Fall Fun Series: Halloween Decorations

Today's topic for the Fall Fun Series is Halloween decorations. I wish I really could go all out with Halloween decorating, but as I explained in my fall decor post I'm really limited on space. Space to decorate and space to store decorations. I manage best, by keeping my fall decor inside the same and breaking out the Halloween decorations for outside.

I live in an apartment, but I live on the third floor. I like to give out candy to Trick or Treaters, but it's hard to convince kids to want to walk up three flights of stairs for candy. I do my best to decorate my balcony to let the kiddos know that I have candy and it's worth the trip up the stairs!

These are my balcony decorations.....

The glitter Halloween sign, pumpkins, and owl all came from Dollar Tree. The witch cat wind sock came from Walmart. The purple rope lights and orange light came from Target. The lights are super bright, and our apartment faces the parking lot, so it definitely makes a statement!

I also have these decorations on my front door...

The Trick or Treat sign came from Target. The "Boo!" sign came from Walmart. My glitter pumpkin and owl came from Big Lots. The pumpkin sign came from Dollar Tree. I wish I could do more with my front door with lights and such, but there isn't an electrical outlet out there, and they're pretty strict on how much decoration can go by our front doors.

If I had more time, space, and money I'd love to do more. I'd love to decorate inside too, but that's not going to happen right now. I just hope we get trick or treaters this year. In 2013 and 2014 we had tons of kids stop by, but last year we hardly had any. I'm hoping that was because Halloween fell on a Saturday last year and I know people tend to go out if it doesn't fall on a school night. I'm hoping with Halloween on a Monday night this year we'll get trick or treaters!

Check out my friends Halloween decorations below! 

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Friday!

Fall Fun Series: Pumpkin Polishes + Melts

Today's theme for the Fall Fun Series is pumpkin! I decided with this theme I'd show you some of my favorite pumpkin-colored nail polishes. I must admit orange is really not my favorite color. I don't own a lot of orange polishes, but when October rolls around I do break some out. Here is a collage of some of my favorite pumpkiny nail colors!

Pumpkin Melts 

ScentSationals Pumpkin Spice
ScentSationals Vanilla Pumpkin Cream
Ten Digit Creations Pumpkin Carving
ScentSationals Ginger Pumpkin
Yankee Candle Pumpkin Pie
Ten Digit Creations White Lilac & Pumpkin
Lake Providence Lodge Spiced Pumpkin
Ten Digit Creations Frosted Pumpkin
Ten Digit Creations Pumpkin Honey Chai

Check out my friends pumpkin posts below! 

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Monday!

Fall Fun Series: Fall Recipe

Today's theme for the Fall Fun Series is a fall recipe. I think it's supposed to be a bakery recipe, but I'm bending the rules. I don't eat a lot of sweets at home, so I made something that I would eat and fit my foodie needs.

 I love food as many of you know, and I love trying out new things. I was at Trader Joes last week and was trying to come up with a dinner idea. I saw these Sweet Apple Chicken Sausages and was contemplating how I could incorporate those into a dish. I then spotted some precut butternut squash and I had an "Ah ha!" moment. All I needed to figure out was how to season it, so this recipe I came up with is inspired by Carlsbad Craving's but I've changed a number of things so I'll share with you the recipe I came up with.

Apple Chicken Sausage + Maple Dijon Butternut Squash & Brussels Sprouts

What You'll Need:
1 package of pre-cooked chicken apple sausages (Trader Joes and Al Fresco are both brands I like)
12 oz package of pre-cut butternut squash
12 oz of frozen brussels sprouts
For the Maple Dijon sauce
1 tbsp. of maple syrup (I used a Sugar Free Maple Syrup)
4 tsp. of Dijon mustard
4 tsp. of apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. of salt
1 tsp. of smoked paprika
1/2 tsp. of pepper

Instructions: 
1. Preheat over to 400 degrees F.
2. In a small bowl mix together your Maple Dijon Sauce
3. Cut up your chicken sausages into bite size pieces
4. In a large bowl mix together your sausage, brussels sprouts, and butternut squash.
5. Add the Maple Dijon Sauce to your vegetable sausage mixture and toss until the sausage and vegetables are evenly coated.
6. Transfer your vegetable sausage mixture to a large baking sheet covered with foil and nonstick spray or an oiled cast iron skillet and spread the mixture until it is even.
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, stir, then bake an additional 20-25 minutes until squash is fork tender.


This turned out so delicious and was the perfect fall dish. This would go nicely with the apple salad I made previously. You'll notice they both have almost identical flavors!

Check out my friends fall recipes in their posts today!

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Cooking!

Fall Fun Series: Fall Fun Giveaway

Today's theme is Random Act of Kindness. I decided why not celebrate fall with a fall themed giveaway. I'm going to giving away some of my fall favorites with one of you. Since I'm into nail polish and wax, this giveaway will feature both.

