Happy Halloween at the Solle/Greenplate Household

Happy Halloween! 

Halloween at the Solle/Greenplate household has been put in full swing the last couple of days. We finally did pumpkins, I made trick or treat bags, and we had costume controversies...so sit back drink some apple cider (or pumpkin spiced anything) and read all about our Halloween festivities. 

{all photos are personal}

We started out with a little trip to Paul's Fruit Market to pick up some pumpkins...Look at these bad boys (HUGE!) I ventured to the Walmart to grab some paint, candles, and paint brushes for all the decorating. Side Note: I have no idea where all my craft projects are located with all this moving around, let's hope they are still at my parents house in PA!

Josh was busy trying to print the pattern he wanted to make for his pumpkin so I thought I would get started on my trick or treat bags. If you remember back during Halloween Week here on Can't Buy Me Love I talked about wanting to make trick or treat bags. I loved as a kid getting a little extra treat of a goodie bag or something different then just grabbing candy from a bucket. 

This is my mess on our kitchen table.

 Guys candy is expensive. I got 2 variety packs with a coupon and I didn't end up spending that much, but regular priced it would have been $26 for bags of candy (that is unreal to me!)

But I think my 50 trick or treat bags turned out cute-I can't wait to hand them out! Josh seems to think we are going to run out and hey we might, but it happens. 

After I snapped some poor quality iphone pictures of my goodie bags I cleared the table and set up our pumpkin station. Let it be known that Josh wasn't into the whole pumpkin thing at first, but I insisted and he ended up having so much fun!

I didn't get many pictures of Josh working on his "masterpiece," but here is one of him on 

the phone with his dad (not very safe carving protocol)!

 If you also remember I was really debating what I wanted to do to my pumpkin this year, because I am the worse carver EVER! I kid you not-normally I am done and people have no clue what it is supposed to be. 

I took to Pinterest about a month ago and looked up different options. I like so many things that I combined a bunch. I first painted boo...

Then added some polka dots! You can kind of see Josh's work in progress in the background!

I saw so many people taking a drill to their pumpkins and I HAD to try it. So I drilled a bunch of holes all throughout my pumpkin!

Action shot! ha!

Wanna see the final products?

Josh recently got a new company car and it is a brand new Ram truck so he insisted he did the Ram logo...I think it turned out awesome!

Here you can see my pumpkin glowing through all the the holes I drilled.

Here is Josh's pumpkin with the candle in it!

 Here they all are on our porch! I kept the painted pumpkins on the porch in case it rained.

We also did a couple little pumpkins! We really didn't feel like doing them after we took so much time on our big pumpkins. I painted mine in probably 2 minutes flat and I didn't even get a picture of Josh's little one (it of course had car logos all over it).

Here you can see the pumpkins my niece and nephew mailed to me and my final products. I almost cried when I got their little pumpkins in the mail, I miss them like crazy. 

Okay so you are probably wondering "Angi where are the costumes you have talked about for the entire month of October," guys sometimes things just don't turn out the way you want them too. I have dressed up for Halloween every single year of my entire life. Yup that's right I'm Halloween obsessed. I have just been flip-flopping for weeks about what I wanted to be that here it is the day of and have nothing. I did buy everything for Josh to be a Zombie tonight, but I think I am going to sit this one out. We decided that since the weather is so bad right now in Louisville that we weren't going out to anything downtown. I guess paying money for a costume that I would be wearing just to hand out my trick or treat bags didn't appeal to me this year. So I will sit the year out, oh well! I hope everyone has the most magical Halloween night filled with candy, costumes, and pumpkin everything!!! I will be enjoying bakes pumpkin seeds and hot apple cider after dinner. 

Please tell me all of your plans for Halloween (whether they are related or not!)?

Big & Little Network

Awhile back I signed up to link-up with bloggers that have been blogging for awhile and could give some sound advice to a new bloggers, like myself.

Basically I got paired up with a "Big" Erin @She's A Big Star (go check her out immediately, her blog is fantastic). As I touched on two days ago I was having a lot of beginner blogger concerns...like how to I stay interesting, how to I get people to want to follow me, how do I improve my blog since I am the least tech savy person on Earth, and blah blah blah.

Erin has been so wonderful sharing her insight on her blogging style and what works for her. I have already started making improvements to my blog, but her key advice was staying true to what I want my blog vibe to be. 

I thought I would take some of Erin's advice and add in some of what I noticed to help others who are just starting out as a blogger.

1. BE TRUE TO YOURSELF-
I have been given this advice over and over and over again. Some people may have started blogging as a source of income or to meet tons of new people. I, however, started blogging as a creative outlet. I talk none stop and I think the people around me appreciate me yapping at something other than them ha! I am 100% honest here and share only what I feel is relevant to what I am currently doing in my life. 

2. Share the love-
I have personally noticed that the more I venture on to others blogs and share how exciting their posts or blogs in general are they will return the favor. I am a daily reader of many, many, many blogs. I of course want to spread my thoughts to everyone, but I also love the community of being able to see others thoughts and ideas. Receiving sweet comments on my posts that I work hard to put together makes me feel good so I want to make sure I put time into the comments I leave for others as well.

