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Dan and I had an amazing summer together, our first one as a married couple! But it is officially autumn, a new season for adventure. While most of my Saturdays are already booked for the next two months, I still have a few fun ideas I want to do! Autumn in Ohio doesn’t last that long, though, so I probably only have until Thanksgiving to get this all done. Wish me luck!
Autumn Bucket List
Fashion
- Buy inexpensive tall brown boots. I’ve pinned so many cute outfits on Pinterest featuring brown boots! But I’m not willing to invest in a nice pair until I can guarantee I’ll wear them often enough to warrant the expense.
- Wear skirts or dresses with tights or knee socks. I have such a short time when I can actually show off cute tights or cute knee socks. About halfway through November, I’m stuck wearing pants every day for warmth until about April.
- Wear a blog-worthy outfit at least once a week. I usually dress fairly casually, more out of laziness than anything else, but I like wearing cute outfits for Game Night each week.
Cooking
- Make pumpkin soup! I love everything pumpkin, and not to go all hipster on y’all, but I’ve been a fan of pumpkin-flavored everything since before Starbucks made it cool. I even made pumpkin bread as a kid–and it wasn’t even autumn at the time.
- Cook at least two meals in the crock pot every month.
- Use our pierrade again.
Ohio
- Successfully complete a corn maze.
- Pick pumpkins.
- Carve and/or paint pumpkins. I can’t decide what I want to do with them!
- Roast pumpkin seeds. (Dan is carving his, so we can at least roast the pumpkin seeds from his pumpkin).
- Host a party.
- Get local corn-on-the-cob and grill it!
DIY
- Make an ornament wreath.
- Make a wreath for all seasons.
- Make nerdy t-shirts for Comic Con.
Blog
- Connect with my “Big” Stephanie at My Freckled Life. (Learn more about the blogging Bigs/Littles here). Apparently we both have degrees in French, so I’m already excited to get to know her!
- Schedule all the blog sponsorships I want to do from November to April. I’ll be hanging out on Jessica’s sidebar at Jessica Lynn Writes in October!
- Blog at least twice a week.
- Write and schedule more posts in advance (seeing as I’m writing this before bed).
There are other things I’d like to do, like get a fire pit for the backyard and roast marshmallows, or go apple picking and make apple pie, but I’m trying to be realistic. I literally have something planned for every single Saturday through October. Thus I’m limiting my autumn bucket list to what can be accomplished after work or on Sundays.
I’m linking up with The Circle for Fall Faves. What I want to do this fall totally counts as my favorite things, right? So what’s on your fall bucket list?
“Make nerdy t-shirts for Comic Con.” – you are going!!!! So fun! I wish we were able to! What kind of nerdy are you going to go with?!?! Oh! I can’t wait to see.
Yes!!!! We’re going to the one in Pittsburgh, the first weekend in December. We’ve been to the one in Toronto and in Columbus before. My t-shirt will say “Fake Geek Girl” and Dan’s will say “I Conquered the Friendzone.” Aka nerdy but also making a subtle feminist statement.
For costumes, I’m dressing up as Jadzia Dax. Dan has a lot of options from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I’m not sure if he’s decided yet. But the actress who played Jadzia Dax, Terry Farrell, is going to be there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love her character so much that I’m trying to convince Dan that we name our future daughter Brita Jadzia Long Fleck. He remains unconvinced on the Jadzia part.
I wear my brown boots pretty much everyday during the entire fall / winter period. So much that I’m on my third pair as I’ve worn through the previous two to such an extent that just getting them resoled wouldn’t help.
For spring/fall, I already have pink leather boots (from France!!!) and black leather boots, neither of which are warm enough for winter. For winter, I have awesome waterproof, really warm boots that I wear Thanksgiving through March, which are too warm for spring/fall. So the question is if I can add brown leather boots to the spring/fall rotation and get enough wear out of them to warrant real leather, instead of fake leather. For research purposes, I need fake ones.
Blogging Bigs & Littles sounds like a sorority and makes me miss being in my first year of alumna status 🙁
I’m five years out! It’s so weird. But I’ve contacted the advisers at a chapter near me, and I hope to advise soon.
I’m with Amanda – I wear my (black) boots almost everyday in the fall/winter, so I manage to justify spending $200ish on super comfy/waterproof boots (because trudging in the snow is awful otherwise!) that last a few years. Not sorry. Love La Canadienne. But I also got some cute cognac ones at Burlington for around $30 that I like.
My black boots are La Canadienne too! I wear them every day from about Thanksgiving through March. But I don’t want (yet) another pair of super-warm, lined snow boots. I want tall brown leather (fake for now) boots, for fall. I wear my black ankle real leather boots all the time in the fall (and spring, TBH), but I bought those after a year and half of wearing fake leather black ankle boots all the time. I have to be realistic about my wardrobe needs and only make very careful purchases.
that owl necklace is so lovely! corn mazes are my favorite! & i love “make nerdy shirts for comic-con”
Thank you! Our house is full of owls (and keys, and fleurs-de-lis). Can you tell I’m a Kappa?
