Fall Is In the Air...

I hope you like the new blog title. I thought of it the other day, and told Zach about it. He thinks I'm a dork, but oh well...I thought it was catchy! :) Just thought I would post a few photos I took yesterday around the house. I LOVE decorating for any holiday. Christmas, of course, is my absolute favorite, but Autumn comes as a close second. This year, I had many new decor items, since the theme of Mamaw Ruth's 90th birthday was Autumn. (Speaking of, hopefully pics from the party will be coming soon. Zach wants to put time into editing them, and we haven't had much of that lately.) When Mom and I were buying decorations for the party, we had our houses in mind. It's always good to reuse/recycle, right?

I really wanted to buy pumpkins for the front porch, since my scarecrow was looking a little sad by himself. I talked Zach into it last Saturday when we made a quick trip to Wal-Mart. I just bought one big one, so it wasn't so bad. He talked me out of getting mums, and I'm glad. They don't last very long at all, even if you take care of them. The first frost, and they're gone. Many of the ones I've seen in town lately are looking sickly already. We can do without.

Hopefully, Zach will take his camera out for some more Fall pictures soon. There are only a few really colorful trees around town this year. Maybe he can take some shots before the leaves start falling. I'll post some if he does!

Things are going very well in the Jones household!! We've just been working away, as always. Choir is running along wonderfully. I said "yes" to the trio with Dr. Roger and Miranda. Any prayers on that will be greatly appreciated! I had prayed for a sign, or just something to let me know if I should or shouldn't do it, and the strangest thing happened. After rehearsal last Wednesday night, Roger asked me to meet with him & Miranda and just "go over" some songs. He had given me a CD last week with three songs to listen to. After listening to all three, I chose my favorite, easily. At practice, he opened up the book, and turned right to my favorite I had picked out to start rehearsal with. He said it was their favorite too. That was my sign. :)

Zach's work has been picking up lately, and he's keeping busy with meetings and advertising too. In his slow times, he's always putting himself out there to pick up new business. I'm so proud of him!!

We also have a new addition to the family- a new niece, Bailey Anne. We went to see her and the family on Saturday. We took lots of pictures, but they're still on Zach's phone. I hope to post them soon! (I see a pattern here of lost pictures on his phone and camera, don't you?) :) We took his mom out to lunch at The Boathouse for her birthday and sat outside to enjoy the gorgeous weather. It was such a beautiful day and we had a great time catching up with family!

Weekend With My Sweetie

...Yes, I realize every weekend is usually a weekend with my sweetie, but we just had a really good one this past weekend. On Friday night, we experimented with something new for dinner. We had bought a sauce mix for lettuce wraps when we went on our anniversary outing to Birmingham and stopped by World Market (we both LOVE that store)! We still have some of the first pieces of furniture, a desk and a Parsons chair, that we bought there two years ago while in the first stages of decorating our house. For the lettuce wrap mixture, we only had to add chicken, chopped onion, carrot and water chestnuts. Easy enough. Zach cooked it (I'm not going to steal his credit), and I got the lettuce wraps ready. Easier said than done. I managed to tear most of the pieces so they were large enough to wrap the mix in. They were yummy! And, I was so excited that we got to use one of my favorite platters for them, that I took a picture. (Cheesy, I know, but I love it when I get to use my favorite pieces of china, and especially since it's not very often because we always just cook for two!) It actually doesn't look that appetizing now that I see the picture, but it was!

After dinner that night, Zach had conceded to watch Four Christmases with me. Usually, we make a deal where he watches a movie I want to see in exchange for me watching one with him. I guess that bill is still due, so I'll be waiting for it. He did enjoy it--even if he says otherwise. I saw him laugh many times, and that's not an easy task for a movie to get him laughing.

On Saturday, we went to his dad's to watch the game and have a yummy lunch of BBQ. I wish I could say the game was awesome and all is well, but most of you know how it went. We were a little bummed about the loss, but as I've heard a million times, the streak had to end sometime. I just hate it had to end with South Carolina, but, we'll get over it. Hopefully the team will be stronger because of it. Roll Tide, anyway!!

Zach's dad left to go hunting at halftime (needless to say, he wasn't thrilled about watching the last half of the game), and Zach and I toughed it out until the end. We headed home after that, freshened up a bit, took Daisy out, then grabbed our food and went "next door", or next door and up the hill, to David & Amy's house. Saturday was David's birthday, and Amy had invited a few of us over for dinner and more football. We had a blast hanging out with everyone there, and enjoyed the food & cake. It's great to have good friends just right up the hill from us.

After church on Sunday morning, we went out to lunch with David & Amy and the boys. The boys are in love with Zach, and I think it's the sweetest thing ever! When their youngest son Connor spotted Zach in Cracker Barrel, he ran up to him and gave him a hug. Zach's going to be such a good daddy someday. :)

Kids' choir was actually cancelled that day because of the church-wide picnic, so I had the afternoon off. We skipped the picnic and relaxed at home. We took a nap, then watched a couple movies. Sounds boring, but it was wonderful!

On Monday night, I skipped our Christian Women meeting and made a much-needed trip to get my hair done. I decided to try someone new, only for the second time ever, and LOVED it!! I went to Ashley Meacham, a girl I graduated from high school with. She did an awesome job on both the color and the cut. I'm still keeping it a lighter blonde, just for something different. I'm thinking about maybe going back darker for the Winter, but we'll see.

All is well with us lately. We're just enjoying the cooler weather and the slight change of color everywhere. I've picked out my favorite trees in town every year, and some of the same ones are already starting to show their colors. The bright, fiery reds are my favorite, followed by the bright gold as a close second. It was really cool this past week, which we loved. I even thought about dragging out the Christmas decorations early! I still think I might atleast bring them up from the basement so they will be ready to go when the time comes. I can never get enough of Christmas time- decorations, music and all!

Tonight is choir rehearsal- more Christmas music! Dr. Roger (our director) asked me about trying out some new songs tonight with him and Miranda for our possible trio. Yikes! Say a little prayer for me! :)