Autumn Favourites

So Autumn is well and truly here.  This blog post has been in my head for weeks but until I felt that cold nip in the air I just couldn’t bring myself to write it!  This is my most favourite time of year.  Autumn, for me, starts the build up to Christmas and it’s a long and exciting few months.  There are several family birthdays in the Autumn (ahem…including mine!) and it just feels like a special time.  I think it’s become a fashionable thing to have Autumn as your favourite season, but I definitely got there first!  I think my love for this time of year stems from school.  New shoes and stationary, making new friends and joining new clubs!  These days I enjoy this through the children but I look forward to Sunday walks in the leaves with the dogs, evenings by the fire and wearing tights and boots!  Due to my change in job I have had to curb my Autumn spending this year and have only splashed out on a couple of items from Homesense (OMG I love that shop).  This glass vase with Autumn wreath is so beautiful.  I have filled it with some conkers I found in the local park and my favourite Bath and Body Works candle (see below) from their Autumn range that I picked up this Summer.  This wreath is mainly white with some creams and browns and fits perfectly with our colour scheme in the living room. Check out the Autumn home range at TK Maxx here.

This gorgeous jar was a must have!  It has pride of place on my kitchen window ledge and brightens up even the dullest of days.

One of the greatest things about Autumn and Winter are the log fires.  Ok so we don’t have a log fire – fail! When we were buying our current house a real fire was at the top of the list of things we wanted.  However, it wasn’t to be so we purchased a bio-ethanol fire which, to us is the next best thing.  I love having the fire lit in the evenings – although I sit on the sofa, wrapped in blankets with the fire roaring while Mr C is sweating buckets in his shorts! The best thing, though, about having the fire is lighting it on a cold, damp afternoon.  It definitely brings back memories of my childhood when we would come home from a walk in the park and toast crumpets in front of the fire :-).

You can’t beat Autumn clothing in my book!  Baggy jumpers hide a multitude of cakey sins and that transition from flip flops to boots tells me that winter is on its way.  I love a chunky carf and hat combo too.  This hat from the White Company looks so cosy and warm – I think it might be a little birthday gift to myself!

 

                           

Food in the Autumn and winter is just the best.  I can feel my jeans getting tighter just thinking about it!  I am a big fan of hot chocolate on a crisp Autumn afternoon always accompanied by a great piece of cake!  Autumn dinners are great too.  I always struggle coming up with new meal ideas by the end of the Summer months, we’re not big fans of the BBQ and my kids don’t eat a lot of salad so when I can get back to some good home cooked Autumn dinners I am happy!  I particularly like a good casserole or stew.  I often make use of my slow cooker and prepare something in the morning ahead of time.  There is little better than coming in from a busy day at work knowing that dinner is done and all we have to do is sit down and eat.  Not all dishes are great in the slow cooker and I recently saw this in TK Maxx and it’s a bargain.  I can see this being great on bonfire night with friends filled with a hot chilli or stew.

I mentioned above that I put a candle in my new Autumn vase. I burn candles all year round but the scents you can get in Autumn and Winter are just the best! On our recent trip to the States I did a serious Bath and Body Works haul and I am so so gutted that most of it is now already gone! We don’t get Bath and Body Works here in the UK although I have found a website where you can get their stuff and will be putting in a big order very soon! Their scents are just amazing – I currently have this candle in my living room and I even before I lit it you could smell the gorgeous cakey smell the moment you walked through the door! I bought some of their small candles as gifts for friends and they love them too!

                                              

Yankee Candle also do some fabulous scents at this time of year and this one is definitely the best one I have found.  It’s more Winter than Autumn, but who cares?  It’s still amazing!

 

I could keep going forever and will probably write another post about my Autumn finds, but this one has taken so long to put together it will be Christmas before I post it if I don’t do it now!  Watch out for some recipes for that gorgeous casserole dish coming very soon!

Nicx