Autumn Welcome

Happy Autumn to all of you out there!  I've got a mellow post for ya'll today.  It's been a few weeks in between posts because Jordan and I have both been pretty busy with work.  My company just closed our fiscal half so the last several weeks have been a little nutty.  Basically, I've been sucked into the vortex of corporate jargon and worrying about "revenue", "margin, "inco terms", "stock levels", yadda, yadda.  I survived the vortex, but I'm grateful that it is the beginning of October!

It has still been pretty warm in Texas so the temperatures don't really reflect the Fall season.  We are expecting a cool front tonight so we might see the 60's soon!

Jordan and I did a little yard work/planting around our yard a few weekends ago to get ready for the season. Do you remember the hydrangea plant that I shared with ya'll earlier this summer?  Well, the little plant is barely surviving.  I think the heat was too much for it and I might have forgotten to water it a few times.  I think the only reason this hydrangea is still living is because Jordan has watered it for me.  Bless that man....

Lesson learned.  Hydrangeas require a LOT of water and canNOT get too hot.  Oopsie.  Jordan and I planted what's left of the hydrangea in the ground to give it a fighting chance at surviving.  Maybe that will be better than living in a pot.  Below is a picture of the poor plant these days.

I'm hanging on to a shred of hope that this bush will survive, bounce back, and possibly even establish itself in this place.  It would be so lovely to have fresh hydrangea flowers.

We did some other planting too.  
Top: Since the hydrangea was moved from a pot to the ground, we put a mum plant in our vacant pot.  It's a little squished, but the mum seems to have better luck than the hydrangea.  It even has a couple of blooms!
Bottom: While we were on a roll, we planted some potato vines in a pot in our backyard.  Again, I hope the potato vine will be okay in the volatile fall temperatures.  So far, these vines have lived under my care and protection for a whole 2 weeks.  No, I haven't killed them (yet), in fact the potato vine even produced a little flower yesterday (below)! 

I had no idea potato vines bloomed?!  I'm pretty darn sure this IS a potato vine, but I suppose it could have been miss labeled in the store.  Oh well, the flower is a bonus.

The month of September also brought some financial changes for us.  Last month, we re-financed our home.  It was an awful lot of work to find all the right paperwork and understand the complicated documents, but it's done!  Our monthly payment only went up $2.00 and our interest rate dropped a full point.  We even lost 15 years of payments (30 year down to a 15 year)!!!  Not too shabby.  I'm really glad that process is behind us.  Ugh!  

If you're thinking about refinancing your home, this might be a good time before interest rates go back up!  Jordan and I went through Churchill Mortgage.  I'm not the easiest customer to please, but I felt like we got great service and would use them again.  Plus, Churchill Mortgage is recommended by Dave Ramsey!  We are big fans of Dave Ramsey as you might have guessed from our picture I posted in June of this year!


I was really excited to see these little words on our bank statement once everything closed and the paperwork was signed.  "Pd in FULL"!  Of course, we still have a monthly mortgage to pay, but someday, it will be awesome to see these words and officially own our home!  Gotta have goals people!

As I mentioned, I'm excited that cooler temps are on the way so I couldn't resist buying a few candles for the season.  I LOVE candles!  They figuratively and literally warm any kind of space and make me smile (Jordan says I like candles because I have a bit of pyro in me...I get it from my mom).  I went into Bath and Body works for 2 candles, just two, and walked out with 4.  Eek!  Still, I'm looking forward to some of these great scents. 

And I'll leave you all with a couple lazy shots of Abby and Jordan.  These are some of my favorites.
Top Left: Just waiting patiently for me to stop my work and play with her.
Bottom Left: Snuggling with Jordan.  She is a live teddy bear and will cuddle with you for hours if you let her.
Right:  I just don't know how to describe this picture.  This is her favorite position to sleep in and I find it hilarious.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cheese it Up

Image
Sometimes I feel like Jordan and I live for the weekends.  We are very blessed to have each other, jobs that we both enjoy, an adorable pup, and a pretty house, so we definitely  enjoy the week days.  It's just that the weekends are when the action happens!  I don't know if we rest more during the week or the weekends! Last weekend was no exception.  We managed to strike the right balance of being productive while still having some leisure time.  Those are my favorite kind of weekends because that's a really tough balance to get! We recently planted some new flowers around our house which was a big chore.  I always get the spring bug this time of year (not the sickness).  I can't help it!  I don't have any sort of green thumb so I suppose this spring tradition will continue for years to come.  In the short time that we've had these pretty flowers, we've spent a lot more time outside.  The nice weather helps too!   Here's the run down of our new pl
Read more

July 4th with Family

Image
Happy July 4th...or 14th.  It's taken me a while to get around to sharing pictures from our Independence Day celebration but I've got 30+ pictures of family food and fun to share! There is no other holiday quite like the 4th of July in America!  Everyone takes off work to enjoy delicious food (and cold drinks), BBQ, and the faint smell of explosives in the air --- those bombs bursting in air! This year was even sweeter than previous years because my brother, Andy, and his family flew to Texas for a long visit!  I was so thrilled to see them all! Top Left: I do love a little flare!  I got a pedicure before the holiday and decided to go with a patriotic theme.  The design looks almost like a Wonder Woman theme which is equally awesome. Top Right: My brother, Scott, with his pup Lucy.  She is laser focused on the lake smells in this picture. Bottom Left: Me, my niece, Kenley, and Lucy!  Lucy sure has grown so much from when she was a puppy (see her Chri
Read more

Doodles and Drawings

Image
I've continued to have fun with my Tombow calligraphy markers that I talked about on my Tombow Watercolor post.  Pinterest is rich with unique and interesting art!  I've found that it's extremely relaxing to sit down and doodle with my markers while sipping quality wine and listening to some music.  It makes for a messy kitchen table but I feel very chill and in my own element! The only new piece of art I have to share is this "hustle" poster I made for a friend.  I began by playing with the texture of watercolor paper (verses usually using "media" paper).  The water and markers react completely different depending on the surface and paper.  I ended up with this woodland-ish doodle. Leaves are probably not the most interesting focus, but I had fun playing with the different shades of greens and browns along with the various textures of leaves.  I have so many shades of markers so it was a great opportunity to use them all!  For fun, I even
Read more