Have a Happy Autumn

We all know what a magical time autumn is and because I want you all to have a successful and cozy fall I have come up with some of my favorite things, essential to fall.

1.  Festive fall lights.  No house is complete during fall without some cozy twinkle lights or fun halloween lights.  These can be found at Target.

2.  I think this one is self explanatory, what's fall without pumpkins.  My advice? Have a pumpkin carving party with some friends.  Carve your pumpkins, bake the pumpkin seeds and enjoy some coffee and pumpkin muffins.

3.  In my opinion the BEST thing about fall are cozy blankets.  Save yourself a few lazy fall days, curl up in a cozy blanket on the couch with some tea and watch your favorite movie and/or TV show.

4.  If you include a cute mug into this cozy day on the couch I promise it will make you like 89% happier.  Happy mugs make a happy life, fact.  You can find this owl mug at modcloth.com.

5.  Wreaths aren't just for Christmas, there are also tons of autumn wreaths out there just waiting to hang on your door and say, "Welcome, this is a happy home."  Don't want to buy a wreath? Make your own, there are tons of tutorials on pinterest of DIY wreaths and you can get most of the items at the dollar store!

6.  Something I desperately loved about my youth were the Halloween cookie cutters my mom had.  Sugar cookies cut out with some of these festive cookie cutters are an easy gift for friends or favor to bring to a Halloween party.  These cookie cutters shown are from Crate and Barrel.

7 & 8.  Of course the easiest way to make your house smell like happy are candles.  Lucky for us we live in a world with Bath and Body Works and can buy just about any smell in jar.  Bath and Body Works has tons of holiday smells perfect for the season such as "Autumn" and "Apple Crumble."  

Hope you all have a successful holiday season and a safe Halloween this week! What are you favorite ways to make your home fall-like?

In My Opinion...

Happy Friday bloggers.  Hope you all have had a better week than I have; it's been tough since I had to put Roxy to sleep last weekend.  But i'm trying to keep myself busy and think of our happy memories to make myself feel better.  So, on a lighter note I'm linking up with the fabulous Rachel from lala Lists for "In My Opinion."  Here are some of my opinions...

1.  Yogurtland is the best thing in the world.  If I'm ever rich I want one in my house.

2.  This hot Southern California weather needs to go away, I need real fall weather.

3.  Coffee and tea taste better in a giant mug with leaves on it.

4.  The more pillows on my bed the more comfortable it is.

5.  My room should be big enough for a nice comfy chair.  Not so I could sit in it, but so I could throw       my clothes and purse on it when I get home.

6.  My design class should be later in the day, 8 am is too early to feel creative.

7.  Big quilts are one of the best things in the world.

8.  Sufjan Stevens is having a Christmas concert in Hollywood and the tickets should be free just because it's Christmas.

9.  The iphone should have a teleport app so I don't have to drive for an hour and half back to my parent's house every time I want to see them.

10.  Gilmore Girls should be on Netflix so I could sit in my room and watch it this entire weekend instead of doing my homework.

What are some of your oh so important opinions lately?

Loss

   Today was one of the hardest days of my life, I had to put my eleven year old Australian Shepherd to sleep this morning.  I'm sure that all of you that have dogs understand that a dog isn't just a pet, they become a member of the family and losing them is like losing a part of the family.  Roxy was my dog; I had been told by my parents on my 11th birthday that I could finally get my own dog.  So long story short, a few months later we rescued her from an Australian Shepherd rescue.  She was about a year old when we got her and although we didn't know much about her past, we suspected that she had been abused.  She was wary of strangers, hated loud noises, and was terrified of water.  She became extremely trusting of our family and loved us unconditionally.

  Over the next ten years Roxy was a member of our family.  When she was younger she was full of energy, as most Aussie's are.  She could play for hours.  She loved fetch, and would catch frisbee's in the air like a pro, although if we ever left a frisbee outside over night, the next morning it would be in little pieces all over the yard.  She would go running with my dad and would herd our smaller dog around the yard.  As she got a little older she slowed down a little and loved to snuggle and be pet, but she still LOVED to fetch.