This giveaway is for USA Residents Only! There will be ONE winner. Giveaway will close 9/30 at 11:59PM EDT, and the winner will be announce 10/1.  The winner must claim their prize within 48 hours or a new winner will be drawn. Enter using the widget below. This is a RAOK so none of this follow this or like this page stuff! You shouldn't have to

The Prize:

Sinful Colors Nice Guise, Devil's Stare, Couture For Sure, and Where Oh Werewolf

+

ScentSationals Wax Melts in Pumpkin Spice, Crimson, and Cider House Donuts

Enter Below:
Sinful Colors + ScentSationals Giveaway

Check out my friends fall RAOKS below!

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Monday! 

Fall Fun Series: Fall Craft + Melts

Craft

Today's theme for the Fall Fun Series is a fall craft. I used to do a lot of crafting prior to getting into nail polish. I am absolute crap at art, but crafting I could do. I'm not great at it, but I always enjoyed decoupage and made quite a few decorative keepsake boxes and picture frames for friends several years ago. I decided to revisit decoupage and do some wall art today for my fall craft. I love wall art and I'd much rather make my own than pay for it! I made this fall leaves collage on canvas. It wasn't completely dry when I took this photo because I was running out of time! I'm hoping in a few days when the Mod Podge completely cures and sets it will look better!

I used a 20x20 canvas and decoupaged a few different scrapbooking papers as the background using Satin Mod Podge. I wanted to stick to this green, rust, brown, and copper color scheme. I crumpled up the papers first to give it an aged look and some dimension on the canvas. The golden/rust maple leaves I bought that way. The rest of the leaves I painted using a mix of metallic brown and antique copper acrylic paint and topped off with some extra fine chestnut glitter. The leaves do stick out from the canvas which gives it a bit of a 3D effect. It was an inexpensive and fun little project. I enjoyed doing it and it really sparked an interest in me to revisit this craft!

Melts

ScentSationals Adventure
Lake Providence Lodge Lavender

It's only been a few days since our last melt round-up so I haven't melted much new since! These will be reviewed on Sunday's Weekly Wax Wrap Up post.

Check out my friends fall crafts below!

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Monday!

Fall Fun Series: Fall Reads + Melts

Today's theme for the Fall Fun Series was fall music, but it's been expanded to include other forms of entertainment. I'm going to change it to fall reads for me since I think that will take up a majority of my post.

Reads

I go through phases of reading. I'll read for 3-4 months then stop for 3-4 months and get back into again. I'm in one of my reading spells right now. I really like to read a variety of different genres, but I enjoy reading historical fiction and historical nonfiction memoirs the most.

I started watching the BBC drama, Call the Midwife, a few years ago, and went on to read Jennifer Worth's memoirs that the series was based on. I really enjoyed reading about midwifery/nursing in trying times in our history and expanded my reading in that subject. I've also enjoyed reading Jennifer Craig's and Linda Fairly's memoirs on midwifery and nursing. What's interesting is I have zero interest in midwifery or nursing as a profession, and I don't even want children myself! I think what I like about it is how touching the profession is and how kind and caring these individuals are without judgment to women from all walks of life and circumstances. There are many heartwarming and sometimes even more heartbreaking stories, but great reads nonetheless.

I recently just started a historical fiction novel on midwife named Patience Murphy in the coal mining region of Appalachia during The Great Depression. It's called The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman.

It reads a lot like a memoir in a diary type form. I'm almost halfway through and I look forward to reading it every night before bed. I'm happy she has another book in the series so I have something to read afterward!

Melts

The ones that are not linked will be reviewed on Sunday's Weekly Wax Wrap Up post!

ScentSationals Spa
ScentSationals Zen
American Home Fall Morning
Bath & Body Works Spiced Pomegranate Cider
Yankee Candle Harvest
Better Homes & Gardens Perfect Pumpkin Ale
ScentSationals Pumpkin Spice
Ten Digit Creations Roasted Pine Cones
Ten Digit Creations Cranberry Cinnamon Cider

Check out my friends fall posts below! 

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Friday!

Fall Fun Series: Apple Theme (Recipe + Melts)

The theme for today's Fall Fun Series is apples! I decided I would do an apple recipe for this theme. This will be my first time doing a recipe on my blog. If you follow me on Instagram you know I'm a pretty big foodie. I love making food and most of all eating it!

Today, I have a recipe for an apple salad with walnuts, blue cheese, and craisins with an apple cider vinaigrette dressing. This is a fairly common recipe with many varieties. I just picked my favorite elements from other recipes to make my own custom favorite.  This makes around 4 servings.

You'll need....

