Show & Tell | The Ings of Mid Winter

 

  1. Dreaming | about what it will feel like to live fully in our new home this Spring. This Spring! We are all in the attic and have been for a handful of weeks now. It’s been really wonderful being up here in the treetops, cozy to the max with patchwork quilts thrown on every surface, just plain good to have a place that’s ours to be weird and goofy and tired and hyper and loud and and and. To be unapologetically us. But hard too, as most of our home is a construction site and I prefer things orderly, quiet, and not caked in dust. That said, we are close! Before we move out I’ll give you a little tour of our current living space and what’s working well. Mostly so I can remember where we all started out here.
  2. Chasing | the light in every room of our home, getting to know her and how the sun makes her feel depending on the time of day.
  3. Reading | so much, guys! I got into a really crappy funk in 2021 like the rest of the world and taking time to read ended up making its way to the bottom of the heap of my priorities. I’ve recently picked it back up again and it feels like visiting an old friend. How good it feels to pour myself into the ivory pages of a new book. Right now I am reading Provence 1970 by Luke Barr, and before it, The Kitchen Whispers by Dorothy Kalins and Taste by Stanley Tucci. All about food and travel and relationships.  All superb and quite delicious.
  4. Wearing | my gray boiled wooly Glerup boots. I know I shouldn’t wear them outdoors but I cannot help myself. They are now an extension of my feet. Andrew called the other night and asked if we could meet him at the local Italian restaurant down the street for supper. I bundled up all the kids as fast I could muster, and out the door we went. The five of us piled in the car like fat sardines in a small tin can and made our way to the restaurant, dreaming of pizza and spaghetti with clams. Walking in holding a fussy Tilly I realized not only was I still in my PJ pants, forgivable, but my SLIPPERS as well. Whoops. Our meal was extra comfortable that night.
  5. Braiding | Tilly’s long blonde hair after bath time in the mudroom sink.
  6. Buying | some of the finishing design touches for our home, like window treatments and Edison light bulbs and forged iron herb hooks. There is a lot we are going to leave for awhile, to live with each space and get to know it as time goes on, but there are many things I know we’ll want, so I am trying to get that measured and ordered up because lead times everywhere continue to be a bother. Are you renovating right now? How’s that going?
  7. Planting | nothing right now, but I have my seed catalogue on the way from Baker Creek here in Missouri and have already ordered several things from Floret Farm for our flower beds and David Austin Roses for the side of the garage, and depending on how well they do, on the side of the house by the kitchen window that overlooks the garden. I am going full on English garden this year, and plan to create a gardening journal detailing everything I’ve planted both seasonal and perennial for this home. I kept my palette in the whites, greens, yellows, and lavender family, my favorite.
  8. Lighting | beeswax candles all the live long day. This simple candle ritual of mine is a winter staple. It gives me light, yes, but more so, joy in the midst of what can feel like a long, long day. I light one when I write, during nap time, when I read, and when we are eating together as a family, and at night, if watching a movie. Isn’t it wonderful how everything transforms when a candle is lit?
  9. Finding | Matilda’s dolls and stuffed animals everywhere but the toy basket. I love this age {22 months} so much.
  10. Listening | to the hammering, sawing, taping, doors slamming melody that is renovating a home and living through it. I don’t mind though, as each crashing note means progress. Saw away, crew, saw a-w-a-y!
  11. Cooking | very little, but making do. I have discovered French Market’s take away meals and they are divine. If you are in the KC area and are in need of a break cooking wise, do give them a try. Restaurant quality without having to take your kids to a restaurant. For someone without much to cook with or on, it’s a welcomed change up from Ramen noodles and PJ&J’s.
  12. Crafting | dried oranges, and that’s about it. Our air fryer did an incredible job dehydrating juicy navels this year! They added cheer to our home for the holidays, and I am so glad Stella pushed me to try it in our itty bitty oven. I am eager to get my paws on our crafting supplies once we move in. My friend Kacie keeps telling me I’d love embroidery and I’d love to give it a whirl.
