Why'd The Chicken Cross the Road? To Trick-or-Treat, Of Course!


Happy Halloween from our favorite little chicken! Although he already debuted his costume at his school's costume parade last week, we're excited to help HDawg flap his little wings through our neighborhood tonight and ask for candy... that I get to eat! Best Halloween ev-er.

Have fun with your friends and family tonight. Be safe! Bawk bawk!

Minted Holiday Cards + $75 Giveaway to Minted!

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER IS ANNOUNCED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST.*

Halloween is in two days, friends. Which means that Thanksgiving is just a mere three weeks away. And that leads me to the fact that Christmas is just around the corner!

One of my favorite things about Christmas time is receiving holiday cards in the mail from family and friends. Every year, I break out the cards from years past... it's so much fun to look back at how kids have grown, life has evolved and hair cuts have changed!

This will be a fun year for us to send out cards since our card will star an adorable toddler and a quickly growing baby bump! I've already pulled my top card options from Minted- here are a few of my favorites!

Everyone's favorite holiday card is the classic photo card. Minted has so many unique designs and cute customization options for you to add your family photo to.




Minted also has some adorable holiday postcards in their selection. David and I went the holiday postcard route with our 2011 Christmas cards- it's such a simple and easy way to get your holiday message out! And cheaper on postage, too : )



But I have to say that my favorite product Minted has right now are these fabulous new foil stamped holiday cards. Aren't they beautiful?!



Seriously, I'm in love. I can't wait to share with y'all which card I picked for our 2013 cards!

Here's the best part... Minted wants you to choose one of these awesome cards for your family holiday cards in 2013! They're giving away a $75 credit to minted.com for you to use on holiday cards this year. You can enter to win several different ways on the Rafflecopter widget below. The giveaway is open until midnight on Sunday, November 3, 2013. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
 
Just for fun, check out our 2011 Christmas card and our 2012 Christmas card!  
 
*THE WINNER OF THE $75 SHOP CREDIT TO MINTED IS ENTRY #135, KATIE LARSEN, WHO LIKED MINTED ON FACEBOOK. CONGRATS, KATIE!*

Tuesdays at Ten June

Between unpacking our new home, decorating for fall, decorating for Christmas and un-decorating for Christmas (ha!), I haven't gotten to work on many fun home decor projects lately. That's why I have you guys, to inspire me! Let's see what you guys have been up to lately!

I don't think I'll ever get tired of the gradient/ombre trend on furniture and fabrics. Check out Erin's curbside trash dresser find turned fabulous decor piece. She nailed it!


 Not only am I loving their amazing Halloween decorations, but I'm also totally jealous of that gorgeous dark wall color in this awesome entryway space from Oldest Middle Little.


I also have to brag on a few bloggers who have seriously knocked my pants off lately. Wait, that's not how the saying goes... knocked my socks off. No pants would just be getting awkward. Pants on, I promise!

Ashley over at The Handmade Home made over her family sun porch into an incredibly inspiring studio for her to work in. I could seriously pin every single image for her reveal post as inspiration, it's amazeballs!



Ashley just shared a step-by-step tutorial on the gold-leafed desk she did, check it out!

You guys know I'm a huge fan of Jenny Komenda over at Little Green Notebook. Did you see her master bedroom Ikea Pax closet system? Seriously, I have no words. Okay, I do. Incredible!



I'm in awe as to how much talent is how there in the world. Keep sending me your projects, folks, I love sharing them!

Stay tuned... I've got a really fun holiday giveaway tomorrow that you won't want to miss. Here are a few hints: stamps, photos and mailboxes. You picking up what I'm throwing down? : )

Scenes From A Fall Weekend

 Sigh. What a fabulous weekend. While I always love the fall season every year, this year, it has new meaning for our family. After a long, crazy summer, this fall season has been a time to hit refresh for us. The crisp weather, the upcoming holiday season... it all seems like a new start for us. Needless to say, I have enjoyed every single moment of this fall and settling into our new house and new town!

