Happy Friday, friends! I haven’t paused to write about right now since last spring … and since it will be November in a week, I figure today’s the day to capture Fall!

Loving this new cozy corner in my study. The chair has been there forever, but we just got the table this weekend; it’s from Rob’s family, and officially only on loan (until someone wants it back). I love that it’s big enough for ALL the things. The window behind the chair faces west, so the afternoon and evening light – especially this time of year – are really nice.

Here’s the view from the chair (imagine Holly just off frame to your right, snuggled tight against your leg and you get the full picture).

Reading The School of Essential Ingredients. My neighbor chose it for Janaury’s bookclub and lent me the book. I wasn’t sure about it until about 20 pages in when the main character describes making a hot chocolate with orange, cinnamon, and anise that she adds to her mother’s coffee. whoa. sadly, no recipes.

Listening to The Dutch House … hence the knitting!

Planning holiday menus. Katie is hosting Thanksgiving and my mom will be joining us (my sister and her family will be in England … and Sara will be joining them!). Sara will be here for Christmas. Of course food is the all-important theme, but figuring out what to have when, and with whom is key. more to come!

Wearing me-mades. also loving wearing me-mades. and planning for more 😉 Yesterday I wore an Esmé tunic with leggings and boots and finally debuted Big Love here (I wore it often on our trip, but it’s been a little warm for Georgia’s “fall”).

Eating like we usually do. Salads with lean protein. Snacks for a weekend night (or two). Cooking for a few nights at once and enjoying the leftovers. We do have plans to make soup in the Instant Pot and I’m excited about that!

Drinking nothing new, but Wednesday night when my sister was here, I mixed up another version of the Fall Classic – substituting that spiced apple syrup from a  few weeks back for the thyme and sparkling apple cider for the plain … definitely need to serve this version with ice cubes, but y’all, it’s good!

Watching the World Series, the Great British Baking Show (the semi final episode just dropped today!) and a bunch of other random things on Amazon Prime and Netflix. We watched The Beautiful Fantastic last night and it was lovely (as in I slept great after without any crazy dreams!). Modern Love is definitely in our queue … maybe after baseball.

Wanting a real espresso maker in my house. I am grateful I can enjoy a nice cappuccino out, but it would be wonderful to make them at home. I enjoyed this beauty after lunch yesterday (another ladies lunch out with my mom … and this followed the avocado toast 🙂 )

Feeling good about working out on a daily basis. I do love a daily walk outside and I get two of those with Holly, but my heart has always loved running and my body loves pilates. A couple weeks ago, I started running two miles on the treadmill, followed by The Balanced Life pilates. Game Changer. Two miles is enough to get the endorphins going and the daily pilates really makes a difference in how I move. I struggle with All of This when I travel, so I am excited about being able to find – and then be able to stick with – a routine for a while.

Laughing about how much I struggled with fingerprinting yesterday. The senior services organization where my mom and I volunteer has mandated that all their volunteers get fingerprinted by November 30. We registered and made an appointment for yesterday morning. My mom has arthritis and I thought I’d be nice by going first. um, yikes! getting that pesky little scanner to read my prints was a challenge! it took me about 20 minutes to capture the 14 necessary images. Conversely, my mom, with arthritic fingers, was done in about five.

Practicing Sacred Rhythms. I’ve started a new small group at church, extending our “neighborhood group” idea (other groups meet in the evenings at members’ homes). These groups meet for six to eight weeks several times a year to talk about a book. This season’s book is Ruth Haley Barton’s Sacred Rhythms. We had our third meeting this past week and practiced Lectio Divina.

Hoping to incorporate some of Barton’s Sacred Rhythms in my own morning routine. and maybe even figure out how to incorporate more sacred rhythms into the rest of my day.

Saying Thank You to all of you for making this such a warm and welcoming space for me.

Celebrating Sam, who turns THREE today! We’ll also be celebrating with a crowd of friends and family tomorrow. and I’m looking forward to sharing some of that fun with y’all next week!

Also hoping this is a good reminder for you to take a moment and notice right now what you want to remember about this season.

Wishing y’all a wonderful weekend!