by Alaina | Oct 29, 2022 | Decorating, Homemaking, Uncategorized
Ready or not, here fall comes! I love summer so much but I have to say fall is one of my absolute favorites when it comes to decorating! I’m not sure why—I guess in my mind the season conjures up pictures of cozy comfort, coupled with the fall scents, and adorable mini pumpkins that make a decorating season that can’t be beat! Here is a sneak peek at what is trending this fall.
Tons of Texture!
Texture it always in vogue, especially in fall but this fall in particular we are seeing lots and lots of texture. We are seeing terracotta pots, braided jute, chunky throws, fuzzy pumpkins; if it appeals to the tactile senses it is in!
How to Apply This Trend in Your Home
If you have a smooth vase vs a textured one opt for the texture!
Colors
I love color! The past few falls we have seen lots of neutrals in the fall décor. Last year we started to see pastels in muted shades of greens, blues, and even purples. This year the colors are coming in with a bang! We are seeing lots of super saturated colors—think mustard yellow, wine red, emerald green, and burnt orange—lots and lots of burnt orange! Additionally, we are also seeing navy blue (I like to call it denim blue because it has a touch more indigo to it than a traditional navy blue would), plum purple and browns. Yes, browns are starting to make an appearance again. We are also seeing dashes of washed-out pinks, dusty rose, and blush this fall—again paired with neutrals and wheat tones.
How to Use This Color Trend in Your Home?
We are seeing a lot of these color trends mixed with some lighter neutrals. Mix in these saturated tones with white, cream, and beige.
Naturals
We are seeing a lot of natural materials this year: wheat, dried grasses, preserved flowers (preserved flowers are my favorite). See my post A Third Option here to read more about ways to use dried flowers, feathers, wood and terracotta.
How to Incorporate This Trend into Your décor
Loop a strand of wooden beads over a pitcher that contains your preserved flowers or your gathered flowers. Add some feathers that you found to a vignette (see my post about fall vignettes here), or pull one of your terracotta pots from outside and use it inside this autumn.
Boho
We are seeing lots of boho-inspired décor this fall. If you love boho and have always wanted to add a little bit of this style to your home’s décor, try it this fall. Try adding a macramé wall hanging or a macramé hanging plant holder to your home and see what you think.
Landscapes
We are seeing more landscapes added into the décor this fall. I have always been a fan of landscape paintings and this might just be the year I make it a point to find one. Landscapes are always a timeless element and can be found very inexpensively in thrift shops or a yard sale so, if you, like me, have always loved a good landscape, don’t hold yourself back any longer!
Odd and Ends
In summary, we are seeing lots of saturated color in all of the burnt and darker shades of orange and yellow, and all of the neutral shades from white to deep brown. Texture is huge so try adding some form of it—you could even use a brick as a riser in a vignette! Terracotta, both as a material and as a color, is hot this fall. And, saturated colors mixed with the neutrals of the past few years is what you’ll be seeing all over Pinterest! Try adding in texture with a knit throw, or a fuzzy pumpkin pillow. This fall looks to be a very cozy one so jump in and get cozy this fall!
by Alaina | Oct 20, 2022 | Book Nook
You know I love my historical fiction, but I enjoy nonfiction too! Below are several non fiction books that I have been reading (and enjoying!) lately!
I Guess I Haven’t Learned That Yet by Shauna Niequist
Part autobiography, part subtle life lessons she has learned along the way, Shuana’s warm and engaging prose sheds light on what it looks like to be in your 40s and uproot from the town that you’ve lived in your whole life to move across the country to New York City. There are so many new things that she and her family had to learn and adjust to life as new New Yorkers and she found herself saying, “I guess I haven’t learned that yet,” about numerous things in their new city. These lessons carry over into many instances in her life where she thought she knew something only to realize that no, she hasn’t learned it all yet!
