Autumn Decorating, A New Outlet Mall, & Critters in The Devil's Playground

Oh so many things to share with you today!  First of all, the temperatures are staying cool & therefore I am still smiling & singing that Pharrell song   : )   In fact, it's been so cool this morning that I treated myself to a long-sleeved jersey & broke out my fluffy slippers from last year   : )

This past Thursday I decided I should probably put away my 4th of July decor & make the house look more fall-like, so I did a bit of autumn decorating with ...

my autumn painted breadboard ...

my autumn painted sewing drawer ...

& another autumn painted breadboard.

I know what you're thinking.  "Wow!  The Easily Influenced Stitcher must be exhausted from all that decorating!"  Well, there's more!

I brought my autumn/winter colored Fiesta dishes out in front of the spring & summer colored ones. My kitchen walls aren't lime green, by the way ... they just showed up this way in the photo.

Here are some autumn-themed pictures for my walls ...

& here are a few more autumn-themed decor items.

And here are some stenciled wooden signs to welcome the season.

Yes, I was totally exhausted from all that decorating ... but I did manage to add one more decorative item!

I couldn't resist   : )   Now I can look up & see this sign while I'm stitching   : )

A new outlet mall opened in Louisville last month ... The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass.    

The mall is actually located in Simpsonville, but it's close enough to Louisville to be considered a Louisville mall.  John had a doctor appointment in Louisville yesterday, & on our way home we decided to stop & explore the new attraction.  I'm not one who frequents outlet malls.  I never see much in the way of bargains.  When I do find something I like that's a good deal, it's usually not my scent, color, or size.  (Omar the Tent Maker has yet to succumb to the call of the outlet mall.) Yesterday was an exception though.  The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass included a Ghirardelli store!!!  I have seen a few different varieties of Ghirardelli squares in my lifetime (their Milk & Caramel squares have always been my favorite), but this outlet store had varieties I never imagined!  A woman with a basket of Ghirardelli Minis gave John & I a free sample, which just happened to be a free sample of the Milk & Caramel ones, as we entered the store.  I wanted to hug her!  Then after we walked around a bit, a different woman gave us each another free sample of these mini Milk & Caramel squares!  I wanted to hug her even more!!!  But back to the varieties ... there were so many to choose from! John & I were both interested in the Intense Dark Cherry Tango variety but we didn't want to buy a whole bag in case we didn't like them, so we were happy to find a "mix & match" display where you could choose however many of whatever you wanted ... so we bought one IDCT square for each of us.  I think I've now got a new favorite ... they were delicious!!!  If we would have tried them before we left the mall we would've bought a bag or two.  Instead, I thought these two in the photo below sounded good so they are what we brought home   : )

There is a small cafe at the Ghirardelli store which offers several ice cream concoctions as well as a pretty good looking (per the photo on the wall) cup of hot chocolate.  I think we will need to visit again for a cup of that hot chocolate & a bag or two of those Intense Dark Cherry Tango squares   : )

As for the critters, a couple days ago I was able to get this photo of one of our hummingbirds.

Just after I took this hummingbird photo, I noticed that Greta, our groundhog, was in the driveway. Isn't she cute?  

And that's it for today my friends!  I don't know what's going on but I think I've published more posts this past week than I have in a long time! Must be the cooler weather   : )   I finished stitching one of my exchange ornaments last night & will be starting another exchange piece this evening.  Fun-fun-fun!!!