Porch Decorating

Last year, we moved into our house around the middle of November. So, while in the middle of preparing to move in and thinking about how we wanted to decorate the house, it was fall, and all I wanted to do was decorate for the season. However, by the time we moved in and I could decorate, it was time for the Christmas stuff to come out. Now that I finally have a porch I can decorate for fall, I can't wait! Here are some looks I love!

Mixture of hay bales, pumpkins and mums. Just what I am thinking about. 

Decorating for a narrow porch. 

Tons of mums!

Love a mixture of mums, pumpkins, and other gourds. 

Candy Corn Confessions

I may or may not have a problem....

As I recently texted a friend "my love of candy corn knows no bounds and is not confined by social norms". Once that candy corn hits the shelves, my body knows it. 

And once I start, I do not stop. Until I can no longer find candy corn in the store. Therefore, the longer I can make myself wait, the better. I am currently about one month into candy corn season and still clean. 

A few rules:

Don't buy anything other than Brach's

Make sure it's fresh (yes you can tell)

My usual game plan:

Eat candy corn until stomach hurts

Wait 15-30 min

Begin eating candy corn again 

Let's just pray that I can continue to stay strong and resist the bag I have sitting on my bedside table....

Sideline Sitting

I gotta admit, I am not much for participating in organized team sports. I like running by myself, or with other people, but if you throw a ball and some sports equipment in the mix, I'm not your girl. My hand-eye coordination leaves much to be desired, and I much prefer to be sitting on the sidelines. Luckily, I am an excellent spectator. It's one of my gifts really. Hours spent in a gym growing up watching basketball games perfected this skill.

I've had a lot of opportunities the past few days to show off my sideline sitting skills. First off, Will started in an ultimate Frisbee league with some friends of ours, so while the boys play, me and Steph and Clara get some girl time!

Warming up with the frisbee

Sweet Clara! Look at those blue eyes!

Showing off the swag in her new hoodie

Then, on Friday night, Will and I got the opportunity to go down with his family to watch his younger cousin Elisabeth, who plays soccer for Mississippi State. She is an awesome player, and they were playing against USC, so we had multiple reasons to cheer for the Bulldogs!

Go State!

Elisabeth in action. The game ended in a draw at 0-0 after two overtimes, so you know those girls were tired by then end!

The Elisabeth "Sully" Sullivan personal cheering section. 

Elisabeth with Terri, the birthday girl!!

Getting Crafty!

So, the other day I was feeling crafty. I swung by AC Moore and grabbed some supplies to make us a fall wreath. I knew I wanted to use lots of orange, so I switched directions last minute and got some purple to make it a fall/Clemson wreath. I also wanted it to have our house number on it. I knew how I wanted it to look in my head, and was hoping I could make it happen. 

My supplies, although I didn't use the ribbon. 

There was only one problem with my plan. Our house number is 217, and I couldn't find a 1 to save my life. I looked a few different places, and finally Will suggested I just get an I. I thought that was a stupid idea, until he said he would cut off part of the serif and sand it down to make a one. For the $1 it cost to buy the wrong letter/number, it was totally worth it just to see if he could do it. 

And Will came through! Much better than I thought he could do. I guess I didn't have enough faith :)

After a few coats of orange paint on the numbers...

and some orange and purple flowers inserted in the grapevine wreath... 

We have a finished product! Now to get something to hang it on!

Eastside Week

It is already well established that I am probably too established in the goings-on of my high school, but like I said here, I have my reasons.

One of the things I love most about my alma mater is the tradition of Eastside Week. During this week, Wade Hampton High competes with Eastside High to raise money for a charity of each schools' choice for the schools' spirit week.  The schedule for ESW is jam-packed! Every night there are events at the schools, and during the school day (at least when I was there) not much schoolwork was being done. From mud wrestlin' to spaghetti suppers, to poultry (the competition where WHHS students couple up to raise money for the week, then reveal their totals while cross-dressed (yea, you heard me right)).

Now, there has been talk of this being the last time the schools might compete. WHHS moved up to 4A, while Eastside is still 3A. Therefore, football scheduling can be pretty difficult. However, nothing has been decided as far as I know, so I can only hope that they continue this wonderful tradition, in some way. Some of my very best memories from high school were around ESW. And more important than that, it allows high schoolers to pull together for a common goal, no matter what 'clique' you were in, and give money to a worthy cause.

Plus, when I was a student, WHHS never lost the money total. And beating your rival is pretty sweet, even if the charities win either way. In fact, I think in the last 9 or 10 years, Eastside has only won the money total once.

Below are some of pictures of last night, where Eastside raised $150K for their charity, and Wade Hampton raised $206K for the Meyer Center. 

Louis, the ever-present security guard. Been telling people to "find a seat, gotta find a seat" for as long as I can remember. 

 WHHS student council, waiting for the check totals. 

Almost time!

Revealing $206K raised for the Meyer Center!

And WHHS wins again!

Big Plans

So, remember a few weeks ago when I shared that part of our deck was taken out by a tree? Well, we have been dreaming a little about how to rebuild it.

We dont like the lower section of our deck, over on the left hand side. It is sitting right on the ground and likely to rot out soon. It also has a weird swing frame thing that is basically unusable.

So...clearly that leaves us with some imagining to do. We want to take out the lower section, but bring some sort of privacy wall out from where the larger sections starts now. I mean, we really like our neighbors and all, but I'm sure they would like some privacy too! Below are some of my starting ideas!

For our privacy wall, we could do some sort of lattice, with climbing plants. 

Or we could do something like this, with boards angled down.

Or go a little funky with thicker and thinner boards in a pattern. 

One thing sorely lacking in our current deck is lighting. I dont know that we will get this complex, but it sure is pretty!

And if we do decide to put in a pergola, you can bet that there will be some awesome Christmas lights hanging out there!

A pergola would be a great option for some additional shade, as well as helping define a dining area. 

This is probably the most likely option(at least the way I see it in my head right now). Can't wait to get this project underway (Except did you know how expensive lumber is??) and enjoy our new deck!

Labor Day at the Lake!

We are so blessed to be able to have two lake houses that we can use at different times throughout the summer. However, the houses are a bit different. My family's lake house is on a small lake, is pretty nice, and has a lot of non-motorized fun (that's code for - we don't have a fast boat (unless you consider the world's tiniest pontoon with a 25 HP motor fast), but we have things like paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, and the ever popular lake float). Will's family's lake house is on a huge lake that is on the SC-GA border, is a little more rustic, and we have access to boats and a jetski.

The other big difference is the neighbors. While my family's neighbors are quite nice, at Will's lake house, there are the Walker's. The Walker's and the Blackmon's have been friends forever. Marty and Dan (Will's dad) have been best friends since high school, and their families happened to have lake houses next door. Marty & Rose have 3 kids around our age, and we end up spending most of our time during the weekends on their dock or at one house or the other.

This weekend, the two Walker boys, Luke and Rhett, got the idea to redo the old cooking pit between the houses and cook up at whole bunch of chicken. Bottom line, it was a good idea!

Cleaned off cooking pit, complete with sprayer to season the chicken with every turn. Luke and Rhett fashioned up a rack for the chicken that the boys turned every couple of minutes. 

That's right, 28 chicken halves, plus salad, baked potatoes, more chicken, desserts, and homemade ice cream. Several families came over, including the Walker cousins, and there were still tons of leftovers. The Walker's sure can throw a party!

Perfection! This was such a perfect way to celebrate the long weekend, with friends, family, and lots of good food!

And of course, one of the best things about whatever lake you happen to be on, a beautiful sunset. Already can't wait to get back!