Spring Mix
1 or 2 Granny Smith Apples
Blue Cheese Crumbles
Walnuts (chopped or pieces)
Craisins
Dijon Mustard
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Apple Cider Vinegar
Maple Syrup
Cruet or Mason jar (to mix dressing)
**Not pictured water, salt, and pepper)

To make the Apple Cider Vinaigrette you'll need...I personally eyeball this now, so I'm estimating measurements! 

Mix in cruet or mason jar-
1/4c. Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tablespoon of Dijon Mustard
1/4c. of Sugar Free Syrup (If you're using real maple syrup I would do this to taste is you may need less)
3 tablespoons of Water
1/4 c. of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Viola!

To make the salad.....

Spring Mix
Thinly sliced Granny Smith Apple (you can use 1 or 2)
1/2c. of Blue Cheese Crumbles
1/2c. of Craisins
1/2c. of Walnut pieces
Mix in bowl and add dressing.

and again...viola!

Yum yum! I really like this salad and it's a perfect addition to a meal or if you want to eat alone I add some grilled chicken for protein. It's really a nice blend of sweet, tangy, and salty flavors from all the different elements.

Melts

For the next part of the apple theme, I have my apple melts. I really don't have many! Apple is a scent I really need to be in the mood for so I don't melt it often. I do love apple scent it's just not my favorite. If I've already reviewed them they will be linked with their names below. If they're not linked that means I will be reviewing them sometimes in the future on my Sunday Weekly Wax Wrap Up posts!

Better Homes & Gardens Autumn Afternoon Stroll
Better Homes & Gardens Farm Apple Pumpkin
Better Homes & Gardens Simmering Apple Cider
Lake Providence Lodge The Cabin
Yankee Candle Apple Cider
Lake Providence Lodge Apple Barn

Please check out my friends apple themed posts below! 

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Lindsey at Little Bit of Lindsey

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Monday! 

Fall Fun Series: Fall Decor & Melts

Today, for the Fall Fun Series I'll be showing you my fall decor and my recent melts. Mind you, I don't have a lot of fall decor. Decorating is one of my favorite things, but I'm very limited on space in a one bedroom apartment. That doesn't leave me a lot of room to decorate, and even less room to store decorations, so I have to keep it simple and small. Also, with my budget, I like to keep it inexpensive.

I have a little fall set up on my dining room table. I will be expanding my decorations come Halloween time to include my patio balcony and my front door. For now, this is what I have.

 The highlight of my fall decor is definitely the lighted tree. I have this version and a cherry blossom one I bring out in spring and summer. I got this tree at Bed Bath & Beyond for a great price. This is the 22in Brown Wrapped Amber Leaf tree and it's $29.99. I purchased this in store using one of the 20% off coupons, so it was very reasonable. It's also available on their website. I bought this tree last year and it's still kicking this year.

The rest of my fall decor all comes from Dollar Tree. I know that's not very elegant or classy, but for my wants right now it works well. They actually do have some pretty cute stuff too. I got most of this stuff last fall, but I saw many of the same items there this year. I love the little stones with the cute autumn greetings. The fox "Happy Fall" one is new for this year. The pumpkins, flowers, straw owls, and pumpkin placemat all came from there too.

I also spotted these super cute kitchen towels at Walmart today. They had a nice little endcap display with kitchen towels and oven mitts for only $0.88 each!

Melts

My biggest problem when it comes to seasonal melts is I tend to overdo it early on. I will melt so much fall stuff August-September come October, I'm sick of fall scents and want to move into Christmas ones. That means by December, I'm ready for spring...and so on and so forth! I'm really trying not do that this year, so the past few days I have very few fall melts and a lot of everyday type melts I melt year round.

**The ones I have already reviewed will be linked with their name to my review post, the ones without links are ones I will be reviewing on Sunday's Weekly Wax Wrap Up post!

Better Homes & Gardens Serene Spa Resort
ScentSationals Lavender Glow
ScentSationals Yin & Yang
ScentSationals Rainy Day
ScentSationals Cider House Donuts (will be reviewed on 9/11's post)
Yankee Candle Autumn Gathering (will be reviewed on 9/11's post)
Ten Digit Creations Pink Mimosa 

Please check out my friends fall decor and melts!

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Lindsey at Little Bit of Lindsey

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Friday!

Fall Fun Series: Fall Melting Stash

It's time for another post for the Fun Fall Series. Today's post is on our fall melting stash. Well, my fall drawer of wax is at capacity. I have a lot, and I'm sure I might acquire some more as time wears on, but I'd like to try to behave myself!

As you know I do Weekly Wax Wrap Up posts on Sundays and these fall posts will also feature wax. I will be just showing you wax I'm melting with maybe some very brief thoughts/descriptions in these fall series posts, but if you want full wax reviews they will be posted on my Sunday Weekly Wax Wrap Up posts.

Let me show you what I have in my fall melting stash. I'll break these down into smaller parts so you can see everything further down in the post!