We’re super-excited about Comic Con. We’ve done the one in Toronto and in Columbus, but this year, we’re going to Pittsburgh. And we’re doing the whole weekend! So at least one costume each and one nerdy t-shirt each, but I’m undecided if the third day should be costumes or tees.
yay for pumpkin soup and all things pumping (before it was cool- fist pump!) Hope you have a beautiful Autumn 🙂
Pumpkin is so good, right?! Year-round, for that matter! I always order pumpkin bread at Starbucks, winter/spring/summer/fall.
I say yes to getting some boots (one of the best and most favorite pieces in my closet!), grilled corn on the cob, and corn mazes, too. You’ve pretty much summed up fall all in one post!
Thanks for linking up with us!
Thank you so much for hosting! I can’t wait til next month. 🙂
Corn mazes are the best. And I invested in a pair of brown boots I loved and only got to wear them for 2 years before we moved to a land without (much) cold weather. 🙁 But it’s okay, I gave them to my little sister who loves boots, so they won’t be abandoned.
My black winter boots are my investment piece, and even if we moved somewhere warm and sunny today, they have been worth every penny. Three winters across New York, Toronto, and Ohio? Totally worth expensive warm boots. The question is if I will wear fall boots that aren’t warm enough for the snow often enough for an investment… The hunt for inexpensive brown boots is ongoing. I didn’t see any less than $70 this weekend at DSW.
Hi Brita, I love your list. I am all about pumpkin in the fall. Everything comes out pumpkin then, cakes, soups, coffee, candles and I eat it up, ( no candles)..I make butternut squash soup in the fall and it is delicious, I think pumplin soup would be as well. IN regard to fashion, you look great in tights,this year I went and bought so many different patterned tights to wear,I love the texture it gives an outfit. Love the ruffled cardigan you have on.
from the link up
please stop by, jess
http://www.elegantlydressedandstylish.com/
I LOVE pumpkin, but I actually eat it year-round. 🙂
Tights are my favorite way to extend my summer clothes into fall!
what you wore was dang cute and that owl necklace is the bomb! 🙂
Aw, thank you!
I’m here for the circle! 🙂
What are some of your favorite fall crock pot dishes?
I’m hoping to get to the pumpkin patch/corn maze/cider pressing thing too before winter hits!
Clicking over to learn more about this “big/little” thing!
I need to learn crock pot cooking! We received a nice one as a wedding present, but we haven’t used it yet.
The big/little thing is cool. I think the blogs hosting it do it a few times a year, so you can sign up for the next round.
I wrote a reminder so that I don’t forget about the big/little partnership! Have you done it before? Have you stayed in contact with the blogger(s) that you’ve been partnered with? I’d love to hear your experience!
My go to crock pot meals are:
ROAST
Place roast (frozen works just fine) in the crock pot. Mix one package Lipton Onion Soup mix with 3/4 water and dump over roast. Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Just before dinner, ladle out most of the liquid (chunks and all) and place into a little pot on the stove. Mix 2 Tbsp flour with 1/4 cup water, dump into roast juice. Heat on med-high heat, whisking constantly until it is transformed into some of the best gravy you will ever eat!
Remove roast from crock pot and carve. Have gravy ready to pour onto your meat and potatoes.
Serve with mashed potatoes and carrots or green beans and a salad. YUM YUM!
PORK CHOPS AND STUFFING
Remove all bones from pork chops. Place into bottom of crock pot.
Top with one recipe of Stuffing (Stove Top Stuffing is a great cheat if you’re short on time).
Top with one can of Apple Pie Filling.
Cook on low for 4-6 hours.
This sounds super weird, but it is really, really good! You want to remove all of the bones because the crock pot makes pork chops super tender and the bones have a way of disappearing right into the rest of your food.
I serve this with a salad.
BBQ SANDWICHES
Your choice of beef or pork roast OR pork chops with bones removed. Place in crock pot.
Top with 1/2 c water, an onion chopped into large chunks, 1 tsp. garlic powder, a little paprika, salt, and pepper. Cover an cook on low 8-10 hours.
Remove meat from crock pot and put into your Bosch or Kitchen Aid with a bread paddle and let this machine shred the meat for you. OR Place onto a cutting board and shred with two forks, ripping and tearing until you’ve got the meat how you want it. Place into a sauce pan with your favorite BBQ sauce.
Serve on buns or with corn bread. Great sides are coleslaw, mac and cheese, and baked beans.
I am such a fan of your ruffled sweater. It looks like the perfect fall piece.
Thanks! It’s very cozy, and it instantly dresses up the simplest outfit.
I keep meaning to sign up for zulily, especially with the baby on the way, so when I saw your link I figured now was the time. Which means you officially have me as a referral!
Woohoo, thanks! I’ve used it only a few times. I’ve actually been wearing a lot lately a light-weight black trench coat that I bought from Zulily. I also bought a nice bikini top during one of their sales, but I was at work, so I couldn’t check my size, and they were almost sold out. Alas, I guessed my size wrong, but I was only out like $20 for a top that’s usually $50 or so.