Getting Ready for My Favorite Time of Year

 

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." (George Eliot)

 

 Hello, my lovely friends!

    Here we are at last, friends. In just a few short hours, autumn will officially be here, and I could not be happier. Everyone who knows me understands just how much I truly despise the summer heat, and let me tell you, this past season was absolutely brutal. I am beyond thrilled that those miserable ninety-degree days are finally behind us, the cool air is drifting in, and my absolute favorite time of year is beginning. That is right, we have officially made it to the holiday season.

I know I mentioned earlier that I wanted to kick off the holiday content a bit sooner than usual this year, and that is honestly because I am just so ready for it. Looking back over the past couple of years, I know I have not really put my whole heart into everything I was creating, but that all changes right now. I have so many brand new ideas brewing, fun places we are going where I am bringing you along for the ride, and a ridiculous amount of decorating projects lined up that I cannot wait to share.

To keep myself on track and give you plenty to read, I am committing to posting six blogs a week with Wednesdays off for a little mid-week breather. At least one of those weekly posts will be a dedicated life update so we can just sit down and catch up properly. I was debating using Spark for a bit, and I even signed up and posted once, but then everything just stalled out. Honestly, I think I am just really content in our nice little corner of the internet right here, and I am not sure I have the energy to manage yet another platform every single day.

So grab your favorite mug, curl up in something comfortable, and get ready for the rest of the year. Every single blog from here on out is going to feel like a warm, cozy cup of tea or fresh coffee on a chilly morning, and I am so glad you are here to share it all with me

    . 
    I have been dying to share this with you all day. Mike has been putting himself out there lately, applying for jobs around the warehouse district near us and going to a few interviews. It finally happened. He landed the exact job he was hoping for, over at the Ethan Allen warehouse.

He is going to be working Monday through Friday from 6 AM to 2:30 PM, which means he actually gets his weekends and holidays back. I am not sure if I ever mentioned this before, but he spent the last twenty-six years working the night shift from 9 PM to 5 AM. Having him home on a normal schedule feels like a huge win for him.

He was getting a bit stressed about the whole job hunt, but honestly, with over fifty warehouses right around our neighborhood, I had a feeling something good was going to land soon. I could not be happier for him, and I am so ready to finally have our evenings together.

    Speaking of taking you along with me for holiday things. We’re heading to a few stores today to look at Halloween and Autumn things. My mom has been looking forward to this day to see what she can find for the holidays. It’s funny, she’ always saying she doesn’t need anything new, but ends up buying stuff. 

    Yesterday I made lemon lavender chicken with some lemon smashed little potatoes. I really wanted to pull together a cozy, end-of-summer meal for us before the season completely slips away. We even had iced tea and apple pie too, which made the whole house smell like heaven.

There is just something so sweet about soaking in those last lingering warm evenings. Sitting down to a full spread of bright flavors and classic comfort food felt like the perfect way to wrap up the season together.

Now that the kitchen is cleaned up and the leftovers are tucked away, I am already dreaming about what to cook next. Summer went by in a flash, but meals like this make stepping into fall feel a little more special.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. I’m so glad we got to connect, and I hope your day ahead is filled with simple, happy moments. Take care of yourself, and I’ll see you back here soon!

Welcome to Autumn!

Autumn Is Almost Here, and Big Things Are Coming!

 

 

Hello, my lovely friends!

 

    I just wanted to drop in real quick with a super exciting update before the weekend officially starts. I have been behind the scenes sipping tea, buried in fuzzy blankets, and working away on all the upcoming holiday blogs. Autumn is officially starting this Monday, September 21st, which feels like the absolute perfect day to kick off all the fall and holiday goodness I have planned for us this season.

 

Starting on Monday, I will be posting a fresh new blog six days a week, taking just Wednesdays off to breathe and reset. We are going to cover everything you need for the upcoming months, so definitely stay tuned for Monday when I’ll be back with our very first post. I can't wait to jump into this cozy season with you all!

 

 It means the world to me that you took some time out of your day to visit. Wishing you a beautiful, peaceful day ahead. Until next time, stay cozy and be good to yourself!

 

 

Feeding Your Soul

 

Always Remember, Never Forget September 11, 2001

 

Every year I post this poem in honor of September 11, 2001. This is a day that we should always remember and never forget.

 

 

If I Knew

By Unknown

 

If I knew it would be the last time

That I'd see you fall asleep,

I would tuck you in more tightly

and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

 

If I knew it would be the last time

that I see you walk out the door,

I would give you a hug and kiss

and call you back for one more.

 

If I knew it would be the last time

I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise,

I would video tape each action and word,

so I could play them back day after day.

 

If I knew it would be the last time,

I could spare an extra minute

to stop and say "I love you,"

instead of assuming you would KNOW I do.

 

If I knew it would be the last time

I would be there to share your day,

well I'm sure you'll have so many more,

so I can let just this one slip away.

 

For surely there's always tomorrow

to make up for an oversight,

and we always get a second chance

to make everything just right.

 

There will always be another day

to say "I love you,"

and certainly there's another chance

to say our "Anything I can do?"

