightful reads.  you will thoroughly enjoy them as an adult.  they are about a siamese kitten who thinks he's a chihuahua.  i really love the authors command of language and how she doesn't at all dumb down the words for her chosen audience (being the kids, not us adults but we benefit from her style and wit for sure).  read them.  you will love them.  your kids will love them.  they are awesome.

 

 



this one makes 22/52.

i thought they were the last, but they weren't and i'm glad.

sedum

around mid october we had a hard freeze warning and i ran around my yard snapping a few last pics of the lingering flowers and wildflowers (weeds) in my yard as i thought they might all be gone the next day.  they weren't and now here it is mid november and these are all still lingering.  it's been the mildest (and wettest) fall on record for me here in tennessee.  i'm not complainging (except for the excessive cloud coverage - the lack of quality sunlight is starting to get to me. 

marigold

purple coneflower

something my sister in law gave me

chrysanthemum

nandina

knock out roses

hydrangea

zinnia

zinnia

zinnia

zinnia

haven't looked it up yet

still haven't looked it up yet

pokeweed

don't know this one either

moss roses

geranium

goldenrod

dandelion

the tiniest weed flower ever

less than a centimeter in diameter

cocoa daisy: a walk through of october and my november set up

happy fall, ya'll!

florida photos: beautiful creatures

i simply had too many pretty pictures for the last post, so i saved out all the sweet little buggies to share in a separate post.  i figured they would like to have their own special moment in the sun.  :)

florida photos: exotics

i don't know how i got so lucky, but i scored two amazing never before seen in my own hometown nature sights this trip.  the beach butterflies were the first and then these exotic blossoms were the second.  i caught a glimpse of some wildflower patches as i was driving into town and determined to go back for a closer look while i was home.  i was not disappointed.  some of these floral structures are just so amazing to me.  and then right before i left i caught some golden blossoms at the golden hour and they made magic together for my camera.  it was just so awesome.  i'm glad i was there.  ;)