Fall Foliage at the Farm

Two out of three kids have been sick this week, so we’ve been cooped up inside for what feels like forever. Yesterday, though, since they were feeling much better (and no more fever!), I loaded them up and we drove out to the farm to see PJ and get some fresh air.

But when we got there, I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful the farm looked in all its autumn glory. The colors of the mountain hit me like a ton a bricks and all I could do was yell at the kids for them to look how gorgeous it was 😂. Okay I didn’t yell, but every time we see beautiful colors of the sky or of leaves, I always point it out and ask them to tell me what colors they see. Yesterday, there were a lot of oranges, greens, yellows, browns and some reds. All the colors of our favorite season.

These photos don’t do it justice (I always find it so hard to capture what something really looks like through a picture). It was overwhelming, in a sense. We walked the property and checked out the pond, as there’s still a little bit of water in it from all the rain we’ve been having lately. We’re thinking it might take an entire year’s worth of rain to get filled up, so we’re hoping for next summer.

PJ also showed me the fence that goes around our entire farm (!) and it’s thisclose to being finished!! It feels so…real to have a fence to keep our animals safe and let them roam free. The fence being added is one of those things that no one but me and PJ would find makes a big difference, visually or otherwise, but we are so damn excited about it and what it means for the overall future of the farm.

Yesterday was one of those days where, when we were out there, we kept asking ourselves (and each other) why we don’t just sell everything and move to the farm already. It’s so beautiful there, so peaceful, such a magical place the children would have to grow up. Surrounded by nature with endless opportunities to run and get dirty and explore and let their imaginations run wild. We get those thoughts quite often while we’re there. Who knows?

Lastly, in other news, tomorrow we’ll be debuting a brand new look for PJandThomas.com!! We’ve had the same template and general layout since starting this blog back in the summer of 2017 (how has it already been four years?), so I’m excited for a different look. I’ve been working on the new site design for the last few months and I think it’s finally ready to go live. I hope you like it as much as I do.

A Stroll Around the Block

As the air cools and the days get shorter, we find ourselves spending more time outside these days. But that’s nothing new: this time of year is always my favorite for taking walks, and the other day was no exception.

My love for fall knows no end. This time every year, I always feel like we live in a movie for a few weeks as the leaves change and the old houses in our neighborhood, peaking through shades of orange and yellow, become even more charming than usual. The whole city seems to burst with life and color and I always find myself so grateful to live here during the last few months of the year. It’s almost like a little reward for making it though the borderline unbearably hot summers we have.

The other morning, after dropping the boys off at school and stopping by the renovation house to check on the progress, PJ, Anna and I took a stroll to take in the season before everything turns brown and wet in the next few weeks. Our autumns are beautiful but short: only a few weeks of truly magic atmospheres and then it’s dark and cold for winter. Which, I don’t mind much. There’s a certain wonder and coziness to winter that forces you to be extra intentional with your time and, in turn, your happiness.

It’s truly the best time of the year, isn’t it?

Falling in Love All Over Again

Yesterday was another perfect fall day here in Tennessee and I have the photos to prove it.

Things are finally cooling off around here, meaning there are no more days scheduled to be in the 80’s for the foreseeable future! Living in the south, I dream of the days we are being able to wear sweaters outside without sweating the moment we walk out the door, and that day is here. We’re a little late to the fall game, per usual, but that’s okay. The colors of the leaves is always worth the wait.

The kids had fun hearing the leaves crunch beneath their feet. They love this season as much as we do (though some of that may be because we talk about how great it is nonstop).

Forever wishing I could freeze perfect moments like this in time.

I suppose that’s what this blog is for.

The Best Destinations for Fall Foliage

I came across this article from Architectural Digest the other day and it immediately caught my attention. Remember when I shared the peak fall foliage map a few weeks back? Well, apparently these are the top fall foliage destinations in the country!

As expected, most of these places are in New England, an area of the country I’ve wanted to visit (or live?!) for as long as I can remember. Still trying to talk PJ into all of us taking a family trip there one day, but I think he’s on board! Doesn’t New England in the fall sound so dreamy? I can’t think of a more magical place.

Anyway, the list is filled with gorgeous, dreamy towns like the Catskills in New York, Stowe in Vermont, North Conway in New Hampshire, and Asheville, North Carolina. However, I was sad to see Ocoee, Tennessee didn’t make the list! The photo above is from a few years back (look how little Anna was!) when the colors were absolutely bursting in all their autumn glory. It’s such a beautiful area this time of year, but maybe the problem is just not as many people know about it?

Would love to visit any of the cities on this list one day!!

PJ Started Decorating for Fall!

Just a few things here and there. I can’t wait to show you all of it, but we’re saving the big reveal for an upcoming collaboration we’re doing with a dream company of ours (one that we’ve wanted to work with for years), so it’ll just have to wait.

We’re a little late this year on getting our fall decor out; usually we start at the beginning of September so we can enjoy them for as long as possible since we start decorating for Christmas at the beginning of November (I don’t want to hear it!!). Nonetheless, they’re out now, and so are all the warm, cozy feelings they bring with them.

xoxo

This Time of Year Always Brings Feelings of Nostalgia; Even More So Now with Kids

The last week I’ve felt great, all but fully recovered from my covid diagnosis. It’s a beautiful day today after it rained cats and dogs last week, and the fall light is shining through the windows the same way it used to when I was growing up in this house. There are many reasons why autumn is my favorite season, but I think a big one, one that I’m just now realizing, is that it brings feelings of nostalgia for my childhood spent in our home.

Back then the house wasn’t in the best shape, and even though my parents renovated it from top to bottom in the 80’s, it was already considered dated, with tears in the wallpaper and cracks in the tile floors. My friends all had newer, prettier houses (in my opinion) and if I’m being honest, I was always a bit jealous of them. But not in the fall. In the fall our house seemed to come alive. The 1924 oak floors shined in the afternoon light that was pouring through the old windows as the dust settled on them, making our already old house feel even older in the most charming way.

My mom would go all out for fall, decorating our house with decorations both handmade and store-bought. We would watch Halloween movies for two months straight and eat chili and spaghetti and other foods that I now associate with this time of year. The coolness of the air around this time (that we’re all still patiently waiting for) also always gets me excited for what’s to come.

I think raising kids in this house has a lot to do with the nostalgia I feel lately. We’re raising three kids (two older boys and a younger sister), the same way my mom raised me, my brother and my younger sister, in the same house, on the same street, that I grew up in. Of course I would feel this way, right? How could I not?

I relish in the fact that our kids will have warm, comforting memories in our family home as they get older the same way I do now. At least, I hope they do. It wasn’t perfect then (goodness it wasn’t perfect) and it’s not perfect now, but it’s home. You know what I mean?

I love that PJ loves to decorate for seasons, too. We lay out our fall garland and our wreaths. PJ displays pumpkins (both real and fake) on various tables throughout the house. We incorporate pops of orange here and there. It feels like home to us: safe, inviting, lived-in and comfortable. Our house was always a mess growing up; not dirty, but definitely messy, like you could 100% tell that a single mom with three young kids lived there. There would be piles of laundry all over the couches and stacks of papers on the dining room table. Details. Little things.

And even though there’s two of us, and even though we work from home, our house is also messy, cluttered and easily identifiable as to how many kids live here. And I absolutely love it.

As we walked to school the other morning, we had to bundle up to stay warm. Fall is here, at least for this week (it will most likely be back in the mid 80’s next week because that’s how weather in Tennessee rolls), and all the nostalgia is rushing back with it. And I welcome it every year.

How could I not?