3. Link-Up-
I have personally learned so much during this Big & Little link-up, that I highly suggest everyone join one! MANY bloggers do weekly link-ups that you can join just put adding your link to their page and placing a button on your post for that day. It is a great way to meet others who are also trying to find new blogs. If you are a Southern Blogger click my link-up button to the right and you will find endless bloggers in the Southern states that do link-ups in their areas!

4. Don't stress having the coolest blog-
This was my concern earlier in the week. I want EVERYONE to love my blog, well guess what that doesn't work that way. Going back to rule #1 be true to yourself and followers will come. And these followers will be genuine. Erin said something that really hit home with me, you want a relatable blog. Some people may have the perfect hair, friends, make-out, outfits, but they are the ones that are harder to be relatable too. Not that I and many others don't enjoy those types of blogs too, but that just isn't who I am and that is okay!

And the last piece of advice Erin gave, but it was my favorite...

5. Turn your captcha off! That is the annoying little thing that pops up when you are trying to read a comment that gives a series of letters and numbers to put in. I didn't even realize I had mine on. You can turn it off by going into your settings, clicking comments, and then switching the word verification button from yes to no. This one made me laugh, because it is so true, people hate commenting when they no someone has one of those!

I hope this helps new bloggers, like myself. I love blogging and really hope I can keep it as a creative outlet for a very long time to come. 

Any other suggestions for me/for other newer bloggers?

AND

Remember to check Erin out at www.Shesabigstar.com. Last, come back tomorrow because I finally carved/painted/drilled our pumpkins, made goodie bags, and will be working on our costumes, so get excited!

In Home Try-On

I have needed glasses for some time now. Joshua and I actually play a game where he says can you read that and gestures to a billboard/sign/basically anything down the road as we drive and I never can. I have yet to go to an eye doctor to figure out what sort of prescription I need (probably because I don't want to know I am blind), BUT I did just order 2 home try-on kits. 

One from Warby Parker and the other from Glasses! Both websites allow you to pick either 4 (Glasses.com) or 5 (Warby Parker) glasses to come in a free in home try-on kit. They arrive at your door free of charge to try on, show off to your friends, and basically see what you feel comfortable in for 5 days. You send them back completely free and if you liked them you can place your order. I plan on picking out my favorite between the two shops and putting them on my christmas list. I know a pair of kate spade glasses are high on that list that I can't wait to try-on. 

These are the 4 I am getting from glasses.com:

These are the 5 I picked from Warby Parker (even though Josh says they all look the same):

I am going to have such a tough time deciding! Wish me luck, I can't wait to share them with you all when they come in the mail. 

Has anyone else tried these before? How did it work out?

Struggling What to Share

This week I really struggled with what I wanted to talk about. I have been so busy unpacking and reorganizing our lives that I haven't been doing to many exciting things. I know one day soon I want to write all about the woes of renting a home and all of the updates we are allowed to do on this very dated (very charming) home, but I am just not at that stage yet. I had also planned to share all my halloween goodies this week, mine and Josh's costumes, the goodie bags I wanted to make up for trick or treaters, and our pumpkins, but I am starting my new job later this week and I'm not sure if I will even be able to do all these Halloween related events so I am holding off making costumes and goodie bags. 

Here is what I had planned for costumes:

{picture via Pinterest}

Something along these lines for me

{picture via Pinterest}

And Josh wanted to do something ofThe Walking Dead variety

{picture via Pinterest}

I am  might be making goodie bags like these!

I always hope that what I share is interesting. I find the popular blogs are all about fashion (which I struggle with myself), cooking (which I also struggle with), and people do the worlds most entertaining things(which I am not doing right now). I hope that as I grow as a blogger I find my niche and people really enjoy my blog. I don't consider myself a good or inspirational writer, but I just share the truth about every step of my life. 

With this all being said I wanted to share that I am boring right now and okay with it. I painted my nails nude, just ate an orange and had some apple cider, and plan on going to bed a little after 9 tonight. 

So let's hope later this week (maybe even tomorrow) I can share something a little more interesting with you all!

 {if you like my signature check out this post to see how I did it}

Five on Friday: My Fall To-Do List

Remember my Fall To-Do List? No? Let me remind you...

Fall To-Do List:

Host  a bonfire with s'mores

Wear berry lipstick

Wear tons of sweaters

Visit a haunted house/Get over fear

Go Camping(possibly in the backyard)

Visit a pumpkin patch

3 words: Pumpkin.Spice.Latte

Watch a scary movie and cuddle with boyfriend

Go apple picking

Decorate pumpkins

Buy maroon pants

Buy a pumpkin spice candle

Take lots of walks to enjoy to breeze

Make a fall wreath

Drink lots of cider

Find a corn maze to get lost in

Go on a hay ride

Drink pumpkin beer

Make cool trick or treat bags

Make Halloween Costumes

Make home-made soup

This Five On Friday I thought I would do Five more things I crossed off this list so far. 

