Autumn Amelia

Hello everyone!

What's this?

A post on Wednesday?

That's right!

I have been feeling really overwhelmed lately.

I have been frustrated with myself.

Frustrated with where I am and where I think I should be.

Frustrated with things that have tripped me up.

Frustrated that I am quite possibly failing in every aspect of my life.

I spend too much time and energy beating myself up and it always comes down to this.

I can give up or keep moving forward.

So, whatcha going to do?

Give up?

The first thought that comes to mind when I ask myself this question is a quote.

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I love creating things and sharing them.

But trying to stick to posting two times a week here, while posting content on other platforms, working two jobs, trying to keep my house going, maintaining my relationships with friends and family and trying to keep my sanity has been hard. 

Things I have been so excited to create have left me filling unfulfilled because I do not give myself enough time to execute them. 

That's why I think this switch up will be better for me with the holidays upon us. 

For the last month or two, my Friday crafts and recipes have been going up on Sundays.

So, why not just change my upload day to Sunday so I don't feel so bad?

And heck let's change my Monday posts to Wednesday so that I have a nice space between my posts. 

I can sit and stew or I can get to work.

No one is going to make a beautiful life for me, besides me.

And maybe Erik but we are basically the same person. 😉

Here's to hoping these small changes make a big impact on my life.

How have you been feeling lately?

Let's check in with ourselves and make some necessary changes. 

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

A few years ago my grandpa started a family traveling letter.

What is a family traveling letter, you might ask?

I'll tell you. 

But first, let's talk about the man who started it all. 

My grandpa 

He isn't like a regular grandpa.

He's a cool grandpa. 

He is very technologically savvy and even runs his own blog.

He uses his tech savviness for his favorite hobby Genealogy. 

He loves to figure out family history and keep track of ours currently.

Enter the family traveling letter.

He first sent the letter to my mom in June of 2015.

The instructions: write something, anything and pass it on to another family member. 

Once you receive the letter you choose someone else in the family to send it on to. 

Siblings, cousins, aunts, grandparents, etc.

Since its start, (almost four years ago!) it has been through so many hands and it is a lot of fun to read.

Erik just received it and decided to pass it on to me.

I feel like it is kind of a cop-out to send it to your wife but, I'll accept it. 😉

Erik's letter was very sweet and I wanted to share it here with you.

Not because I want to toot my own horn but, I want to show you a little more about our relationship from his point of view.

So, here it is:

While reading Grandpa Baldwin's letter, I was inspired to break the mold a little bit. According to the traveling letter rules, I can write about anything I want. So rather than write to Autumn, I've decided that I want to write a spotlight about her. As embarrassed as she will be it's my turn on the platform and this is what I want to do with it!
I met Autumn way back in the fifth grade. She had moved to my Elementary School, go Bobcats! At the time, I didn't really pay her much mind (or any girl for that matter, they had cooties). As we grew a little older and moved to Junior High she sat in front of me during Social Studies, and let's face it, I started to socially study her instead! Looking back the thing I most remember about her was her laugh. It was, and still is, one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. Well, time moved on like it does, and before I knew it, I was smitten. I knew that Autumn was something special and I didn't want to ever let her go. We grew together in a way that not many people can say they did.
I feel so blessed that I got to see her turn into the amazing woman that she is. Having shared about half of my life with her, I can now say with absolute certainty that she is the most selfless person in my life. Who among us can't think of an act of kindness that Autumn has done for us? How many brilliant parties has she helped plan, or incredibly thought out gifts has she given? How many times has she been the shoulder to cry on, the one to organize events, the emergency babysitter? The most amazing thing is that she does it happily without any expectation of anything in return. I get to see these things from behind the curtain and I believe that most people do not see the hours that go into these acts of kindness. Honestly, she doesn't care for the recognition for these acts, but I think that she deserves to know how much we all appreciate everything she does for us; I know I don't tell her enough!
She is also unbelievably strong. As most people know, for the first years of our married lives I went to work full time and went to classes at night. During these times she would take care of the house, prepare hot meals for me when I got home, take care of our sick dog, pick me up from the TRAX station whenever we were down to one car, and that is just the tip of the iceberg! Her ability to persevere through the many hardships that we have had is simply incredible. In her words, we just have to keep moving forward. She will forever be an inspiration for me to keep moving forward in this world, despite any obstacles that come our way. I know that she will forever be at my side helping me push through the struggles and be a crutch for me whenever I stumble. I would never have graduated without her constantly encouraging me to keep going. Her work ethic is unmatched, to the point where old bosses of hers are constantly trying to get her to come back to work for them. She has a work policy of doing things right the first time and then going beyond that.
If you aren't excited for holidays and parties now, just spend a week with Autumn. Before you know it, you will be making Punxsutawney pancakes for Groundhog Day. Suddenly a boring Thursday night becomes a Star Wars party for May the Fourth, or doughnuts will be warming in the oven for national doughnut day. Life is worth celebrating with her, and she makes it a life worth looking forward to. For each Valentine's Day, she has given me 14 days of it, featuring a unique pun and gift every day leading up to the holiday. She loves to have fun and it becomes so contagious that you cannot help but join in the celebrations.
She has a unique ability to make the world more beautiful wherever she goes. I don't know how she does it, but she has an eye for what things could become and then makes it. Her creativity has me constantly coming to her for advice on my own work and how I can make it better. I believe that all of us have enjoyed looking through her blog, or watching her videos and being able to see the world the way she does. She breathes life into our house and makes it a home worth coming home to. She has told me that she doesn't put anything in the world that she isn't proud of and I believe it. Everything she does is worth appreciating and admiring.
I will always look forward to sitting down to a meal with her, or going for a walk with her because I know that I get to discover a little more about her each time. She has the most intricate thoughts and opinions that I can't help but agree with. As time goes on, I feel an initmacy and connection to her grow. There isn't anyone quite like her, and I am the luckiest man in the world to have her all to myself. I am excited to see the future with her and what she is able to do with it because I know it will be great.

I feel so lucky to be married to Erik.

He is such a sweet, patient, hardworking man.

I am grateful for our relationship and all the time we have had together. 

My hope in sharing this is to encourage those who are still looking for their significant other to find someone like Erik.

Someone who you can have an equal, respectful and loving relationship with.

He is my rock and I am so grateful for him.
I am also so grateful for my grandpa and the time and effort he has put into documenting our lives.
I am grateful for the knowledge he has gathered and shared with us.
I think I inherited my love of documenting from him!
I am also grateful for the opportunity he has given us to share our thoughts and feelings with each other with this family traveling letter.


We are all so busy with our own lives, it's nice to take a moment to stop and put our thoughts into words and to have a physical copy to look back on for years to come.
What is something unique you and your family do?


All my love,
Autumn

Hello everyone!
Just a fair warning, I am here to gush about my husband...

A few months into our marriage people started asking me if the honeymoon phase of our relationship had finally passed.

At first I responded with, "I don't think we had one."
That probably wasn't the best thing to say...

People would reply with "Uh Oh." "That can't be good." or "That's why you don't get married so young."

That wasn't the case...
I loved the crap out of Erik!

But when we got married not a whole lot changed for us.

Except that we rarely saw each other. 

One of us would leave before the other one woke up and with Erik's night classes he usually wasn't home until 11:30 and I was already asleep trying to recover from a full day of working at a job I hated.

It sucked and that was what the first five years of our marriage were.
I couldn't get excited about being with him.

I wouldn't allow myself to get my hopes up.

Now things have calmed down a bit.

I get to set my own schedule, Erik is home before 4 and no more night classes!

And I've realized we finally got our honeymoon phase!

I don't think I have ever been as obsessed with Erik as I am now.

I always thought I wasn't a clingy girl but man was I wrong...