The Home Edit by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin
I love a good organizing book! Almost nothing gets me as excited as a book on organizing- except for perhaps a brand new scheduler! While I know it’s not the case I think subconsciously I believe that having an organized home will give me hours of breathing room in my days- not completely true but having an organized home in which it is easy to find things certainly saves time! This book takes a look at a lot of celebrities’ home organizing projects, and therefore has a somewhat unattainable feel, ( my home would be perfectly organized too if I had custom shelving built into every room of my home!) I enjoyed the beautiful pictures as well as hearing of the author’s organizing style. A few of my key takeaways were: if you are going to invest in beautiful storage options make sure they are all cohesive otherwise while organized, your space will not look as pulled together as it actually is. And 2; I love their rainbow method of organizing and someday I am going to do this with all of my books!
Ultra Learning by Scott H. Young
In this book Young explains his method of ultra learning, a term he coined, to describe the process of throwing yourself into one project exhaustively. To be an Ultra Learner you choose one area of study and you learn about it exclusively and ceaselessly until you have it mastered. While I’m not sure this is a practical approach for everyone in every stage of life, who wishes to learn something new, I can appreciate how going all in on one subject exclusively can lead to connections and associations that otherwise might take much longer to create. I believe this book is definitely worth the read; there is bound to be a principle or 2 that you can then take and apply to your life to improve your learning skills!
How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren
I finally understand how people who have very, very, full lives can say that they have physically read a large number of books a week! In How to Read a Book , Adler and Van Doren show us how to approach reading a book for knowledge varies from one we are reading just for pleasure.the Authors show various outlines for how to read the important sections of a book so that we are getting the maximum out of a book with the minimal amount of time. I think this book would be well worth the time of anyone who is heading to college or is about to begin a project that will require hours upon hours of research.
Know Yourself, Know Your Money by Rachel Cruze
If you are familiar with Dave Ramsey and his baby step principles a lot of this book will be review… However, if you apply discretionary reading principles (perhaps the ones you learned in How to Read a Book) you will be well rewarded as to the psychological insight Cruze offers in this book as to why we spend money the way we do. We all grow up and absorb certain attitudes around money. Some of these attitudes are good, some are bad, some create good habits (saving money) for bad motives (scarcity mindset). No matter who you are or what your financial situation is, I think this is a great read to understand more about what shapes our relationship with one of the parts of our lives. Like it or not, money is a fundamental part of all of our lives, so spending a little time to ensure that we have a healthy relationship with it I believe is time well spent!
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
Other Posts You May Enjoy:
Books to Slow Down with This Season
4 Books to Read to Build Better Habits
How to Save Money on Groceries
by Alaina | Oct 16, 2022 | Sunday Scripture
For God has not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV
It was summer and to be honest it had been a long summer and not necessarily a good one. Stressor on top of stressor had led to me feeling run down and a bit burnt out. It wasn’t just the stressors but also the fact that I had been planning to take it easier that summer. I had planned to lighten my workload and spend more time enjoying the summer weather but, as so often happens, life’s circumstances had gotten in the way and there I was working long hard hours wishing I could just be on a beach somewhere—just for a little bit.
Amidst feeling sorry for myself, a thought came to me—what if we just took off and went to a beach somewhere. Both my husband and I set our own schedule so it really wasn’t impossible… If we could find a cheap Airbnb, we could take a few days off, drive to the beach and just relax. No, I thought to myself, that takes planning. We’d have to make arrangements for the dog, I’d have to let clients know I’d be off, making adjustments to my calendar, my husband adjusting his—certainly we couldn’t just leave. I wanted to go so badly—I finally decided to float the idea passed my husband. What if we left two days later, at the beginning of the weekend?
My husband said no, he had a big meeting on Tuesday that he didn’t want and really couldn’t reschedule. If we left on Saturday he wouldn’t be able to keep that commitment so we couldn’t leave that weekend but we could leave Tuesday night after the meeting! When we came home from work that night, we poured through Airbnb listings trying to find one with a beach-front view, one that was cheap—very cheap—and we found one!
