October Highlights & Favorites 🍂

How’s fall treating you so far? I find that for us, this time of year really packs everything all in together. It can feel kind of like Lucy & Ethel at the chocolate conveyor belt. Summer is slow and fun and lackadaisical, and then September hits, and it’s schedules and events and adjustments! It’s the change of seasons in all of the ways. And, as a creative and someone who gets the privilege (!!!) of being a part of your holiday home with my holiday art, I find that it’s actually really hard for me to stay present in the fall, because Autumn is when I’m getting ready for the Christmas season ahead. I’m listening to Christmas music and painting Christmas trees, while simultaneously planning Halloween costumes. It’s wild! And I know you get that, too. I see that more and more on social media and in stores, too. Everything around us – commercially and on social media – urges us to rush us from one season to another before we even fully embrace the present season we’re in! So this year, I keep reminding myself to slow down, look up, and take it all in while it’s here.

And here’s a quick caveat – when I say “enjoy it,” I don’t want you to feel pressure to mean that you have to go to every orchard and pumpkin patch and make every fall cider recipe (although, I do have a recipe for you, below!)... That’s not what I’m doing, anyway. My most favorite thing I’ve done this year is just look at the trees when I’m driving or walking. Like, really look at them. Appreciate them. Relish in them.

And now that I am, I feel so totally mesmerized by the sheer beauty of Autumn this year! At first, I was thinking maybe it had something to do with the rain we’ve had?… Maybe some sort of weather pattern over the summer made it so the leaves this year in the Midwest are extra bright and vibrant? I don’t know, but there’s just something about the way it looks and feels around here that’s got me all giddy about how creative God is, and how lucky we are to get to enjoy it. I feel like I’m driving around Wisconsin this year more than any other year totally mesmerized. You should hear the Marco Polo thread with my best friends and I… No juicy gossip over here… Just three, 40ish year-old women Marcoing each other back and fourth like “BUT THE C - O - L - O - R - SSSS THO!!!!!” 😂

After some reflection, I realized that there’s something else different about this particular fall (other than the weather) that is probably contributing to it feeling extra great – this is really only the second fall that we haven’t been in the hospital in the last 6 years. I’m sure the other autumns were beautiful, but I would have been too preoccupied, too stressed, too angry, too brokenhearted to notice. When you’ve spent days, weeks, months, seasons in a hospital, it’s crazy how novel “outside” becomes. Because you’re inside, literally, almost all the time. 

I guess I’m saying that once you’ve been in the darkest valleys, once you’ve spent so much time unwillingly away from home, it really is the simplest things that bring delight. Fresh air, crunching leaves, a smile from someone you deeply love. If you’re still in a season of a deep valley, I see you. It almost felt even more unfair to leave the hospital and experience a beautiful day – like oh, you’re all just out here enjoying life as if nothing is totally and completely wrong? I get it. I see you, I am with you, and God sees you. It won’t always feel like this. 

And if you’re in a season where you are looking at the world with fresh eyes for the first time in a while, I see you, too! I am right here with you. Enjoying the beauty of God, while also finding a way to accept His mystery. Two things can be true at the same time, and that is the life we live. And seasons change, literally and figuratively. For me, autumn is our reminder of that.

I used to be a long distance runner, and my friend Jen taught me this – we were on a training run one day, our first long run, and she said “don’t talk on the downhill.” We of course yapped the entire six miles, but when we got to the first substantial down hill, she stopped me from talking. At the bottom of the hill, Jen explained something like this – ”talking is amazing because we get to pass the time, distract ourselves, and get through all of this – especially the hard parts. But when you get to a downward slope, stop talking. Just enjoy it. Let your feet fall hard, let your body go limp and just embrace the fall. Embrace not having to work so hard, and really enjoy it. Because soon it will be over, and we’ll be back on even ground, or up hill, and we can distract ourselves again then. But if you talk on the downhill, you’ll miss it. You might not even realize that you got that little break.”

And I’ve tried to adopt this as my life motto: Don’t talk on the downhill. 

And so I offer that to you, too.

If you happen to find yourself in a bit of a break from actual hard things happening, don’t let yourself get caught up in the daily life of it all – in the schedules and the planning and the have-tos, etc – that you forget to stop and embrace that you’re in a season where nothing is critical. Where you can stop and look at the leaves. Enjoy a simple delight in life. Not because you desperately NEED it, but just because you can. 

