A Few of My Favorite Things

With cooler weather, for me, comes a turning inward of attention, time, and energy. Inward towards home, family, and time spent together. Inward towards fellowship, friendship, and community. Inward towards the things we have and can do for each other, and less toward the intangible and endless wish lists and whims. 


I also start thinking about the holidays, and though "cooler weather" for us means daytime highs in the 80's and nighttime lows in the 60's, it's enough to get my thoughts turning towards the colder months, when togetherness becomes something that happens by default because you really don't have many other options, thanks to the weather. 


Right now, thinking of the holidays and focusing energy inward has equated to some crafty and slightly ambitious Christmas projects. Ever since my full-time job switched from outside the home to the home itself, it has become easier for me to manage more consuming projects, and more homemade goodness for our family. It has actually become one of my favorite things. 

Piles of thrifted, re-purposed, and remnant fabric, waiting to become something that will be loved

Bits and pieces with a plan

Beautiful things to make beautiful things

We have also been taking more time to stretch our legs in the beautiful winding down of the season. As the evenings become cooler, we usually find ourselves walking our semi-rural neighborhood or playing in the back yard. Another one of my favorite things that's been dormant all summer is our outdoor fire bowl, and we fired it up tonight for the first time this year... 

Our outdoor fire place

The smoldering embers provided a little girl with her first taste of s'mores, and boy, were they well received! She enjoyed them so throughly the white t-shirt she was wearing had to be removed to preserve it's integrity! We can now add s'mores to the list of her favorite things!

First, a deconstructed s'more: graham cracker and toasted marshmallow...

...then the whole sandwich

The energy that comes to us from the relief of the end of the summer almost always adds up to more projects than we have time, space, or supplies for, but the ones we do end up tackling are a marker of the season that will always be in the category of my favorite things. 

Topping the list, as usual, is a little girl who will be turning two this year, and whose birthday party planning is one of the many projects we are working on. The two-year marker is a bittersweet endeavor, but she will always be one of my most favorite things.