Fall's Knockin' On Our Door

Today, I share my thoughts and reflections on 9/11 over at The Traveling Soul Press. May we always remember 9/11, always honor those lost, and always respect our freedom.  

I held onto summer for as long as I could this year. This is odd for me as I am a natural lover of fall and all things that come with the season--pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin scented candles, pumpkin everything! Then there's college football. If you're from the south, then y'all know what I'm talking about! Now, now, I hear those of you from all over shouting, "We love football, too!" Mr. Yankee is a die hard Philadelphia Eagles fan, and I have witnessed first hand just how passionate Eagles fans are. But my friends, there is nothing, NOTHING, like college football in the south. The love of the game saturates the towns and cities in a way that I don't know how to explain unless you've witnessed it. I'm an SEC gal myself. Go TN Vols! And Mr. Yankee is an ACC guy. Go Clemson Tigers! There's a lot of orange in and around our house this time of year!

Last winter was so awful, so horrible, so deadfuly long and full of snow that this year, as my favorite season slowly begins to arrive, I half welcomed it back and half ignored it. I sipped my pumpkin spice lattes while wearing flip flops and playing with the sand dollars and seashells from our beach vacation over the summer. But then I began to notice the changing leaves and my summer floral wreath on the door began to look quite out of place. So I delved into my wreath making stash and came up with an appropriate seasonal front door adornment.

I was out of unused grapevine wreaths, so I pulled out the cherry blossoms on my deck wreath and worked around the hot glued moss. I began by lying a garland of small plastic leaves around the wreath and attaching it to the grapevine with floral wire.

 Once the essential leaves were on, I pulled out this brown wired netting that I had for some unknown reason and started tucking it into the grapevine. I played around til I had it all around the wreath, also attaching it with floral wire.

I interwove the leaves with the burlap-like netting to make it all look more cohesive.

I decided to make our fall wreath with about 40 minutes til my son was due to arrive home on the school bus. I hadn't done a whole lot while he had been away that day, and suddenly I had to do something creative, something productive! The wreath took about 30 minutes to make, so I had 5 minutes left to hang it, leaving 5 minutes to get my daughter and I to the bus stop on time. I ran to the garage and drug out my wreath hanging essentials: ladder, hammer and tacks.

I run a strip of burlap through our wreaths and tack the top of the burlap, unseen, to the top of the door. Works like a charm every single time, every single wreath.

The bow was a last minute addition, leaving just 3 minutes to get to the bus stop.

I grabbed the mums for our urns at our local Produce Junction (discount flowers!) for only $5 each the day before. Yep, orange! So for a grand total of $10 and 37 minutes, our front door is now fall ready....and I made it to the bus in time to grab my son. ;)

Pumpkins and gourds will inevitably make their way next to the mums sooner or later. Maybe even a few hay bales. Are you welcoming fall yet? Do you go with traditional oranges and reds? I'd love to hear from you, so leave a comment if you'd be so kind!