The more time we spend together the more time I want to spend together.
We have time to talk, relax and just enjoy each others company.
Whether it's trying a new hobby, rereading the Harry Potter series or a spontaneous stay downtown we have loved the opportunity to do the things we have always talked about and to have new experiences.
I don't think I have seen him this often since we were dating.

We are both very happy with where we are at right now.
We are trying to enjoy every moment before life inevitably pulls us in different directions again.
If you are like us and feel you didn't get that honeymoon phase, fear not.
It can still happen.
If you are well passed the honeymoon phase, fear not.
I am a firm believer that you can get it back.
How do you spend quality time with your lover?
I'd love some new ideas.

All my love,
Autumn


When Scout passed away we realized that over the years we had taken a million pictures of him and none of us...
We decided that we should start taking more photos and have started a "selfies" series.
Whenever either one of us wants a picture we let it be known and we take one no matter what.
We are starting to get a little collection and I absolutely love it!

Hello everyone!

While I was out running errands the other day I was in the area of a house Erik and I were interested in buying when we were first engaged.

I thought I would drive by and take a little look see.

When I drove by the house I was overcome by so many emotions.

I was sad that the house never worked out for us.

I was grateful for how far we have come.

I was sentimental for my past self.

And wait for it....

I was PROUD of myself.

That's right proud.

I have a really hard time letting myself feel proud.

I always feel like I have nothing to toot my horn about.

I feel I could have done better or I could have done more
Or I feel that I still have a long way to go. 

But, for this short instant I let myself revel in those proud feelings and I got a little weepy.

I am a crier if you haven't noticed...

I thought of my little 20 year old self and all the hope that she had for the future.

I thought of all the plans I was making and the home I was planning to create.

I thought of how hard we tried to buy that house and how disappointed I was that it didn't work out.

I thought of all the things that we would have to endure and how some of the plans would work but would take triple the time we thought.

I thought of how that little 20 year old would soon lose all that hope and feel so completely lost.

I looked at the house and thought about the house we now call home and how it's basically the same house but ours has a few things that I like better.

I thought of how hard we had to work to purchase it and how excited we were when we finally got it.

I thought of where we are now and how far we have come and I was proud dang it!

Later that night I wanted to tell Erik about my experience but it was so hard for me to admit that I was proud of myself.

He finally pulled it out of me and when I told him he said "Good! You should feel proud of yourself more often."

And I want to!

I really do.

But, it's hard...

I know that I am not alone in this.

I know many of you must have a hard time letting yourself feel proud too.

Especially if you are a women.

So, I would love for you to tell me when was the last time you felt proud of yourself?

Even if it seems small or insignificant.
Even if you just sat in your car and cried while looking at a house, see image below, I would love to hear what makes you feel proud!

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

Last Tuesday my sister Heather and I went to our 4th Andrew McMahon concert together.

I was around seven or eight years old when she first introduced me to his music.

At that time he was in the band Something Corporate and I remember hanging out at her apartment and begging her to play the song Hurricane.

Since then we have seen him four times.

Once with Something Corporate, once with Jack's Mannequin and twice as a solo artist.

Two years ago we saw him at the same venue we did last week.

We were jamming and having a good time when I started to cry.

At first I thought it was because I was so happy and then it turned into full on hard ugly crying and I was so confused...

I was honestly happy and enjoying myself.

Nothing should have been making me sad.

"What is wrong with me?" I thought.

The first response that came into my mind was "I don't want to be miserable anymore..."

I realized that was the first time I had been happy in awhile and it affected me in such a weird way.

I was doing what I thought I needed to do to be happy at the time.

I was working hard and making the most money I had ever made.

I was able to support my family.

We finally had a house.

We were able to afford things we never could before.

We were "successful."

But man was I sad.

I think that was the first time I was honest with myself about my feelings.

It led me to acknowledge that I needed to take care of myself.

It led to a conversation with Erik of putting more than half of my earnings into savings so that I could quit my job.

It led to the realization that I was suppressing a lot of things.

It led to some major changes.

Last Tuesday as we were standing in the same same spot seeing him again,  I reflected on that moment and how far I had come.

