Stir Crazy

We almost went stir crazy yesterday.  We started to...but then we all had an attitude adjustment and decided to make the best of a dreary day.  How often do we get away, just us, to enjoy a weekend?  Although, it is difficult to entertain a one year old for hours indoors, we weren't going to let a little rain ruin our time together.

We would have loved to have been out there...

but we decided to have a great day inside.

So, William built a fire.  Bloody Mary in hand.

Wills and I enjoyed the fire.

I wore these shoes, and didn't change, all. day. long.

We did a lot of reading.

His, Hers. and Baby drinks for the day.

We caught up on our kisses.

Played a few hands of gin rummy.

Wills stacked and re-stacked all of my mom's measuring cups in his chair.

The rain outside didn't stop the music inside.  We had a day full of Zac Brown, John Mayer, and my new favorite, Avett Brothers.

"True love is not the kind of thing you should turn down.  Don't ever turn it down," because it makes for days like these, spent inside, while the rain pours outside, being silly, dancing in your slippers, with the ones you love.

Loving the Waterfront

I had another weekend of cozy fires, lounging in leggings, delicious seafood, and a great book.  Plus, this weekend I had both of my boys in Beaufort!

We took Wills to play at the Waterfront park.

He loved all of it, except the pictures that mom was desperately trying to take.

I think I am snapping here, trying to get his attention.  We gave up getting him to look or smile.

Despite his face, he was awed by the boats, the big kids playing football, and the breeze blowing the leaves. The simple things make him happy.

Beaufort

Wills and I decided to head to Beaufort, last minute, to spend the weekend with my parents.  William was going to be working on our house, and we didn't want to get in the way, so we headed to the Lowcountry.

It was a quick, wonderful few days away, full of a weekend long toasty fire, too much red wine, an adventure to the Heritage Festival, crab bisque, an afternoon nap, a great idea of a morning jog and yoga practice that never happened, and a delicious dinner of fresh red fish (swimming yesterday), butternut squash stuffed ravioli with Italian brown butter sage sauce, and a warm goat cheese salad.  I wish I could take credit, but that belongs to my dad, the fisherman, Sissy, the inspiration behind the meal, and my mom, the sous chef, table setter and cheerleader.  I'm not sure what I did.  I guess I recorded the evening with pictures, sliced the lemons, and watched the Dawgs.  Oops.  Not much help.

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the fish.  It was simple and delicious, lightly breaded and sauteed in olive oil and lemon juice, I believe.

Sissy, my dad's cousin, often visits my parents in Beaufort; she is a 55 year veteran teacher at EDS, was my dad's Kindergarten teacher, and is a very creative and great cook.

As I was slicing lemons for my one part of the meal, I was inquiring about the desired width of each wedge of lemon and commented to my dad, "although this cooking thing is a hobby, I'm not quite good at it, right, dad?"
"Right."
Seriously?  It was a rhetorical question; hopefully, he just wasn't paying attention. :)

The night was complete with a few hands of gin rummy, discussing our latest reads, writing our Christmas lists, and flipping through beautiful cookbooks trying to decide what to bring to Thanksgiving at the farm.

Cheers to a perfect evening in a perfect place.  I can't wait to be back next weekend with William.

What I'm Loving...

What I'm Loving...

Fall and all it encompasses - GA football, playing outside, red wine, and warm fires.

Watching the progress of my new home.  Although it is taking longer than we expected, I am choosing to find the positives in the process:  Wills and I get to ride by our house and usually see William at some point during his work day; we are getting to spend major quality time with my parents when they aren't in Beaufort (and earlier in the year with my sister and Tony); I am getting better and quicker at making decisions; perspective is becoming easier to gain - I mean in the end, does it really matter if our interior columns are full floor to ceiling brick or if the exterior windows are more to the left or to the right of the wall of the new edition; The fact that my husband saw this house in its current state and had the vision he had for it and our family is remarkable.  I could not be more proud of him and genuinely amazed by his talents.  I know he's a builder and always has been, but I have finally gotten to see him in action, doing what he does best, making decisions, juggling moving parts, keeping me happy, and working within the confines of an existing structure to create a home we love. It's impressive and kind of hot! :)

The Happiness Project - I just started reading this, and I love the philosophy behind the writing.  Gretchen's 12 commandments are very relate-able, and I am enjoying focusing on "Acting the way I want to feel," and, in the end, "There is only love."  How powerful!  I am looking forward to the rest of this read.

Pumpkin!  - I hate that I didn't get around to posting more about Wills' first birthday (by the way, he was 26.3 lbs and 32 inches long at his year appointment and walked two days after his birthday) but I did make his cupcakes for his actual birthday.  They were pumpkin spice from the Southern Living Christmas cookbook, and he loved them.

My new goals as a writer - I will spare you the details, in an attempt not to disappoint, but look out, I'm feeling inspired...or is it my morning coffee and this salty air in Beaufort?  Who knows?  Only time will tell.

Yoga and my new studio - more on that in a following post.

And, of course, as always, enjoying my little family.

See you tomorrow, little blog.  Same time; same place; same coffee. :)