Falling Again.

I feel like Fall just slammed into us today. We've had some cold rainy days mixed in with our sunny warm ones these past couple of weeks but with today being October 1st it was as if the cold, rainy weather could mean only one thing: the season has officially changed. And for some crazy reason instead of having my first official pumpkin-spice-latte craving and planning a harvest party and looking up fun recipes that involve squash, I found myself thinking about Christmas. I know!! It's absolutely ridiculous and I'm trying to fight the overwhelmingly merry thoughts but they just make me so very happy. It's hard to block them out. Maybe I just need a little more magic in my life. A trip to Disneyland, a cozy day spent listening to Harry Potter, another read-through of the Peter and the Starcatchers books or a little holiday sparkle. I decided to start listening to Harry Potter audio books in the car again and I'm currently watching Hook. I hope these two activities will be an adequate suppressant for my ever present hunger for fantasy.

After bonding over our desire for Christmas to come early this year, my mom and I spent the morning at the craft store. We bought boxes of clear glass ornaments and paint to swirl around the insides of them. We also found a couple of really fun items on the clearance shelves including a cute little pitcher and some fake flowers. I made one small purchase at Tuesday Mornings -- a 99¢ snowman ornament. I love having a miscellaneous tree that can accommodate any cute (bargain) ornament that I happen to come across.

Back at home we attempted to make the swirly paint ornaments. I had already decided we should really save the project for sometime closer to Christmas so we only tried one to see how it worked. We had done this project many many years ago (and LOVED the result) but Mom hung a bunch of them on the railing last year and unfortunately, Charlie managed to knock most of them to their shattered demise on the tile floor below. So this time, we're going to try it with clear plastic ornaments. Hopefully the paint works just as well in the plastic ornaments and then we don't even have to worry about Charlie!

I also tried my hand at floral arranging today. I think I love it. I might have to make it my new hobby -- how many new hobbies do you suppose one girl can have? Sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, floral arranging... looks like I'm going to be spending lots of money! This project, however, was very inexpensive. The flowers and the new pitcher (on the right) were all 80% off and Mom already had the other pitcher. I'm not much in to fake flowers and I probably wouldn't have chosen these specific ones but I think the finished product is really pretty. I was impressed. Mom offered to let me have the new pitcher and the flowers inside but I don't think Steven would really like it. And besides, it's really pretty and I made it so I think she should probably keep it in her house. It's good for a mom to continue showing off her daughter's art projects for many, many years after elementary school :)

After indulging the holiday spirit for a few brief moments this afternoon, I believe I have succeeded in setting it aside for several more weeks... at least until Whites Nursery opens their incredible Christmas display sometime next month. I can't wait to go searching for a new fire engine ornament for our tree! Maybe learning how to cook that acorn squash I bought yesterday and sipping a pumpkin spice latte will get me back on track. Here's to a beautiful fall season with crisp October mornings, changing leaves and many, many cups of tea.