Highlights

Sometimes I get so busy living that I don’t have time to write about it. I’m okay with that. The parts I want to remember from last weekend are the parts with candy canes and hot chocolate, streets lined with luminarias and a gazebo glowing with twinkling white lights, a small-town parade lit in the dark with cheery color, a book sale and a trolley ride, beautiful store displays. I want to remember drinking hot, spiced cider in my pink-striped flannel nightgown, breathtaking photos from the new Toast catalogs resting in my lap, and readying up our house for this first winter like a pair of woodland animals getting cozy for hibernation. These long, dark days are going to be lovely. 

Horseback

 

We had a very lovely weekend ended with rides on my little brother’s new horse, Wy. She was tolerant of our rookie riding for only so long and then she kept walking us over to the gate in hopes that we would dismount and leave her to her grazing. But my dad is the pro; he took her for a nice long jaunt down the pasture and back.

3 Fun Ways to Keep Warm This Weekend

From October through around April I bear a strong resemblance to Bob Cratchit. Just peek  in on me any given day when I’m at home and you’ll see me wrapped in a blanket, hovering over a candle, vainly attempting to extract warmth. And like the characters in my favorite Dickens’, I’ve even been known to get chilblains. It’s not that Sean doesn’t graciously allow the thermostat to remain at a very reasonable 69 degrees. I think it’s more that my body temperature is about a degree and a half below normal all of the time. I try not to read into it. Anyway, if you too suffer from constant cold half the year round, here are some ways to spice up your warming routine for the weekend so that you don’t have to stay perched on those heating vents.

1. Two-Minute Roasted Apples

It’s very easy. Wash and core an apple. Gently tap cinnamon into the center so that it sticks on the exposed inner walls of the apple. Microwave for one minute, five seconds. Eat warm with spoon. Not only does the apple warm your tummy, but the cinnamon increases circulation!

2. Play Footsie Under the Table While You Put Together This Awesome Puzzle

Seriously, how can it get cuter than the little puzzle piece boy riding his bicycle? The “It Can Happen to You” puzzle was made for Anthropologie and I hate to tell you that it’s actually really expensive. But that’s what eBay is for, right? Just think positively: “It can happen to you.” And failing that, at least footsie is both warm and fun.

3. Soak Your Feet In a Foot Bath & Read Something That Will Make You Laugh

How to Get Warm by Angela Antonelli is seriously funny, especially if you’ve ever lived with people who like the temperature near freezing. Get out the foot bath or massager and amp up your circulation while you read this little article before bedtime.

Happy Weekend!

P.S. Are  you a hot or cold person?

How To Figure Out Your Decorating Style

If you’re anything like me, you care very much about how your space looks. If you’re anything like me, you’re also fairly indecisive when it comes to figuring out your own style. Experimenting with four dorm rooms during college gave me a sense that some living areas made me feel comfortable and others didn’t, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what individual things worked for me and what made me stay at the cafe longer than usual. Some modern decor felt good to me, some was bad. The same happened with traditional and bohemian styles. And the ever-present Pottery Barn look just made me feel like I was, well, in Pottery Barn. So, to help me narrow down my likes and dislikes I did what I’ve been doing almost all my life: I read. I read blogs and magazines and encouraged myself to rip out pages and clip photos – which was a huge change from my periodical hording days (I don’t think I ever threw away or defaced a single American Girls magazine or catalog in all of my life). From these and especially from web images, I developed my very own inspiration file. It seems like an obvious idea, but I bet a lot of people just never get around to doing it and it’s so easy!

• First, just learn to automatically save every image that you come across that makes you stare or gets your creative juices flowing. It doesn’t have to be decor. It can be details on dresses or books or dishware that you like and think you might enjoy incorporating somehow. Think patterns, color combos, styles, fabric details like lace or ruffles. Use the Ctrl+Prnt Scrn function on your keyboard or scan and save images if you have to. Keep everything in a nice document folder in your computer and save with names that document the original source name, issue, date and any specific detail in the photo that you wanted to remember. For example: DaysSerendipity_12Nov09trunk or MSLJune09 (Martha Stewart Living, June 2009 issue). This will help you to quickly relocate the source if you need to later on.
• Periodically sort through your photos. Delete images that you no longer enjoy and take stock of what details seem to come up again and again. Is it monochome color schemes, old paintings, gold accents, white painted walls, or cluttered rooms? Make a list of these things.
• Develop a name for your style based on this list. It doesn’t have to sound design-y. The point is to put a name to it so that you will be able to recognize it when you see it at the flea market or on sale at your favorite store. In fact, you’ll probably have to use several words to describe your style. Right now mine is Rustic Vintage Traditional. See? It doesn’t  have to make sense to anyone but you!
• Now that you know what your style is, you can be more confident that it will flow together throughout your living spaces and make everything feel very personal and “you.” The last thing to remember is that your style will be constantly updating and changing in small ways as trends and personal tastes evolve. Just let it happen and don’t get stuck. Your rooms will evolve with you (at least, it seems reasonable to assume so).

