.beauty and joy in the bleak midwinter.

our town's 100+ year old library.

beautiful yarn for a new project.

crocuses in the kitchen.

quiet.

friends.

new favorite books + new favorite music.

dance parties over skype.

valentines.

toddlers crawling between legs and falling asleep on shoulders.

looking through my phone to find out that letting a kindergartner use the camera that morning

had produced a fabulous amazing series of self-portraits and my new favorite photo of his sister and me

(he put them all in b&w himself!).

teenagers whose nail polish match their bible covers.

ceramic glaze.

the copper bowls and teakettle i got for christmas glow so beautifully in afternoon light they make my whole kitchen feel warmer.

a quick trip to the thrift store revealed vintage dresses clearly sewed by hand and with such care attention to detail that it actually made me choke up...

the surprising loveliness, and wondering the stories behind them.

the skies, trees and fields of this place feed my soul. daily.

 

being reminded of truth at my kitchen sink, on a chalkboard, and by my community.

Happy Halloween.

Rapunzel, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Bob the Builder

A furry orange monster and a giraffe-princess-spider-monster, with their awesome mom the Sorting Hat

The giraffe hat (its only real claim to giraffe-ness):

 A high-speed shark and a pink bunny

.my summer days are filled with...

.weekly farmers' market bounty.

 

 .my blue bike.

.we love our chacos.

.hiding away in my house and sewing for hours. it's the bessttt...

.gardening.

a family in town hired me to keep up their beautiful garden a few hours a week. i get paid to hang out in this:

plus i am still trying to keep my little pots of color alive. i filled a few more with herbs...

in this one: lemon thyme, sage, rosemary and marjoram.

isn't that purple one on the right totally gorgeous? ...i planted it today to replace the lavender i killed. oops. (regular watering. apparently it's really important or something.)

.time. to. read. thank you God.

can.not. put east of eden down.

.longer daylight = spontaneous texts to go for walks, get together for dessert... this night it was raspberry pie. oh my word.

.walks in the woods with sweet friends.

.goats.

(...goats aren't really a huge part of my daily life i have to admit. but lots of people i love have them, sooo... you know.)

.(too many) dinners out at my favorite restaurant.

.having friends over for dinner is my favoritest.

.ice cream.

.and more ice cream.

(this was at one in the morning. they called me all giggly. i was in bed and told them i would see them tomorrow. they SHOWED UP ANYWAY. with ice cream. which is the only reason i let them in! crazy girls!)

.surprise birthday parties for friends.

(ps- ahem, to any parental units of mine...

look: i am at a party. with people my age.

there were even cocktails there.

i am a normal 20-something! see!)

.lots of erin time! i love this girl.

.yes please.

.aubs is reading the penderwicks to me. i get texts from her mom's phone: "Can we read the penderwicks today??". it's the best.

.making sure every child i know is signed up for the library summer reading program. because our library's summer reading program- slash our library in general- freakin rocks. (the library mascot town-wide scavenger hunt is going to get its whole own post soon.)

on this particular day, we got a special perk of being good friends with the librarian: we getting asked to help decorate the gravity tubes for storytime. there were even stickers we could use. it was So Very Exciting.

.nannying once a week for really difficult kids.

 .beautiful wonderful amazing friends who brighten my life.

  

.enjoying where i live, with my whole heart.