Thanksgiving river walk

Amidst a very busy visit with my husband's huge family, we escaped for a Thanksgiving Day walk to the beautiful Chattahoochie River in North Atlanta. Upriver, we found a fly fisherman quietly enjoying his Thanksgiving.

A sweet Mallard couple napping.

Two male Mallards on the move.

I think Canadian geese are beautiful, I don't care if I have to step over their poop!

Two girls enjoying the warm water on a 75 degree day.

 stylish serendipity photos

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Total Crash Day

Today was a total bust - ugh. Got up this morning at a reasonable hour and made the huge mistake of sitting on my sofa for "just a minute."

 HUGE mistake.

Out like a light... for 5 HOURS

 Unfortunately I'm having more and more of these "crash" days.

 It's not like my to-do list is that unreasonable right?

 • Plan a wedding for 130 people under $10,000.00 (That means a lot of DIY and searching, searching, searching.)

• Buy a home this winter (we're still awaiting our preapproval letter) for under $300,000 in the DC metro area so future hubby can get to work in the city for under an hour, has good public schools for future baby, is safe, has some sort of yard)

 • Complete training to make Remi a therapy dog with Pet Partners - then volunteer with him as a therapy dog handler within the next six months.

 • Build a barn on my parent's farm for future horse. Within the next year, fingers crossed.

 • Launch redesign of Decorology (that's right - it's going to look WAY better soon) and hopefully grow Decorology. Within six months.

• Launch redesign of ashleywhitedesign.com (it's always one's own projects that come last) and continue to grow my web design business. Within six months.

These are just my priority items.

 Okay, so maybe I take on more than I can chew, but who doesn't really? Everyone is insanely busy, and I don't have children yet, so I don't really feel like I have the right to complain yet... sigh. Luckily, everything on my to do list are things I am excited about and looking forward too, I just need waaayyy more hours in each day...

 Serenity now.

 via ?

via Pinterest via The Garden Nymph

via Pinterest

via Pinterest via The Fancy

via Heartbeatoz  via Pinterest

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looking for leaves

We took my husband's little car for a ride in search of fall color this weekend and we found it! However we are not at peak yet, many maples are still green, so we will have to venture out again in a few days.  We drove through the beautiful Chagrin Valley that we are so lucky to live in. The village of Hunting Valley has beautiful horse farms/estates with expansive views and beautiful barns. 

Hunting Valley

Most of these shots were taken while we were driving so are a bit blurry, used my iphone.

Lots of green still...

This area looks like New England for a reason. It is part of the Connecticut Western Reserve, a large area that was reserved for Connecticut Revolutionary soldiers. They settled the towns near us and explains the Federal, Greek Revival and Georgian  architecture and planned central village greens. The charming village of Gates Mills was settled in 1826 along the Chagrin River. Most historic homes and businesses in Gates Mills are Federal and have white siding with black shutters. This aesthetic typifies Western Reserve style. 

At the end of the street is the Chagrin Valley Hunt and Polo Club in the village of Gates Mills, there is a polo field behind the clubhouse with barns and kennels and a pretty canopied covered terrace overlooking a tributary of the Chagrin River.

Chagrin River in Gates Mills.... the green space on the left bank belongs to  St. Christopher's by the River church. They offer Adirondack chairs along the river to relax. 

The picture perfect  St. Christopher's by the River, the Chagrin River is behind the church. Isn't it so pretty in the fall?

A perfect day for a walk or a bike ride..

We then headed to one of favorite hikes along the Chagrin River.

Look at the hardy soul in the water! In the summer you can usually find a Great Blue Heron standing on the first ledge catching fish as they float down the falls. Today there was a brave guy instead. He left his clothes and towel on the trail, we felt like taking them and running away but decided we are too old to have such thoughts.

 Along this part of the Chagrin River, a local man named Henry Church carved a huge boulder of sandstone in 1880. 

No one knows the meaning of the images carved into Squaw Rock. There is a mermaid with a shell, a backpack of arrows, a giant snake, a dog, a skeleton and a baby in a papoose.

stylish serendipity photos

Make some time and check out the fall color in your area, it will be over before we know it and then hibernation starts....yuck.

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just because....

Karin Thorell

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