NumberNineteen

Caught My Fancy -- September

September, as usual, has been a super busy month.  Getting back into the school routine, lots of extra back-to-school events, fall festivals and Hope's activities gearing up again have made me a busy lady.  I'm trying to balance busy times with quiet times so that I don't become overwhelmed.  I've been watching You've Got Mail kind of incessantly (as you may have gathered from the past post or two...).  It's such a nice, happy and fall feeling movie.  On that note, here are a few things that caught my fancy this month....

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Oral History of You've Got Mail - Vanity Fair gathered together the stars and producers of You've Got Mail earlier this year to reminisce on the making of the movie and, more specifically, what it was like to work with the amazing Nora Ephron.  It is a wonderful inside peek into the making of the movie and how Ephron worked her magic that made us fall in love with her movies.

 

Downton Abbey Final Season Trailer - Downton Abbey is coming to and end, as we all know (sniff, sniff).  While it is currently showing in the UK, we Americans must wait until January to see what happens to our favorite cast of nobility and servants.  If this trailer doesn't make you simultaneously excited for the last season and slightly weepy, I don't know what will.

Annndddd....PBS also posted this little teaser, full of perfect lines and zingers that we all love....

 

Coming January 3rd, just in time to sweep away the post-holiday blues!

Old Fashioned Names That Are Making a Comeback - As an old fashioned kind of girl, I'm in love with the old names that are coming back in fashion -- Evelyn, Mae and Cora are some of my favorites (and happen to be family names).  I feel like old names have so much honor in them, a homage to the people who made our families who they are.  Hope's name, although sentimental to us, does not have any family names, but if we were to have another child (not happening), he/she would be named after family.

I hope that the beginning of fall is full of both the busy-ness that makes it exciting and the quiet times that allow us to enjoy it.

10 Years of My Hope

My baby girl turned 10 years old this week.  Ten years.  How the heck does that happen?  Hope lives up to her name everyday.

She is bright, feisty, wicked smart and completely an individual. She is truer to herself than anyone that I know. 
When she is happy and excited, she absolutely sparkles. I mean, it's like bright shiny-ness comes off of her and touches everyone around her.

For her birthday, we took she and her best friend to get pedicures and then we came home for ice cream and cake.  Her Mamaw (Glenn's mom) was there to celebrate with us as well.

Hope's Favorites at 10 years are:

Hobbies: Reading, Ballet & Tap, Girl Scouts, Playing Pokemon on her DS

Favorite Color: Purple

Favorite Clothes: Dresses

Favorite Foods: Chicken Nuggets, Egg Noodles with Parmesan Cheese, Uncle Ben's Wild Rice, Cheese

Favorite Subjects: Social Studies (she *loves* history)

Favorite Books: Spirit Animals, Pokemon, Skylander, 39 Clues, Mysteries, Historical Fiction

Favorite Movies: Cinderella (2015 version), Kit Kitridge (American Girl)

Hopie G, we love you so much!  You are our peanut and our sunshine.

 

Just a Hint of Fall

Two weeks in and we are becoming used to the school routine.  Homework and bus stops, packed lunches and PTO meetings.  Hope started ballet classes on Saturday and will start Tap on Monday.  Soon, Girl Scouts will be in the mix.

Today was the first day that had a hint of fall in the air. Low humidity and the sky is that perfect clear blue that only exists in September.  When I was at the store on Friday, I saw a bag of Autumn Mix candy corn and thought "Yes.  The time has come."  I came home, brought out a cinnamon candle and snuggled on the couch with a book.

Yesterday we had a small birthday celebration for Hope (more on that later this week) and today, I worked on my scrapbooks and watched You've Got Mail.  Favorite.Fall.Movie.Ever.  I may have re-started the movie as soon as I finished watching it. 

I don't know about you, but I'm all ready for fall.

Traditional Design on a Dime -- A Quick Copycat

Who doesn't love Cat Studio's geography pillows?  Their gorgeous hand embroidered designs are so fun and detailed.  Each one takes 40 hours to make!  I have a very stylish friend who has several on her sunporch in designs from she and her husband's home states as well as where they currently live.

I would love to have a Virginia pillow but at $168, it is not in my current budget.  However...Cat Studio makes geography tea towels with super cute cross stitch trim. 

The tea towels feature even more fun details than the pillows and are $20 (admittedly, a lot for a tea towel, but not for a pillow!).  You see where I'm going here....

Ta da!  I cut out the main design of the towel, added some red rick rack and stitched it to a piece of white linen.  I love it!

That is my kind of "look for less"!  I see that they make them in a Cape Cod design as well....