Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We haven't been home the past few years due to football and such so it's been fun to celebrate/continue celebrating the spooky day.  

This year for Halloween Derek and I were Chip & Joanna Gaines!  Derek was the mastermind behind the plan after our trip to Waco since we already had the shirts.  A couple print outs for the sign and a few accessories later it actually made for a pretty easy costume.

Are y'all ready to see your fixer upper???

During that huge Penn State win (!!!) on Saturday I made some pumpkin cookies for various events using my go to homemade dough recipe.

Enjoy celebrating! xx 

Fall For The Home

Finally the weekend is here; this week seemed like the longest yet! The getting dark earlier and earlier has been tough on us for sure.  I'm glad it's the weekend - a weekend at home - to make pumpkin cookies, do a little Halloween celebrating and all the usual weekend things.

We are hosting Thanksgiving this year so I've paid much more attention to fall decor than usual.  I had a few things before but picked up a couple nicer items this year - like centerpieces and such.  I try to get things that'll last from September until the Christmas decor goes up (the day after I finish hosting this year, usually before).

Whether Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving or just a fall event, these wine tags are the perfect thing to throw on a wine bottle for a hostess gift.  I love the tassels on the Thankful pillow and both signs would add a nice touch to any kitchen.

Cranberries & Vodka Sign / Eat Drink & Be Thankful Dish Towels / Wine Bottle Tags / Table Runner 

Glass Lanterns / Dessert Stand / Thankful Pillow / Cake Platter / Turkey Pie & Football Sign

Our dining room has a white/gold theme and I think these would be the perfect serving pieces to add in with the current display.  Appetizer plates always catch my eye and I love the variety of these.

Appetizer Plates / Get Stuffed Platter / Give Thanks Napkins

Enjoy your weekend! xx

Tailgate Treats: Buffalo Chicken Dip

We have our usual tailgate favorites but it's fun to mix it up a little each time so it's not the same exact thing game after game.  Now that it's getting cooler out, we're definitely preferring some more warm items as apposed to the cold dips and sides and such.

Buffalo Chicken Dip:
One of our new tailgate items this year and by far a favorite this season (we've had it every game so far!) is an easy buffalo chicken dip.

Ingredients:

8 ounces light cream cheese

1/2 cup ranch dressing

1/2 cup sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup buffalo sauce (or more...)

2 cups cooked and shredded chicken 

Directions:

Combine the cream cheese, sour cream and ranch dressing.

Mix in the chicken and buffalo sauce.

Mix in the cheddar cheese (and more buffalo sauce, if you want).

Spread into a serving dish and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Serve with tostitos ships or slices of baguette.

Enjoy! xx

Penn State vs Ohio State

What a night Saturday was.  It was a night game.  It was a white out.  It was a crisp fall evening.  It was vs Ohio State.  It was a huge victory.  It's now the first time since the scandal and the sanctions that Penn State is ranked again - #24.

We kicked things off early before it got dark with buffalo dip, mexican dip, crockpot meatballs, cheese roll ups and such.  We had a big group so for dinner we went with pulled pork and crockpot potato soup to help keep warm and some cookies and treats from Carlo's Bakery for dessert.

There isn't anything quite like a white out and this one was electrifying.  Our favorites Kirk Herbstreit and Sam Ponder were in town to call the game and sideline report.  The weather was crazy to say the least - high winds, quite chilly and even unexpected rain for a little bit.  From the start of the game things were close until we were down by 14 and came back to win in the final minutes knocking off the number two team and plenty of people rushing the field in white.

It was a great night in Happy Valley and I think everyone is still celebrating!

Loving

Happy Friday! This week felt like it took forever but at least we've made it to the weekend.  It felt like summer around here pretty much all week long and while I miss those summer nights, I'm ready for it to be one temperature and all fall.  I found myself at Target last night picking up candy for trick-or-treaters... It's hard to believe that Halloween is right around the corner.

Black and white can never do you wrong.. Tie tops, bell sleeves, ponchos, scarves, booties, espadrilles.. all some of of my favorite trends.

Tie Neck Blouse / Bootie / Bow Scarf / 

Check Wool Wrap / Dior Palette

Bell Sleeve Top / Colorblock Espadrilles / Kate Spade Satchel 

Have a great weekend.  Thanks for stopping by! xx

Looks & Life Lately {28}

It's been almost a month since my last looks & life so some of these are going back a few weeks.  Over the summer I got pretty lazy about the "looks" part so I'm going to try to be better about that in the new season...

top  / similar espadrilles / similar purse 

dress / flats / scarf / ring

dress (long sleeve version) 

similar top / pants

My parent's friends sent them fresh grouper from Florida so they had us all over for a delicious dinner on the deck back in September.  How cute are they in the picture with the food to send to the friends?

Me and the boys out to dinner in downtown State College the night before a game.

It's hard to believe that we got engaged three October's ago - we celebrated with an at home steak dinner.

With the warm weather this week we lucked out for champagne on the new office rooftop and walking over to one of our favorite sushi places for dinner on the roof there to celebrate.

My sweet little family...

Basic.  So basic but I couldn't help myself.

The daily dose of Stella... 

Cowboys Game

To finish off our time in Dallas we spent Sunday at the Cowboys game.  AT&T Stadium is such a fun place so I always enjoy tagging along with Derek.  We got to the stadium a little bit early to enjoy time in the Plaza before and such then saw an exciting game and win over the Bengals.  For literally the third time, Derek was on the big screen; this time I made it too.

One of my guilty pleasure tv shows is Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Making the Team on CMT so like every year, I was definitely fangirling over the cheerleaders.

For the first time I wore something Cowboys to the game - just a hat - but still, maybe it was good luck :)

Magnolia Market

One of our favorite parts of our recent trip to Dallas was our side trip down to Waco and Magnolia Market.  Derek is actually the one that got me into Fixer Upper and we're huge fans of the show as well as Chip and Joanna.  

The Market was the cutest spot and everything you'd picture it to be.  It was drizzling when we arrived so we walked around a little bit and luckily the rain caused a very short line at the bakery so we grabbed a cinnamon roll to share and some cupcakes to enjoy later.  We were still able to eat outside under cover and enjoy the setting.

It was the "Silobration" celebration when we were there with extra activities including street vendors to make a visit to too.  We spent a good amount of time inside the market admiring all the home decor items (and making a list of what to order online since we were traveling) but we walked away with an armful of goodies including their new magazine a week or so before it hit the news stands.

Luckily the drizzle stopped so before we left we spent a little bit more time enjoying the grounds before heading back up to Dallas.  It's a perfect place to spend a day and we're already talking about going back!