Fall-la-la-la

I think it's safe to say that it is now OFFICIALLY FALL WEATHER. I walked outside yesterday and was greeted by cloudy skies and fifty degree temperatures, so I immediately broke out my favorite fall staples... I wasn't joking in my last post about my fashion choices. Long live patterned tights, knee-high fur boots and wool cardigans. I guarantee you will see one of these things along with a scarf on me at all times for the next four months. I get cold when its 80 degrees and breezy, so these along with a heating pad and car-seat warmers are my new best friends. 

Fashion talk aside, we have been busy bees here in apartment 202 decorating away in preparation for all of the cute little trick-or-treaters that are not present in my college-student-only apartment complex......whoops. Everyone likes a little Halloween spirit though, right? There's no such thing as too much decoration in my humble opinion. Here's a few of our photos with some captions for your convenience;)

1. Haunted bouquet of Clara's anniversary flowers + eyeball salt and pepper shakers

2. Our good friend Frank, nice and cozy in nursing gloves and uggs. He scares me to death every night when I walk into our living room and the lights are off....so maybe not the best placement but we're still very proud of him. (And yes, that is Prince of Persia on TV. I haven't budged from ABC Family all day. Who put the Herc in Hercules?)

3. Haunted pantry and spider-walls

4. ...Ghoulish kitchen? I'm running out of clever Halloween-related adjectives.

I know what you may be thinking, a little overboard maybe. But I am happy to report we spent no more than $15 each on decorations, courtesy of the Target dollar aisle...I also can't resist adding these little gems from the shopping trip as well.

Halloween festivities aside, these past few weekends have been extremely busy with a few of my favorite things, namely lots of traveling and quality fam time. My parents came up for a visit two weeks ago for Parent's Weekend, and this past weekend Ben and I went down to Atlanta to visit Katie and tailgate in Athens for the TN game against GA.

Even though I'm sad to say we didn't pull out a win, with three interceptions and an amazing halftime comeback by the Vols, it was still an incredible game and the best I've seen us play in a while. The rest of the weekend, we bummed around Atlanta and Katie took us to some local ATL favorites. A few of the highlights: Yeah! Burger, an organically-based burger joint, and a food truck park, which is exactly as it sounds - complete with popsicle stand, fry trucks, and cupcake carts - all food types were represented in mobile-form. Extremely cool, as should be expected in my second favorite city.

If all that wasn't enough, Knoxville had some famous company at the beginning of this week as Kathie Lee and Hoda from NBC's Today Show broadcasted live from campus! UT won a competition among 5 other universities for this privilege, so early Monday morning accompanied by rain and a cloud of neon orange, the Today Show posted up outside of Ayres for your national viewing pleasure.

Originally, I was planning on skipping the big event, but when Callie and I arrived on campus for our classes, we decided to peek in on the festivities...which of course led to me skipping my three-hour art lab instead. These things don't happen everyday right?

In other news, the first presidential debate was this week, and I am making a sincere attempt in my first voting experience to be as politically informed and unbiased as possible. Wednesday night we gathered around the TV for some quality roommate bonding along with Obama and Romney for the first Presidential debate. I followed the commentary and twitter-feed post-debate as well, and although I won't reveal my own personal preferences and thoughts, I do think it's extremely important for any of you of voter-age to educate yourself and follow these debates for the next few weeks. We came up with the idea of printing out a news article each day to put on the fridge, one Republican and one Democratic, so that we can become familiar with each side's different policies and plans.

I do believe that's all I have for now! In honor of the onset of autumn, I'll leave you with some pictures from my hike tonight with Clara, Cameron, and Isaac. It was my first trip to the bluffs that overlook the river and campus, and it was albeit freezing but absolutely gorgeous.  Hope you all have a wonderful week, and if you're in Memphis I will see you Wednesday for a much-anticipated Fall break!

Big Orange Fall Spirit

I've been thinking lately that maybe I should start writing. Something to record my everyday doings and give me something to look back at when I'm older and remember certain things. And I was going to do it in diary form, and I primed the front of a sketchbook in preparation to do that, but I still haven't actually finished/ started painting anything else on the front cover, which means I can not viably make myself write in it until I do so.....So I'm going to test out blogging. This could be fun, and who knows, maybe I will actually keep up with it? Here's to hoping!

SO: in lieu of that long, overly-explanatory introduction, I suppose my first topic of discussion will be fall, ie. the best season of the year that leads up to the best season of the year. Allow me to explain. You know how some people say that half the fun of a road trip is in getting there? Well, I equate this metaphor to fall.

See, my absolute favorite season of all time is winter, for all of the completely uncommon and un-cliche reasons that no one has ever talked about before; lots of holidays, lots of food, and lots and lots of warm cozy clothing. In my world, this means family time, cinnamon buns and sausage pinwheels, and knee-high fur boots with wool-knit socks....I'm grinning at the computer just typing about it. BUT: fall is that amazing anticipatory period leading up to the fast whirlwind of a season that is November and December. I cannot explain all of the things I look forward to when fall comes around.


In Germantown, it means the Haunted Corn maze at the Agricenter, pumpkin spice lattes at the Saddle Creek Starbucks, preparations for Starry Nights at Shelby Farms, craft booths in the Germantown Festival, Delta Fair (besides the amazing music lineup, I feel like any year now I'm due to run into Ryan Gosling at the ferris wheel like in the Notebook...my time is coming I know it.) Then there's Red Devil football games and Homecoming week at my old high school, decorating my front porch for Halloween with at least ten of our friends and neighbors (see hilarious and somewhat inappropriate pictures below from one of my favorites). I could and would go on and on and on all day if I didn't think it would induce carpel-tunnel syndrome.

So, now in Knoxville, out of dorm-life and with apartment and car in accompaniment, I am so extremely excited to start welcoming in the fall season in new Big Orange fashion. I cannot wait to start carving pumpkins for our front porch (okay okay, more like the hallway/ 5 foot space in between ours and our neighbors apartment doors) decorating the banister with purple and orange lights, and filling the rooms with the smell of festive holiday treats. And if you know me, you know that I don't take on baking lightly, so this really means business. I've already begun looking up fun things to do around town, which may or may not include a visit to Boo at the Zoo and a corn maze on a local farm. Call me five years old or whatever you will, but I Can. Not. Wait.


There's so much more I could go on about with this topic, but honestly, I haven't eaten in about 2 hours and I think it's about time I revisit the wonderful world this is the leftover food from having my parent's in town this past weekend (another reason why I love fall -- Parent's Weekend and football time in Tennessee ;) I'll be writing again soon, but in the meantime, I recommend a colorful scarf and a chai latte to get you into the autumn spirit. Happy Fall!!