Tag: thoughts

Happy Thanksgiving Week, friends!  I know that this season can be bittersweet for so many.  Although there is much time to be spent with family and loved ones, there are usually people that we miss at this time, too.  This can leave us feeling tender and raw, and a mix of emotions.

My Gramma’s birthday is this Saturday.  I miss her so much.  I know my mom misses her so much, too.  We all miss her!  She had a giant personality that filled the room.  During the holiday season I miss her even more than usual.  There are so many funny things that she did that were uniquely ‘her,’ and there were so many traditions that she was a part of that I miss like crazy.

She loved Thanksgiving.  I remember so many turkey dinners with her.  Sometimes Thanksgiving would even fall on her birthday.  🙂  She was a force, that’s for sure.  I was drawn to these gladiola flowers at Trader Joe’s and I bought them, not knowing that they were one of her most favorite flowers.  My mom told me later when I told her about this little vignette on our buffet.  No wonder I was drawn to them!

I like to use a lot of my Gramma’s silver for decorating and entertaining this time of the year.  It makes me feel lots closer to her and I know that it would bring her joy to know that I am using her fancy things.

Hold your people close!  We should do that all year long, and this time of year is a great reminder to reach out to someone you’ve been meaning to, lend a helping hand to someone in need, do acts of service, etc.  And to all of you who are missing someone this season, sending you lots and lots of love.

Our house is small but mighty at just over 1,000 square feet.  Nothing could have made me happier than having a cozy little nest as our first humble home.  🙂  It’s a sweet little place that we have been so blessed with — I hate to leave it for the day and love coming home to it — what’s better than that?

Because of its size, I only have room for the things I really love.  And a lot of the stuff I love is really old stuff!  Adding antiques and vintage items to our home is something that brings our space unique character and warmth — and I love when these special things find me.

Fall is the time when I “bring out all my cozies” – A.K.A., bring out all of my beautiful treasures that may have been in hiding for the Spring and Summer months.  Typically beginning in January, I like to create a ‘clean slate’ for us with minimal excess decor and I enjoy that quiet in our space.  But right now…?  Right now I crave warmth and the familiarity of so many of my favorite things…

Right about now is the time that I become a putterer…  Is that a word…?  I think it should be if it’s not.

This is the time of year when I spend my mornings moving from small task to small task in our home.  Maybe I wipe down the kitchen, or water our rosemary outside, or make a new stack of books…  Maybe I add some pumpkins to our decor, or bake some bread, or organize a drawer or two…

Puttering is why I love Fall so, so much.  And arranging my special things is the perfect puttering activity to do on a Fall morning.  🙂

Do you like to putter?  What kind of puttering do you like to do?

I hope you have a wonderful Monday!

Good morning to you.  🙂  I hope your week is off to a great start.  I begin a new adventure this week and I am so excited.  God is Great.  ❤

So let’s talk about Fall as a Mindset…  Do you know what I mean by that?  Do you feel it, too?

Sometimes we live in places where it’s warm until mid-October; or orange leaves don’t actually turn brown and fall; or we might not need to cozy up underneath a blanket until November 1st.  Sometimes we feel like we need to wait until a certain date or time to celebrate a season.  But, my friends, that’s just not the case…

Each year, I take my time easing in to the Fall season.  It’s not about cold weather or pumpkin spice lattes for me — it’s about the simple joys of being mindful in spirit and intentionally making each day one where I revel in the changing of the seasons and all that is to come.

This isn’t a time where we need to feel like we are competing with our friends or people we follow on the internet…  It’s not even about getting new things at all!  Fall is a mindset, my friends.  Fall is a warm, welcome shift.  Fall is cozy imperfection.  Fall is my favorite.

Here are 20 little things I love about Fall…  What do you love about Fall?

~Cool mornings

~Togetherness Time

~Fall drinks

~Cozy blankets

~Pumpkin pie

~Fall-scented candles

~Time spent outdoors

~Pumpkin-sightings at Trader Joes (and pumpkins in general, ha!)

