Reminder About Zoom Meet and Greet and A Fall Hike

 

Hello everyone!  First off, just a quick reminder that it's not too late to let me know that you would like to join in on the "Zoom Meet and Greet" that will be happening THIS Saturday morning, October 30th at 10:00 a.m. ET. If you missed the info in my previous post, here are the details again. Sure hope to see you there!

Here's what you need to do if you wish to participate in the "Zoom Meet and Greet".  

Email me at debbiestyleslife@gmail.com and let me know you are interested in attending. I will also need to know your email address so I can send you an email with the Zoom link by October 30th.

Now, on to other topics.

The Mr. and I enjoyed a fun hike on The "Max" Trail, aka The Mountain to Sea Trail, last Friday and I thought I would share some photos. The colors were really pretty. 

As I've mentioned before, this trail is one of my favorite places to hike and we had such a pleasant day to hike. That made it all the more special. And those gorgeous Fall colors didn't hurt either!

You can see that I'm wearing a fleece coat and gloves. Pretty day though it was, it was still quite chilly so I felt toasty wearing this Patagonia coat. The coat had gotten buried in a closet and I "discovered" it the other day and it's just like having a new coat. Don't you love it when you discover things in your closet that you had forgotten about?!

I do hope that each of you dear readers is getting to enjoy some beautiful Fall colors and weather. Leave me a comment and let me know all about it! (Or anything else for that matter!) 

Until Next Time,

Debbie

Daily Life Here Lately

 Daily This And That

Hello everyone! Cassie and I are happy to see you! Today's post is a lot of fun and I hope you enjoy it. I'm sharing some of my daily life here lately and I was lucky enough to have had some fun times. Hope you enjoy and be sure to let me know in the comments section what you enjoyed most. Cassie is certainly part of my everyday life, as is her fur sister, Garden. So, let's get started with daily life here lately! And be sure to hang in there to the end with this picture heavy post as there will be a fun announcement!

Hmmm...how would you like to have this in your living room?! (The skeleton, I mean, not the Steinway) This is what we saw a couple of weekends ago when we visited the "Parade of Homes" that is typically held in our area every October. Last year it wasn't held at all, of course, due to Covid. This year, some houses were only seen virtually while others were open to the public as long as you wore masks. The Mr. and I always enjoy viewing new homes, not to buy, but to get ideas for renovation and construction. We were pleased to see some beautiful interiors with few people around us and those that were, wearing masks. Obviously the new owners of this house had a sense of humor and wanted to give a nod to Halloween!

And I must admit that I fell in love with the textured wallpaper in the bathroom of one home we toured. I like the blue mirror, also.

You can see the blue of the wallpaper better in this pic. I also like the white half-wall against the wood floor. 

This image is of a master bath in one house and it was huge! The sizes of rooms in some of the houses we viewed were amazing! Most of the homes were not lived in yet, but a few were and the owners "staged" the home for lots of folks walking through. I honestly cannot imagine opening up my home for complete strangers to walk through but some folks are OK with that. 

We had an absolutely beautiful day for looking at houses and really enjoyed being out and about seeing the sights. Not only were the insides of these houses beautiful but the gardens outside were also beautiful. Not to mention having incredible views of the mountains!

And look what's back this year...the pumpkin patch at our church! It is just wonderful to see the pumpkins on the lawn once more and to interact with the community as they come by to purchase pumpkins. 

This sweet lady and I worked the pumpkin patch last Friday which was also the evening of our church's Fall Festival so our church grounds were really hopping!

This Dad and daughter were making a decision about a pumpkin. You'll notice I have covered faces in many photos for confidentiality. 

Behind the pumpkin patch the kids were having all sorts of fun creating huge bubbles as part of the Fall Festival. 

Isn't this bubble amazing?! BTW, many of today's photos were taken by The Mr. so he gets photo credit. 

And look what I found in the pumpkin patch! (wink) This little guy is the new grandson of one of the bell ringers at my church. I was so excited to get to hold him!