  13. Singing | lullabies with Matilda before bedtime and nap time because she loves, loves, loves music. It’s the sweetest thing. She’ll continue in the high pitched whisper that is her one year old voice, knowing all the tones, most of the words, on rept until she decides to snuggle up and drift off.
  14. Deleting | IG accounts that no longer being me joy or give me life. This year I vow to keep cutting that shit out. No more scrolling past only to keep mindlessly adding account after account. No. Less but better. In all ways, technology first, because that is one area of my life where I tend to me a maximalist and let things flow without filtration.
  15. Loving | this gorgeous shade of muted mustard by Farrow and Ball in the landing space of our loft. When we were traveling last summer in Nantucket as our home was being gutted, the last house we stayed in, there were three, had a stunning and cheerful yellow kitchen. It was happy and unexpected. We fell in love with it, and decided to follow its lead and create a space in our new home that offered this kind of joy. Colors can do that, and I love them for it. Like little lighthouses, they come along sometimes and create a mood, a feeling, that can root us or transport us. In this case, this yellow does both.
  16. Planning | our garden! This year I want to grow all the things. Herbs! Bulbs! Radishes! Peppers! Beans! Hydrangeas! I miss it dearly, and like reading, I didn’t expect to feel so disoriented without its consistent presence in my life. Try going a year without all the things you love during a pandemic and it’ll put a lot of stuff into perspective real quick.
  17. Smelling | at half mast, and then some. Bleh. COVID really messed with my olfactory system, and since October 2020 my nose hasn’t been itself. It’s caused sadness, anger, and confusion. Why does lavender smell like poopy diapers and why do poopy diapers smell like beef, but why doesn’t beef smell like lavender? What. Is. Happening? I will say that I forced myself to drink coffee again out of necessity even though it tasted like sludge from a dumpster, or what I assume sludge from a dumpster tastes like – for four months. It’s not back to being its coffee self, but it’s closer. I’ll take it. I need it. 
  18. Picking | up Tilly’s stuffed animals and baby dolls, Alfie’s LEGO pieces, Theodore’s matchbox cars and Bakugans {why is this the current obsession?}, and Stella’s art. In terms of toys up here, that’s about all we’ve got and it’s been splendid. Honestly! I am apprehensive of opening all their toy boxes when we move in. Perhaps I’ll just move those quietly to the side and on rainy days be like, surprise!
  19. Cleaning | up the shop from all the holiday hubbub and ready to start fresh for the New Year. I took Tilly yesterday while the big kids were in school and she made one hell of a mess. But in doing so, she let me reorganize-ish and take down the trees and lights and fake snow. I am tiptoeing back into shop life and it feels really great. The holidays kicked my bum and we were busier than ever, and I finally feel rested and ready to start the year off with a clean slate.
  20. Counting | on family meals around our little Shaker table most nights of the week. Despite the chaos of the past year, it’s a ritual we’ve consistently kept, one that gives our family a deep breath in and out, an anchor that digs deep in the gritty sand of the day, pausing time and giving us the chance to remember what it’s all about. We’ll light a candle, hold hands, and say, “Earth we thank you for this food, for rest, and home, and all things good. For wind, and rain, and sun above, and most of all, for those we love. Blessings on this meal and those we share it with.” It’s one of my favorite times of the day because we are all together.

 

 

 

  • Andrea - What a lovely glimpse into mid-winter in your new home. Thank you for sharing! I can’t imagine how good it must feel to be in your own space after all this time. It’s nice to see you back on the ol’ blog too. I’m not on IG much these days and I do love the slow, welcoming feel of your blog. Blessings!ReplyCancel

  • Taylor - We have those same “basket of babies” dolls and I absolutely love them! Love love!ReplyCancel

  • Kim - Those icy windows are so beautiful! We just finished up a home renovation and it is so nice to just ‘live’ and sit still a bit.

    And isn’t the thought of Spring just the most amazing thing? I am getting so excited to plan my garden. I had to plant a few herbs inside just to get myself through this winter!ReplyCancel

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