Home Fall Vibes & Fall Favorites

Now that Fall is with us I am happy to share with you my favorites of the season.

Fall to most of us means more time at home cooking, watching Halloween movies and getting cozy layering our clothes and decorating our homes with fall colors and pumpkins... lots of pumpkins.

So this is totally me right now, my gym routine has changed too, and I am usually at the gym in the mornings and less often, my home has exploded with pumpkins everywhere and I'm getting the home temperature warmer and warmer every day. So let me share with you some of my Fall favorites so far...

1- The Front Entrance of my house, I live in a townhouse in the suburbs, although I don't have a very spacious entrance I think it gives me some space to decorate with pumpkins and my Mums plants, I change them all the time and try to keep them inside the house too when is raining but for most days I love seeing my door Fall-y and festive.

My daughters and I made out Door hanger by ourselves using a wood letter from Michael's and some fake flowers on a wreath...

2- One of my go-to looks of the season includes always a cute flannel shirt, nothing says more "fall" to me than these warm shirts, this one in the picture is from Target.

 Of course, plenty more Fall looks are posting here in my Blog and on my 

social media (#cafeconnatta) every week but here it is one of my most emblematic 

outfit for this and any fall season.

Get this Look:

Flannel Shirt: Similar here and here 

H&M jeans: $39.99 here

Booties: Vince Camuto $139.00 here or $19.49 similar here

Basic tan tank top: Similar here and here 

3- My Floor doormat  got a much-needed upgrade if you can tell from the previous pictures to this one below, I got the "Home" one from Target (you can get it here) it is on sale for $11.69

and now that Halloween is getting closer I got out our "Gold spray-painted plastic pumpkins" that I use as flower pots (got the DIY idea from the Pinterest)

4- Inside my house, has got a little fall makeover too, adding some dry leaves hanging (DIY also found at Pinterest) and placing different pumpkin sizes here and there... My big Jar- Juice dispenser is from Target (is plastic) and my cake stand (metal) is from Target as well

5- Designating a special corner of your house and adding some fall details is sometimes all it takes to get into the fall mood, I am so glad I found this art picture, I think it complements perfectly with this little area on my house. (Find the frame and picture here) 

On my Center table I made this pumpkin centerpiece last year (Again Pinterest for the win) 

We use it since and it gives all the Fall vibes, as well as the real pumpkins I have close to the tv and piano (I adore the white "ghost pumpkins" style mixed with the classic orange ones), got them some from Target, some from Walmart, some from the pumpkin patch and some from Trader Joe's. 

My Ikea kid's Chalkboard changes al the time because my babies paint in it, but for the occasion, I draw a cute message on it. 

PS: Candles are musts when my girls are not around.

6- Girls Pumpkin DIY'S decorations are very important to us, is a tradition now that every year before Halloween we will get some pumpkins and decorate them, now over the years I learned that since they are still little, going for the easiest and cheapest ways is best for us, "no wasting and no mess" is my motto, so we got these cute foam pumpkins that are also carvable from the dollar store and got too; some felt fun stickers to add as decoration, if the mood is right my husband and I will carve a real pumpkin on the Halloween night to light it as our Jack-o-Lantern on that day ("IF" the mood is right) note that please, lol because #children and also #parentslife is tiring.

For now, we stick to the plastic dollar store easy pumpkin decor.

7- My Kitchen's special place is always my Coffe Bar (I got my Baker's Rack at a yard sale for $15.00 years ago) and I really love to dress it up for the occasion, starting with my Chalkboard, which I change accordingly to the season (I paint it always by myself) that's why is not perfect but made with love of course, then little details here and there and the fresh apples we picked on our own that soon will become pie (I promise) 

8- My Girls bedrooms Fall vibes are also happening here, first we get rid of all of the summer clothes and bring out our Fall-winter clothes so now they can pick and choose every day what to wear (they love to dress themselves) and I don't have to worry that they will find a bathing suit in the closet and throw a fed on me because they insist to wear it, so cleaning the closets and filling the draws with the weather appropriate clothes is a must task for me to do, and looking to add something with a most cozy and fall look I came across this adorable covers for them (of course at Target) I think they look super cute and even match their walls, you can find my big girls covers here and my little girl's shared bedroom duvet covers here.

9- In my room things keep going, as usual, I love my neutral colors bedding (sometimes during the holidays I'll add some color but for the most part stays the same (I'll be working on a project soon with my dresser, stay tuned) But the area I love to change depending on my mood or the season is my little mini-office, this time a few little details made the difference, my board says: "Hello Fall" and my hats during summer were beach hats now changed with this cute felt burgundy hat, I feel that as my look change my bedroom wall dress up for the season too! 

