November has descended. It is so, SO wet in Seattle already. The dark mornings are about to shift into very early nights. Totally cozy sweater and soup weather. Long, brisk walks and loud, warm celebrations help break up the bleakness. {Lucky for me, I am kicking off November with trip to paradise!}
Stay warm and enjoy the indoors.
A few fall ideas://
All other images via Pinterest. Check out my fall board for more inspiration!
Tomorrow we feast! I don’t particularly love all foods associated with Thanksgiving, but give me an entire bowl of stuffing and I am a happy girl! My little family is taking a day trip tomorrow, cheering on our U of W Huskies on Friday at Husky Stadium, and ramping up the holiday spirit! Maybe a little ice skating or a tree lighting, or skiing? Or perhaps I put my husband on the roof to put our lights up while it is predicted to be sunny and dry?
I will be staying away from Black Friday madness {although Little Man is totally enthralled with Black Friday and the sales} and instead cuddling up the with boys and drinking a cup of cheer! Whatever your holiday weekend holds…. I hope it is safe, fun, and exactly what you want!
See you back here on Monday.
xoxo-denise
We just arrived home from Argentina yesterday. It is spring time in South America. Warm and sunny. Quite a contrast to the November we have in the Northwest. Regardless, of the weather, it is time to embrace deep autumn and prepare for the upcoming holiday season. Here a just a few fall themed ideas to get you in spirit!
Hello, November.
Monochromatic tablescape with pumpkins and antlers.
An outdoor dinner. {Risky but gorgeous!}
The ultimate fall cheese plate.
And just like that it is November. The time of year in the Northwest when life is spent mostly indoors. While it seems the retail world has skipped Thanksgiving all together, I wouldn’t want to miss it. I love the colors, the scents and the calm before the storm. Looking for ways to reuse those pumpkins that never got carved? Setting a Thanksgiving table?
Here are few ideas {clockwise from top left}:
Also, in case you missed it, Where is June? was featured in a Good Housekeeping roundup on gray manicures. Unbelievable, right? The post that just keeps on giving.
My grandmother made the best apple sauce of all time. My favorite was a version that she made with Red Hot candies. Until I can find a recipe that replicates that delicious pink applesauce, I will be making this apple sauce. Using Danielle Walker’s recipe, I used farmer’s market apples and cooked the apples in the crock pot all day on a Sunday. It did take some time to peel, core, and slice the apples-but after that I just threw in the apples and a bit of water and let them cook for six hours.
In the evening, I mixed in the simple whole, ingredients {honey, vanilla, and cinnamon} and single-handedly ate the entire batch over the course of a week! I am headed to the market again this Sunday to buy more farm, fresh apples. Delicious!
Need another quick and easy fall treat? These Quick Pear Crips are perfect on a crisp autumn evening!
In just a few hours our home will be filled with laughter, family and love. My heart is full of abundant gratitude for you. Your encouragement, kind words, and thoughtful comments mean more than you could possibly know! I am so grateful for my little creative space here in the world wide web.
I CANNOT wait to eat stuffing and pie! Love to you all.
Oh, hello November. The days quickly grow colder and shorter as we enter good ole’ November. That means plenty of time indoors with family and friends. Warm meals, roaring fires, and an extra cup of coffee in the afternoon are in order. How about a little inspiration for the eleventh month of year?
From top {clockwise}:
Need more inspiration? Follow my fall into fall board on Pinterest.
{Hello, November image via}
Early this month I shared that our pumpkin patch tradition was ending. Our most loved farm was closed for business. I left it up to the boys if they wanted to visit a new farm this year. I am pleased as punch that they decided it was a must-do for our family. The day was crisp, the pumpkins were plentiful, and Jubilee Farm was charming. The hay maze and warm apple cider were great, but the high point was launching a pumpkin from a {home-built} medieval trebuchet! What boy doesn’t love being part of smashing a pumpkin to smithereens?
New memories created. Life doesn’t get much better.
Pictures like this one make a trip to the pumpkin patch essential – in this mom’s honest opinion!
I’ll be honest. Halloween is not my favorite. Lucky me, my kids think it is the greatest holiday ever, aside from Christmas. An easy way for me to show some spirit is to break out the cookie cutters. Using the all-time best sugar cookie recipe, I make the dough while they are at school. Once we are ready, I roll and they do the cutting. But, of course, decorating is where the fun is at. I stick to an extremely simple frosting -just powdered sugar and milk {recipe is included with recipe}. I love AmeriColor food coloring for their vibrant colors-including black. I give the boys five or six cookies to frost. We store them separately and those are theirs to eat. {This way, I don’t have to worry about them licking the knives and believe me they do!} New this year are these darling candy eyes. The boys loved them and they are a super easy way to add that little something extra!
Baking and frosting cookies is a pretty great way to spend an afternoon with my crazies. Plus, the cookies are damn good!
The Basic Sugar Cookie (with a few tips)- from Everyday Food | Holiday ’06
2 cups flour
½ tsp. Baking powder
¼ tsp. Salt
1 stick butter (room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
Whisk together flower, baking powder and salt. In mixer, beat butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients gradually. Beat until combined. Divide dough in half; flatten into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic. Freeze until firm-at least 20 minutes (or refrigerate overnight).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough and let stand for 10 minutes. Roll dough and cut out shapes on floured surface. (First tip is to roll dough thick. This makes softer cookies.) Bake for 10-18 minutes. (Second tip is to pull cookies from oven when edges are JUST golden. You don’t want to over bake your cookies.)
Easy icing:
1 ½ cups powdered sugar
3-4 Tbs. Milk.
Whisk together. Add food coloring if you would like. Frost cookies and let set, about 20 minutes.
[October 2008]
Traditions. They are touch points for me. They keep me grounded and in the moment. From a young age, traditions surrounding holidays and seasons, gave me great comfort and a sense of anticipation. It is because of these strong memories, that I seek to create and embrace traditions for my boys. As a mother, I see it as my gift to them.
One such tradition is finding the great pumpkin at a local farm in October. Since the fall of 2005, we have been visiting the same farm. It is where we go, what we do, and who we are. Sadly, we cannot return this year. Fall City Farms did not grow pumpkins and the farm is now closed to the public. It is the end of our tradition. Big W and I took time this weekend and went through all of our photos taken at the farm over the last eight years. A visual memory book of how far we’ve come and how big we have grown-with the back drop remaining the same.
It might seem like something so simple, but I always thought we would outgrow the farm. Grouchy and moody teens, too cool to go to the pumpkin patch with mom, would be the reason we stopped going. But that isn’t the case. So we are faced with the decision, make a new tradition or just let it go. I am ready to let the boys decide and excited to create new memories. Because in the end it isn’t the farm or the place. It is the time we spent together in the autumn sun loving and caring for each other. I am lucky, lucky girl.