  I know I'm a bit biased but she really was the best dog in the world.  If you have never rescued an animal I suggest you do it.  It is one of the best things you can do with your life.  You'll have someone in your life that is forever grateful to you, and will love you unconditionally no matter what.

  Of course that all made today that much harder.  Making that decision is probably the most difficult thing I've ever had to do but she was in pain and it wouldn't have been right to keep her here.  She had a good life and I have to remember that.  I'm sure all of you who have lost a pet know how hard it is.

High Five for Friday!

As you could probably tell from my last post my week has been a bit stressful so hopefully you all have had a better week then me, My week did however have a good start so let's concentrate on that for a second.

1.  I went to my parent's house last weekend which was great because I got to see my dogs!  That's a terrible thing about moving out, not seeing your pets.  Thank god I've got three dog's in my new house to keep me company but it's still nice to go home and cuddle with my own dogs.

2.  Another great part about going home was going to my favorite frozen yogurt place and getting a giant cup of yogurt.  Tart and strawberry yogurt with strawberries, nuts, and chocolate chips; nothing can beat it.

3.  I found my old map of Paris I got when I was in Europe in high school and hung it up in my new place.  Now I sleep below Paris.  Hopefully it'll help inspire me to return soon and to do my French homework.

4.  Finally used my brand new paints for design class.  Although  I've had a love hate relationship with my design class lately using my new paints was a love.

5.  Tuesday night this week my roomies and some of our friends went out for sushi.  I spent way too much money and ate way to much sushi but it was so worth it.  Best sushi I've had in a while and I'm already craving it again.

Another high of my week was when two of my best friends Samantha and Alissa came over last night to bake pumpkin muffins and watch scary movies.  Aren't autumn inspired activities the best?  Today has been the first day it's felt like fall here in San Diego so naturally I got close to none of my chores done and instead slept in and curled up with some tea and my laptop.  Well I take that back, I did sanitize and clean our kitchen which was a lot of work so I should give myself credit.

Tomorrow parents are coming down to SD to go to our football game and next week I'm heading to my parents to go to the UCLA game with them. Another amazing thing about fall, FOOTBALL!

Why Upper Division Classes Suck

  Alright, so in case you all didn't know, I'm a college student.  Like most college students I have days where I want to tear apart all of my text books that I spent hundreds of dollars on and spend my thousands of tuition dollars on something important, like a really nice house or my own zoo; anything but this tortuous thing I put myself through called an education.  Well my friends, this week is one of those weeks.

 I have shared with you all in the past few months about the changes in my life but if you haven't been keeping up I just moved and transferred from a city college to a four year university, which means three years later (thanks state of California and your budget issues) I am finally starting my upper division.  Upper division is a terrible thing, it makes you question everything you have chosen to be and everything you think you want to become.  Your lower division classes, especially in your major are pretty cool because they make you think, "okay, I can handle this."  Then all of the sudden guess what, you can't.
 
  Take me for example, after a whopping single semester living in Monterey Bay and tons of soul searching (one semester of art) I decided to throw aside my versatile major of communications and trade it in for one in  art history.  This came about after getting a 98% on my first art exam and 100% on my second.  I walked out of class after getting back the second exam thinking I did it, I found my calling.  So much to my family's dismay I changed my major with no plan for my future whatsoever.  I spent the next three semesters in all the art history classes I could take at city college getting all A's.  It was love, the only time I have ever even remotely liked school.
 
  But now I have moved on to my upper division and I am taking a studio class and there is not a day that goes by that I don't think about giving up on school and becoming that creepy lady at the bus stop that talks to her hand.  I guess it makes sense for your upper division to be tougher but this week it has just made me feel like a loser.  I know I am just having a bad week and the feeling will pass, it always does, it's just that this is my blog and I can vent here about my stupid week and my stupid upper division classes if I want.  It's just been one of those weeks where you wonder, "what the hell am I doing with my life?"  I don't have a clear answer for you but for now i'll enjoy the fact that i'm taking out loans to go to a school that has a division 1 football team and a Juice it Up on campus. Worth it.