My Whirlwind of Excitement...

This year I'm excited! Yes, I really am! As I blog to you today, I am listening to Christmas music!! And by Christmas music I mean wonderful old fashioned Christmas music...the Dean Martin, Johnny Mathis kind 🎄 And guess what...It's COLD OUTSIDE! If you are reading this on a desktop then click HERE! You can read this AND have a little seasonal music going! (sorry can't do both on a mobile)

So, I'm sitting here thinking, "where do I begin?". It's been such a whirlwind of happenings here. In one week's time, we celebrated Halloween, I opened my own little one man salon, went to a HOLIDAY Expo, had hair appointments, and am trying to think about how I want to decorate for Christmas...and still have no idea what's happening for Thanksgiving! 🦃 So let's start with Halloween🎃👻 As you can see from the picture above, being the hard core groupie I am, Suzy B. had three more cups come out and they got delivered just in time for Halloween. They are so cute! I hate that you can't see the 'whole' cup in one picture so of course I had to take another picture and spin them around.

For those who don't know Suzy B. like I do, she loves cats and the black cat she paints on her mugs here and there is her cat Jack. He looks just like the one above. And isn't that Christmas cup cute? I love holly leaves!! I put these three with the other cups and now I have all 22 cups! Let's just say I hope Kentucky never experiences an earthquake!! I think Bill will have a bigger heart attack then me knowing how much I paid for each one! Halloween however, was a complete flop here in our area. It rained...and rained...and rained...but, that's what happens this time of year; you never know what you're going to get. I do have to say, I was pretty upset reading so many facebook posts of people in our neighborhood and local neighborhoods asking if Halloween was going to be "changed" because of the weather...REALLY? I mean, I don't want to go on a rant here, but come on! I feel like an elderly person when I say this, but "back when I was growing up..." we went trick or treating rain, snow, no moon, 1/2 moon, full moon...My dad took us around every year...He just trudged along. The parents complaining ALSO went trick or treating like I did...and they lived! Anymore, these kids have church trick or treating, big business trick or treating- ALL BEFORE HALLOWEEN! (why???) Then, REAL HALLOWEEN comes along and the threat for rain arises and parents panic. First off, how much candy do YOU or your kids need? And second, kids need to build some thick skin. Trust me, they are far more excited then you'll ever be; they don't care if there is a tornado 3 blocks away! I truly wish people would teach more tradition! My slogan for October: "Keep Halloween on the 31st!" And by the way, it wasn't changed! Yeh for tradition!

And as my tradition happens to be, I like to make a goodie bag for all the neighboring kids-one that includes a homemade cupcake. Well, this year my family got 10 cupcakes 😂 We only had two neighboring kids come to the door and they happened to be brother and sister and new to our little cup-de-sac. I was so glad to see them and meet them so of course I made sure mom and dad knew there was a cupcake in their little baggies made by me...back in the day you didn't eat anything that wasn't wrapped (candy) or you didn't know who gave it to you. Of course I'm trying to hold onto tradition of "something other than candy" plus I've made cupcakes for as long as I can remember.

Then this happened! I don't really write about what I do for a living on the blog, but this I had to share. On November 1st, with the unbelievable support of my husband (and his incredible skills at building things and fixing things) I opened up my very first little one man hair salon! What a dream come true! It's small, quaint, and completely decorated to my style and BUDGET! I've never done anything so big before and it's been such a learning lesson. Now I pray I don't screw up our taxes somehow!!! (Of course I had to have cupcakes for my Grand Opening with my favorite Tiffany Blue to go with the salon theme!) So far business has been wonderful and I can't thank all my friends enough for following me and being so loyal and trusting!

The very next day, Betty (from my BFF club) (I don't really have a BFF club, but I have a handful or two of girlfriends that will always remain the dearest and closest to my heart whether I see them daily or yearly or decade-ly-I've dubbed them members of my BFF club) purchased tickets for my birthday (one of the 19 trillion birthday gifts she's given me since my last birthday!!!) to the Cincinnati Holiday Expo. She and I are ALL ABOUT finding a bargain/garage sale-ing/small business shopping, vintage hunting deal whenever possible. And the more junk we have the happier we are!😂 So, being my own boss lol, I made sure the day was clear of appointments and off we went fighting rush hour traffic to use our VIP passes that got us in HOURS before the general public. It was WONDERFUL. So many cute cute pillows, wreaths, decorating ideas, and some really good prices! Oh, and did I mention food?...If it was infused with bourbon, it was in my bag! I told Betty that whenever Bill and I go to these type of events or markets, etc. we spend most of our money on food! Seriously, it's the happiest thing you can bring home! I did buy a couple holiday decor items and kept it fairly inexpensive, but I also bought bourbon maple syrup (x2!), bourbon carmel sauce, bourbon salsa, and whiskey hot fudge sauce! 😜 I swear I don't have a drinking problem! And Betty gave me her free box of Butter Rum mix that she bought from an authentic Irish retailer!! It's soooo good!

And look at these mannequins (sorry about the hand)!! Betty said several vendors had these displayed last year, but this is the first time I got to see them. Every now and then you'd see a different one and I thought they were so cute! I'd love to have one in the salon for Christmas!

Seriously, aren't they so cute!?

Well, before you knew it, the doors opened to the general public and Betty and I were dodging women like it was Black Friday...not our thing! And out the door we went. We had lunch at a cute little pizza place across the river and homeward bound we set off, truck loaded with goodies!

The rest of the week I used to wind down some. The weather here has been changing and the rain and wind has helped the leaves fall to the ground and bare naked branches, giving my morning walks the most incredible smell. Last Sunday Bill went out to feed the birds and sent me this picture while I was still in bed...(be still my heart)...

I've finally been able to get out to the park and walk more. The scenery is incredible. I am soooo blessed to be able to live in an area where autumn has it's own color chart. The loop I walk is a mile long, but it takes me forever to walk it because I HAVE to stop and take pictures! Look at the trees!!

So what do I think about when I see this tree? I think...'wonder what it looks like from under it...' and there I go, walking right off the path and standing right below it! And here it is...

Heaven on a branch! The walk is FILLED with so much to see, from benches, to little wood paths, to soccer fields surrounded by vibrancy...

THIS RED! And to think next week all the leaves will have fallen and blown away... except for these⤵️

❤️ I really wish I knew how to cut these and make my own greenery for our mantel or railings! Gets me in the Christmas mood!

So this weekend is Opening Day for hunting (gun season) and since the love of my life has taken off work for the week, looks like I'll be doing some decorating! And hopefully he'll want to come home and put a couple logs in the fireplace so we can enjoy the aroma of some hickory as the sun goes down earlier and earlier...

Hope you all have a wonderful "winter's in the air" chilly weekend!❄️ They're predicting our season's first flurries!!!

#Halloween #SusanBranch #autumn #Christmas #cupcakes #salon #CincinnatiHolidayExpo #mannequins #holly #trees