Fall Festivities

Because Labor Day was yesterday, does that mean we can skip ahead to fall? And if so, is it socially acceptable to buy (and eat) handfuls of candy corn? Day trips to various fall activities on this list are in the works! Fall is the perfect season. It's not too hot and not too cold; it's just right.

P.S. I took a short trip to the mountains this weekend.

The weather there was amazing and made me even more excited for fall :)

Apple Orchard

Visiting an apple orchard is one of my favorite things to do during the fall. I love breaking out my flannel shirts and walking through the orchard. The trees smell absolutely lovely, and the views are incredible. Every time I leave the apple orchard, I immediately want to go back.

Bake

I love using seasonal fruits and vegetables in a variety of recipes during the holiday season.

Also, I make a mean pumpkin pie.

Candy Corn

I buy this seasonal treat multiple times each year.

#treatyoself

Corn Maze

I love the excitement and thrill of trying to find my way out of a corn maze.

Last year, I navigated through a corn maze at night, and it was the coolest/creepiest thing ever!

Leaf Jumping

Nothing says fall quite like jumping into a big pile of leaves.

I'm a kid at heart, and I embrace it every chance I get.

Local Festival

I love taking advantage of the activities in towns located not too far away from campus. Leisurely wandering through a local festival is no exception. I try not to buy too much (unless it's food, of course!).

Pumpkin Picking

So, I was going to pick a pumpkin last year, but that never happened. Let's see if we can make that dream a reality this year! I love the idea of picking and painting a pumpkin and I can't wait to experience that for myself soon!

Shopping

Sales galore! Because fall is on its way, stores are starting to promote their new collections more than ever. Summer is officially coming to a close, so many of those seasonal items will be heavily discounted. Take advantage of the many sales you are sure to encounter in the near future.

Watch TV Shows

Fall is when shows either premiere or start a new season.

I hate the waiting between a previous season and the one set to air sometime in the fall.

It seems like such a long time to wait!

Fortunately, there are only a few more weeks until Downton Abbey's Series 6 premiere!

What's on your fall bucket list?

:)

I Know This Is Corny But..

So..this is sort of a weekend recap!

Fall is officially one of my favorite seasons.
There are so many activities and do not even get more started on the style element of fall!
I went to a corn maze and I have to say they are so fun & will definitely become a new tradition for me! :) I had such a great time! I "got lost" four different times, ate half a huge bag of kettle corn, watched couples waltz (!!!), and walked on hay bales. Whoever invented the idea of a corn maze rocks, because it is possibly one of the coolest things ever. My favorite time to visit a corn maze is at night. I love how peaceful it is and how the sunset looks behind the corn stalks.

this picture does not do justice to how magnificent and gorgeous and beautiful the sky was

i want these lights; love!

blurry yet beautiful

kettle corn + bonfire

become one with nature (aka the corn maze)

loving the decorations of fall

walked across these hay bales

#ootn

Shirt: Ralph Lauren

Jeans: Old Navy (similar)

Boots: Kohl's (similar)

To you, my beautiful readers:

I hope this inspires you to go and experience a corn maze for yourself!

Have a wonderful rest of today!

You made it halfway through the week--I'm so proud of you!

Keep it up :)

Road Trippin' & Apple Picking

The colors of fall

Pretty pumpkins

Lovely little bridge

Attempt at an artsy photo

The most beautiful view

Leaves changing color

Fall in a picture

Take the (apple orchard) path less traveled by

Panorama pictures are my favorite

Wagon to carry all the apples we picked

Cool contrast, thanks iPhone

At least my sister thought this picture was cool..

Hidden treasure aka more apples

Perfect combination

Apple to apples

Through these photos, you can experience what I was able to witness in person. This orchard and its beauty never becomes old to me. I look forward to coming here every year because I love the scenic landscapes & everything that accompanies apple picking. The time spent walking in-between apple trees with friends and family this weekend are memories that I will treasure forever. Who knew there were so many varieties of apples to choose from?! Feeling carefree and full of energy, I enjoyed spending my morning with a few of the people I love. Apple orchards are very muddy, and deciding to wear my Hunters was one of the best life decisions I've ever made at 7 a.m. With my rain boots, I was able to add a special touch to my outfit without forsaking style!

That's a wrap on this weekend recap! :)

SNAIL MAIL IS ALWAYS IN SEASON

October 1 means bring on the annual autumn activities. I'm thrilled because this season is all about pumpkin patches, apple orchards, and corn mazes.

Who wouldn't love this time of year?! Sweaters & bonfires make the perfect pair.

Though fall is meant for seasonal things such as these, what's really neat is that snail mail is always in season.

Coming to college & having my own P.O. box was exciting! My own personal mailbox!

The only problem is: I never get any mail!

