She’s so cool.

A pictorial record of  a few of our December doings…  for your viewing pleasure.

I sent my husband to the store for a few things, two of which were milk and cheese.  He comes back with conventional milk (we drink organic) and a gigantic block of fake, processed cheese.  When we discussed why I didn’t want to buy those products, I sited the health research that indicates growth hormones and processed food are not great for the body, young girls menstruating earlier, etc.  My dear husband then informed me that was not due to hormones, but cable.  Yes.  Cable.  Did you know?  Did you know that watching cable could affect your menstrual cycle?  Ladies, this is big news.  Take care when you watch TV.  Your reproductive health could be at risk.

A little something to set the stage for the holiday drama that is upon us.  Thanksgiving was too short, but a sweet time with my ENTIRE family.  Baby S even brought home a little “souvenir” a la Rocky Balboa – cousins are dangerous, I tell you!

We’ll see how much posting gets done between now and the New Year.  But rest assured that plenty of handmade gifting, cookie baking, party hosting, and hot chocolate drinking is taking place – all wrapped in twinkling lights, of course.  May all these festivities prepare my heart to relive and celebrate the unbelievable Gift I have been given by no merit of my own.  My Prince of Peace created me, called me, came to earth as a Baby to save me!  Sitting in that revelation is earth-shatteringly humbling.

Won’t this make the perfect pattern for her 1-year silhouette?  Sweet baby girl.  Now if her mama could just carve out the time to make it…

When presented with a challenge, I don’t want to wait to accept and take action.  So here’s to the next phase of laying down myself and picking up my cross.  Thank you, Jesus, that I am covered in Your grace so that I can messily work through this with freedom and abandon!

“Most of us live on the borders of consciousness – consciously serving, consciously devoted to God.  All this is immature, it is not the real life yet.  The mature stage is the life of a child which is never conscious; we become so abandoned to God that the consciousness of being used never enters in.  When we are consciously being used as broken bread and poured-out wine, there is another stage to be reached, where all consciousness of ourselves and of what God is doing through us is eliminated.  A saint is never consciously a saint; a saint is consciously dependent on God.”

-Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

I love fall. It overtakes me with swells of creativity. If only the days were packed with limitless hours of craft time. *sigh*  But I’ll take what I can get, jotting down ideas in the journal I affectionately titled “Someday.”

I’m really inspired by decorating this season. Maybe it’s because of Design Sponge’s amazing posts as of late. Seriously, check them out.  And we can’t neglect the food.  I think summer produce may be the only thing that competes with the happiness that the autumn bounty brings to our table.  It’s the perfect primer for all that holiday food, making way for the kitchen to be the festive epicenter of the season.

I’m also a big lover of indie fashion, and a few big houses as well.  I just love fall clothes – the layers and textures are such creative impetus, yet we’re not burdened by the need to bundle against the elements yet.  Idee Geniale, ModCloth, …love, Meagan, Pretty Ditty, and Happy Together are some of my favorite places to go for inspiration.  Style’s runway coverage is always fun to peruse for ideas, too.

In Charleston, the fall weather can’t be usurped as the best of the year. The mosquitoes ride the humidity on outta here and warm, dry breezes roll in, painting mammoth red suns to fill the evening skies. October and November are simply perfect at the beach.  Honestly, even if the weather were less than desirable, how could you not love the beach when you go with such sweet souls as these?

Since Baby S has been wobbling around on her “hind legs” for about 3 weeks now, I thought we’d better get our little love bug up to speed with table manners.   Her first attempt at spoon-feeding fell a mere two weeks before her 1st birthday.  Think she’ll be ready to eat cake with a utencil?

I wanted to hang something on our front door that I wouldn’t have to change with the seasons.  I also wanted it to be unique and representative of our family.  This is what I came up with…

I have a huge little “thing” for peacocks.  I even did our wedding in feathers rather than flowers, so the pristine plumes have sentimental value for D and me.  In fact, these feathers were the ones that were strewn over the centers of the table at our wedding reception.  And the initial… well, for the Wolfepack!  It was super easy.  Try making one for your front door with feathers that appeal to you.  Guinea hen feathers (faux, of course) would be awesome for fall.  Here’s how I did it:

Materials:

1 circular wreath frame

hot glue gun and glue sticks

feathers of your choice (mine were leftover from the tables at our wedding reception)

wooden initial and paint color of your choice

paint brush

1)  Lay the feathers, stem side facing out, around the wreath frame.  Make sure to play with it a bit to get them in the right spots so that none of the frame will show when everything is glued on.

2)  Glue them down by dabbing a pea-sized spot of glue and pressing the stem into the glue.  (Careful – it’s hot.)

3)  Dot the spaces left on the frame between the feathers with some hot glue.  Only do 2 or 3 at a time so that it doesn’t dry before you get the feather down.

4)  Lay the next layer of feathers stem-side facing in, pressing the stem onto the waiting glue dots.  Continue around the frame until it’s covered completely.

6)  Now decide where you want to position your initial.

7)  Paint it a coordinating color and let it dry completely.

8)  Glue it on to your finished wreath and go give your front door some love.

Let me know if you try your own… send me the link to your pics!