It's fall, ya'll!

I love fall, but have a really hard time getting behind most fall decorations. I think the oranges, reds, yellows, etc., are beautiful...outside. I prefer cool colors in my house, so scattering some leaves and tossing in a few pumpkins becomes a disaster for me.
     This year, I tried to take some of my favorite craft elements {glitter, burlap, chevron} and combine them with the tiniest hint of true fall things {pumpkins}. As I hate Halloween...I know, I know...I can't commit to anything that won't be cute after Oct. 31, so I tried to make some things that are good transition pieces that would take me from "It's September, and 87 degrees in Georgia, but I'm going to pretend it's fall" to "It's the second week of November and I'm dying to put up Christmas but there is this thing called Thanksgiving..."

     The gray chevron burlap was found at Hobby Lobby, along with the appliques, the cutest stuffed owl and my tiny hay bale. The orange pumpkin was a fine foam find from the Dollar Tree, and the glitter explosion pumpkin came from Kirkland's.

For Everything There is a Season

Stepping outside on my porch this morning into the brisk 50 degree morning breeze seemed appropriate. After a tumultuous two months full of stress, worry, and tears, I've finally decided to make a change. More or less lots of changes, so the cool winds seemed appropriate. I'm looking for clarity, cleanliness, and confidence in all areas of my life. That starts today, with waking up early to actually eat a {healthy} breakfast, and will end this evening with a major house cleaning session (which may last to tomorrow). I want to enjoy all parts of my life, large and small, and I feel like that can only start if I clean up my space and my habits. 

     So it's finally cold, which to me is encouraging. It's a significant change from the hot, heavy and stagnant things of the world that have been weighing so heavily. I hope it encourages others, like myself, to appreciate and embrace the new: day, season, spirit, attitude, energy, life. I hope to fall into happiness, leaves, fun, coziness, joy, and love.

Today's Jesus Calling devotion starts out saying, "No matter what your circumstances may be, you can find Joy in My Presence." I want to do that--I've gone through some of the most unimaginable pain in the last few months, yet have been strengthened and encouraged and been able to carry on through Christ and loving friends and family members, yet I have failed to find the joy. I pray that starting today I will find the joy in all things, and praise Him for it.

"For you make him most blessed forever; you make him glad with the joy of your presence." 

Psalm 21:6

Savannah Eats: B&D Burgers and the Beach Bar

Since my sweet "Fancee" (we don't like the word fiance for some reason. Maybe because it's too hard to spell!) lives in Savannah while in pharmacy school, I will be making quite a few trips down there over the next few years. He's kind of a foodie, and is always going to these neat restaurants all over town with his classmates. We've started making it a point to revisit all of these cool places when I come into town, which is really fun! I like trying all different kinds of foods, and it adds even more excitement to our few and far between weekends together.

I took last Friday off and went down early so that I could be there as soon as he got out of class at noon. We went to Five Guy's for lunch on Whitemarsh Island where he lives, which I realize is something that I have at home so it's definitely not super exciting, although it is super delicious! If I had known we were going to go to a burger place for dinner, I'm sure we would have gone to the Yum Yum Chinese buffet like he so desperately wanted (okay, so he's not always a glamorous foodie).

That Friday night, we went downtown and met his classmates at B&D Burgers on Congress Street. Their website claims to have been rated top 10 best burger in the U.S., and I would tend to believe them. I didn't order a burger because I for some reason felt guilty about ordering red meat twice in one day which was an odd thing for my carnivore self. I did however, order the chicken tenders and onion rings, and they were pretty much the best chicken tenders and onion rings ever. The Fancee did order the Ft. Pulaski burger, topped with onion rings and it was absolutely delicious. The Congress St. location has an amazing outdoor patio complete with comfy couch seating, corn hole, and the Braves game projected onto the wall. The location, coupled with an amazing Mojito (or two!) made for a really fun night!

Photo Found Here

For Saturday, I requested a beach day. Now, Tybee and I don't really get along, as every time I've been there it's either been too cold, too windy, or too jelly-fishy. But I had literally not laid out on a beach in two years so I didn't care. We went down early in the afternoon to the North Beach by the lighthouse, where it's less crowded and a little quieter. No sooner did we get in the water did the Fancee get stung by jellyfish. He also proceeded to get extremely sunburned in about 10 minutes, so my day of a beach bum quickly turned into being a nurse! His pain quickly turned into hunger (always) so we wandered back up to the hole-in-the-wall restaurant we had seen on our way in. I'm so glad we did. North Tybee Beach Bar is amazing! The atmosphere was exactly what we were looking for: cool, relaxing, and fun, and the prices and food were awesome too! I had a delicious Caprese salad, so refreshing and cool after the hot sun, and the Fancee had a wonderful lamb burger (are we seeing a trend?). We shared a basket of sweet potato fries that were drizzled in balsamic and honey. Who knew that would be good? All of their specials sounded great, so I know we will be frequenting this spot again soon. 

Photo Found Here

Photo Found Here