My Musings: September Moments

September was a super fun month this year! Here are some of the little, and big, moments that happened this month to make it such a wonderful month.

As mentioned in my last post, the Halloween season started September 1st at my house. I got all decorated for halloween and fall!

I absolutely LOVED how all my new furniture looked all dressed up for fall. It felt so warm and cozy with all the new lighter woods of the table and chairs and my new big painting.

I had to create new decor to fill the empty spot where the cart used to be. It was fun to go "shopping" in my own house and find things that fit the space perfectly. I did actually buy the feather things, so those are new this year. They make such a statement and I love it.

I stumbled upon this candle one day while shopping at Smiths and it was too fun not to bring home with me. It's scent was surprisingly summery so I mixed it with other fall scented candles.

I also stumbled upon a super great deal for battery powered candles at Costco. I thought I could be easy breezy and have them scattered throughout my shelves. But when I tried to enjoy them with the lights off, I felt unbalanced and eventually got enough to have at least one candle on every shelf...

....As well as some on the table and in all my lanterns. I regret nothing.

The first weekend in September, Laura and I went to see my favorite musical artist of all time, KIP MOORE!! I love him with all my heart and soul. We got special VIP tickets where we got to have seats and a cocktail table. Having seats at a concert is essential now that I am in my mid thirties. The VIP section was off to the side but we were still pretty close and we weren't smooshed up against a bunch of sweaty strangers, so that alone was worth it. We danced and sang at the top of our lungs and had the best time. Kip said we were the best crowd he had had the entire year, and he promised us he hadn't ever said that to any other crowd. He also kept playing songs even though he said his time was up and the venue might fine him, he was just having too much fun and we could tell, he was giddy and we all loved it. I took mostly videos, these are the only two stills I took.

I spent some time down in Arizona with Karin and her family. It is becoming tradition that when I visit in September, Karin, James, Thomas and I go to Trader Joes and get ALL their pumpkin things to try. This year we did it in two waves since Trader Joes staggered their fall goodies this year. Yes, we are that in the know.

Our first haul of pumpkin spice goodness.

These were delectable, definitely in the top three of our favorites.

Karin made a fall treat charcuterie board for us to sample some of the goodies.

Our second haul, we basically bought half of the entire store.

These were the pumpkin spice sticky toffee puddings and they won the top spot of our favorite treat this year. They were soooooo good.

The treat that lost and got the lowest spot, the pumpkin ice cream. We all tried it and none of us could pin point what it actually tasted like. It was a little fruity and floral and kind of tasted like potpourri yet also tasted like cinnamon and spices. It was weird, we won't be getting it next year. The maple ice cream was delicious though, so lets not get those mixed up.

For our caramel apple experience this year, we tried out the nacho serving style. It was so much easier to eat and less mess and hassle, I was a big fan.

One afternoon Karin, the littles and I went out to lunch at a fun place called First Watch. They had a whole chalkboard full of fall flavored specials. We tried the Pomegranate Pear Punch, it was unique, very tart and unlike anything I have ever drank before.

We also tried the Caramel Crunch Cinnamon roll.

One night we did an escape room, it was steampunk themed. I was so glad we had so many smart mathematicians on our team because there was some major math-ing that had to happen in order to get us out on time. We succeeded and won the room!

Karin, James, Thomas and I did a painting project over the course of a few days. Karin had gotten us all a Dia de los Metros ceramics to paint! They had picked out the kitty one just for me, she was so cute.

It felt so good to be creative and crafty! I haven't painted ceramics in years and I loved every second of this project. I was thrilled with how my cute kitty turned out!

Thomas and James did such an amazing job, their attention to detail was astounding.

From left to right:

James, me, Karin, Thomas.

I'm really proud of her so one more round of close ups

I let the Burtons keep her since they celebrate Dia de los Muertos every year and she would get more use with them. I love the process of crafting and being creative but I never know what to do with the finish product, so this was perfect.

Back at home, I loved relaxing with the kitties, the sky would often put on a show for us

The full moon seemed extra bright this month.

It even caught Dinah's attention, she stared at it for quite a while.

A little rainbow!

One of my favorite yoga studios started offering sound baths so I tried it out one night. It was a lovely and relaxing experience.