1. Pumpkin Spice Latte-
Don't mind if I do. I helped myself to one of these this week and it was heaven. 

2. Watch a scary movie and cuddle with boyfriend-
Although it wasn't a movie we do cuddle every Sunday night and watch The Walking Dead! And if you don't count it as a scary TV show you need to ask Josh about my nightmares every Sunday night. If you are not a fan of this show yet, get netflix or hulu and quickly catch yourself up with all the seasons, you will not be sorry!

3. Buy a pumpkin spice candle-
I did not just buy any pumpkin spice candle, I bought the worlds best smelling candle. It is Bath and Body Works pumpkin pecan waffles candle. The first time I burned it Josh got off of work and mentioned it the minute he walked in the door, it smells that good. I highly recommend it. They always have some sort of sale on their candles. I got 2 candles for $12. I gave the second candle as a parting gift for one of my co-workers before my big move. 

4. Take lots of walks to enjoy the breeze-
I felt like our last week in Detroit we spent so much time outside. Since I have moved to Kentucky I have been so busy unpacking and what not that I haven't spent anytime outside. Honestly though it feels more like winter out their now then Fall anyway. 

5. In the process of planning a fun day at a pumpkin patch-
This weekend I am hoping to cross many things off my fall list all in one trip. I want to find a pumpkin patch, do a corn maze, maybe pick some apples, do a hayride, and drink some apple cider. I have done some research on different places in Louisville and the surrounding areas. If there are some Kentucky readers that want to share the fun spots, I would love that!


I hope this is what my list looks like after this weekend...

Fall To-Do List:

Host  a bonfire with s'mores

Wear berry lipstick

Wear tons of sweaters

Visit a haunted house/Get over fear

Go Camping(possibly in the backyard)

Visit a pumpkin patch

3 words: Pumpkin.Spice.Latte

Watch a scary movie and cuddle with boyfriend

Go apple picking

Decorate pumpkins

Buy maroon pants

Buy a pumpkin spice candle

Take lots of walks to enjoy to breeze

Make a fall wreath

Drink lots of cider

Find a corn maze to get lost in

Go on a hay ride

Drink pumpkin beer

Make cool trick or treat bags

Make Halloween Costumes

Make home-made soup


I can't wait to finish the rest of this list before the weather gets too much colder. Has anyone else put a dent in their fall to-do list? What is your favorite thing you have done this fall so far?

Side note: I am headed to go pick Josh's dad up in Lexington for a quick visit since he is in town for business! Excited to see a familiar face!

I Might Be Going Overboard?

After reading so many blogs I started to love that everyone had cute signatures at the end of their posts. I HAD to have one of these, so of course I set out to whip something up on PicMonkey. You may have noticed what I made on the bottom of the last couple of my posts...

I thought it was simple, but cute. This is where I think I went overboard though, I thought to myself "self what if I do a themed signature for each month, because you can never be just simple, but cute." And of course I set out once again on PicMonkey to see what I could create. I decided to use the one I had previously made during the month of October and start this project up in November with this...

Is this too big?

December of course had to be festive as well...

January I debated what I should use for awhile, then it hit me that you can't go wrong with alcohol! 

So that is basically as far as I got before I realized that I have way to much time on my hands and I should probably get back to unpacking my house. 

Who thinks I am absolutely crazy for wanting signatures for each month and wasting so much time making them? You can be honest with me! 

Let's Talk Hotel Livin' and Movin'

{Pre-Warning VERY picture heavy post ahead}

So let's rewind back to last Tuesday (when I should have realized that our move wasn't going to be easy). Josh and I did this to our wall when trying to take our TV down...

{All pictures via personal photos}

Isn't this just fantastic? There goes our security deposit. 

But our week wasn't all bad, we did find an incredible bakery while staying in downtown Detroit. 

Yum Baklava! 

We left our Detroit hotel last Friday and headed into 3 days of different towns and different hotels. First night we stayed in Cincinnati and honestly just slept. We were so exhausted from the driving we did that day.

Then we woke up early and headed for Kentucky...

I saw this sign and BAM everything was gorgeous. Kentucky is such a beautiful state. It reminds me a lot of Pennsylvania (where Josh and I are from). 

Although the next couple of pictures are taken from my iphone you can still see how gorgeous everything is. I followed Josh down and I am sure he was wondering why I was swerving a little as I'm attempting to take tons of pictures!

I just love all the mountains. 

So gorgeous right?

We spent the next 3 days touring a distillery, a winery, eating at wonderful restaurants, and just spending time together since Josh is leaving me for the whole week starting today.

Now who wants to talk about how bad our move went?

As the movers brought our stuff in bright and early yesterday piece by piece I noticed was broken, take a look...

Both drawers will not (no matter how hard I try) stay on their tracks.

All the light bulbs are missing! 

It is hard to see, but the entire leg is broken. The next pictures you can see how crooked the couch is because of it. 

This is the large couch that also now sit crooked. Along with these being broken, they also broke our hub cap clock that we made, one of our end tables, and basically packed our boxes at random (making them impossible to unpack). 

Sigh. I am done complaining though. I am happy to be moved into a house, with my boyfriend, and I am starting to love its old charm. Did anyone else have moving issues? Or a house that they are renting that needs some tough love?