Discovering our New Home State.

Living is Georgia has led us to feel like we are on vacation every weekend! We love to explore and discover our new home state. And since it's fall, the changing of the leaves and all of the seasonal decorations are out and about. We love it! A few weekends ago, we hopped into the car and went for a drive. We never have anything planned. We just go by what friends have told us to visit and in the meanwhile, we discover other places. We went for a drive towards North Georgia and we discovered several little towns and drove through great mountain roads, which had great foliage! North Georgia also has great mountain state parks and lodges, that we hope to visit one day soon and maybe even stay overnight in. (In a cabin, not in a tent! ha!) Anyways, we were such in a rush to get out the house that Saturday, so I left my camera behind. But I had my good ole' iPhone to help document our adventure. I took the best pics I could. I wish I hadn't used an app to take the pics, because I don't think it did the foliage justice. Never-the-less....enjoy!

My 29th Birthday!

Last weekend, I celebrated my 29th birthday with my family in town! My mom, stepdad and brother Mike flew up to Georgia from Miami to visit us. I was so excited because I've been dying for my parents to see our new home and because I am extremely homesick and miss my family very much. I haven't been home (Miami, that is) since my grandmother's passing in May and life has been a whirlwind since then. It's hard to deal with her passing, and this whole new life transition, without having family close by. I've had to handle it all on my own and it just makes me miss my family soooo much! But I am blessed with the most amazing hubby who does help me see a better new day in each day. So, having my family here to celebrate my birthday was icing on the cake!

Anyways, we did a lot while they were here. We visited the cute town that is Dahlonega, GA. Had delicious food everywhere we went and my parents whipped up a delicious meal here at our home on one of the nights. My parents have this thing where they LOVE to go all out at home on the weekends. They get dressed up, my stepdad whips up a delicious restaurant quality meal, they have "happy hour" before dinner, my mom setups a fine dining table with her finest china, and dinner is enjoyed with family or friends in the luxury of their home. It was quite nice to be told by my mother to dress up, only to come out of the bedroom and into the kitchen with martinis served and the table whipped up to perfection! I really enjoyed the special treatment in our home!

We cruised around Atlanta and just enjoyed being together. Simple. Here are some pictures from our weekend!

Fall 10' at the new W. Home!

Fall is upon us! And this means a lot to us because we have our birthdays and wedding anniversary coming up. I always get excited during this time of the year, of course! And one way I celebrate is by decorating our home with fall decorations. We got to it this weekend and so far I am liking the way our new home looks decorated. It makes a home a little warmer and festive and I am all for that. I'm also loving my Bath and Body Works fall scented candles filling the air with autumn goodness. Soon, we will add Halloween touches and I can't wait to share those. I hope these will inspire you to add some Fall touches to your home!

Our mantle is decorated with a fall leave garland and small pumpkins.

More pumpkins on our fireplace.

Our coffee table is decorated with glittery fall candles and another pumpkin! I picked up these at Home Goods this weekend. I love that store!

Ovens are decorated with fall inspired kitchen towels from the Martha Stewart collection at Macys.

Our kitchen table is decorated with this centerpiece of glittery pumpkins and gourds! I got these at Hobby Lobby. I love anything sparkly!

And finally, you are greeted at the front door with these cute fall touches.

Honesty Still Exists.

How cute is this sunflower stand?!

Remember when I posted about the Sunflower field we saw near us? Well, Ronnie took me this Sunday and we were in shock at what we saw! Driving up we noticed that there wasn't anyone working the stand, so naturally we thought it was closed. Until we read this sign:

Yes, the sunflower stand was running on the "honor system" and we were able to pay and pick on our own. This is unthinkable in this day in age. We were so in shock! How cool is that?

So, we did what they asked and put the money in the box, made our change, and picked our flowers!

Ronnie did the picking. I just told him which ones I liked. There were tons of bees flying around and it was funny seeing my hubby freak out about them. :)

See the bee? They were huge! He was so brave! lol

I was really happy. Sunflowers make reallllyyy happy!

Home Touches

I thought you'd like some show and tell. So, today I snapped a couple of "home touches" around here that I love. These are just some of the things that I think my our house "our home"....making this bigger house feel warmer like our first home. ;)

Family portraits. I miss my beautiful Tita more everyday. There she is holding my incredible papi.

I chose this color for my dining room and it definitely makes this huge empty room feel warmer. It's "Spud" by Martha Stewart. I love it and the crown moulding. We are still working on the furniture. One thing at a time....

Mr.'s pepper plant. He thought it was cool and the more I water it, the more I think so, too!

Mr. has his pepper plant and I have my cactus. I'm so intrigued by these. I guess we have exotic taste in plants.

I love, love my glass door. And you know how much I love sunflowers. Perfect combo.

My beautiful best friend, Janelle, gifted this for me as a housewarming present. It goes with my decor perfectly. She knows me well!

I snagged this fabulous Martha Stewart round rug at Home Goods at an excellent price. It lays in our half bath downstairs. I can't tell you how obsessed I am with rugs. But I think I can pick them out good.

We also painted the coffered ceiling in the family to give the house a warmer feel. I think we picked a great color. It's not as dark as "Spud", but it is still in the family. This one is "Coffee" that we got at Lowes.

Finally, here is mother of rugs in our home. I couldn't resist this rug when I saw it at Target. It just suited our new wood floors nicely and it matches our love seat pattern nicely. I had to have it. Mr. made it happen.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little tour around our home. It really is beginning to feel like we actually live here. We will really feel it once we get started on the gardening and planting in the fall. Mr. and I really enjoy that!

sunflowers.

I adore Sunflowers. I love having fresh ones at home. My bridal shower was sunflower themed, as well. They just make me smile looking at them. This weekend we drove passed a sunflower farm field. It was so beautiful! I hope to go back this coming weekend to pick fresh ones from the field. I'll blog about them if I am successful at picking out some nice ones. I don't think I will have trouble. :)

Full House ♥

I ♥ it when our home is a full house! Looks like these little guys will be dropped off very soon to spend a few days with us in Georgia. I can't wait. I am sure we will make cupcakes and cookies galore, per Nick's request, since we have 2 ovens! My life was complete when these guys entered it. So excited...and I am sure my dad and my step-mother appreciate a quiet house for a few days!

Banana Delight

*I forgot to take a picture of my creation, so Martha's version of it will have to do!*

This past weekend we hosted another BBQ get together. I decided I wanted to make Banana Pudding. I thought it would be an easy, sweet and refreshing summer dessert. And it was a hit. Everyone LOVED it! I can't tell you how simple it is to put together. And if you wanted it to be light on the calories, all you have to do is substitute some items with fat-free or light versions of the ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 pkgs. Jello instant vanilla pudding (You can go the sugar free route to make it easy on the calories)

Milk (for the pudding)

About 4 ripe bananas

1 box of Vanilla Wafers

Cool Whip (Again, you can get the fat-free version or just omit all together. It would still be delicious without the whipped cream topping)

Directions:

1. In a big bowl, prepare the vanilla pudding. After whipping it together, the pudding will be set in about 5 minutes.

2. Cut bananas into slices.

3. In a dish of your choice, prepare the dessert by layering the ingredients. I chose to layer the vanilla wafers first, then pour the pudding, then layer the bananas, and repeat!

4. After all the wafers, bananas, and pudding are layered, top with the cool whip.

5. Enjoy!