...Or this Sunday afternoon, when it was cold enough for sweaters and blankets and apple cider, but warm enough to sit in my favorite chair on the porch. I read Sally Clarkson's, The Life Giving Home, and jotted down a few notes about how to get this home centered for the holidays.
...Our last soccer game. We had a cold and rainy soccer season, but the boys didn't seem to mind.
...Our friends, Aram and Katy, sure know how to throw a dinner party. Four times a year, four couples will tackle a themed dinner from a region our culture in the world. The host sets the menu and prepares the main course, and the rest of us choose which dish we'd like to prepare. We started with a French theme and feasted on zucchini tomato verrines as an appetizer, a main course of crispy crusted halibut with a white wine beurre sauce, and side dishes of lemon risotto and a salad of peaches, pine nuts, and arugula. And for dessert...a French chocolate tart with a brown butter crust. The meal was seriously delicious and it was fun to get to know some new faces around the table.
...One of my very favorite things to do in the fall is go through the kids' drawers and closets. It's like I can't call it fall until their drawers are stocked with cozy pajamas and long pants that aren't too short for them! I feel like a mama bear getting the cave all ready for a long winter's nap.
...But it's also good to get out of the cave every so often! We celebrated Andy's wedding in October with a reception at the Elk's, followed by a group of us enjoying a long dinner at Galleria de Paco. Beau and I would both agree that our preferred way of spending time with friends is around a big table, where we can share a bottle of wine, laugh a lot, talk about food and a whole bunch of other things. We shared bites, decided Katy's cornish hens were the best dish of the night, and talked a lot about love and the secrets to it. It was a good night with dear friends.
...with the best food, I might add!
...A little after church pumpkin carving.
...Halloween week at NDA. They were a cute bunch of hip hop dancers!
...and it wouldn't be a fall post without a little basement progress. I'm planning to spend a lot of time down here this weekend, organizing and decorating, and I'm downright giddy about it. Beau loves his bar and new couch, the kids love the big space and big theater system, and I just love all the new storage! Those built in shelves and big ole drawers make me one happy camper.
...The shopping season has begun! I fell a victim to Target's magical marketing and didn't even expect to knock out a chunk of my Christmas shopping. And let's not even talk about Chip and Jo's new line...
...But besides sweet sweet Target, there's no better place to stroll and shop than our own downtown. Mom, Mila, and I set out Saturday morning to shop the open houses on Main. We had such a fun morning! Mila even used some of her own spending money on a little unicorn friend from Peekaboo.
...Now that soccer is over, we're back to spending most of our nights at home together and there's just nothing better than when we can eat around the table, share our happies and crappies, light candles and read books, draw pictures, or play a game together before bed.
...A favorite moment this week. I met a friend for coffee before work this week and rather than asking Beau to take my usual duties of getting Cruz on the bus, I brought him along with me. Beau and Mila were still asleep when we left the house, and I could tell Cruz thought it was all very special. I ordered him a cup of cocoa and a cinnamon roll, asked him to do his math homework while we chatted away. And then later, we had a little time, just the two of us, to read Diary of a Wimpy Kid and talk about Pokemon. It was the best way to start our day and we both decided we needed to make this special treat happen more often.
Happy Weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment