It's Fall Y'all!

IT'S FALL Y'ALL

Hi all...hope you are having a great Tuesday!  Thought I'd do a little catch up and share some Fall pics of my patio and a couple of my son & his girlfriend at Homecoming with you all....in case you missed some of them on Facebook ;)

This past Saturday was Homecoming for my son & his girlfriend. They decided to have dinner out on our patio because neither one likes fussy foods or crowds of people....and they asked for...wait for it.....PIZZA...hahahaha!  So I made salads and ordered the pizza they wanted but decided to make the "setting" a bit nicer.  Plus it was time to decorate the patio for fall as well.

Normally I have the dining table outside of the cabana but if its inclement weather or chilly we will move it over in front of the fireplace.  Thankfully it was fabulous weather but its always fun to change things up too.  So we moved the couch and chairs out of the way and put the table in front of the fireplace.

We like this setup for parties as well when the weather permits...spreads the furniture around into little seating groups and opens up the patio more.

A lot of my color schemes inside and outside fit well for summer and fall. In the fall I add more orange & rust tones to warm it up a bit.

A little bit of fall fun for the bar area too...I love the mini hay barrels you can find at most craft stores. I keep them OUTSIDE only because they can be messy.  I don't buy many large pumpkins anymore now that the kids are older...I have a few faux ones and get 2 for the front porch only.  I don't carve them anymore and the prices per lb have gone up so much in past 15 years too.  So I stick to the minis mostly which I love.

After the kids left, the hubs and I had homemade pizzettas and salad and then moved the furniture back around and built a roaring fire.  This is the setup we use when we have the TV out there..mostly to watch our sports of course.  But its like a second family room to us when the weather allows...you can find us out there most evenings.

And who doesn't love candlelight?  I have candles EVERYWHERE, I just love it and the warmth of the light it gives.

Paddywax Candles Apothecary Tobacco and Patchouli
 Speaking of fall candles...this is one of my faves to burn for fall...smells like an old camp fire mixed with a bit of tobacco...reminds me of fall evenings.  And its soy so it burns clean and for a long time...and the apothecary bottle is just too cool!

My son Riley who will be 17 in less than 5 months...sigh...why do they have to grow up?

But he's so handsome (says the momma) and on his way to becoming a fine, young man..I'm just so proud of him.  And he cleans up good right?  Anytime I can get him out of baseball caps & athletic wear is exciting for me LOL!

And his girlfriend Rachel (his 1st 'real' girlfriend) is just too cute for words.  She may be the female twin of my son that's for sure...she loves sports, hates fussy things, loves sweats and kicked her heels off as soon as we were done with pictures hahaha!  They had a blast at Homecoming, Riley even danced and said it was one of the best evenings of his life...so basically a success.

I get one more Homecoming before this kid is off to college....I'm not looking forward to that empty nest thing that's for sure!

Enjoy your week!!
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Entering into these fab linky parties:

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

The DIY Dreamer

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Do Tell Tuesdays

Making Monday

Wow Us Wednesdays

Graduation Party-time!!!

CLASS OF 2014

One of Alexa's Senior Photos

There is a reflection because I could NOT get the darn picture out of the frame today...either I was weak from exhaustion or the frame was having fun with me...grrrrrr!

I know, I know....its been over a week since I've posted...I apologize.

We have had a whirlwind of activities around our house gearing up for graduation and the

graduation party for Alexa that happened this weekend!

PHEW.......

It's all over with...it was an emotional roller coaster, physically exhausting but lots of memories were made and a good time had by all.  Today I'm sharing pics of our Graduation Party that we had on Saturday.  Then this week I will share graduation photos....and project pics for other things I've been working on!

So lots of pictures in this post....but enjoy!!

This was a table I set up in our foyer for the party.  A few pics of Alexa, a place to put gifts/cards, balloons and flowers for the graduation girl.  Also my "KEYS TO SUCCESS".....

I had ordered bulk bags of silver skeleton keys on Amazon and cut tags for them on my Silhouette Cameo.  I used black cardstock because I wanted it to have a chalkboard feel and I had white-gel pens for people to use to write with.  She won't get the jar of keys and tags until we drop her off at college...I wanted her to have something long after the party ended to reminisce on and laugh/cry at.  Some of the tags are silly I'm sure, some are great pieces of advice and some are some tips she may need at some point.  The large jar I got on Amazon too...I liked the lid and size.

I had a lot of food for this party...and I was stressed I wouldn't have enough for the 65+ people.  But I always have too much food....we donated all the leftovers from catering to the local homeless shelter because I didn't want it going to waste.  I had Red Hot & Blue cater pulled pork, baked beans and potato salad....sandwiches from Which Wich...party platters and cake from Wegmans. I made lemonade, fruit salad and desserts.  My mom made 2 platters of Texas Brownies...mmm yum!

This was the beverage station I set up....I made homemade strawberry lemonade and wrapped water bottles with custom wrappers I made.  We had wine and beer and sodas in coolers outside.

I had bought 50 blue mason jars and striped straws for the lemonade...blue was one of the theme colors since Alexa's school colors are blue, white and black.

I had a white cake made by Wegmans and inside was stuffed with fresh strawberries and cream....it was really, really good.  I decorated it myself...hahahaha...the black icing kinda melted a bit but I used a Gamecock decal and some footballs from the Party Store along with sprinkles...it worked.

I didn't get the best pictures of this because I was rushed for time....but I had bulk-ordered small white take-out boxes and made stickers for the front of each.  Then used striped tissue paper to line them and fill half with Kettle Corn and half with Cheddar Popcorn. Then everyone could grab a box and chow down.  Those are my mom's Texas Brownies to the right...mmmm ;)

I had bouquets of white roses and daisies around the house including that lovely centerpiece I had my dad make me.  I keep fresh flowers in it every week.

This is our backyard patio and cabana all decked out for the party.  The coolers were a necessity to hold all the drinks we needed iced down :)  I love my patio because of all the different seating areas and places to be depending on the weather and activity.

My hubs and son helping get ready!  That's my mom's dog Snickers surveying the scene in most pictures LOL (no I didn't get a new dog)!

This is one of my fave little sitting areas as it sits behind the main seating area/fireplace...the butterfly bush and grasses are at edge of patio so there are always hummingbirds and butterflies flitting around. Its kind of hidden and a great place to read and get away.

Alexa with a group of her friends.  The bar to the left is one of two bars..I love the round bar addition because its another great place for seating or food buffet.

My niece, my mom and my sister-in-law.

Alexa and her friends using the photo booth props I ordered and some I had made.

Alexa's BFF Mya came up from Georgia for the party and to see her friends graduate. She grew up with them all but moved at the end of her junior year...was nice she could see everyone!

Alexa opening some of her graduation gifts...the girl made out well...thank you to everyone that sent or gave a gift, we are so happy you were able to come and join us to celebrate her successes and future!

Annnnnddddd...this is what happens at the end of a great day when you are slap-happy and tired!

Alexa and the hubs show their goofy sides ;)
James kept asking Alexa all day if she wanted to "take a selfie" hahahaha and singing "It's the Final Countdown" song to her.  So they had to take a selfie together hahaha!

I will be back on Thursday with Grad Pictures to share......


Entering In The Following Linky Parties:

Family Fun Friday

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Ivy & Elephants