Tuesday, October 11, 2011

A Touch of Fall

I love this time of year, and thanks to a shopping excursion with my mom this past weekend - along with a couple of decoration items I brought up with me when I first moved in - I was able to add a few touches of fall to my dorm room. I thought I'd share the fall cheer with you!

The cat is a year-long, school-career-long attraction in our dorm room. ;) (It may look real, but it's not!) The little scarecrow mouse is from my decorations box, and the little pumpkin is one my mom grew in her garden!

I just love this "God's Creation" calendar! The pictures are beautiful, and the October photo is no exception! The "Bless Our Family" pumpkin is from my decorations box, and the "Cozy Autumn Vanilla" fragrance mist is from Bath & Body works.

I just love this! The pumpkin is another one from my mom's garden, the "Spider Cider" lotion is from Bath & Body works (50% off Halloween items!), and the bejeweled purple spider is one my grandparents gave me once as a teasing gift due to my strong dislike of spiders. ;) But don't they just look too cute together?? Oh, and the book-like box is an item my mom got me this summer from Michael's, and it's a constant fixture there on top of my mini fridge.

And what says fall more than some colorful stacks of books? ;) Yay for reading!

Hope you all are enjoying the season! Have any of you decorated your homes for the occasion?

20 comments:

Lotti said...

Oh that cat is so beautiful ... and it does look real when you first look at it. I love your decorations they are so nice.

Bluerose said...

It is amazing how real that cat looks! I was momentarily wondering if you went to a rare school that allowed animals! :)

Very cute decorations! I haven't decorated a bit for fall. :P I was working on a fall wreath, but it ended up not looking very "fall-y".

Tea said...

I luv fall too. Your blog is gorgeous, very seasonal.Don't know how you did it.

Kav said...

Lovely autumn feel to this post and your blog in general. You are one talented blogger. Love the cat. Where did you find it? I'd love to play a practical joke on my dog with a life-like looking cat like that. LOL.

Katie Marie said...

Love your stack of books! :-D Very pretty, and very inviting. Freedom Stand is a book I've been meaning to get into. I look forward to reading your thoughts on it!

Unknown said...

Beautiful decor for your room! Hope it gives you a great pick-me-up now that you're prob. in the middle of a semester. I remember from my college classes that I hated school just around this time.

And what a great stack of books, too! Can't wait to crack open Susie's new book...it's sitting in my TBR pile, also. :o)

Oh, and great fun to be judging the romance category with you for the INSPY's! Saw your name on the list today, and just had to smile. :o)

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

For a second there I thought that Spider Cider was something you drank and was thinking, "EWWWW!" LOL. Glad to know it's just lotion.

Your room looks so pretty and I love the teeny pumpkin from your mom's garden. We have a pretty large garden every year here but I don't think we've ever grown pumpkins before!

XOXO~ Renee

Amber Holcomb said...

Lotti,

Thank you! I have a beautiful, real kitty at my grandparents' home named Mr. Murphy (a brown tabby), so since I can't have him with me here at school it's nice to look at this lovely kitty in my window. :) He's actually become quite famous in the dorm, as girls will stop by and tell me, "I thought he was real!" ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Bluerose,

Hahaha, you're not the only one! As I told Lottie in the previous comment, quite a few girls have been taken aback by how real this kitty looks. ;)

Thank you for the compliment! I'm sorry your wreath didn't turn out the way you expected it to - I'm sure it's lovely just the same, though! :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Tea,

Isn't fall such a beautiful season? :)

And thank you so much for the sweet words about my blog! *Blush* I didn't really do all that much. The beautiful background came from the "Scrappin' Blogs" free backgrounds site (see link in top left-hand corner); the main picture was one my mom took during a summer day trip we went on; and I simply changed a little bit of the font design/colors to match the new season. I love how one of my blogging friends, Ashley, suggested early on in my blogging career that I change the background to fit each new season. It's been fun! :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Kav,

Awww, thank you, dear friend! :)

And LOL with the tricking-your-dog idea! My parents actually gave this cat to me the Christmas before I went to college so I could have him as a reminder of our kitties. :) I'll have to ask my mom where she got it (I should know this because I think I saw them somewhere), but I'll let you know!

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Katie,

Oh, I think so, too! :) I love all these books we get through blogging!

I actually do have some sort of method to my madness, though... The books in the pile to the right are ones TBR. The ones on top are more urgent (they have a scheduled review date/time frame), two in the middle are for INSPY judging, and the five on the bottom are for publishers/authors without a specific time frame.

The other pile is my "currently reading" pile (I use that phrase lightly at this point...). To be honest, I'm about maybe 1/3 of the way through Freedom's Stand and the poor book keeps getting pushed aside for other scheduled reviews and such! So hopefully someday you'll be able to read my review... ;)

Thanks for your interest! :)

~Amber

Michelle said...

Such cute decorations! Special touches to make it feel more like "home." I love it! I especially love the cat. :)

Amber Holcomb said...

Christy,

Oh, yes! It does help to have the little cheery fall pieces around the room - along with that lovely stack of books to immerse myself in from time to time! :) The middle of the semester is definitely stressful, so any little cheer counts... (Plus awesome events like the Women of Faith conference last weekend with my mom, Casey, and her mom!)

Looking forward to Susie's latest, too! And hopefully I'll get to read Heiress eventually, as well. :) (You don't see that book in this TBR pile because it's in a basket above my dresser along with other TBR books that don't need to be reviewed, LOL!)

Yes, so exciting to be INSPY romance judges together!! :D Looks like we have a great team, and I'm looking forward to working with you to choose a winner. :)

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

LOL!! Oh, most definitely not!! Believe me, the bejeweled spider and some bright orange "spider" lotion are about all I can stand of spiders. ;) Not the world's biggest fan, if you know what I mean... They freak me out!

Thank you for the compliment about my room! :) And how neat that you have a large garden each year! I haven't really had much experience myself - so far I've mostly enjoyed the fruits of my parents' labor in our sort of "terrace" garden out back. Those strawberries this summer, fresh from the vine - delicious!! :D

~Amber

Amber Holcomb said...

Michelle,

:)

My family is so sweet about providing me with those little touches of home. It's not the same as being there and seeing my mother's beautiful decorating work (she goes all out for the holidays), but until I get home again, these decorations are a cheery reminder of home and fall memories. :)

And isn't that cat just great? With all the comments I get it's almost a tad bit embarrassing, I'll admit, but my mom assured me that he has to be a permanent fixture of my college career. ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

~Amber

Tales of Whimsy said...

How sweet. I love it! :) Well done doll!

Amber Holcomb said...

Juju,

:) Thank you! I know you don't get the full effect from these pictures, but it actually works well in "snapshots," since I just have bits and pieces of fall here and there. ;)

~Amber

Renee (BlacknGoldGirlsBookSpot) said...

Sure sure rub it in that you had STRAWBERRIES too!!! Hahaha just kidding! We haven't grown those in ages but in order to grow everything we wanted we'd have to plow under the entire back yard LOL! I guess I'll just have to visit you next spring and get some strawberries for myself. :-P

XOXO~ Renee

Amber Holcomb said...

Renee,

LOL! Sorry!! ;) And sure - it would be so awesome to meet you in person! Maybe someday... We'll have to have chocolate-dipped strawberries to commemorate the occasion if we do get to meet. ;)

BTW, sorry for the delayed response to this comment!

~Amber