The Fall Melting Stash

ScentSationals, Better Homes & Gardens, and DD

ScentSationals Crimson
ScentSationals Cider House Donuts
ScentSationals Vanilla Pumpkin Cream
Better Homes & Gardens Simmering Apple Cider
Better Homes & Gardens Autumn Afternoon Stroll (Golden Oak Leaves + Apples & Acorns)
Better Homes & Gardens Farm Apple Pumpkin
ScentSationals Ginger Pumpkin
Better Homes & Gardens Perfect Pumpkin Ale
DD Woodland Walk
ScentSationals Pumpkin Spice

Ten Digit Creations

Pomegranate & Juniper Berry
Black Oak & Currant
Pomegranate Cider
White Pumpkin & Lilac
Autumn Sage
Pumpkin Honey Chai
Roasted Pine Cones
Autumn Night
Frosted Pumpkin
Pumpkin Carving

Yankee Candle

Autumn Gathering
Farmer's Market
Spiced Pumpkin
Apple Cider
Harvest
Crisp Fall Night
Pumpkin Pie
Gingerbread Maple

Lake Providence Lodge

Apple Barn
Spiced Pumpkin
Autumn Spice
The Cabin
Sweet Honey Cornbread

Think I have enough to cover me for fall? Haha!

Check out my blogger friends below to see their fall melting stashes!

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jaybird at The Candle Enthusiast

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Lindsey at Little Bit of Lindsey

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Stephanie at Imperfectly Painted

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

Happy Monday!

Fall Fun Series: Introduction

Hello there friends! This will be a new post series that myself, and a bunch of old and new blogging friends will be engaging in this autumn season. We will be covering our fall wax melts, candles, recipes, decorations, and more. Please feel free to join us in the comments when we post by telling us what you are melting or creating or loving this fall. If you are a blogger and would like to join us please let us know and we will send you the schedule of posts. Please welcome the following bloggers and check out their posts as well which will generally post Monday and Friday starting September and ending the day after Thanksgiving. I'm not going to be able to do all of these, but I'm going to do all the ones I can do. 

Amanda at ThriftyPolished

Ashley at The Bohemian Sassenach

Deb at It's Always Something

Hayley at Polished at Heart

Jessica at The Meltdown Blog

Julie at The Redolent Mermaid

Lauren at LoloLovesScents

Lindsey at Little Bit of Lindsey

Liz at Furianne

Sandra at Finger Candy

Stephanie at Imperfectly Painted

Sunnee at Our Sunny Life

To kick off the first post we will do a Fall Tag!

1. What is your favorite thing about fall?

My favorite thing is decorating and fall scents. 

2. Do you get fall colors where you live?

Not a chance here in Florida! I wish we did. I'd love to have seasons. 

3. Favorite fall scent (wax, or anything)?

I can't narrow it down to one. I tire of the same scents so I always have to switch it up. My favorite types of fall scents are outdoorsy and pumpkin scents.

4. Favorite fall food or drink?

Pumpkin Spiced Latte, not from Starbucks though. I can make my own at home! 

5. Football.....yay or nay?

Big nay. I really dislike football. It's probably because I was in marching band and had to go to every football game in high school. I'm not much of a sports person.

6. Do you rake, jump in, or burn piles of leaves?

No, we don't have leaves to rake, jump in, or burn here. If we did I'd like to jump in them and step on them so they crunch! 

7. Haunted house or corn maze?

I've never been in either, but I'd go with corn maze, because I'd probably cry and wet my pants in a Haunted House.

8. Have you ever gone on a hayride?

I think I did when I was younger at a fall festival for school.

9. Cider or hot chocolate?

I actually like them both. It depends on my mood. Right now, I'm into cider. They had this Apple Cider Tea at World Market that I tried and loved, but they were out :(! 

10. Carve a pumpkin or eat pumpkin pie?

Eat pumpkin pie. Eating trumps carving. Duh! 

11. Do you dress up for Halloween?

Not usually anymore. I may throw some cat ears on or something. I know that's lame.

12. Candy corn.....yay or nay?

Nay, yuck!

13. Favorite Halloween movie?

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

14. Scariest movie?

I don't really watch scary movies.

15. Halloween or Thanksgiving?

This is impossible to choose. I really love both for different reasons. Halloween I love decorating for the most. Thanksgiving I love for the food obviously. 

16. Do you watch the Macy's parade?

Yes. Every year! 

17. Apple pie or pumpkin pie?

Pumpkin pie.

18. White or dark meat?

I like either, but if someone dries out the turkey the white meat can be like sandpaper. It depends on who is cooking it.

19. Jellied or real cranberry sauce?

Give me the canned jellied stuff! 

20. Will you host or travel for Thanksgiving this year?

I really don't know my Thanksgiving plans yet. 

How about you? Join us by giving some of your fall tag answers! Next post we will feature our fall melting stash.

Happy Saturday!