I order items from Etsy or clothing stores, so I have something to look forward to! I check my mailbox at least 3x a day. I've always thought that working at a post office was the coolest thing to do!

Write a letter to a loved one today & don't let the important art of letter-writing fade out!

Some of my most treasured possessions are letters I have received from family & friends throughout the years, sending their love and well wishes to me through pen and paper. I have a tangible piece of them, something I am able to carry with me and re-read whenever I need it. I think letters are so very important.

They are what I turn to for comfort in days of sadness, and make me smile when I need it most.

Handwriting is unique to each and every one of us. I believe that you can learn much about a person based on their writing style. We are all different, and not one of us is the same.

(And a side note: I'm hoping to be able to post my handwriting on my blog, just like Mackenzie Horan! I am absolutely in love with the look of it and I think it adds a personal touch to the webpage. That's one of my blog goals!)

This was kind of a random post, but I felt I wanted to share it!

Have a wonderful rest of today & an awesome Thursday!

I cannot wait to post Week 5 of Friday Favorites :)

Catching (A) Cold

The seasons are changing, the air is chilly and I am in love.
 In love with this time of year. Words cannot describe how much I love this season.
Autumn is simply wonderful. I love every single part of it, even though the changing weather causes colds more often than I (or anyone for that matter) would like.

Being sick is a college kid's worst nightmare. You have to go to class and pretend like you're great and don't mind sitting through an hour and a half lecture. When in reality, all you want to do is curl up in a blanket, eat chicken noodle soup and watch Netflix.
At the beginning of this week, I was sick. Probably your everyday common cold, but I usually don't catch them thanks to my (don't mean to brag) great immune system. I just wasn't prepared..I didn't have cough medicine or even tissues. It's a rough life for this freshman girl.
(I've been editing this post throughout the week..since the idea behind the title was because I've had a cold..get it? [I tried to make the most of it and write a blog post!] Anyway, I'm recovering quite nicely and feeling much better! Thank goodness. It's almost the weekend, so that's another plus! Bring on fall + cold weather!)

I think that the weather where I am has to be the most perfect transitional weather.

Lately, it's been just right, neither too hot or too cold.
I even brought out my sweaters and started to incorporate them as well as my boots into my wardrobe.

I can start wearing button-downs with riding boots and that in itself is one reason my heart is so happy!
At the end of last season, I picked up a really awesome discounted pair of boots and that made me anticipate fall more than ever before.

Oh, fall. I'm falling so hard for you!

I cannot wait to immerse myself in the annual seasonal activities fall brings such as: apple picking, baking, hayrides (sure doesn't help the allergies!), pumpkin carving, eating candy corn (because yes, that is a fall activity!), and so much more.
THE HOLIDAY SEASON HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN!
(HALLOWEEN
THANKSGIVING
CHRISTMAS
NEW YEAR'S
YES YES YES YES!)

Fall is such a beautiful season. With the leaves turning different colors, the orange of the pumpkin patches, reds and greens of apple orchards, various shades of yellows in the corn mazes, the white-yellow-orange pattern of candy corn..I love how fall looks. Breathtaking. I can't wait to take pictures, even though they hardly do justice to the real thing.

And to end this post..one of my favorite quotes about this marvelous season!

I stole this picture from my British best friend's blog, sorry Rebecca! Love you!
Go check her out here. She's a beautiful person!

Have a great day! :)

COLLEGE, WHOA!

I am alone in my dorm. Probably the only time that will ever happen.

I can't believe I'm in college. That's SO crazy.

I don't even know where to begin..

I wrote the first few sentences of this blog post after the first few days at college had passed and I haven't been able to return to writing until now. That just shows you how busy I've been these past two weeks.

College has taught me so much in the short time I've been here. I honestly thought that it would take some getting used to, maybe a touch of homesickness or missing loved ones, but I owe it all to my awesome university for planning and packing in as many wonderful events as possible for the first few weeks of school so that our brains would be focused on fun and not on missing family members.

One thing I've learned is that time spent on campus feels like it passes by way faster than it actually does. I love my school. My friends, the ones I talked to before I arrived here or the ones I've met recently, are awesome. And living in a dorm is so not what I thought it would be. It's WAY cooler. I think of my little dorm room as my home now. Yes, the closet space isn't ideal, but living with your now couldn't-live-without-ya best friend, what could be better?!

I'm so excited to see what the Class of 2018 will accomplish at my school. As we continue on this journey that we have now recently begun, I cannot wait to see what sort of experiences & memories the next 4 years with my fellow classmates will include. These times will not only continue to strengthen our friendships, but will also challenge us and make us improve in many areas of our lives.

