the holidays, in a nutshell

to me, nothing says the holidays like my soft vintage apron, my comfy ripped jeans, christmas music playing in the kitchen, and all of us baking cookies together. the end.

needless to say

needless to say...lulu didn't get a photo-op with the christmas tree saw.


maybe next year. but most definitely probably not.

santa claws

:: "i'm just really afraid of santa claus because i really do believe that he has claws." -joey 2011

handless mice

:: lulu just chucked her lollipop down the basement stairs...and i said "lu, go pick that up and throw it away, because a mouse will get it!" (we have a new no-food rule in the basement because the mice are coming in from the cold and want our food) and she looks at me like i'm the dumbest person in the world and says "mom, a mouse don't have hands!" ::

happiness is...

...letting the kids drink welch's sparkling grape juice directly from the bottle. why not? life is short. drink from the bottle.

find love everywhere

christmas tree farm edition, 2011 (miracle tree farms/milford, NH)

creating

there's been lots of creating going on in this neck of the woods----holiday creating, keep-the-kids-busy creating, creating with friends, creating time to connect with the ones that i love. all the things that add fuel to my fire. here are some snapshots of a few of those moments...

creating a beautiful memory with nana...

creating with the RAW night girls in newburyport...

creating food using new recipes to feed my family (and finding a little red pepper bum in the process...)

creating a vintage necktie wreath to hang (using this tutorial from a beautiful mess...and an extra big thank you to my friend quee who hunted down a big bag of vintage ties for me!)


are you cooking up anything special where you are? i'd love to know about it. xx

grateful for a milllion jillion things but here are ten

:: uncle tingy as mr. t...

:: a little pippi longstocking...

:: a sleepy little dragon...

:: swinging with daddy at the park...

:: our fireplace...
:: sitting on my front steps...
:: wine and cheese nights!...

:: firewood at the ready, and our red back door...

:: the beautiful patterns in our stacked wood...

:: family puzzles galore with all our power outages lately!. ..

enjoying our home, each other, good food, our friends and family. we are so blessed to live the life we live. xx

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