Fall Date Ideas

Build a scarecrow | Casey and I did this for the first time last year and we enjoyed it so much we've decided to make it a new tradition. Thrift a few fall clothing items (shirt, pants, hat, boots) and use one of those plastic pumpkin candy bowls as the head. Pro tip: You get a much better deal on hay by buying "Halloween Hay" at the feed and seed than those tiny little bales of decorative hay at Walmart.

Pumpkin carving or painting | We've done both! Painting is easier and faster if you're short on time (or don't want to deal with pumpkin guts). 

Soup and Cider | Try a new soup recipe and enjoy some apple cider (or another hot drink of your choice). This is a great one for when the weather starts getting cold. Eating soup on the porch when it's chilly is so lovely!

Movie night! | Halloween movies, cheesy autumn Hallmark movies, whatever your choice. Add a hot beverage and cuddle under a cozy blanket!

Visit a pumpkin patch | Get a pumpkin to carve or paint and make sure to take cute pics!

Date Night: Old Town Slidell Soda Shop

Casey popped in for lunch the other day and said, "I was thinking we could go to Slidell for date night. I have a surprise for you... I found a mom and pop book shop and a cool restaurant for us to try." I was pretty excited because books and food are totally the way to my heart. 

At 3:00 we hit the road, aiming to get there around 4:00 since the book shop closed at 5:00. Unfortunately, we got caught in traffic behind a wreck and pulled into town right at 5:00, missing the window to go to the book store. Fortunately, Casey had a backup plan, so we went to Dirt Cheap and I got two new-with-tags Target dresses for $7 each. (I'm thinking of giving them a mini-makeover... we shall see.)

After Dirt Cheap, we headed to the restaurant -- Old Town Slidell Soda Shop. It was so cute! I love a 50s themed diner, and this one was painted PINK on the inside. All the decor was super cute--I loved all the fun vintage decor touches and the arcade. The homemade ice cream was AMAZING. I sampled like 5 flavors and ultimately chose Samoa. Oh em gee. It was so good. None of the flavors were too strong and they were perfectly balanced. It was so nice to get touches of coconut in my bites--so perfectly summer!

Ice cream in hand, we explored the arcade then went outside. The Soda Shop has an adorable outside area, with picnic tables under a plant-covered pergola, a cage filled with pretty birds, two fountains, a big red barn, and... a Little Free Library that looks like a Tardis!!! (It really is bigger on the inside.)

Then we enjoyed walking around the cute downtown. We love towns that have adorable, well-kept old downtown areas. I grew up in a city that had let many of the old downtown buildings crumble, and it always made me so sad. I love living in a town that has spent the last 20 years being purposeful to keep the old downtown alive, and I love visiting other towns that do the same.

Our First Camping Trip

I mentioned in my Things I Love August post that Casey and I recently went on our first camping trip! So here I am sharing more about it.

Here's the thing: I'm NOT the camping type of girl. The last time I went camping I was 14 or 15 and it was horrible. I refused to potty in the woods (we were gone for like 24 hours). It was freezing cold. And whoever grabbed what they thought was the bag of blankets had accidentally instead grabbed a bag of fabric scraps. So it was freezing and we had NO covers. And I had to pee and just couldn't make myself use a tree.

So when Casey mentioned one day that he wanted to go camping I was like, "Ummm... how about not?" After some discussion, we finally decided to compromise: I'd give camping a shot as long as there was a bathroom around. Which basically narrows it down to state parks. Thankfully we have a few in our area!

A few days after coming to this conclusion, Casey came home with a tent. I figured he was excited about the potential future camping trip. What I wasn't expecting was to go camping two days later!

Our church was having "Family Week" and encouraged every family to go on an adventure. He came home one evening and I asked, "So what should our adventure be?" And Casey said, "How about camping?" Casey, Oxford, and I were on the road an our later to a park Casey had already picked out. (Tigger was not happy about staying home by himself. He hates being alone.)

After setting up our tent and piling up some wood to use for our fire later, we went for a hike. It was gorgeous! First through the woods and then through this beautiful swamp and beach area. The wind was blowing and it felt wonderful!

Then we went back to the camp to make dinner. We'd brought a lighter, but forgot it takes actual skills to build a fire and keep it going. As I was piling up the logs and trying to get the darn pile of sticks to actually catch fire, Casey managed to cut his finger with a knife. I saw some large drops of blood, but he covered his finger with a nearby towel. I was so afraid he'd cut his hand to the bone, despite the fact he was telling me he was fine. (The boy has a high pain tolerance, so you can see why I was just sure it was far worse than he was telling me.)

