a whole mish-mosh of stuff on a gloomy friday

 After a ton of sunny, warm days, the past couple of days have been overcast

and gloomy with some sprinkles of rain. I wish we'd get a good thunderstorm.

There's nothing like steady rain, the booms of thunder, and occasional flashes

 of lightning to make you feel safe and cozy in your home while the world is 

storming outside your walls. Good reading or movie-watching weather.

The leaves are falling like crazy now and the color change is showing its

beauty. This is the brush area right outside my front door.

I love watching the color change every fall of my neighbor's maple tree. 

You can tell from this photo how hazy and humid it is out there today.

The temps are still in the 70's, but the humidity level is at 85%! We 

actually had to turn the A/C back on last night so we could sleep. 

Despite the gloomy weather, today was the perfect day for me to stay at

home and nest anyway, as I've been out and about every day this week.

I got the house cleaned, caught up on reading some blogs, swept the leaves

off the porch and sidewalk, brushed the cats, and no surprise here ~

did some tweaking. I found this fall picture at a thrift shop a few weeks

ago and just couldn't find the right place to put it. I remembered from looking

at some photos on Pinterest, that a cool, different way of displaying art

work was to display it on the mullion of a window.

I like it! I can easily take the picture down when I close the blinds at night;

it's simply hung on a nail.

Several of you had asked how the audition for The Family Feud went this

past Sunday. Well...it was interesting! I had mentioned that it was my sister

who sent me the email and asked if Brian and I would want to audition with

herself, her husband, and a cousin. My sister and I have been more or less

estranged for around six years. I don't want to get into the reasons why on

this blog, but obviously I was surprised when I got her email. But I thought,

why not? It sounds like fun and it might be a good thing to somewhat 

reconnect. Well, there wasn't a lot of reconnecting going on, but the

auditioning for the game was a blast. We actually played part of a mock game

 while being video-taped in front of the hundreds of other people who were waiting

 to audition for the show. The funny thing is, the one person who I thought would 

totally rock the audition because he is normally animated and funny, wasn't that way

at all on camera. He froze up when trying to come up an answer to one of the

questions. You know how you sit at home and watch a game show and shout

out the answers and wonder why the people actually playing the game can't 

spurt out the right answer? It's a lot easier when you're sitting at home, relaxed

on your own sofa than when you're on TV and the whole world is watching you!

We left the conference center and went walking around Navy Pier (downtown

Chicago) for a little while since it was such a gorgeous day.

Other outings this week...the local nursery for perennials that were marked down

40%! I've always loved this nursery's beautiful displays and array of flowers.

We found some grasses that will be perfect for the small ditch area

that flanks our front driveway. We also found some bee balm for the

butterfly garden. Now for some digging and planting work for Brian. In

the rain. I'm blessed to have such a helpful husband. I honestly don't

have the kind of strength needed for digging large holes, plus that kind

of work really hurts my back. I already have three herniated disks in

my lower back; don't need any more! (Side note: yoga really helps with

my lower back pain.)

Another outing this week was IKEA. All I needed was one extra shelf

for the new Billy bookcases (it just figures...they were out of stock!), but this 

IKEA location happens to be a great central meeting spot for me and some family 

members. It was just me, my mom, and a cousin - two aunts couldn't make it - 

but we had a good time walking around looking at all the cool stuff and talking 

and catching up. And did you know that IKEA's cafe actually has pretty decent food

 - for really decent prices? I had a Waldorf chicken salad wrap and let me tell you,

 the chicken salad was as good as something I would make at home. And this is

 coming from someone who is a foodie and does a lot of home cooking.

 This piece of artwork at IKEA really caught my eye because it would be

 perfect for our bedroom - whenever we get to it! Our master bath is done in

 these  colors, so I want our bedroom to have the same color palette. The two

rooms need to flow.

And then I found this duvet and decided that when we finish re-doing Tim's room

(OK, so we haven't even started ~ or we the worst procrastinators that you know,

 or what?), that these colors will be perfect for his room. Tim's room will always be

 HIS room, of course, but since he's away at university and doesn't live here full-
time anymore, his room will also be a guest room.

I love the Swedish pillows that coordinate with the striped bedding.

Happy weekend, everyone. What are your plans?