looking forward

looking ahead to this beautiful weekend...that will surely involve leaves, fires, marshmallows, and an obscene amount of halloween candy. we do a big old-time hayride-apple-bobbing-donuts-on-strings kind of fall fest party in our family and the kids won't stop asking if it's sunday yet!

(hey, is it sunday yet?)

kinship and connection

today i'm craving kinship and connection in the worst of ways. it's funny how sometimes i can be surrounded by people, big and small, and still feel lonely. i'm sure this rainy, chilly weather this morning isn't helping. looking back on my photos from the past month or two makes me happier.

also, reading kinfolk magazine online makes me happy

about to kick myself in the fanny and make some of this apple bread

and this quote, via kinfolk:

“A meal, according to my understanding anyhow, is a communal event, bringing together family members, neighbors, even strangers. At its most ordinary, it involves hospitality, giving, receiving and gratitude.”

– Wendell Berry, Bringing it to the Table

and this blog called the burning house makes me wonder what i'd bring...

and this blog is so happy---it makes me want to get the funk off the computer, grab my camera, and live a little.

xx

but...

just when you prepare yourself
for the hardest of the hard days

sometimes
you will get

surprised

and find yourself
right in the middle
of one of the best days ever.

life is tricky like that.

today is going to be one of the hard days

i am
a firm believer
that some days
are just so hard

like really, really hard

so that
other days
seem blissfully easy
and divine.

tribe love

how lucky am i to have some of the most wonderful people in my life, who embrace my children and really take the time to see them for the little individuals that they are? who love them, even when they haven't had a bath in a couple of days, love them when their feet are black from playing in the backyard, love them when they interrupt, when they smudge their fancy phones, love them exactly where they are at. my children are blessed to have a whole tribe of people who love them, spread across the country, stopping in throughout the year to love on them, listen to them, hold them up, snuggle in their beds, read to them, create with them, break bread with them.

my gratitude is overflowing.

happy first day of fall, beautiful people. xx

circle magic

circling
with the people you love
or the people you want to get to know and love
is medicine

so no matter where you are
find your circle
even if it's for an hour
and
be well.

xx

fall immersion

and so it begins...

embracing all that is fall in new england-----campfires, smores, soups and pies, apple picking, hoodies, a trip up to squam, a raw night with lots of creative women, incense burning, chili and cornbread eating, pumpkin-patching, a bluegrass concert at a local greenhouse, picking the perfect pumpkin for the front steps. deep breaths...immersion.

xx

grateful september

there are so many beautiful things happening in our lives---i could go on and on with my grateful list. here are just a few...


:: my new comfy skirt...


:: ice cream parties in the middle of the day for no reason...

:: having an amazing group of friends in my life...

:: being married to a great guy who loves me for who i am...

:: little mudgie when she wears headbands...

:: joey's "picture face"...

:: my little family, and my best friend's wedding...

:: swimming with friends in a hotel pool...

:: slip and slides on sale for $5 at the end of the season...

:: my red window on the top of our fireplace...

:: my little meditation area in my bedroom...

:: lulu's bedroom---the thrifted quilt on the wall, and the bench that my dad made out of a vintage baby crib...

:: firepits and smores and family...

:: joey and his bravery during the start of kindergarten!...

:: firewood stacking and nesting for the fall (and our generator during hurricane irene)...


peace, love, and chaos to you all! happy fall. hope you have some rad adventures planned. xx