Five days after the crazy idea had entered my head, we were sitting on a beach-—me with a good book in my hand. Our dog was at my parents’ house, my clients had understood, our schedules had been adjusted and I rested and relaxed that week like I hadn’t done for a very long time.
So often we tell ourselves that we can’t, that it just wouldn’t work, that we shouldn’t do it. But we just did it and you know what? Nothing bad happened. None of our clients dropped us, our dog didn’t die, our house didn’t burn down, and we had one of the best little vacations we’ve ever had.
God didn’t create us to live in fear and bondage. Yes, we need to be responsible; we don’t always want to take off work with short notice, but once in a while it really is okay. God has blessed us (I mean this collectively as a first world country) and these blessings are not meant to be burdens. We are meant to use the resources and blessings He has given us to bless others and, yes, to enjoy them.
The next time you are feeling bogged down with the commitments of life, I hope you are able to pause and decipher what things in life are shoulds and what are have-tos, what things are non-negotiables, and what things you can actually flex for your benefit. I want to stop viewing everything as a have-to and a can’t, but as a get-to! I want to stop living with a spirit of fear—how about you?
by Alaina | Oct 13, 2022 | Homemaking
“I love fall best of all,” and quotes like “I am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers,” the latter being a quote from Anne of Green Gables, permeate this time of year. I love the thought of fall—I love pulling out my cozy sweaters; I love the warm salted caramel hot chocolates, and Chai tea lattes that become readily available this time of year. I love the thought of curling up in front of the fire with a mystery story that has just enough spookiness and suspense to make my spine tingle and make me jump at the climax. Unfortunately though, I live in Pennsylvania. The weather this time of year can be undependable at best and miserable at worst. We have plunged from 80 degree weather down to highs in the low 60s with no balmy 70 degree days to ease us out of one season and into the other. For this reason it is very easy to get grumpy with fall and blame it for the very long winter stretching ahead of us. In fact, it is so easy to get lost in our crankiness with this unpredictable season that we end up not taking advantage of some of the fun things there are to enjoy this time of year.
I should mention that my family is not a big fan of Halloween—Harvest yes, Halloween no. Frankly, I get more than a little disgusted by all the death and macabre things that appear this time of year. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why we celebrate death, not only death but also decay, at this time of year, when at any other time of year we are busy acting like death is something that will never affect us? It boggles my mind!
I have been hearing lots of fall bucket lists, and I couldn’t help but think about some of the things that always sound fun to do this time of year. We may not get to do all these things this year but maybe you can enjoy a few of them for me!
A Corn Maze
Not a scary one but just a nice friendly corn maze that is fun for the whole family. A corn maze is also a good learning experience for kids who don’t learn to use maps like older generations did.
Apple Picking
Many local orchards have apple-picking days. It is a great way to enjoy the fall season. A lot of orchards will even press your apples into cider for you.
Fall Festivals
In the northeastern part of the country, this is the prime season for festivals. There are many crafts shows and festivals that feature local and independent artisans. These festivals not only help the artisans but also help the local economy! Look to see if there are any events in your surrounding counties and check them out!
Have a Campfire
My grandmother always talked about how, at the end of the harvest season, her school would have a campfire and they would roast hotdogs and sing and tell ghost stories as one last hoorah before the cold winter weather set in. While having a campfire may sound like more of a summer thing, fall is the perfect time to grab an old poufy blanket and some marshmallows and head outside to enjoy the weather before it gets too cold.
A Favorite Drink
When I think of cozy and warm, I think about drinking something hot and comforting. How fun would it be to pick a fall drink and perfect the making of it throughout the fall season? Do you like hot chocolate? What about making it from scratch? What about tea—Chai tea? Look in a cookbook or on Pinterest for a fun decadent spin on some of your favorite standby drinks!
