Apple Fest in Long Grove

This past Autumn, the girls and I ventured to Long Grove, IL. Long Grove is about 35 miles outside of the city. Each October they celebrate Apple Fest. Everything is apples, apple cider, apple donuts (Yum!), caramel apples, apple butter, apple cocktails, apple beer, brown bag apple pies, the list goes on and on. In addition to a wonderful festival, Long Grove is seriously adorable. There are cute shops, cute restaurants and cute buildings. I love the coziness of LG and how perfectly cute the little town is. It was still warm in October, that the flowers were still in bloom.

The Long Grove Time Piece:



The Long Grove Apple Haus, where we enjoyed apple cider and hot, fresh baked apple donuts. Delish!

The 'town square'. All the shoppes surrounded this area. It was bustling with people the entire weekend. The sidewalks are brick and beautiful flower plantings are everywhere. It was so nice to be there with the crisp, fall air and the smell of warm donuts.

One of my favorite shoppes, Within Reach. I purchased a black and white polka-dot wristlet with a pink S on the front. I also purchased a lilac tea for one set and some apple tea sachets. This is the back entrance and was all decked out for Autumn.

After a little shopping and snacking, we decided to rest by listening to the music. The stage was in the covered bridge. So picturesque:

A little resting spot:

And my favorite photo of the day, a cowboy right in the middle of suburban Chicago. He was the real deal too.

I Heart Autumn

I love Autumn, Fall, Indian Summer. You name it, I love it all.

What I love:

- Pumpkin Spice Lattes from the Bux

- Apple Orchard & Apple Picking

- New Patent Leather Loafers

- Tights

- Sleeping with the windows open under all my warm bedding

- Hot Tea & a Book on the Balcony

- Halloween Parties (cute not scary)

- Sweaters, especially turtleneck sweaters

- Flipping My Closet

- Pumpkin Patches & Pumpkin Carving

- Leaves Changing Colors

- College Football Games

- The September Issue (magazine, although I love the movie)

- Baking Fresh Bread

- Planning My Fall Wardrobe

- Cooking warm homemade meals with seasonal ingredients.

This picture is from this website. It is a picture of Upham Hall on the Miami University, Oxford Campus. Yes, my alma mater. It was a divine place to go to school. It was always amazing in the Fall.

Kate Spade

Just a quick note this morning, Kate Spade redesigned her website. I love it. It looks great and all ready for Fall. Please check out the Bon Vivant collection. Bon Vivant means a person devoted to refined sensuous enjoyment. Patent leather galore. Pink and Black. Bows. Amazing! I adore patent leather. I always always have at least one pair of patent leather heels and patent leather loafers in my closet at all times. I have worn patent leather loafers since I was three. I will definitely need one (or more) of these bags for Fall.
Perhaps this one first:

The Bon Vivant Mini Simone in Pink.

Lovely Autumn

Here in Chicago, we have had a very mild summer. It also seems as if summer is/has not happened. Autumn is my favorite season and with the fall Lilly catalog coming out, it has me thinking and planning my fall wardrobe.

Growing up, I only wore navy blue (my mother's signature color) as my dark color. I didn't wear black or brown. Mostly, because my mother preferred navy. After I graduated from college and was preparing to work in the 'real world' I embraced black. It made me feel like an adult. Well, over the past year, I find myself moving back towards navy. The more I look at the pieces I do have the more I am considering going back towards navy as my dark color staple. I just really love the color. Alot. With that in mind, here are a few of my favorite pieces from LP Fall '09:

I would wear this with a chunky light colored necklace and some type of nude shoe.

This cardigan with a navy skirt.

With navy tights and even a navy turtleneck underneath.



With a navy cashmere cardigan.

Ciao!