I hate to make this hard left turn to talking about artwork, but I actually became the most invested in how my home felt when everything else around me was spiraling. I needed it to feel good, to feel comforting, to feel uplifting. I think art is the easiest way to transform your space – whatever you need from it. This is what I love about art. Sometimes, you want to be transported. And sometimes, you want to stay right where you are. I’m here to serve you in both. 🫶

For me, there’s undoubtedly stressors ahead – a busy holiday season, the tension of running a small business in this economy, Eva has a big surgery in January, etc. But for me, for these sweet weeks of Autumn before the holiday chaos hits, I’m practicing not talking on the downhill and simply enjoying the leaves while I can.

Here are some highlights for me this autumn so far:

• We got to take an annual orchard trip with some of our BFFs & make apple crisp.
• We won our Church’s People’s Choice Award for the Best Trunk at Trunk or Treat – a huge honor ;o). (We had a K-Pop Demon Hunters trunk!)
• I’ve gotten to go on some sweet, beautiful walks with friends and family.
• Eva’s been going to school every day for about an hour and a half and loving it, and even got to go on a bike ride!
• We’ve been watching Harry Potter (we’re through Movie #3) with Phoenix and that’s so fun. He’s not a movie guy, so this is a treat!
• I’m taking a new approach to creating art for Holiday – a smaller collection of more meaningful, intentional pieces. More little photoshoots instead of one big shoot. It’s felt weird, and also felt right. I cannot wait to show you!!! It launches (as per tradition!) on Halloween night to Newsletter subscribers!

What I'm loving this autumn:

VHS Player - Ebay // Farmhouse Candle // Cozy Season Candle // Autumn Art // Spiced Fall Punch Recipe // Lamp // Maple Branches // Salad Tongs // BEST Hoodie Ever

VHS PLAYER

In 2020, after being influenced by Alexis Garrett, I bought a combo tv/VHS player and I love it. I bring it to my desk in Fall through Spring and enjoy the ease of Christmas movies and classics like You’ve Got Mail on VHS without the distraction of a smart TV. It’s lovely and I would totally recommend. I found mine on Ebay!

Cozy Candles

These are my two favorite candles for Autumn: Farmhouse smells like fresh apple, orange, and fall spices (I love it for daytime), and then Cozy Season I love for nighttime – it’s moodier and very “grown up” smelling – woods, warm spice, citrus). I love the scale of these, so I don’t feel like I need to save them for “special” – I burn them all the time!

My New Autumn Art Collection

I created my Autumn Collection, and I have these pieces in my home, and I love them. They truly are making me SO happy! I love how it feels outside, and so it’s feels great that inside my house reminds me of how wonderful it looks outside my house. 

Autumn Shoreline in the Cozy Room.

Rustling Embers in my kitchen (this is my favorite fall piece!). 

Apple Botanical, also in my kitchen.

Queen Victoria in her Cat Mask (I didn’t paint her, but I did add her cute little mask). In in our living room and I love how mysterious she looks. The perfect backdrop to our Harry Potter movie nights!

Delicious Fall Drinks

Nesting With Grace’s Spiced Fall Punch recipe is our absolute favorite!

Cute Lamp

The cutest little lamp ever (put it in your kitchen for a cozy glow!)

Dried Flowers

I love using dried flowers (hydrangeas especially) in the fall, but this bunch of Artificial Maple Leaf branches is adding the perfect pop of fall color in my living room. (I have the yellow)!

Salad Tongs (and the official salad of fall)

I purchased these sculptural Salt & York Walnut Salad Tongs, and have gotten many compliments on them! (My fave fall salad combo is – lettuce of choice, craisins, honeycrisp apples, goat cheese, spiced pecans and honey balsamic vinaigrette!)

World's BEST Hoodie, trust me!

And this is the thickest, most cozy hoodie ever. Perfect for crisp fall days! (Size up for extra cozy!) It’s literally the BEST, and feels very vintage/pre-worn. I’m wearing one of mine in this video). It comes in so many colors, and I have purchased most of them. It’s also one of my favorite gifts to give (wash it first to fluff it up!)