I have been trying out lots of fun new wellness things this summer and one of the things on my list was getting a hair analysis at Provo Health. It was super fascinating. Whenever I'm in Provo, I like to enjoy a few minutes in a beautiful spot up the canyon. I miss being so close to this beautiful canyon, American Fork canyon doesn't have an awesome trail or as many peaceful places to sit as Provo Canyon does.

I tried a new heatless way of curling my hair that I had been wanting to try for a long time and I accidentally gave myself a perm.

September was the month that my home update was finally and officially complete. The last few items were finally delivered. The chairs for my dining room table (I love them so much! I was so nervous they wouldn't match the table because I got them from different places but they look so good together), my gorgeous, carved sofa back and the dusty blue chest of drawers for my bedroom.

All of us are in love with the new pieces.

It looks so good!! Now I get to design a painting collection hung in a salon style above my drawers!

I found a halloween train when I was shopping at Walmart one day and thought it would be the perfect gift for monty, two of his favorite things in one toy! As predicted, he loved it.

He wore it out in one night. Between the none stop playing of the halloween song, and spilling some water when filling up the steam compartment, the train stopped working. Gaga spent a lot of time taking it apart and putting it back together again to try and find the problem. Apparently, it just needed to dry out and rest because Beth reported that it started working again the next morning.

Speaking of Gaga, his garden was looking amazing this month.

One night as I was driving home from Mom and Dad's house around 1 am, my tire blew out as I was exiting the freeway. When I was at the stop light, a guy was motioning for me to roll down my window, he was trying to tell me my tire was smoking. When I rolled my window down I smelled the smoke and didn't know what to do! I was hoping I would be able to make it home, but I didn't make it far up Timpanogos Highway before I knew there was no way I was making it home. I pulled over and the guy from the stop light pulled up behind me. He must of flipped a U turn because he was turning the opposite way at the light.

His name was Terry and he was just getting off work from the airport, he was still in his Delta uniform. He was one of the nicest humans I have ever met, he was so nice to me the entire time we were changing my tire. After the spare tire was in place, I gave him a big hug as a thank you and we said our goodbyes. As I was driving away I watched him in my rearview mirror to make sure he was able to go on his way. He wasn't driving away and his lights were doing a weird flashy thing, so I flipped a U turn to make sure he was ok. Turns out his battery was dead from keeping his lights on to give us light to change my tire. So I got to repay the favor and helped him jump start his car. Luckily he had all the supplies we needed. Whew! What an adventure, I am so grateful for Terry and will never forget his kindness.

September ended with two fun events, Fan X and the Gem Expo!

I went to Fan X one out of the three days. I went with Jenny and our day started at a Psych panel with Juliet O'hara (Maggie Lawson) and Carolton Lassiter (Tim Omundson) I am a huge Psych fan so it was so fun to hear them chat about what it was like filming the show. These two were so adorable together, you can tell they are best friends. They talked a lot about their podcast that I didn't know existed! I will definitely have to start listening to it.

Next up was our photo op with one of our biggest childhood crushes, Cary Elwes aka Wesley from Princess Bride!!!!!!!!! Beth met up with us in line, we were all so excited!

Squee!!!!! Photo ops at Fan X are fast, like literally 3 seconds long, so I didn't expect to be able to interact with Cary at all. But he is such a gentlemen, he asked all three of us our names and gave each of us a fist bump. There was a plexiglass divider thus the awkward spacing, I don't blame him for requesting one when meeting hundreds of strangers. Jenny and I dressed in all black as a nod to the Dread Pirate Roberts and Beth wore a red dress as a nod to Buttercup.

Then we got to hear Cary at his panel!! (in order to get good seats, we went to the panel before Cary's, we had no idea who the guy was giving the panel and he was... uhm... a colorful character.)

Cary is handsome, classy and caring. He melted our hearts all over again, such an amazing person, we loved every second of his panel.

Then it was time to explore the vendor floor! I always love exploring this maze.

This booth was awesome. I would have gone home with a Neverending Story book if it wasn't so expensive.

The book from the Mummy

I LOVED this fancy fan art booth. Especially, the pieces that referenced famous paintings.

We grabbed some açaí bowls for lunch, this was my first time ever having an açaí bowl. It was yummy, especially the peanut butter drizzle.

The next day Jenny and her family headed back to Fan X while Beth and I took Vienne and Monty to the Gem Show. V had told us that she wanted to start a gem collection, and we knew this was just the place to take her.