As he held his fingers wrapped, head on table because blood, I turned around and noticed Oxford had wandered off a little... and was facing off three ginormous wild pigs. I yelled, trying to get Oxford to come back to me. Y'all, this dog is afraid of everything. Loud noises, other dogs, you name it. So why he suddenly decided to be brave and face off these pigs I have no idea. He probably was trying to protect me. Thankfully, I got him to come back and the pigs wandered away, but Oxford was then put on his leash (which he was supposed to be on in the first place... but no one else was around and he loves to walk around without his leash).

Casey's hand was totally fine. Literally just a scratch but there was initially more blood than would suggest a scratch.

It began to get really dark and we were struggling with the fire. Turns out, wood burns faster than we anticipated, and we hadn't piled up enough. We couldn't go searching for more because we were dumb and didn't bring flashlights. Also there were spider webs and very large spiders between many of the trees. We had to be so careful everywhere we walked because we did NOT want to run into those guys. Since we couldn't' see them in the dark, we basically decided to not go into the woods.

Despite the fire debacle, we DID get our dinner cooked. Hot dogs for the win. But once the fire went out, that was that and we decided to get in the tent.

It. Was. Hot.

So hot we couldn't sleep. Did sleeping on the ground bother us? Not a big. But the heat? Dear goodness, it was miserable. As we were leaving the next morning, Casey admitted that at one point during the night he'd considered making the drive home, getting some sleep, and coming back the next day to pack up camp.

We made it through the night and Casey wanted to pack up and get breakfast somewhere. I told him no, the camping wasn't over until after breakfast. I cooked up some sausage and bacon, as he packed up, and we ate before we finally left. We were both so tired for the rest of the day.

I know that my describing it doesn't SOUND like we had a lot of fun, but we truly did and we made some special memories we won't forget. Honestly, I just like doing anything with him. Things become fun because we're together.

I'm actually really glad that our first trip was spur of the moment. I think I would have been overthinking everything had I had time to plan. But I didn't have time to overthink. I just quickly packed a bunch of things I thought we might need, and, as we realized what we SHOULD have brought, we made a list of things we'd like to bring next time. (On that list: flashlights, battery operated fan, first aid kit, coffee...)

We already can't wait for cooler weather to try out a second camping trip!

A Day in NOLA

A few weeks ago, my bestie Julianne called and asked if I wanted to go to New Orleans with her to deliver some vintage clothes to a few of the vintage shops. Of course I said yes!

Which is how we found ourselves in Century Girl for several hours. Obviously, this is my kind of shop, since the outside is my favorite color--PINK! It's just too cute. It was so fun to sit in on the buying appointment as Julianne pulled out an entire trunk worth full of vintage clothes for the shop owner to look through. Thankfully I'd already pulled out a hot pink loungewear set to keep for myself!

After the appointment, we walked down the block to Grandmother's Button, where I bought a pair of pink sunglasses. "I would have tried to talk her out of them but they were perfect for her," Julianne later told Casey. (Not really sure why we needed to defend my purchase--I only buy cheap sunglasses!) I definitely didn't need them... but I have an affinity to acquire cheap sunglasses and probably have like 12 pairs in my car. You'd think I keep so many because they break or I lose them. Nope! I can keep a pair of sunglasses from Target's dollar bin alive for years. But I really enjoy choosing different colors based on my mood that day.

Then we had some time to waste so we popped into Deville Coffee House and Creperie. I got a hot chocolate (I try to avoid caffeine in the afternoon) and a caramel apple crepe. Oh, the crepe was divine! Now I want to convince Courtyard Cafe to add it to the menu!

After snacks/coffee, Julianne went to another buying appointment and Casey met up with me! He found a New Orleans tour app and led me on a tour of the Garden District. We popped into Garden District Books because I can't resist a book store. It was so cute!

I enjoyed taking photos of the houses along our self-guided walking tour. We both love old houses. (Which is why we love the house we're in now!)

I'm truly blessed to be married to a guy who finds the absolute best restaurants in the entire world. He found this little hole in the wall place that had PIZZA MAC AND CHEESE. Yes, the caps were necessary. It was truly one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten in my entire life. Man, I want some right now.

After the PIZZA MAC AND CHEESE, we went to Angelo Brocato for dessert, and I got my fave⸺the cream horn. I also sampled the almond pistachio gelato and that's what I'll be getting next time!

We finished off the evening with a game of putt putt in New Orleans City Park. And... I won! (This is the second time I've beaten Casey. Yes, I'm keeping a record.)