This weekend, we had some very "fall" moments... lots of pumpkin! HDawg rocked a pumpkin hat to school, I baked a pumpkin + chocolate chip bread for a cookout with friends and we painted pumpkins with H to prep for this week's Halloween festivities!




On Saturday, David, H and I went to a fall festival in our new neighborhood. We had a really great time, but it didn't help that HDawg was ready for a nap. We tried to get him to enjoy his first pony ride and, well, he wasn't really having it. David snapped this hilarious shot of H practically falling asleep on the pony!


We totally enjoyed the cooler weather and even lit our first (fake) fire of the season! I'm not gonna lie, gas logs aren't as fun as real logs, but it's super cool to be able to flip a switch and turn this fire on at our new place!


I also finished up my projects for the Home Depot Holiday Style Blogger Challenge! I can't wait to share with you guys. It was slightly chaos in my living room... combining the current Halloween/fall decor I have up with a ton of fun Christmas decor = holiday madness! : ) While I originally thought I'd keep the Christmas decor up through the end of the year, I decided yesterday morning that it had to come down until after Thanksgiving. Like I said, we're enjoying our fall and will wait and look forward to Christmas when it comes that time!

So there you have it, our fun fall weekend. What were you up to this weekend!?

Psst! Don't forget to send me your Tuesdays at Ten June projects for tomorrow!

The Friday Jot List

Why hello there, Friday, so good to see you! I'm excited for a fun fall weekend ahead of us... we've got fall festivals, cook outs with friends, pumpkin painting and family dinners on the agenda. Follow me on Instagram (@tenjuneblog) for all of the fun!

1. Cool temps. Just in time to set the mood for my weekend of fall fun ahead, the temperatures have taken a drop this week here in Georgia. It's time for more cozy fall clothes! While I'm having to modify with a few "bump friendly" options this year, this is my fall uniform. Chambray shirt, leather ankle boots, black leggings and a fun, patterned scarf... and I'm set!




 via
  
2. Home Depot Holiday Style Blogger Challenge. I'm excited to share that I'm participating in this year's Holiday Style Blogger Challenge with Home Depot! I've seriously had a blast with the challenge so far. I never thought I'd decorate my house for Christmas in October, but that's certainly what we're doing this year! Here's a little sneak peek of my project.


 Ohhh yeah, get excited! Hopefully I'll be able to share more in the next couple of weeks.

3. BabyCenter. I've got another fun announcement for you... after taking the last year or so off, I'm back on board and writing for the folks over at BabyCenter! For my first article back, I shared a step-by-step tutorial on my Halloween "boo y'all!" banner. Check out the article right here and let me know what you think! I always love having my blog readers visit me over on BabyCenter : )


4. Tuesdays at Ten June. Is back on track next week! Send me your projects! Anything you've been working on lately... fall crafts and holiday decor, recipes, room makeovers, DIY projects... you name it, I want to feature it! Send me your project photos or blog links via email (tenjuneblog@gmail.com with the subject line "Tuesdays at Ten June") or tag them on Instagram (#tuesdaysattenjune). I can't wait to see what you have up your sleeves!

5. Hashtags. I'm over them. Seriously, Jimmy and Justin ruined them for me with their hilarious skit. I can't hashtag anything without feeling like an idiot now! #lamesauce #iheartjimmyandjustin #putyourthangdownflipitandreverseit #areyouwithme #youknowtheyreright #hashtag
Have a great weekend, y'all!

21 Weeks: Baby #2 Bump Update


WHY I choose to post no makeup + wet hair pictures on my blog for all to see, I'm not sure. Just for the record, I promptly blow dried my hair, put on makeup and finished getting dressed after David casually snapped this photo of me. And then never took another picture. Doh! #noshame

So here we are, just over halfway along with baby #2! Can you believe it?! I can't.

