** This post is sponsored by Celestial Seasonings but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. Now that it finally feels like fall in the Chicago area I'm ready to make our home more festive. I spent some time over the past week digging out our decor from the basement as well as picking up some new items. Now that we have more space there are more areas to decorate, so it's been fun ... Read more
Great Falls Park | Virginia Trip
We spent much of our time catching up and eating when I visited my friend Charlsy in Virginia earlier this month, but we also did some exploring in the area, including visiting Great Falls Park on the last day of my weekend trip. Great Falls Park was an easy and less than 30 minute drive from Alexandria on the beautiful George Washington Memorial Parkway. It was a peaceful and scenic drive ... Read more
October Favorites | November Plans
** This post contains affiliate links. I am compensated for purchases made through these links at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Floradise. October was a loooong month for me. It seemed to drag on forever, partly because I was having uncomfortable symptoms for most of the month. Luckily, the end of October brought some relief thanks to my focus on self-care and ... Read more
Night of 1,000 Jack-o’-Lanterns at Chicago Botanic Garden
Happy Halloween! Graham and I had a spooktacular date night at Chicago Botanic Garden on Sunday. It was a bit past our old folk bedtime, but we managed to find tickets for the sold-out Night of 1,000 Jack-o'-Lanterns on the last day of the event. We would have preferred to attend the earlier time slots, but we were only able to find 8:45 p.m. tickets available. We were still pumped to plan our ... Read more
Fall Fun at Siegel’s Cottonwood Farm | Chicago
Each year we choose a different farm for our pumpkin picking adventure. Now that Graham finally has weekends off, we could start to do ALL the fall things. This year we went to Siegel's Cottonwood Farm, which is at least an hour drive from where we live in Chicago. We got there about an hour and a half after it opened, and the line was filling up to buy tickets. The farm seemed to ... Read more
Non-Scary Movies to Watch in October | Fall Happenings
Raise your hand if you're too afraid to watch horror movies. I refuse to see them. If scary films aren't your idea of fun, either, try any of these fun options below during the month of October, or anytime! You have probably watched them all before, but sometimes you forget about films you watched as a kid. What would you add to this list? Mean Girls (On October 3rd) Hocus Pocus ... Read more
5 Ways to Help Others
I'm someone who has always been driven by a desire to help others. (If you're into the 16 personality types, I would be an ISFJ.) I've been thinking about how to help others more so than usual lately. The barrage of national and international tragedies has deeply saddened me, but I refuse to lose hope, as hard as that is sometimes. I've been searching for ways to feel like myself again after such ... Read more
Celebrating Canada’s 150th Anniversary & a Giveaway!
I recently read an article listing Canada, which is honoring its 150th anniversary, as one of the best places to travel in 2017, which sparked my interest in finally setting dates for our trip. Because we can't take a major vacation until winter, we're instead looking at places to explore that aren't too far of a drive from Chicago and have lots of activities to do as a family, especially ... Read more
Gratitude + Ways to Show Gratitude
Photo by Square Mouth StudiosThis year, family is at the top of my gratitude list. When Graham and I set our intention for the year as growth, we had no idea that we would be growing our family as well. Yes, we had offered to take care of her if needed, but it wasn't until 10 months later that we received word she would be arriving (in one week!). Caring for Victoria has reminded me I have ... Read more
Field Museum Fun
Graham, Victoria and I met our friends on Sunday for a play date at the Field Museum. Visiting the museum was on my summer bucket list and has been on my Chicago list since we moved here. The Field Museum surpassed any expectations I had. The colossal building contains so much history that you would have to visit many times to explore all of its exhibits. We spent hours here and left with plans to ... Read more