and so it begins.: falling.

I love fall.

I love the way the air smells...

the change in color...

the leaves falling...

the holidays that it leads up to...

the tradition...

I love it all.

I cannot pinpoint an exact reason to this love, but it started when I was young.

Maybe it is because as a child I counted down the days until Halloween--the one day a year that I (a sweet-toothed,candy-obsessed child) got to stuff my face with Kit Kats, Jolly Ranchers, Skittles, m&ms, War Heads, Whoppers...I could go on, but I think you get my point.

Or maybe it is because I knew that as soon as the leaves were gone, snow was coming soon. I loved school, but I loved snow days more.

Or maybe it was because I loved seeing my family and with fall comes family. Thanksgiving has always been at our home and nothing filled me with more joy than having all of my loved ones under one roof. You may or may not know that my family has some rather unique traditions. Enchiladas and Italian food. No, not at the same time. Homemade enchiladas the night before Thanksgiving. Italian food at a restaurant on the Plaza Thanksgiving day. Food perfection.

Or maybe it is simply because fall is happy.

It is warm in a crisp, cool way.

It is joyful.

It brings lovely colors.

It makes my heart feel full.

I just love it.

Tonight I had the wonderful experience of returning back to my 9-year-old self. No, I didn't get to stuff myself full of every kind of sugar. I got to decorate pumpkins.

And it was wonderful.

My mama and I spent a good 45 minutes picking out the perfect...8....pumpkins. If you have ever been shopping with us, you know that we are very good at it but we occasionally have a difficult time narrowing down the things we want to buy. But we did it.

So here are the eight pumpkins that made the final cut.

You may have gotten dizzy if you had been watching us walk back and forth between pumpkins. You also may have been ready to cut off your ears listening to us discuss the pros and cons of each pumpkin. Like I said we are indecisive, but in the end we get the job done. I love our eight little pumpkins.

Now, we found the perfect pumpkins. But it couldn't stop there.

So, we (my mother and I) decided to get a little Pinteresty on this lovely October night. After devouring some delicious chili (did I mention fall is my favorite?!), we took two pumpkins and made some magic.

Let's just say, glitter was our friend.