And since I'm sharing about church I'll also share Sunday morning's outdoor service. Since Covid, our church has begun having an outdoor service, an indoor service wearing masks and a livestream service for those watching from home. The Mr. and I have really been enjoying the outdoor service. Everyone brings a chair and we enjoy the beautiful outdoors while we worship. Our head pastor is a wonderful guitar player and singer and always shares beautiful music. Last Sunday we went to indoor service as a small bell ensemble was ringing and I directed. We had a young boy ringing with us who is learning how to ring bells. He is an elementary student and I'm so proud that he wants to ring!

The Mr. has been volunteering at "Brother Wolf" which is a rescue animal shelter in our area. We adopted both Cassie and Garden from Brother Wolf. They held a picnic for volunteers on Sunday afternoon at an outdoor park next to the river so we took advantage of taking a little stroll around the park before joining others at this outdoor event.

It was really chilly Sunday and although I was wearing a thick sweater I borrowed a coat from The Mr. and wore it over the sweater. 

This is the director with her dog. I enjoyed meeting so many nice people all who love and care about animals. There may be some volunteering in my future with Brother Wolf. 

I've been trying to make sure these little feet are walking frequently so I'll share a recent walk with you. 

If you follow my blog regularly, you know there are beautiful neighborhoods in which I enjoy taking walks. 

On a recent walk, I encountered these spooky fellows! Luckily, I was able to keep my distance so I didn't get too scared!

This neighborhood enjoys decorating for the holidays. I always try to drive through this neighborhood on Christmas Eve when the streets here are lined with beautiful luminaries. 

And I so enjoy the neighborhood's newly renovated rose garden which adds so much pleasure to my walking. 

So these are just a few of the fun adventures in my "daily life" here lately. I left out a lot, of course. I figured you wouldn't be interested in seeing my full laundry basket or dirty dishes in the kitchen sink! What's been happening in your daily life here lately? Hope you will leave a comment and let me know!

Now...on to the fun announcement!  

I will be hosting a "Meet and Greet" via Zoom for my blog readers on Saturday, October 30th, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. ET.  This will be a first for me and I'm hoping it will be a fun event where at least some of us can meet "face to face" and say hello to one another in person! (Or at least as close to in person as Zoom can be!)

Here's what you need to do if you wish to participate in the "Zoom Meet and Greet".  

Email me at debbiestyleslife@gmail.com and let me know you are interested in attending. I will also need to know your email address so I can send you an email with the Zoom link by October 30th. 

If you are not familiar with Zoom, it is very easy to use. You will, of course, need to use a device with a camera and sound. I will send a link to your email which will be highlighted in blue. On October 30th at 10:00 a.m. ET, you will click on the blue link and wait for me to allow you to enter the "meeting room."  Once you are on, you will be able to see me and speak to me and any others who are participating. Depending on the device you are using, you may need to create a Zoom account prior to the "Meet and Greet." A Zoom account is completely free for basic Zooming and requires only your email and a password which you come up with on your own. 

I have no idea how many folks will want to do this, but I'm excited for the opportunity to find out and to actually meet and speak with folks who read my blog. We'll see how this works out, OK? If you can't be there, no worries. We will continue to meet up on the blog! I only use the free basic Zoom which allows up to 100 participants and lasts for 40 minutes. So, the "Meet and Greet" will end at 10:40 a.m. ET. 

That's it folks! Have a great day!

Until Next Time,

Debbie

How To Style A Fall Top

 Burnt Orange Top For Fall

Hi everyone!  I think the first thing to do when styling a Fall top is to find a color and style that you love, then pair it with another great color, add some jewelry and voila!  I was so excited when I saw this top hanging on a rack at Hamrick's. It was one of those moments when you see an article of clothing and you just know it is meant for you! 

Now, I'm calling the color of this top burnt orange, but you may have another name for it and that's OK.  I simply adore the texture of the fabric and, especially, the slanting brown buttons on this tunic top by Southern Lady. This just gives that little extra "oomph" to the look of this top. I have another top with similar texture in a cream color and have enjoyed wearing it a lot so I know I will get lots of wear from this one.

Remember when I paired my animal print tunic with these olive pants?  Well, I just knew that the burnt orange would be a perfect match with the pants, as well. I had to see some stylings by other people on the blogs in order to understand the possibilities of matching colors with olive green and now I'm having fun finding new possibilities. I know this top will also look great with tan and dark brown pants, as well. 