The last month or so I have been the happiest I have been in a long time.

I cried on the way home from the concert but this time they were happy tears.
I am so grateful to be where I am now.

And I am so excited to see where I will be the next time we go and see him.

All my love,
Autumn

Hello everyone!

As you probably know International Women's day was last Friday.

I love International Women's Day and the chance it gives us to celebrate one another.

I feel that we are at such an exciting age for women.

We are finally getting recognition for all we have done and we get to do some pretty amazing things because of it.

Growing up I never felt like being a girl was a disadvantage.

Not because I was told or shown differently, but because I had so many amazing women showing me that was untrue. 

My three older sisters, my mom, my grandmothers, my aunts, my teachers.

I am so grateful for the women who paved the way and fought for our rights.

And I am so grateful to have the opportunity to fight for a brighter future for the little ladies in my life.

My nieces hold such a special place in my heart.

Don't get me wrong, I love my nephews.

My nieces are just interested in things I can relate to.

Music, photography, fashion.

While my nephews favorites pass time is pretending to urinate on me...

My niece Stella is the gentlest, purest soul I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.

She is so sweet she gives me a toothache.

For Christmas last year she asked Santa for a "real life violin "

What six year old has an interest in the violin?!

I know I didn't...

She loves to bake and create new foods. 

She wants to own her own bakery when she grows up.

She found out that I also love to bake and asked to come over and bake at my house.

On a Saturday night all she wanted to do was bake with me.
It made me so happy!

My niece Baylee loves life more than anyone I have ever known.

She loves to celebrate and is always looking forward to the next event.

She likes YouTube and is interested in videography and filmography.

Santa brought her a Polaroid camera and she takes better pictures at six than I do now...

She has always had an interest in becoming a doctor.

I recently asked her what kind of doctor she wants to be.

She said a baby doctor.

I asked "So you are going to take care of the babies?"

Her response.

"Nope. I'm going to bring them into the world."

Mic drop!

My niece Bella is eighteen months old and can only say a few words but, she is the most independent and feisty little thing.

She knows what she wants and I would advise you not to go against her wishes.

She is persistent and will do what it takes to get it. 

I think she will be a little fashionista.

She loves to spend the day trying on clothes.

She will bring me outfit after outfit to put on.
She loves to wear items from her big sister's closet and always makes sure to accessorize.
She also loves my phone.

I am completely inspired by my nieces.

I love how creative they are and that they dream big.

My goal in life is to encourage them to be whatever they want to be.

To try new things and explore all their opportunities.

I truly believe that they will change the world. 

All my love,

Autumn

P.S. I am holding another giveaway on my Instagram.

It is a gorgeous gold Made By Mary necklace.

Head over here to enter!

Hello everyone! 

This past weekend my bestie Shea and I had ourselves a little girls weekend.

We took Thursday and Friday off and headed south for some warmer weather.

We saw a movie, got pedicures, watched several chick flicks, put on some face masks and ate a lot of goodies.

It was a much needed break.

It was so nice to be irresponsible and it reminded me how important it is to treat yourself. 

My throat was sore from all the talking we did and my cheeks hurt from smiling so much.

I felt very refreshed coming back home and it was good for Erik and I to spend some time away from each other. 

As I mentioned in this post, I think it is important for couples to spend time apart.

You get time to be your own person and the opportunity to miss each other.

I came home and had a new appreciation for Erik, and he got time to work on some of his projects. 

I could tell he felt accomplished and found some passion for them again. 

I am so grateful I had the opportunity to take some time off to unwind.

I have more energy and am ready to take on the last few days of my least favorite month!

I think we will have to make a trip in January a new annual tradition. 😉

How did you spend your weekend?

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

As you may have noticed, I am a huge fan of adding fun into everyday.

I believe that life is meant to be celebrated.

It even says so in my bio. 😊
Something I get asked a lot is, how do I had celebration into everyday?