I'm finally able to finish writing this at home (because this is the only time I've been able to take some time for myself!) and it feels like I'm vacationing in my own house. Walking into my bedroom today, I felt like I've come back a changed person. And while that may be true, it's kind of an analogy to our own lives. We can never go to a place and feel exactly the same way we did as when we first experienced it. No matter how much we long for the past, the only thing that is constant is that we are always changing. Each second of the day, what we consume either through media or the world around us, it affects us and we evolve into the person we are meant to become.

I was explaining to my sister today how college is a place where you can go and it's not like high school at all. I can't believe I was in high school less than 6 months ago! I'm so thankful that I'm no longer at that point in my life anymore. College kids accept and actually embrace differences. They're like "Oh, you're weird? Join the club!" I love it. No longer am I an outsider, or feel awkward (well, that part's still true, but not for the same reasons). As one of my new friends would say, "You do you." Just be yourself, because that's something no one can judge or criticize you for.

I think one of the best decisions I ever made was deciding to attend the school I go to now.

I am grateful for the opportunity to even be able to continue furthering my education at a higher level. Lessons are not only reserved for the classroom. You have to learn lessons for life as well, aka "the real world", and what better place to do it than college?

I will definitely write a more detailed blog post soon about all the crazy and inspiring things that have happened on campus recently!

I hope you have an amazing rest of today & enjoy your Labor Day Weekend! I certainly am going to do exactly that, celebrating with pizza and a movie night with my sweet family! :)

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I Love Ya Tomorrow

You're only a day away..

Whoa. That's scary.

(So FYI, read this post if you wish, but this will mostly be a post for me where I'll rant and write out things I need to say, and it will just happen to end up on the Internet to be there if anyone wants to read it, because I needed somewhere to vent and all my friends are either asleep or also packing!)

I'm moving to college TOMORROW and tonight will be my last night at home for awhile.

I'm kinda sorta maybe freaking out over the fact that I won't have my family as close by as they have been for the past 18 years of my life. It's the first step I take towards starting my independent life and I'm really excited, but also super nervous about that.

I woke up this morning BEFORE 8 am, like what?! This is the last day I have at home, and I'm up that early? Crazy!

Anyway, I'm currently listening to When Will My Life Begin from Tangled because that's how I'm feeling. I feel that I have so much to do today and I have no idea how I'm going to accomplish it all before I leave tomorrow morning!

I'm gonna work really hard today, running around my house packing and organizing, hoping that at the end of the day I'll be so tired that I'll fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow. I really need sleep, and last night I slept a grand total of less than 5 hours. So yeah, that's why I'm writing this bright and early with a bottle of Diet Coke by my side. This probably will be the norm in a few weeks...cause in college, caffeine will be my best friend. I just don't want to say goodbye to summer. I'm not ready! I want (at least) another month, mostly because I'm still not caught up on Grey's Anatomy yet!

Moving tomorrow has made me so nervous about everything! I'm excited, I really am, but I'm also driving myself crazy with worry and I'm overthinking every little thing! I have no idea what to expect and maybe that is what makes me so jittery. New friends, a new atmosphere, and feelings that I'm not quite sure how I'm supposed to handle. I know every single year thousands of incoming freshman transition from living at home to living in a dorm, but at this very moment I feel as if I'm the only one who is going through this. I need someone to reassure me that everything is gonna be okay. I feel that when I finally move in tomorrow and unpack, I will have such a heavy burden lifted off my shoulders.

But then there's also the question of whether I brought too much or if I'm not bringing enough. Usually, I overpack, but judging from everyone's Instagram photos, my collection of dorm "stuff" isn't nearly as big as theirs. I have this nagging thought in my head that I'm forgetting something, so tomorrow afternoon I will definitely be making a Target run to buy any last minute things that I forgot or lost in the shuffle and excitement of the day. Let's hope I don't forget too much, because let's face it. I'm on a college student's budget now. I can't buy everything I need, or want.

Since the soundtrack has come out, I've probably listened to this song more times than anyone wants (or needs) to know. It could be quite embarrassing. But, Let It Go is such a wonderful song! For almost any problem I'm going through, this is the one I turn to because of what the lyrics say. I really need to stop looking back and start looking forward. Tomorrow is when I start the next 4 years of my life at a university that I've called home for quite awhile. I have a few friends I have already made via social media, but there are also dozens of other people that I can't wait to meet. So, I should listen to this song once more, and think of the memories I'll experience here in the upcoming years and hope that its message will sink in.

Wow, I think after someone reads this post, they might just burst into song because I listed quite a few here!

I really cannot believe that TOMORROW is when I start my next chapter in life with some brand new friends at my new home away from home. Seriously, everything about my life as I know it is about to change and  I. CAN'T. WAIT. 

So, with that said I'm off to pack some MORE and hopefully accomplish and check off a dozen things on my to-do list!

Have a wonderful day & amazing weekend!