Mark’s birthday and his father’s are close, so we always have a week of celebration at the end of October. And when we’re lucky, the weather is just right for a family hike.
When Austin was 3 and 4, he’d toddle up the hill, using his hands and feet to climb over the rocks.
Halloween is almost here! Are you getting excited? And the weather seems to know how much I like a good cup of something warm in my hands while we hand out treats… it’s cooperating so well.
This year I’m thinking we might have to break out the mulled wine a little early, given that it looks so darn festive in that picture above. And even though we have one pumpkin… I’m trying to decide if it might need a fun friend. (There are so many good ideas this year!)
What about you? Are you busy this weekend with last-minute holiday prep? Or do you already have a bowl of candy waiting at the door?
Eye the amazing art in this home.
Buy a new throw pillow (I want and need so many!)
Make some sweet pumpkins with chalkboard paint.
Bake (umm… cook?) some mulled wine. (So good on cold nights…)
This is just an insanely fantastic diy. So crafty, that girl. I’m still swooning over her garment rack.
This husband’s pictures of his wife are beyond heartbreaking… and beautiful.
Because Bill Murray is the man, and Rushmore is amazing.
I don’t write nearly as often as I’d like to. Life always seems to get in the way. But I’m always fascinated by the writing habits of others. James Joyce apparently wrote just a few sentences a day, while Ernest Hemingway made it a point to get in 500 words… and Stephen King goes all the way to 10 pages, even on holidays. Truman Capote wrote lying down, and Alexandre Dumas wrote for decades only on one particular shade of blue paper. Some wrote in between errands, some during (Gertrude Stein wrote while her wife drove them around in their Model T Ford.)
Some habits make sense, some not so much.
Here are a few of my own that I’ve found to help…
1 // If you can’t write something good, write nonsense.
Lately I’ve started using 750words.com to get out the bugs on the days I’m feeling less than inspired. The idea is that once you’ve written 750 words of nonsense, your head is all limbered up and the ideas will flow. So far I’ve found it to be really effective!
2 // Read
An hour or so with David Sedaris and my brain is buzzing with ideas. Of course, my storytelling ability doesn’t hold a candle to his… but at least I can try. Practice makes perfect, right?
It’s all about reading the folks that inspire you.
3 // Walk
When all else fails, take a walk. Sitting (I sit – anyone here stand or lie down?) for too long in front of a computer will fry anyone’s brain. Moving around gets things going again, and for me, it usually works to break the block.
What are some of your writing habits? Do you use any tricks to break you out of a slump?
The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder, and most evenings you can find me huddled in a corner of the couch, hiding under a pile of blankets to hold in the warmth.
… I might be the only one, it’s okay. You can call me a wimp. The only one who agrees with me in our house is the dog.
In any case, I’ve officially pulled out the hats.
… you can’t see it, but a certain down-filled coat might’ve also made its first appearance that day.
Too soon?
The first time I ever cooked with fresh pumpkin was a disaster. Mark and I had just started dating, and I really wanted to impress him. So since his birthday was coming up on Halloween (hello pumpkin) and cheesecake is his favorite, I decided I’d make him the best pumpkin cheesecake he’d ever had…
I wasn’t cocky at all.
So I ran to the local Whole Foods and dropped an entire meal’s worth of money on a fat pumpkin to cook down into my own puree… because why would I do this the easy way? Everything was better from scratch.
Hours (a whole day?) later, the pumpkin cooked down, the cheesecake set up, and I couldn’t wait for him to see what I’d done. When he came over to celebrate, I practically met him at the door with a slice.
This thing was going to be good, I was certain.
… and I think he was too.
Then he took a bite.
Things are slowly getting back to normal here in DC — but the rest of the country still has some time. Small businesses located outside of America’s national parks suffered through 16 days of shutdown, and are struggling to make up for lost time.
Some are even struggling to make up for their crucial fall rush (if you’ve ever been to Shenandoah when the leaves are changing, you know what I mean).
So here’s the thing. We can’t turn back time and take it back. And we also can’t stop Congress from doing it again. So let’s do what we can now to make up the loss and prepare for the next time around.
1 // Visit a national park — they’re beautiful, and you know you need the fresh air.
2 // While you’re there, eat at a local restaurant or take home a souvenir from a nice mom & pop. Do what you can to help out.
3 // Tell your friends to do the same. Use the hashtag #shutdownshmutdown on Instagram, Twitter, and all of your social media accounts. (And while you’re at it, tag me too. Just because I’d love to know if this is taking hold. @laicie on Instagram, @1000threads on Twitter.)
Screw this thing. Let’s not worry about if and when — whether it might happen again. Let’s fix it for ourselves.