For me it's easy, because adding celebration can be anything.
Here are some of my favorite ways to celebrate.
I love to indulge in each holiday, or the "real" holidays.
From Christmas to Cinco De Mayo to Groundhog Day I take any occasion to celebrate.
I love to go all out for these holidays with decorations and a fun themed menu.
We dress up, eat treats and enjoy some sort of entertainment.
We love to have wear kimonos on Chinese New Year and eat green pancakes on St. Patrick's Day.
I also love to keep up with national holidays, or the "fake" holidays.
There is one (or two) almost everyday.
I choose which ones I want or have the time to celebrate.
For instance this weekend was National Popcorn Day.
I LOVE popcorn...
We had to celebrate!
It just happened to also be Dolly Parton's birthday so, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to watch a Dolly Parton movie while enjoying some salty buttery popcorn.


But, it doesn't have to be a holiday (real or fake) to celebrate.
I believe that there should always be dancing in the kitchen.
Erik and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen.
Whether cooking dinner, baking a favorite treat or trying a new recipe for the blog, our kitchen gets good use.
We take the time the food is cooking to dance to our favorite songs.
Which brings me to our playlists.
We have a playlist for every occasion.
From Valentine's Day to paying bills we have songs at the ready.
I believe music makes everything better.
We also love to play games, go for long walks at new places or just make a huge deal of grabbing a treat from the gas station.
I feel like people put a lot of pressure on having fun.
Which takes away from the whole point.
FUN!
Do whatever you love and have time for.
From going all out on a themed party, to watching a movie to having a dance party in the kitchen while dinner cooks.
Find the celebration in everyday.

All my love,
Autumn

Hello everyone!
Happy New Year!

This year I realized I struggle with focusing on where I currently am.

I like to focus on the future and this causes me to lose out on the present.

This is especially true for seasons.

When it's spring I am looking forward to summer

When it's summer I am looking forward to fall.

When it's fall I am looking forward to winter.

And so on.

To help me enjoy the present I started making a list for each season and focusing on what I could enjoy and accomplish in each one.

I drew inspiration from the kids gift list of Want, Need, Wear, Read. 

And came up with Eat, Buy, Read, Try.

Eat because I love to eat seasonally.

Buy to encourage me to buy something for myself.
Either something I need or just to treat myself. 

Read because I love to read books but rarely do.

Try to encourage me to try something new.

It could be a new hair style, a new work out routine, a new fashion anything that caught my eye. 

I looked at trends and styles I was loving and added them to my lists.

Here are the things that I came up with for 2018.

Spring

Eat: Radishes

Buy: Jean Jacket

Read: Girlboss

Try: Half up hair

Summer
Eat: Artichokes
Buy: Romper
Read: Where Did You Go, Bernadette?

Try: Fishtail Braids

Fall

Eat: Pumpkin Seeds
Buy: Reader Glasses
Read: Whiskey In A Teacup

Try: Bubble Bar

Winter

Eat: Pomegranates
Buy: Velvet Top
Read: The Nightingale

Try: Red Eyeshadow

I loved having these lists to help me focus on the present.

And since each season is roughly three months long completing four things each wasn't unrealistic.

I will be honest I did not complete everything on all of these lists but it did push me to try new things and help me to enjoy the current season.

I am excited to implement this into the new year and hope to cross off many more things.

What would be on your list for the start of 2019?

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!
Christmas is my favorite time of year by far.
I love the sights, sounds and smells.
But my favorite part would have to be spending quality time with my loved ones.
The holidays are the only time I see some of my family members during the year.
It has made me appreciate these moments and realize how precious they are.
Time goes by fast.
Every year I am reminded of this.
Each time I see my family and realize how long it has been since we have seen each other and how long it will be before we are all together again.

Life is short.

It may not always feel that way, but it really is.
That's why I believe it is so important to show love at all times.
You never know when you will get the opportunity to again.
In this day and age I feel it is becoming less and less popular to share our feelings.
We don't want to come on too strong or seem weak.

I would rather be remembered for loving too fiercely than not loving at all.

It can be exhausting to continuously reach out, show up or make an effort.