Clark Creek

Casey and I recently decided to take a day trip to Clark Creek in Mississippi. It was about a two hour drive, so we woke up early and hit the road. Casey has an amazing knack for finding awesome restaurants, so before we left he picked a new breakfast place for us, Birdman Coffee and Books. We had the sweet potato pancakes and they were delicious! 

After breakfast we headed to Clark Creek! I was expecting it to be simple walking trails in the woods. I had no idea there would be large hills and rocks to climb! Thankfully, Casey held Oxford during the difficult parts and I just did my best to not fall and bust it. As it turned out, my favorite part of the day was climbing across all the huge rocks to get to the waterfall. 

We only spent a few hours there because Casey wanted to check out a nearby golf course that afternoon. I'm always down for chilling in the golf cart with a book!

We're already planning another trip to Clark Creek with some friends! Can't wait to go back!

Balloon Fest

A few weeks ago, Casey told me about a balloon fest outside of New Orleans and asked if I wanted to go. Of course I said yes! I went to one in Shreveport a few years ago with my second family and it was so fun!

You can see the photos from that balloon fest here. For some reason they are some of my most favorite photos I've ever taken. Probably because they are colorful and also because those memories are so special!

Speaking of colorful...

The best thing about festivals is the food! We got some kettle corn and corn dogs!

The sunset was beautiful, so of course we had to take some pics at golden hour.

Most people didn't realize that you could cross the bridge and go to the other side of the little creek to get up close to the balloons. But we did! So we went over there and spent a few hours talking to the balloon pilots while we waited for the balloons to fly.

Unfortunately, it ended up being too windy to inflate the balloons, so they decided to just light the fires in the baskets. It was nice and toasty standing next to them while they made the balloons twinkle!

After the festival, we headed back home, about an hour and a half drive away. At some point I realized we weren't going the right place, and Casey told me we were going to one of my favorite bakeries in NOLA—Angelo Brocato's! We found it a few months ago when we had dinner with friends in New Orleans and wanted dessert after. Casey is truly the best at finding amazing restaurants, and Angelo Brocato's is no exception!

I absolutely love their cream horn, their hot chocolate, and their cafe au lait. Casey loves the cannolis. It was a wonderful way to end the evening!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you're having a happy Thanksgiving!

We are spending some time with Casey's family and having a wonderful time. The last few days have been relaxing and fun. Yesterday my best friend Julianne (who is dating Casey's brother) and I made some yummy goodies—pumpkin dip, firecrackers, and apple pie! Baking is one of my most favorite things, so being in a cozy cottage by the lake surrounded by family and baking with my bestie is definitely my happy place!

We had a huge lunch with all the good stuff. Afterwards some of the family went on the lake while Casey and I took afternoon naps. Once it got dark, we made a bonfire and ate smore's! Now everyone is watching the Saints game (except me, obviously, since I've been editing photos and decided to blog). I finished off the last of the mac and cheese a while ago and better go get a piece of pie before it completely disappears.

I have so many things to be grateful for that it would take forever to list them all, but some of my top things are:

• Knowing and having a relationship with my Savior
• Being married to an amazing guy who is everything I could have ever dreamed of and more
• My adorable little fluffball, Oxford
• A beautiful house that we have made into our home
• An incredible church and church family
• Being able to work alongside my husband in ministry

And one I'm super excited for...

• WE'RE GOING BACK TO SINGAPORE!!!!!

Needless to say, I'm beyond blessed. 

27

I don't know about you, but I'm feeling... 27??? I'm almost to 30! How did I get this old? Like, have I accomplished what 27 year olds are supposed to? I've never even taken my own car to get an inspection... like, how do I adult?

Thankfully age is just a number and life is wonderful and I had strawberry cake and gold number balloons for my birthday. I've loved those big gold balloons since they started popping up all over the place and was afraid they'd no longer be cool by the time I turn 28. So mom and I picked some up before a small family dinner at one of my fave Italian restaurants.

We road tripped back to Bossier for my birthday weekend so I could spend time with family and friends and also because my home church was having their kids revival! Casey and I are in kids ministry and love going to kids revivals. We've been to four since July! The one in Bossier was superhero themed so... we dressed up, of course.

Oxford's Robin costume was Casey's idea. (Even though he didn't go, he looked fantastic.)

All in all, 27 is definitely looking good. I'm so excited to see what all God has in store for us this year. I'm hoping to make another missions trip to Singapore and would love to have another trip as well, but we shall see! I feel like I should make some "27" goals or something. Hmmm... I'll think on it.