Here's a closeup of the jewelry I chose to wear with this outfit. To me, gold goes perfectly with burnt orange and olive green. Both of these bracelets are stretchy and easy to wear and I so love the bracelet that has affirmations on it. It was a gift from when I was teaching and always serves to remind me to believe and achieve! 

So what am I hoping you will take away from today's post?  I hope that you will be encouraged to try color combinations that you might not think of pairing together. I hope that you will find textures and colors that you love and run with them. I hope that you will keep an eye out for clothing that just calls to you saying, "Yoo-hoo, I'm over here hanging on the rack just waiting for you to see me!" 

Hope you will take a moment to leave a comment because I love them all!  And be sure to keep an eye out for my next post when I will share some of my daily life here lately. I think it will be fun and there just might be a fun announcement for you! 

Until Next Time,

Debbie

Fashion, Food and Fall

 Sharing A Little Bit of This and That

Hello everyone! I hope that your October is off to a great start and you are beginning to enjoy some Fall colors wherever you may be. Our Fall colors are pretty muted so far and I have a suspicion that this year may not be the best color year for leaves. Anyway, in true this and that fashion, I have several items of interest to share today. First up is this new-to-me striped shirt that I purchased on Thred-Up. 

My Fall wardrobe was sadly lacking tops in the brown family so I purchased a couple recently. This top is tunic style and fits me really well. I'm already enjoying wearing it and think I will get lots of wear from it in the future. BTW, I deleted my Poshmark account and have decided if I buy used online, I will only use Thred-Up. The shipping is less on Thred-Up and, more importantly, items are returnable. Poshmark does not allow returns unless the item is not "as described" by the seller. Although the majority of my Poshmark purchases have been good, I have gotten "burned" a few times with items not fitting well, even though they were in my size range. That's really frustrating to have happen and not be able to return the items! 

Anyway, I'm enjoying the striped top very much. I will share the other brown top I purchased in another post. Before I move on to another topic, here is a pic of some leaves turning color near our driveway. See what I mean by "muted" coloring this year?

Have you jumped on board with designing charcuterie boards? They seem to be all the rage lately. We even have a local cheese shop that designs the boards for people to take and go! Mine looks pretty feeble, I know. For one thing, I'm only displaying fruit and nuts, but hey, I did it artfully!! Plus, charcuterie boards typically use a wooden board. Oh well. I thought I would give it a try. Adding some meats, cheeses, olives and breads would have added more to the arrangement. 

Now, this meal that I made recently looks really pretty on the plate and was also quite tasty as well as easy to make. It's a combination of long grain/brown rice with vegetables from a steamer bag added to white breast meat and topped with mandarin oranges. It's a complete meal on a plate with meat, veggies, grains and fruit all in one! The chicken breast I used is a pre-packaged premium white chicken by Starkist. The packages look like the tuna packages only chicken breast. I like to use these in quick meals. 

The Mr. and I took a walk around The Grove Park Inn golf course last Sunday and we snapped some photos. This is one of my favorite walks. 

As you can see, it was a gorgeous day and The Mr. did a great job capturing this pic with The Grove Park Inn in the distance. 

I always enjoy looking at the gorgeous houses that line the streets of this neighborhood. Many are historic and they are so pretty. This stone wall is just wonderful.

And, of course, I had to have my picture taken in front of my favorite house on the walk. I keep telling The Mr. that he is supposed to buy this house for me but, somehow, this just isn't happening!

And speaking of gorgeous houses, how gorgeous is this one?!  I showed this house to you in an earlier post when it was being somewhat renovated. At that time, it was yellow with white and now, as you can see, the yellow has become gray. It's such a stately home in the Montford section of Asheville. 

I do wish that the renovators had left the house yellow. I love gray and white together but I don't love the combination on this house. At the very least, I wish they had painted the porch rails white and not gray. It's just too much gray for my liking. But, they didn't consult with me did they?!

And, I guess that's where I'll leave it for this post. Except to wish each of you many blessings as Fall progresses. Be sure to leave me a comment. I love hearing from you!

Until Next Time,

Debbie