A few of my favorite things...

Fall Decor. I love it! My goal is to add one piece of fall decor each year for the next several years until I have satisfied this need for festive decor for every season/holiday. This year was a very cute pumpkin tealight holder from Yankee Candle which says "Welcome" on the front. Of course I got Pumpkin Spice tealights to accompany. :)

Parties. I'm extremely excited because I'm planning a pumpkin carving party at the end of October. The past several years, I've gone to other people's homes for carving parties, but this year its my turn (being in a new city and all) and boy am I thrilled! Any suggestions for pumpkin designs is very much appreciated!!

Cupcakes. I like eating cupcakes. I like baking cupcakes. And for my newest endeavor I will be making some prints to go in my kitchen of cupcakes. I'll post pictures when they're complete. They're going to be quite stylized cupcakes complete with mounds of frosting and a cherry on top. Mmmm. I want a cupcake now just thinking about it. :)

Printmaking. I haven't done this in a couple years, but soon that will change! I got the printmaking supplies today at AOE art supply and soon will be carving away at my lineoleum block getting the aforementioned cupcake just right! In college I took a printmaking class and fell in love with it. Oil painting and basic drawing were not my forte's, but in printmaking, I could relax and just carve. Hello new/revived hobby!

Starbucks. I love Starbucks...thankfully the price of their products prevents it from being a serious addiction. Let's narrow this category down a bit. In order, my favorite Starbucks products: 1) Lemon loaf cake 2) Pumpkin spice frappucino no whip. FANTASTIC! It will change your life...for you pumpkin spice latte lovers, the frap is much better 3) Java chip frappuncino no whip 4) pumpkin bread.... and for the piece de resistance! (brace yourself!) at Target there is Starbucks Java Chip Frappucino Ice Cream. It will change your life. Seriously, its unbelievable.

Disneyworld. I like DisneyWorld but perhaps I should put "Teacups" instead. Tomorrow we are taking our Southside students to Night of Joy at DisneyWorld. It's gonna be great and the bands will be incredible. But before the concerts, we'll be spending all day at the Magic Kingdom which means lots of fun stuff...Mickey bars, Jungle Cruise, Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor, and of course the Teacups! I adore the Teacups! I'd be content just riding them over and over and over and over all day long. It's an illness I'm sure, but I'm addicted to the Teacups at DisneyWorld.

Now this isn't an extensive list. The more detailed list would include Christmas, sushi, shoes, pretty dresses, art supplies, dyeing my hair, baking, and art museums. But I digress. So there you have it. My current top favorites. What are your current favorite things? Oh and seriously, pumpkin design ideas..please send them my way! :)

Thrift Store Shopping at it's Finest

You never know what you'll get when you head to the thrift store. It's always an adventure! I always enjoy perusing the vintage vinyl section, as I'm very into records. My wife usually doesn't search through them so much. Especially when we were in Memphis, because she said I already had more than I needed. : ) Today was different, I was somewhat ambivalent. I joined her in flipping through a stack. We found an old Stevie Wonder one that was awful. [the cover made him look terrible, lets just say if he could have seen it, he wouldn't have picked that photo.] Record bins always have some staples, albums or groups you can always find. Dolly Parton, Elton John, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Burt Bacharach, and Kenny Rogers. They were all there. Rachel was able to find one of her favorite singers, Carole King. The album is simply titled, Music. It's actually a pretty good record. Though we're still only on side A. Vinyl seems to have a way of transporting someone to another time and place. I really dig them. I have tons of records and enjoy the popping, the hissing, there's something special about vinyl that is lost on most of my generation. And the fact that you can get the whole album for a buck, compared to 99 cents per song, is also a plus.

That however was not our most significant find. No we stumbled onto something far greater. I walked Rachel over to the section where they had the kids halloween costume. As a joke, seriously, I was only kidding, I asked her to try on the Mrs. Potts costume. You know, the teapot from the animated movie, Beauty and the Beast. Well, she took me up on the offer, and to my surprise, she loved it. She is super excited about it. In my head I was thinking, I'll get her to put on this costume, look ridiculous, take some funny pics for facebook, and that will be the end of it.

Boy, was I wrong. She really wanted to get it! She's planning on wearing it to her office Halloween party, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party @ Walt Disney World, anytime there is a need for a costume, she'll wear it! I hope for her sake she has lots of opportunities to wear it. It's not everyday you find a teapot costume in your size. I've included a few photos for your amusement.

Me and Mrs. Potts something I never thought I would blog about! I never thought we'd own a Mrs. Potts Costume.