And hey, I know we’re not all close to a national park, or able to invest the time and money to travel. That’s okay. Consider donating to one of these organizations that worked hard to fill in the gaps. They need it now more than ever, especially if they’re going to have to do this all over again.
P.S. The more you share this plan, the more it will take hold… so if you can’t do either, don’t worry. Believe me, I understand. All you have to do is share this news. I’m willing to bet that you have at least one friend who will help out on your behalf.
It really hit me this week. We haven’t even made it to Halloween, but it feels like Christmas is just around the corner, waiting to knock down the door. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of Christmas. Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, Dean Martin, Tom Waits, Singapore Slings (have we talked about my family’s random traditions?). Christmas is one of my favorite parts of the year.
But let’s also not pretend that it’s not a little stress-inducing. The added expense, the quest to find the perfect gifts, the extra obligations… we put a lot of pressure on ourselves around the holidays. And it’s all coming up soon. Halloween (and Mark’s birthday), then our anniversary, then Thanksgiving (and a big family trip to New York) and Christmas… it’s all about to hit, and I have to admit that the gravity of that hit me hard today.
It’s going to be an amazing few months, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world… but it’s also about to get very, very busy.
One more reason to take it a little easier this weekend (or maybe get started on that shopping early?).
What do you think? Do you start to worry around this time of the year, like me? Or am I way early to the game and just stressing you out? (I’m sorry!)
Eye the trailer for Wes Anderson’s latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel.
Buy a tiny gold skull ring for Halloween (and beyond).
Make these adorable little clay pumpkins.
Bake this rich dark chocolate and hazelnut cake.
Oh hey and about those holidays, here are a few tips to keep you (well, your editorial calendar) sane.
Rebecca Romijn’s “hand bra” (just in time for breast cancer awareness).
8 awesome cookbooks you need for fall.
The case for deleting all of your apps (would you do it?).
And I don’t just mean on the blogs.
Rants like this one are popping up all over the internet these days, and they’re convincing a lot of people to take action. But one of the central tenets of the argument continues to bother me.
It’s spelled out best by Amy Webb for Slate, who shares the story of “Kate”…
With every status update, YouTube video, and birthday blog post, Kate’s parents are preventing her from any hope of future anonymity.
That poses some obvious challenges for Kate’s future self. It’s hard enough to get through puberty. Why make hundreds of embarrassing, searchable photos freely available to her prospective homecoming dates? If Kate’s mother writes about a negative parenting experience, could that affect her ability to get into a good college? We know that admissions counselors review Facebook profiles and a host of other websites and networks in order to make their decisions.
Now let me just make sure I have this straight. Are we worried that a baby picture or a story about little Kate’s growing pains might someday prevent her from getting into the college of her dreams? Or are we under the impression that we might somehow be able to keep Kate”off the grid” until she’s old enough to join Facebook and ruin her online identity for herself?
Of course we have to set limits on our sharing (or oversharing), but really, that’s a separate issue. This more specific concern, that we might somehow ruin our kids’ lives by sharing their baby pictures with our friends and family on Facebook, feels like it’s going a bit too far.
Then again, I have to admit I’m a little hesitant to post shots of Austin here, and I frequently debate how much I might share when Mark and I decide to have a child of our own. There’s a discomfort with the internet (that flows naturally from its youth) that rightly makes us take a second look. The world is changing, privacy is changing, and our circles are expanding… so how do we make sense of it all?
What do you think? Do I have it all wrong? How comfortable are you with putting pictures of your kids (or future kids) on the internet?
Photo via The Glow. (I loooove The Glow.)
As someone who finds herself styling a picture or two now and then, I’m always looking at, and learning about, the light… the way it comes clamoring into our bedroom in the morning, and dances across our little home studio (otherwise known as that one corner with all the windows) at night. The way that it can be manipulated, and way that it can’t. And especially how it always seems to manage to make or break my day… leaving me to curl up in a blanket for an extended nap and a big cup of something warm, or pulling me out of my bed ready to conquer the world.
This little home uses the light as a design element, with sky lights and beams that cast patterns on the walls and floors, bringing the light, and the day, into the house just that much more. And making those sunny days just that much better…
Hands down, the best part of carving a pumpkin is toasting the seeds. But while I’ve religiously toasted pumpkin seeds my whole life, I’ve always been a little messy about it… clearing away most of some of the gunk, dousing them in salt, and letting them sit until they’re good and golden brown.
This weekend though, Mark set me straight. Having never toasted a single seed in his life, he turned to the internet and came up with a process I’d never even thought to try, and wouldn’t you know… the results were better than anything I’d ever had.
Life, love, and the little things… one thread at a time.
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