 

But just in case I might be wrong,

and today is all I get,

I'd like to say how much I love you

and I hope we never forget.

 

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,

young or old alike,

And today may be the last chance

you get to hold your loved one tight.

 

So if you're waiting for tomorrow,

why not do it today?

For if tomorrow never comes,

you'll surely regret the day,

 

That you didn't take that extra time

for a smile, a hug, or a kiss

and you were too busy to grant someone,

what turned out to be their one last wish.

 

So hold your loved ones close today,

and whisper in their ear,

Tell them how much you love them

and that you'll always hold them dear

 

Take time to say "I'm sorry,"

"Please forgive me," "Thank you," or "It's okay."

And if tomorrow never comes,

you'll have no regrets about today.

 

Nurture Your Soul

 

Can It Be Fall Now?

“By all these lovely tokens, September days are here, with summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer.” —(Helen Hunt Jackson)

Hello, my lovely friends!

    The calendar says September, and honest to goodness, my brain completely checked out of summer the second the page turned. Even though it is still pushing nineties outside and the pavement is hot enough to melt your shoes, my soul is fully wrapped up in a chunky sweater. You know that tiny shift in the air that happens right around now? It is hard to describe, but the light hits a little differently in the evening and the morning breeze has this crisp, sweet smell to it that whispers fall is on the way. I know I am jumping the gun, but I just cannot help myself this year. I am so ready for the cozy season, the pumpkin everything, and just a totally different energy around the house.

Speaking of fall energy, I have been turning over my holiday blog plans for weeks now, trying to figure out when to pull the trigger. I finally decided that the very first official day of autumn is going to be our kickoff. I am feeling this unexpected surge of motivation to really go all out for the holidays this time around, and a big part of that is having Mike here with us. He did not grow up with the kind of big, warm, cozy holiday traditions a lot of us take for granted. For him, Christmas was usually just a quick handoff of a gift card and a quiet afternoon, which breaks my heart a little bit. We want to completely turn that around and show him how fun and full of love this time of year can actually be. He is obsessed with all things spooky, horror, and Halloween, so the next two months are going to be a absolute blast in this house. Honestly, after feeling like we have been stuck in a weirdly heavy rut for the past couple of years, this feels like the exact spark we needed to pull us out of it and get us excited about life again.

On a heavier note, we finally drew a firm line in the sand with my mom and all the medical runaround she has been dealing with through Kaiser. Last week was just the final straw. She went in for that biopsy, but they ended up canceling the whole thing right then and there because she was fidgeting too much, even with the sedative they gave her. Their brilliant solution was to schedule her for actual hospital surgery just to put her completely under for a basic test, which sent her into an absolute tailspin of anxiety for an entire week. She was worrying herself so sick that her blood sugars kept crashing three nights in a row, which is so scary to watch. Then yesterday morning, the day of the procedure, her sugar plunged again in the middle of the night, her nerves were completely shot, and she was genuinely terrified she was having a heart attack.

That was the absolute moment I said enough is enough, and we canceled the whole thing. My sister and I are sitting down to draft a very direct letter to Kaiser to let them know that playing these endless games is over. Ever since March, all they have done is run test after test, dragging her back and forth, only to come up empty-handed every single time because there is literally nothing there to find. We are putting our foot down and giving them an ultimatum. Either they give her the routine injections she actually needs to feel better, or they approve her to go out of network to CU, where the doctors actually wanted to step up and treat her months ago. We are all completely exhausted from the runaround, and watching my mom sit there in constant pain and tears while they drag their feet has been utterly heart-wrenching. The second we officially canceled that appointment yesterday, you could just feel a massive weight lift off her shoulders. She was instantly brighter and seemed more like herself, which proved to me how much this constant medical stress has been tearing down her mental health. Some days she has been so overwhelmed she barely knows which way is up, and nobody deserves to live like that.

Today feels like a much-needed reset for all of us. She has a quick dentist visit this morning, and after that, we are taking a mental health day to go hunt for Halloween decorations. Our local Spirit Halloween just opened up its doors, and it happens to be right next to Barnes and Noble, which is basically my paradise. I have my heart set on picking up a copy of that Phantom of the Opera retelling called Our Last Duet, and I am definitely grabbing a stack of those glossy autumn lifestyle magazines to flip through with a hot drink later tonight.

We are also holding out a lot of hope for Mike on the job front right now. His savings have pretty much dwindled down to nothing, so he has been aggressively applying for anything local over the last couple of weeks. Luckily, we live in an area that is completely surrounded by distribution centers and warehouses, and he already scored an interview with Amazon for this Friday. The best part is that it is only about ten minutes from the house, which would be such an incredible setup for him. We are all keeping our fingers tightly crossed that it goes well and he can start getting a steady paycheck again soon.

I really hope you are all having a gentle, sweet week so far and taking some time to breathe. We are looking forward to the long holiday weekend ahead, cooking up some kind of delicious end-of-summer feast, even if we have not quite decided on the menu just yet. Tell me, are you team summer forever, or are you already pulling out the autumn candles like I am?

I appreciate you stopping by more than you know. Wishing you a truly lovely day, whatever you up to. Take good care of yourself until we meet here again!