a very warm halloween

We celebrated Halloween early this year with a Fall Family Festival in Santa Barbara at Landon's church last Saturday. Will may kill me for posting this, but here we are: geriatric Superman and pumpkin pie. 

Today we're going to tour the Midway aircraft carrier (a naval aviation museum) and explore Seaport Village. Some good ol' touristy fun.

Enjoy your candy everyone :)

santa barbara is mighty nice.

Such a beautiful place, and a fabulous time spent with a dear friend and his family. 

Santa Barbara, we'll  most likely be back.

In San Diego now, and only three more days until the wedding!

news as of late.

I’ve been awakened to all that is Downton Abbey. I never usually follow TV shows as they’re airing, but seriously. How many of you knew about this and didn’t force me to watch it? I can’t remember life before it and I wait for season three with bated breath. 

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I got a job as a Stylist at the most fabulous store: Madewell. Go to the site. Look, shop, and drool over everything. If you come to the King of Prussia Mall (largest on the east coast mind you), I’ll help you fashion a fabulous outfit. I know that I once stated that I could never be a fashion blogger because I love to dress frumpy, but maybe now I’ll be inspired to post photos of what I wear to work. Gotta look fly, friends. And it’s so awesome to work in a place that is fashion-forward. My last place of employment could barely handle my bright pink J.Crew chinos. If I do get gutsy and post outfit photos, we can call it off-the-job advertising. We’ll see. No promises. 

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Remember our ridiculous summer away from home? Well we just embarked on another three weeks away. We’re currently in Santa Barbara visiting a dear college friend, then we're off to San Diego for my brother’s wedding. In just 8 days, we’ll be at the most incredible mountain-top Southern California party wedding, and we’ll inherit a new sister-in-law! Will and I are both in the wedding, which is fun, and we’re so excited to have time away for a destination wedding with so many family members and friends. My brother and I are incredibly close, so I feel like this wedding will be more enjoyable for me than my own - almost all the same people, except the attention won’t be on me so I can actually chill and relax (not to mention eat a full meal and have time to dance)! Then after the west coast party, we head back to Massachusetts for the east coast party. The fun never stops, friends.

[my brother on the far left, Landon from Santa Barbara on the far right]

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I painted our front door a lovely shade of eggplant. I’ll post a photo when we get home. I really like it.

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We rescued six adorable baby red squirrels from our backyard. The mom had abandoned them for hours so we grew worried. We called an animal rehabber who has us box them up and drive them to her house - where she and her husband are currently raising like 70 abandoned squirrels until they’re old enough to be released. Can you even fathom that?! But she sent us a few photos of them to let us know they’re progressing well. Here are some of our little friends at roughly 6-7 weeks old.

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Well I suppose that’s all for now. I’m never good at posting on the road (and not even that great when I’m stationary), but I’ll try to send some goodies from our next three weeks of travel!

fresh healthy lunch

As the weather has turned extraordinarily fall-like, I decided it was high time to try making a butternut squash soup and it was delicious. I've never made the kind of soup that needs to go for a spin in the blender or food processor, but I'm totally sold. Try the recipe here! I also added some cinnamon and nutmeg, because I was slightly appalled that there were no autumnal spices involved.

And for the dressing - I just really love it when my food doesn't have ingredients involving the words "gum", "sorbate" or the ever-popular "high fructose corn syrup."

Check out these highly disturbing websites about what is 

probably in your salad dressing, and then try the recipe below!

Harmful Ingredients in Salad Dressing

Common Questionable Ingredients in Store-Bought Dressing

6 Dangerous Salad Dressing Facts

Homemade Honey Dijon Vinaigrette dressing

3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1 tbsp dijon mustard

1 tbsp honey

salt and pepper to taste

Whisk ingredients together and then blend for about 10 seconds in the blender.

Let sit for 30 minutes for flavors to meld, then serve.

adapted from about.com

Enjoy this beautiful fall day!

the inspiration station

Now that we're finally getting settled into our new home, it's time to start adding more of the finishing touches. When you first arrive in a place, there's the basic unpacking, the repeated arranging and rearranging of furniture - but you really feel like you live in a place when your stuff is finally up on walls and every inch of every room just feels like you.

Our place is starting to feel that way :) What I'm working on next is my desk area. In this house, I have space to have a legitimate desk of my own and do crafts! We have this landing on the second floor that has room for a desk for me, a desk for Will and a craft table. Wowza. So thrilled. 

I shall call my area the inspiration station.

Here are some ideas that are fueling my organization of this space:

via totalyhomedecor.com

via Say Yes to Hoboken

                          

                             via A Blog Named Scout

via The Clean Slate

via A Note On Design

via Maya

via Apartment Therapy

via Design Sponge

via Run With Scissors

As you may have gathered, here's what I'm into - white and clean neutral colors, plants, organic materials, color-blocking, dip-dying, organization to the max and a slight vintage flair.

I've already color-blocked some cans for my markers, colored pencils and paint brushes and I intend to make that wall organizer and rope bowl soon! I might dip dye the legs of the bench I'm using and recover it, but my biggest challenge will be keeping plants alive. Alas.

I'll keep working on it and take some photos when it's presentable!