The last five months have been such a whirlwind. First of all, I spent most of it nauseous. From about six weeks until about nineteen weeks (and still, it comes and goes), I was nauseous a majority of the day. Thank goodness for Zofran, I'm not sure I could have made it through the day without it! Also, the "first-trimester fatigue" stayed with me a lot longer than when I was pregnant with HDawg. But that could have easily been the added full-time job + chasing around a one-year-old + moving out of two houses + moving into a new house thing!


Just for fun, this photo is me at 21 weeks pregnant with H. I think I'm about the same in terms of bump-size, don't you?! David and I haven't been as good at taking weekly bump photos during this pregnancy like we did before (you can see how I documented HDawg's pregnancy here). While we don't put pressure on a weekly shot, we are definitely still keeping up with bump photos and, more importantly, I have a sweet baby journal I write in often to document my preggo times.

Last week, we had the little guy's 20 week ultrasound. Everything looked healthy and perfect! The little booger had his legs squeezed together and bent back over his head for the entire 30 minute ultrasound, so we didn't get to triple check our original gender prediction as we had hoped! We definitely saw boy parts, loud and clear, at my 16 week scan, but David is now joking that he's convinced we're having a girl because he couldn't see the baby's junk at 20 weeks! Don't laugh, you'll only encourage him ; ) We're definitely having a boy and I couldn't be more excited about it.


Now that I'm full swing into my second trimester, I am feeling good. Based on my history with gestational diabetes, my doctor tested me early at 18 weeks to see if the GD had come back yet with this pregnancy. I passed! No GD!... yet. I will be tested again at the normal 28 weeks. But we're staying positive that I'll pass again in a couple of months!

Other than the nausea, I can't complain. I'm having some lower back pain issues, but that's par for course with a preggo chick! With all that we've had going on lately, exercise hasn't been a priority for me in the past few weeks but I'm actively changing that and have already done some yoga and walks around our new neighborhood this week. Oh and I have been having some craaaazy pregnancy dreams lately. I'm pretty sure HDawg had a play date with Ethan Schue (who lives across the country, a totally unrealistic feat!) in last night's dream. Just sayin.

So what's next? We are adoring getting settled into our lovely new home. We're so excited about celebrating the holidays with H, starting with Halloween next week. He's at the age where he understands more about what's going on, so holidays should be super fun! And hello, we have a nursery to decorate! HDawg's nursery is my favorite room ev-er, so I have a lot to live up to with the next nursery.

Needless to say, there are SO many fun things ahead. Being pregnant is such a blessing and I thank God every day for David, H, baby #2 and our amazing little family!

Cutesy + Spooky Halloween Mantel

As you guys know from years past, I don't typically decorate for Halloween. Usually I stick with a fall theme and keep it up from September to November. But this year, we've finally got a kiddo who actually cares about trick-or-treating and pumpkins! Well, kind of. As much as trick-or-treating means to a 14 month old who likes to run around, say "hi!" and wave to people. In that case, trick-or-treating is totally up HDawg's alley. 

I sprinkled a few Halloween decorations around the house, but kept the spooky decor mostly to the living room fireplace mantel. I plan to move some of the elements to our front porch on Halloween night. We have a ton of kids in our new neighborhood, so hopefully we'll have lots of kiddos to impress!

Of course, I don't want things to get too scary since HDawg is so young. So I decided to combine some scary elements with some adorable ones. Without further ado, here's our cutesy and spooky Halloween mantel!


My friends at Target sent over a few fun Halloween items to help me decorate for the season. I reconfigured those adorable silver and gold skeleton arm salad tongs and serving bowls as creepy decor. To balance out the creepy tongs and bowls, I added some black and white pumpkins and crafted up this little "boo y'all!" sign from scrapbook paper and twine.


I took a cue from my girl Cassie and her amazing black and white Halloween mantel and added black and white striped candles. I made my own by adding black electrical tape to white candlesticks. Easy!
 

I think this skeleton banner is super cute- the skeletons kind of flap in the wind and look like they're dancing! HDawg things they're funny!
 