Now, to combine your taste with your spouse’s? Well, that’s a different story altogether. I’ll let you know when I have that figured out…

What’s Your Style?

Sour Cream Cookies

Whenever I extol the delights of a sour cream cookie I am usually answered with, “What is that?” Well, I would say the name pretty much explains it, but because they are apparently not so plentiful around the world as they were in my childhood kitchen there is a need for a redundant description of this little dessert. It’s soft, spicy, comforting, delicious - and I don’t even like sour cream. This is one of those recipes that doesn’t work so well halved (I know because I’ve tried), so plan to make them for sharing.

Sour Cream Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup sour cream (1/2 pint)
• pinch of salt
• 1-2 Tbs. nutmeg
• 4 cups flour
• raisins (optional)

Cream together butter, sugar, and eggs. Add sour cream and dry ingredients. Fold in raisins to taste. Bake at 350 degrees for 9 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.

Don’t Forget to Subscribe!

I thought it might be a good idea today to remind you about subscribing to Days of Serendipity. That’s right, you can have my blog posts delivered right to your computer along with content from your other favorite blogs all in one place!  I know that not everyone knows about RSS feeds – heck, I haven’t thought about them much until recently, but it saves the time of trekking from blog to blog and wondering who updated recently. All you have to do is click on the “Subscribe to Feed” link at the top left hand side of my page, add in a few extra clicks and, voila!, my self-proclaimed wonderfulness will be at your fingertips. Now, ignore my sarcasm and scoot!

Picture of the adorable tea caddy my husband bought me in Paris.

Indian Summer

We were uncommonly productive this weekend. Was it the beautiful weather or that I ate less sugar? Hmmm…

A Sweet Question

I am not in denial. I am a sugar addict and this I readily (proudly?) admit. We talk about cutting back, but then I feel that I have to bake a seasonal cake, or buy ice cream to soothe a bad day, or support fair trade with a hefty purchase of dark chocolate. There is nothing that cannot be made more special with a treat. Hence, sugar is what makes my world beautiful. Well, that and sparkly lights.

Then today on her show, Martha Stewart hinted that she eats dessert/sweets one or two times a week. Which made me think, am I normal or am I a sugar freak? So tell me, dear friends, how often do you eat sweets? Let’s take an informal little poll and lest you think that your confectionary consumption is shameful, allow me to start off by admitting that I indulge on average two or three times a day…

Yummy photo from this person

Over the Moon

Aren’t the faces of the people in this photo hilarious? Sometimes, I want to sit on the moon, look down at the earth with binoculars, and watch everyone’s lives play like a movie.

Bread is rising on my counter and I’m loving the smell of my new Toasted Marshmallow candle from here.

Postcard found here.

Etsy Favorites for Autumn

It has been forever since I’ve posted any Etsy favorites, hasn’t it? Well, here are a few that I knew you’d like:

Fall Macarons by Lemonade Stand NYC

Crocheted Fingerless Mittens Pattern by Frouges Art

And I Walked Tape by Mister Rob

Are there any handmade artists you’d like me to share about? Just send me a note!

Malady

Monday is grocery shopping day and we had “nothing” left in the house to eat by the time I picked Sean up after work. (I have determined that an evil grocery shopping fairy slips one or two boxes of foods that we don’t like and will never want to eat into our cupboards out of spite.) Our heads felt heavy and tired for no reason: that I-would-like-to-curl-under-a-blanket-and-stay-there-for-eternity feeling that you get right before coming down with something.

Usually I crave heavy things like sweets and cheeses and meats during our grocery date, but yesterday I couldn’t keep my eyes away from the fruit and vegetables. I envisioned toast and soup and tea and green bean casserole. My heart’s deepest desire was for orange juice and Sprite and a cable knit blanket with gray plaid lining. A citrus craving is like my death toll for health. That, and pink cheeks, but I don’t have the pink cheeks yet.