~Our Halloween Spotify playlist

~Putting up our Halloween Town with my beloved

~Simmering stove scents

~Sweaters

~Movie nights at home

~Hot chocolate

~Hot meals, roasted vegetables

~Apple crisp with cold vanilla ice cream

~Laughter

~Gathering loved ones

~Cozy imperfection

~A house filled with love

Tell me what your favorite things about Fall are!

*This post was inspired by Melissa @ The Inspired Room — I am loving her Fall Nesting Series so very much!  Do follow along!

Good morning!  I don’t know about you, but I am beginning my beloved process of Fall nesting.  🙂  I went out and purchased a new, cozy doormat for our front door and I also did a quick DIY update to our faux boxwood wreath for the beginning of the Fall season.  More on that soon…

The beginning of this season is always so much fun because of the anticipation of so much to come.  Doesn’t everyone love the anticipation of good things?

I promised myself that I would take on a new approach to decorating seasonally around our home.  Instead of putting pressure on myself to get our house ‘photo ready’ or putting up all of our decorations at once, I’ve decided to slowly add things to create a cozy or festive feel based upon how I feel and how much I want to do.  No more pressure on myself — my goal this season is to just go with the flow, savor, and enjoy.

We have a fun trip planned for the end of November where we will be going to a little beach house in California, and we are also going to do a day at Disneyland during that trip.  I’m so excited!  Hopeful that we can also take a day trip up north for a little adventure, too.

Of course, there will also be Sweet Salvage’s Wicked Faire, which we look forward to each year.  If you’re local, it’s a must-see.

If you haven’t ever followed along with Melissa from The Inspired Room and her Fall Nesting series, now’s the time.  For the past ten years, I have faithfully looked forward to this series that really sets the tone for the season and gets me feeling all kinds of cozy and happy.  Make sure you join in on the fun.  🙂  Not to be missed.

Make it a great day, friends!

Good morning, friends.  Happy Sunday to you.  🙂

It’s been a little bit.  I’ve been taking some much-needed time away from social media and blogging to get some priorities in order.  It was a good break, and I’m feeling refreshed and my Internal Gratefulness Basket is filled to the brim.

We’ve slowed on the projects to do those boring homeowner responsibilities that you don’t think of when you buy a house…  Like paying for giant trees to be trimmed, new sprinkler timers, etc.  You know, the fun stuff.  😉

But it has been nice to putter and just be in our little space.  Having a slower pace is helpful to me and I think to everyone.  Switching things up to see what is really important is, well, really important.

We spent some time with my family in Telluride last week, and this week we are headed out again.  The time with my fam was amazing in so many ways.  I left feeling an incredible sense of renewed connection and love.  We are so blessed!

My favorite trick for going out of town is to put clean linens on the bed right before we leave in the morning…  It’s such a treat to come home to a freshly made bed!  Just makes you want to crawl right in.  😉

I’ve been thinking of my Gramma so much lately.  I miss her.  This picture hangs above our bed…  This was in all of her apartments that she ever lived in from the time I was really young, and she always told me that when she passed, she would be that swanky lady in the blue dress by the piano.  She was so sassy!  🙂 We recently framed it in this white IKEA frame.  Makes me happy.

I switched up our Spring wreath for a Summer variety.  I will show you soon… very simple.  I kept the Summer decor very minimal this year.  I just didn’t feel up to it.  I was wanting more of a relaxed feeling around our house this time of year…  Not everything “vignette-ed.”  It’s been nice to have things a bit more casual — and less to dust!  Lol.

We are feeling very blessed to call this little nest our home.  We’ve been loving on it in lots of small ways lately.  Makes me feel extremely at peace.

Of course, this handsome man is forever my rock, protector, and best friend.  This house wouldn’t be a home without him.

I hope you have a great day!