Read
To so many of us curling up with a good book and a warm drink sounds like the perfect way to enjoy the season, but do we make time for it? Try to schedule in some reading time just as you would schedule in time to go to the pumpkin patch or any other fall activity.
Pumpkins
Speaking of pumpkins—what about a trip to your local pumpkin patch? Pumpkin patches these days can range from a stand alongside the road selling a few pumpkins to a large activity center with hay rides and all sorts of fall activities. Either way, there is something fun about picking out a pumpkin, bringing it home, carving it, and then roasting the seeds. Try it!
Light the Candles
One of the things I see all the time are candles that aren’t burnt. I see candles that people are “saving” but what are they saving them for? I know I have had many things over the years that I have saved only for them to go bad and then thrown out. If you have a special fall candle or something of that nature, why not pull it out now and use it.
A Train Ride
There is a state park not too far from us that has a train that will take passengers for a short ride. The scenery this time of year is gorgeous and going on a train ride is a fun way to enjoy it. Young kids especially enjoy it! If you don’t have a train near you, what about a boat or ferry? Look for unique ways to experience the beauty of fall!
I hope this will help encourage and give you ideas about how to enjoy the fall season. As always, I would love to hear from you about how you most enjoy this time of year! Connect with me on Instagram @essentiallyemmamarie! And if you know someone who might enjoy this post—please share!
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
Other Posts You May Enjoy:
How to Create a Fall Vignette
How to Add That Cozy Fall Feel to Your Home
Fall Centerpiece Ideas
by Alaina | Oct 9, 2022 | Sunday Scripture
You have said, “Seek my face. “My heart says to you, “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
Psalm 27:8 ESV
I mentioned in my post The Interest of Others of the day my son was born. That little baby has grown over these past few months to be an alert, slightly nosy, little baby! He is interested in everything! I will sit him in his bouncer seat (which he loves!) then walk around, completing various tasks that I can’t do with a baby in my arms. One of my favorite things is that amidst his bouncing and waving of his arms and legs, he keeps an eye on me. I’ll walk around behind him and I’ll see him looking, a bit like an owl trying to swivel his head, to see where I have gone. I’ll stick my head over the top of the bouncer and he cranes his head back looking at me, then breaks into one of those gorgeous baby smiles as he spots me!
This is quite a switch for me—I believe I have mentioned that I have cats? Well, the thing about cats is they kind of don’t care about you… I know that sounds harsh and I definitely don’t mean to be disparaging to the cat population but (at least my cats) fully believe that we humans were put on this earth to please them. When they want to be petted—we better be available. When they desire to curl up next to us, we must remain seated until they decide it’s okay for us to move. When we walk around, our cats cannot be bothered to wonder where we are going or what we are doing, unless they hear the treat bag or food-can rattle!
This reminds me of the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible. There they were in a perfect paradise, truly not knowing how great they had it when they blew it—they ate the forbidden fruit, their eyes were opened and they saw that they were naked. Suddenly they knew right and wrong. And they knew that they had sinned. So what did they do? They tried to hide from God. They made clothes out of leaves and then tried to stay away from God. But God came looking anyway. He asked where they were. God sought them out. The creator of the universe cared about these little creatures He had made and who existed to love and serve Him.
As a whole, we act a lot more like my cats than my son when it comes to how we treat God. We act largely unconcerned about His whereabouts until we need something, then we come slinking up to Him, asking for whatever we find ourselves needing at that time.
How much better if we were to act as little children as Jesus commands us to in Matthew 18:3 where He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”(NKJV) Just as my son keeps an eye on me at all times, smiling when I talk to him face to face, how rich and fulfilled our lives would be if we kept our eyes always trained on Him, craning our necks when He seems just out of reach, and taking time to invest in our relationship with Him.
Other Posts You May Enjoy:
Obedience
Hidden in Plain Sight
A Gentle Answer
