First, let me apologize for having to truncate my posts (causing readers to have to click the somewhat annoying “read more” to read the post in its entirety) because my blog content has been stolen by some unidentified person with a domain registered in India.  Thank you Leanne for letting me know- I had no idea.  Back in August 2012, several well-known bloggers started truncating their posts because “scraper sites” had been stealing their blog content.  I never worried about my content being stolen and didn’t want my readers to have to deal with that extra step of having to click a link to read the whole post,

I’m so grateful for the friendships blogging has brought into my life.  You might know that I met two of my closest friends (Cassie and Courtney), though this blog.  We all began blogging about the same time and met early on and just clicked.  We are all unique and different in our own ways, but the three of us together just fit.    They are like the sisters I’ve never had.  Since we are scattered throughout the country, we keep up mostly via email and phone chats- and LOTS of text messages.  Last week, we were thrilled to get to meet up in person in New York for Lowe’s Holiday Ready Home event.

Sugar Paper is one of my favorite paperie stores.  They have the chicest and most stylish stationery around.  Years ago, I entered a giveaway on a blog (maybe La Dolce Vita?) and won a pink lacquer recipe box and other paper goodies from Sugar Paper.  

I don’t usually write my recipes on index cards, but I LOVE the box and it’s been sitting on my bookshelf forever.  I was thinking that maybe next year I’ll use the box to create one of those one-a-day perpetual calendars.  

I recently embellished the box lid with square brushed gold nailheads that I found at Hobby Lobby.

Our preschool Halloween party is at the end of the month and I’m helping some of the other moms with the food, decor, and treats.  We brainstormed a few cute ideas that I thought you might be interested in. Of course, we turned to Pinterest for lots of inspiration.  

The party is short, just after the costume parade, but we still wanted to make it special.  For food, we’ll be bringing these adorable Witches Hat Cupcakes.  Looks like a white cupcake with white icing, a brown ice-cream cone hat, licorice hair, candy corn nose and two chocolate dot eyes. 

It’s taken it’s sweet time, but our temperatures are finally dropping and I’m suddenly noticing tank tops and shorts aren’t cutting it anymore.  Time to pull out some fall attire and maybe even hit up a few sales this weekend!  The change of season always makes me want to go see what’s out there.  Here are a few sales I’m aware of that you might be interested in.  

TORY BURCH Fall Sale // 30% off already discounted items with free express shipping on orders over $300 and free returns. 

Not that I need a new purse, but if I was in the market,

I recently played musical coffee tables and moved the mirrored table from the living room and put this tufted ottoman in its place.  It’s a good fit!  

ottoman | mirrored tray | sectional | similar rug | similar end table | similar lamp

I added a mirrored tray on top to break up all the beige-  and I like the pop of shine.  The tray is functional too, holding our too many remotes.  I’m lucky that my son doesn’t mess with the tray- he’s too busy playing Star Wars. 

Where have I been and why haven’t I been taking advantage of the awesomeness that is POLYVORE??!! You all might be familiar with the site already, and although I had heard of it, I had never played around with it because I didn’t understand how EASY it is to use.  Once I got on the site and started playing around creating “sets” (moodboards), I looked up and two hours had passed!  And the super cool thing is, Polyvore (universally known for its fashion sets) has expanded into the world of home decor.  That means you can create super cool interior design sets and try out different combinations before making a single purchase.