We decided to lay low and pamper ourselves. Sean played computer games while I gave myself a foot bath. And then we confessed that it would be sort of nice to get sick for real. You know, spend a day napping, reading, doing puzzles, watching favorite movies. That is bad, isn’t it? But today I feel fine. Except that I can’t get warm or feel rested. And I keep shopping for wrist warmers.

P.S. Don’t forget to vote!!!!!

Baubles

Yesterday was a calm day, but not today.

Yesterday was sunny and bright. The yard was strewn with gold. I practiced yoga in my bare feet in the sunshine and collected leaves in my cozy gray skirt.

Today is a cleaning and organizing frenzy. I dragged a mountain of moving boxes through the wind to the curb for recycling. I polished faucets till they gleamed.

Yesterday was a day of good news, beloved books, magazines in the mail, and choosing the biggest, roundest pumpkins.

Today is for baking chocolate chip pumpkin bread, stringing leaves into garlands, folding three loads of clothes warm and soft from the dryer, arranging urns on the front stoop.

But tonight is for carving jack-o-lanterns, drinking hot cider, and watching Halloween cartoons.

Happy Halloween!

Pretty Things to Look At

1. Jenny of the Little Green Notebook has exactly my decorating philosophy: buy used and old and inexpensive and make it what you want it to be. I’m still working on seeing the potential of various pieces and understanding how they can work together, but reading other people’s blogs always gives me tons of new ways of thinking about decorating. We’ve been working on our dining room lately, so her recent dining room makeover came exactly when I needed the inspiration.

2. You can download this from A Field Journal to make for your very own.

3. We want to frame old star charts like this one found on Ebay for our bedroom. Pretty, no?

4. Lately, I cannot get enough of Pia’s beautiful photos and finds. She lives on a houseboat in Amsterdam and manages to have the most beautiful life – I think mostly because she keeps her eyes open. While we’re on the subject of other people’s blogs, did you read this? Absolutely, deliciously creepy!

Homemade Donuts

I love to celebrate seasons and holidays with food. Something just doesn’t feel right unless all of the right foods make an appearance during any given season. And fall is the time for crispy homemade donuts and cider. Here is the (easy) donut recipe I made with my mom as a child and whipped up last night in about an hour.

Homemade Donuts

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c. milk
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 1/3 c. shortening
• 3 tsp. salt
• 2 packages yeast
• 1/2 c. water
• 6 1/2 c. flour
• 2 eggs

In a small pan warm up milk, sugar, shortening, salt and water until shortening has melted and the mixture has reached bathwater temperature. Pour over yeast, mix gently, and let sit for a couple minutes. Stir in two cups of flour. Add eggs and beat one minute. Work in remaining flour, kneading on counter if necessary until dough is elastic. Set in warm place for 15-20 minutes. Roll out and cut into circles (I use a juice cup to cut them out) and use your fingers to make a hole in the middle for the donut shape. In a wide, shallow pan, pour about one inch of olive oil and heat until a small ball of dough dropped in bobs up and down and the oil gently fizzles around it. You can use a big slotted spoon to drop the donuts into the oil and turn them from side to side until they’re brown and crispy and cooked through. Tip: pull open your first donut or two to make sure that they’re cooked through – if they’re browning immediately, then the oil is too hot. Place warm donuts on paper towel to drain excess oil and then roll in powdered sugar or a combination of sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. You can also leave out the holes and inject your donuts with raspberry jam if you prefer!

Eat them fast (preferably warm)! They’re only good for about 24 hours before they go stale just like the donuts in the bakery, so feel free to cut your batch in half and share them. A full batch yields about 40 donuts.

A Firelight Colored Tree

 

Dear Readers,

Today I looked for inspiration. I thought about books, I read blogs, I searched for the perfect color of grey thread in my sewing basket, I sang in the shower. But none of them lifted my spirits in just…that way. And then I looked past my laptop and my pile of magazines and my clutter, through the window right in front of me. And there was a firelight colored tree, flanked in wavy green branches, decorated just below with the prim pattern of weathered wood fence tops. And the window screen pixelated my view like a painting. And the wind made the colors move and blend and fall. And the outline of the window framed my painting. I love paintings. And I didn’t want to use my laptop anymore. I wanted to enjoy life instead of looking for it. This weekend I will paint in warm gray, I will venture outside to share warm food and comfort, I will cuddle under a soft blanket to draw in his warmth next to me, I will bake cookies and bread to have with tea. I will organize and work and laugh. I will worship. Dear Readers, I wish for you the same.

Love,

Katherine