10- Fall food is one of my favorite ways to make my home cozier, soups, chili, hearty dishes are present in my home from now all the way until February...
This super easy chicken & veggie soup is made with:
Spinach, celery, onions, carrots, peas, ginger, garlic, chicken and chicken stock.
You just need to boil them all until they get tender, season it with salt and pepper to taste and them pure them in the blender or food processor adding more chicken stock depending how thick or runny you want it, I add shredded chicken pieces to mine and potato chunks or noodles (that I cooked separately) to my girls, it not only taste great but it has so many good nutrients in it that makes me feel good feeding it to my family. 

 9- Is Apple Season, and we went to pick them up by ourselves, If you want to see pictures of our adventure picking apples check our Farm Trip here.

So the product of that fun day is now sitting in my kitchen counter and I can't waste it of course, so far I made "Apple turnovers" my first idea was to make apple pie, but I realized I didn't own a apple pie dish, so I went for the personal apple turnovers and luckily it turnout to be a success!!
I check a couple of recipes on youtube and came out with an easy one, just cut apple in little dices, (leaving the skin on) Mix them with some sugar and cinnamon powder, a splash of lime juice and then get your premade apple pie crust  (I used Pillsbury pie crust) cut your pieces and start filling: a layer of some apricot jam, a spoonful of the apple pieces and some sprinkles of butter, close your turnover, mark the edges with a fork and make a couple of vents on top, take them to the 400 temperature oven for about 20-25 minutes and TA-DA! you got a homemade fall-y desert that everybody will enjoy!

10- The fun in the kitchen continues since I made the apple turnovers and got some more apple pie crust my hubby asked me "Why don't you try making these "empanadas" that I love so much (Beef patties) and so The husband asks and I make them : )

I love them too is basically the same routine, get your pre-made crust and make this time circles, make your filling (Anything goes, this time I make beef just seasoned with salt pepper and added a couple of hard-boiled eggs, you can make them with pork, chicken, veggie, etc) fill your crust close it, mark the edges, make a couple of vents on top and take it to the oven for 20-25 minutes. I got 8-9 patties from one box of the Pillsbury pie crust.

We love this one, specially my husband (He ate 7 in a row) because "they were small size" If I would have to add something would be maybe more juice or sauce on the filling I think it can be a little dry to my taste, so next time I'll make them again I will try to add a cream or sauce that can go inside (or outside to dip) and make it more juicy. other than that they not only look great but taste really good too. Oh, and these can be frozen and take them out off the oven as need it.

Let's just appreciate some "Picked-by-myself Sunflowers" for a second 

(they were at the farm with the apples too.

11- PSL me not, I know fall is all about PSL coffee, but sorry I'm not sorry: Me no likey!

Everything but the PSL, so instead I am a huge fan of the "Maple Pecan latte" or my all season favorite "Caramel macchiato" See? - Options, right!

I guess I am not that much of a Basic B* after all! :/ I can live with that :)

PS: I'm loving the "no straw movement"

12- Cleaning & Scents around the house, Let me end my fall favorites with some house cleaning and scents here, lately you must have seen the Grove Collaborative company everywhere, all influencers and bloggers were talking about it, and I had to try it, yes, I love it too. the price is reasonable, and products are great and the sense of "good for the world" is everything. So I jumped to subscribe myself too and this is my first package, I love and used them all so far I will repeat the mum scent dish soap (hopefully not discontinued yet) and I will get more reusable bags and I will keep exploring about their products, there is no obligation on ordering every month or so, I think is pretty cool again  not a fan of the pumpkin scent but I could get a good fall season scents with the mum soaps from them.

And last but not least it was time for me to refill my hand soap stash so I went to Bath & Body Works and got me some new soaps, so far we used the afternoon apple picking (loved it) my all times favorite (Japanese Cherry Blossom which is in my bathroom) and now I'm opening the Halloween "With please" soap for the guests bath. They are so good always, can't wait to try the "Frosted cranberry" later on the fall and saving the "Crisp Morning Air" one for earlier in the winter.

So, there you have it, my Fall favorites, these are some of my essentials here, can't live without them and they make me so happy to look at them, to smell them, to eat them or to wear them and oh, music right? What do I listen to at this time of the year? I'll say You have to hear ME, singing.

 I am always posting a song (or two) on my facebook page: Café con Natta or you can find me on Smule as NataliaZerga! 

Anyway, I am definitely using and enjoying 5 senses this season,

 a treat to my heart and soul during for this time.

Xo: Natalia