Tuesday- It's Almost Fall edition

 

Happy Tuesday, friends, and happy almost fall! I'm sharing a few ideas I have for a fall bucket list today. I used to do this kind of post when the boys were little, but these days, this is all about things I want to do with my husband and our sons, if they're able to join us. When they were little, I always used to let them write down a bunch of things they wanted to do during summer and any break that they had in school. I never knew that would become such a thing, but it has and I LOVE reading about what people do or like to do during each season. This feels like another old fashioned blog post. After I share about those, I will share some ideas that I have come across and love on Pinterest, regarding personal style and décor inside of our home. I hope you enjoy reading this post!

When the boys were little, we started using a firepit each fall. I credit this activity to what led us loving to go on camping trips. It feels rustic and it's so much fun having a meal over a firepit. I would love to do this sometime when the weather cools down. I'll probably make the hot dogs inside in my oven, but I'll let us make our own s'mores desserts. 

We had this tv out on our back porch, but the screen was shattered last year. We need a new one to replace the old one, because they loved sitting outside to watch games. Todd and I liked to sit outside and watch a show or two while we sipped our adult beverage of choice. This actually leads me to my next one, which is that we need to clean the back porch from all the bugs/webs/acorns from the summer and get it to where we can sit and enjoy it again. 

I want to visit the shops that I love to see decorated for Christmas during the fall season. I hope to do this the weekend after I return from my trip with Mom and Trish. There are a couple of them that we really love that I know will be decorated so cute. I love to window shop, do you? When we go out on these Saturdays, I usually don't buy much of anything, but it's fun to look and dream. 

(These are the shops: Le Fleur and Social. Both are in Memphis.)

I would love to go on a drive with my hubby in search of some fall foliage. We have the beautiful Natchez Trace Parkway nearby, and it's a great and scenic way to do that. I'd also like to take him to my favorite little Amish bakery on that same day, so that we can splurge on something yummy and baked fresh as a dessert. We will have to wait for a day in November to do this, most likely, because that's how late it is when our foliage starts to turn.

Or, we could just go to Dad's and hang out there. His fall foliage is my favorite! 

I would like to clean out our attic one day or evening when the boys can help for about two hours. If we bite it off into small chunks, I feel like it won't be as overwhelming. 

I want to become good at dating my husband again. We are so hit or miss with this! Our anniversary is coming up, so that's a great place to start, right? I'm also trying to talk him into a one night stay in a hotel in our city. We'll see if that happens or not, but I would love to stay at our favorite hotel downtown. It's reminiscent, because we always hung out there while we dated, up on the rooftop. 

I am looking forward to handing out Halloween candy with my main guy and chatting with our neighbors who always sit in their driveway at the same time. It's always a fun night and I love seeing all the cute little trick or treaters! It's also always great to see neighbors we don't usually spend time with. 

I would like to go with my dad to the town he spent a couple of his boyhood years in. It's the nearby town of Dyersburg, Tennessee. He is always talking about this town and I'd love put a visual picture with the many stories he has told me. We will most likely get my sister Trish to join us, if we do this one day, but an upcoming fall day sounds like as good a time as any. 

And now onto the Pinterest inspired portion of my post. Here are some things I am inspired by right now. These outfits pictured below are all versions of how I like to dress and what is most "my" personal fashion style. I'm not big on prints and textured fabrics, but I love solid colors that are mostly neutral with a few options of an eye-popping color, like this beet color below. I am the heaviest in my tummy area, so tops that hit right at my hips and that are flowy like this are the best for my figure. I can't wear long, straight tops for all of those reasons. 

I love a heel, but in the style of a wedge. I think they're flattering for me and the heel gives me the illusion of height and longer legs. I love, love, LOVE these leopard print shoes, but I do not like booties on me. I have one pair that I never wear, so I prefer to stick with more casual shoes like loafers or flats. 

My favorite type of shirt is a poncho, so both of these pictured styles appeal to me. My friend Melanie, who is a personal stylist says that if you have a solid colored blank canvas, you need to add a long necklace, or some layering necklaces. She also suggests that a created "v neck" is the most universally flattering neckline. Again, I don't love boots on me because I am short and my legs tend to look short and stumpy in them, which they're not. I really wish I loved boots. The only time I have ever worn boots that I liked was in high school, and I wore those carpenter style boots that were a yellow-tan color and that laced up. I also had combat boots that I loved. I love neutral purses the most, but my favorite of all time is a saddle brown color. In my opinion, that shade of brown looks good with every color. I am in a phase right now of not liking black accessories or shoes. I do have two pairs of black sandals that I've worn the last couple of weeks, but they're not my favorite. I really prefer a neutral taupe for shoes, or an animal print, like the ones below. 

I love cardigans! I have one or two that I love and wear often, one in olive and one in a blush color that is more for spring. I basically dress the same all year long, switching out tops and shoes for the seasons, but my go-to bottoms are black pants, dark cropped jeans or faded jeans. I have two pairs of some thin pants from Old Navy that I also love and wear in the fall/winter that are dark green and cranberry. I lean toward neutral tops that are mostly solid in detail, or with a pattern like stripes. My favorite colors to wear are olive green, black, charcoal gray, navy blue, blush pink, the beet color that you see pictured above, and variations of brown. I think that by keeping it pretty simple and neutral, it's easier to dress minimally and to change out looks by switching colors and accessories. 

That is all just my opinion, I am certainly no expert, but I am good at camouflaging the extra pounds I carry by dressing in a way that is most flattering for me. I like to feel good in my clothes and a non-negotiable for me is that I have to be comfortable. I've never been one to sacrifice that for style, so I've never worn anything that I consider to be fancy. I must look okay, because I get compliments on my outfits, but my advice is to wear what you love and what makes you feel confident. Also, it's good to buy the correct size that your body needs—if you carry weight in your tummy, I would flee from anything fitted. I also think it's good to dress age appropriate. This eliminates a lot of things for me, like jeans that are too ripped, tops with too much of a cold shoulder or something cropped.

I love these shoes! I need to go shoe shopping this week, before I leave town on Saturday. When I land in Boston on Saturday, the projected temperature that day is 63 degrees high. That means, I need some new comfy shoes. 

Switching gears again, I love the style of both of these homes and porches. This one underneath reminds me of a brownstone in Brooklyn, New York. It's very Cosby Show-esque, is it not? 

One last thing, and I'll wrap this fun post up. Have you seen these floating around the internet?

Just in case you're in need of some fall movies next weekend, here are some great ones! Todd and I spent the better part of early Sunday afternoon looking for Dead Poet's Society. It was on Netflix, but they've removed it! Our only option was to buy or rent the movie, so we did neither. I'm rolling my eyes, because it's going to accidentally show up here soon. I love my husband, but he can be such a cheapskate! 🤣

I had fun writing this post, so I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did creating it. What are some things/styles/decorating ideas that you love for the fall? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all.