But at the end of the day I know that I have done what I can to make a difference.
That I have let my loved ones know I care for them and am here whenever I am needed.
What's more important than that?

I encourage you to love fiercely.
Especially during this time of year when you are with your loved ones more often.
Be present.
Listen.
Put down the phones and focus on what really matters.
Each other.
Life is too short to let another moment go by without letting them know.

All my love,

Autumn

Hello everyone!

We have almost made it though another year.

Is anyone as exhausted as I am?

These last few weeks have been especially hard.

It has made me a little frustrated because I am a Christmas fanatic but feel like I have been held back.

I'm sure many of you have reached this point before.

When you feel like all of your hard work has been for naught and you don't think you have the strength to go on.

Hello everyone!
The holiday season is fully upon us.
As we enter this time of year where we see loved ones from different parts of the world more often, I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk about social awareness.
Social Awareness: To be conscious of the difficulties and hardships of society.
I feel like a lot of people don't have social awareness skills nowadays.
We have become too self involved.

I used to think that as time went on people would gain perspective.

That they would see how others struggle or how hard it is to juggle several things at once.

I have come to learn that that is not the case.

For some people it's just their show twenty four seven.
So, here is a little lesson for you.

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Hello everyone!

Happy December!

Christmas is on its way!

Every year I have the best intentions to add cute gift tags to my Christmas gifts but never get around to it. 

I end up having to remember who's gift is who's by the shape.

That will not be the case this year as I finally have gift tags.

I made my own!

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is snuggling up and watching Christmas movies.

Certain movies tend to remind me of certain people.

I thought it would be fun to gift someone their present with a personalized gift tag featuring a Christmas movie quote inspired by them.

You will need:

Cardstock

Printer

Ink

Tag Punch

Hole Punch

Ribbon

Scissors

Items to decorate with, Optional

Gifts

To start, think of some quotes that would be perfect for the people on your gift list.

I went with:
Son of a nutcracker! - Elf
And a fandpa for your Cousin Leon. - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
I want to wash my hands, my face, my hair with snow. - White Christmas
And none for Gretchen Wieners. - Mean Girls
Is your house on fire, Clark? - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Every time a bell rings, an angel get his wings. - It's a Wonderful Life
Solve world hunger. Tell no one. - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
You go Glen Coco! - Mean Girls
Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal. - Home Alone
Fra-gee-lay. It mush be Italian! - A Christmas Story

Type the quotes up on your computer.

Print out the quotes.

Using your tag punch or scissors cut the quotes out into a tag.

Punch a hole into the tag to create a place for your ribbon to fit through.
Slip your ribbon through the hole.

Tie the tag to your gift.

I kept my quotes very simple as I wanted to add more to them when they were on the gift.

For instance my dad's favorite Christmas movie is It's A Wonderful Life.

Even if you haven't seen this movie you are probably familiar with it's line "Every time a bell rings, an angel gets his wings."

When thinking of Kevin McCallister snarling his lips and mouthing "Merry Christmas, ya filthy animal!" two things came to mind.

One, this awesome "ugly" Christmas sweater I saw years ago. (and still want BTW)

And two, all the pom pom beanies Macaulay Culkin rocks in the movie.

I know technically Mean Girls is not a Christmas movie.

But I think we can all agree that the Christmas scenes from this movie are iconic.

Obviously I had to create a tag with the famous "You go Glen Coco!" line.

In the movie candy canes are being passed out during the scene and Glen Coco happens to get four which encourages the epic line. 

If you'd rather spend time making the tags more detailed on the computer go for it!

You can use different colors, fonts and sizes.

 I am not technologically savvy at all.

I usually just type anything I want to print in Word.

I love the way these turned out.

They are so simple you can add just about anything to them or they work just fine on their own.
Each one of these quotes brought back a special memory with my loved ones.
I hope they love it just as much as I do!
I can't wait to get the rest of my gifts so I can wrap and add more tags to them.
What is your favorite Christmas movie quote?

Drop it below!

All my love,

Autumn