I framed a page from an old Halloween book in a cheap Ikea frame. I think the black and white polka dot wrapping paper I used as matting lends more "cute" to the other creepy elements. And it matches my polka dotted DIY banner! Cutesy + spooky, I'm telling you. It's the way to go.


Eyeball bubble gum balls anyone?!
 

Target also has a ton of great Halloween entertaining items, like these plates, straws, mixers and fun candies. We may have a few neighbors over on Halloween night and these items will be perfect for celebrating!
 


It may be my first Halloween mantel, but I have to admit, I kind of love it!


The Friday Jot List

Hey hey. Another Friday is upon us! I hope you guys have had all had a great week. Here are a few things on my mind right now.

1. I'm spending my Saturday afternoon at a wedding shower for my sister, Tori. I can't believe she's getting married in less than a month! Last weekend, I threw her a couples shower that had an adorable "backyard BBQ" theme. Of course, we had to throw a few baseball themed items in the mix because of their awesome Braves game engagement story.

Of course, I was a bad blogger and didn't snap a ton of pictures, but here are a few from my iPhone.







Yes, we put a keg in a wheelbarrow and called it "rustic" to fit our theme. And yes, my sister and I look a lot alike!! Oh and my sister's friend made their cake... isn't it amazing?!

2. I announced the winner of the fall wreath giveaway here! Check it out to see if you won.

3. I cannot believe it, but I'm 20 weeks along in this pregnancy this week! David and I got to see our baby bean #2 on an ultrasound yesterday... let's just say that this kid is adorable, that's for sure! I'll post a "halfway" update post for y'all next week with bump pics, I promise!

4. Between more unpacking and the wedding shower, I'm hoping that I'll have some time this weekend for a few fall things, like adding some fall jazz to our front porch, decorating for Halloween, baking fall treats and picking out pumpkins. Check out my fall Pinterest board for some of my ideas!

Alright, I'm off to wrangle my pajama-clad 14 month into some clothes to run some errands. Y'all have a great weekend!

Mummified Chocolate Bars, Eyeball Cookies + Skeleton Apple Smiles: DIY Halloween Candy Treats

Half of my kitchen stuff is still unpacked and sitting in boxes, so I haven't had a chance to whip up any fun fall goodies yet this year. You can be sure that there are some pumpkin + chocolate chip muffins or cookies in my near future, though!

I was browsing through some of my old fall projects when I came across these fun DIY Halloween candy treats I created a few years ago and shared here on my blog.

How cute are these mummified chocolate bars?


 Everyone loves a good edible body part around Halloween time... these eyeball cookies are no exception!


And for those of you who like healthier options, I whipped up a fun skeleton apple smile treat, too!


Not only do these little treats make me hungry, they motivate me to finish unpacking the kitchen so I can create more fun Halloween treats! Only a couple weeks left! If you want to learn more about these DIY treats, check out my original post here. Have you made any fun fall goodies yet this year?


Don't forget to enter here to win your own hand-crafted fall front door wreath!

Tuesdays at Ten June

It's Tuesday in the houuuuse! Time for a fun Tuesday at Ten June feature.

Beth sent me her basement home office makeover reveal... um, it's amazing! She and her hubs took their outdated barn house basement and turned it into a beautiful space for her to be creative. I love all of the details that she perfected in the space.

BEFORE


AFTER


Ohhh, yeah. Beth added some amazing desk space, complete with adorable minty green cabinets. She also created all kinds of great storage for her office and craft products. I'm so jealous!




Didn't she do a great job? Love it, Beth.

I've got so many fun things to blog about with our new house, I think I may start making the "Tuesdays at Ten June" feature an every-other-week feature. That ok with you guys?! With that said, I still want you to submit your awesome projects every week! The projects can be anything you've done yourself... DIY home decor, kids projects, organization, recipes, holiday decorating, room makeovers... you did it, I want to see it. You can email your projects to me at tenjuneblog@gmail.com or tag them on Instagram with #tuesdaysattenjune. I will check both places when pulling submissions for the feature post. Can't wait to see what you're working with- you guys keep the rest of us inspired!
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