Friday Favorites

I wouldn't ordinarily mention The Purge in a Friday Favorites post, but, I did experience one truly happy moment while digging through some crap that Oscar and Emily contributed to the sale, and I think it deserves a mention. See, I have been on the hunt for a particular item for years, now. The item was a vintage thermos; one of the plaid ones with the cap that doubles as a cup. One in decent shape (not too dented, rusted, missing the cup, etc.) in antique stores cost around $30, and, I never could quite bring myself to spend that much money on something that I wanted primarily for decorative purposes. So, when Hugh pulled this little number out of Oscar and Emily's stuff...

...I squealed like a schoolgirl. A really, really loud schoolgirl. Although I had never seen one in the wild, I knew immediately what it was and I grabbed that bad boy out of Hugh's hands and made a mad dash for the house, where I secreted it away before he could put a sale sticker on it. The fact that the set is complete and in pristine shape is akin to a miracle and I could not be more happy.

I'll use the set for holiday decor as well as in fall photo sessions; I'm thinking they will get a lot of use.

Speaking of decor, I got a few new fall pieces for display in my dining room and on my fireplace mantle, and, I'm really loving the neutral color palette. I'll pull out the traditional autumn colors when I decorate for Thanksgiving, but, for the transitional time between summer and Halloween, these colors can't be beat.

And, speaking of transitioning to autumn colors; I got a pedicure today, using this awesome red shade from OPI

It takes the place of the coral shade that was previously on my toes. Which, funny story, when I had my toes done last month, the nail tech didn't give me back my polish (I always take my own bottle; one, because I have spent a small fortune on OPI and I need to get my money's worth out of it, and, two, because I have a suspicion that nail salons thin out their polishes to make them last longer, which, makes for pedicures that chip more quickly. Am I right? Don't know. But I do know that when I take my own polish, my pedicures last for ages. Anyhoodle...). I got all the way home before it occurred to me that I hadn't gotten the bottle back, and, frankly, I was bummed. Oh, not bummed enough to drive all the way back into town to reclaim it, but, bummed enough to remember it today when I went back to the salon, where, miraculously, I found the bottle mixed in among their inventory. So, I took it back. Having it again is a favorite.

And, one last thing for today: my roses are in their fall bloom and they are gorgeous.

Happy Friday!