a little bit of this and that

I’m a self-professed Instagram-lover. I love challenging myself to take interesting/pretty/story-telling photos with my phone, I love the wittiness and encouragement and smiles that come through the captions and comments and I really love seeing behind-the-scenes look at real life photos of the talented ladies I follow.  You won’t find me tweeting much or regularly updating my facebook status because instagram has my whole social-media heart.  My IG friend Mary Beth has a fun and informative series on her pretty blog called The Everyday Project that focuses on phone photography. I just did a little interview with her professing my love for instagram if you’d like to hear some more.

Today, I thought I’d feature a few of my most recent ig photos and share some random thoughts about them …

First up, Paperwhites.

They are so pretty. They are fun to watch grow. They are wintery and Christmasy and fresh. But they stink.  We endure it because of their beauty and the tradition, but goodness, I sure wish they would lose their smell.

Now let’s talk about this foamy cup of deliciousness.

My darling husband bought me a milk frother last year for valentine’s day and it is the best gift ever.  I don’t drink coffee in the morning, but an afternoon decaf eggnog latte or mocha is often part of my days. Here’s how I make mine at home.

At night, I prefer a cozy cup of tea. My best friend introduced me to this most enjoyable cinnamon tea.

It’s spicy and flavorful and makes the perfect late night cup of tea.

And with that cup of tea, a fresh molasses cookie sounds great.

My good friend Dee is an expert baker and she called me over this week to share these fresh-from-the-oven cookies. I’ll have to get her recipe, because they were so good. Tis the season for holiday baking and decorating and I’ve been pinning ideas like crazy lately. Kinda getting excited for the Christmas season.

Totally off the subject, but let’s discuss:

These monstrous carts at target.

My kids call them ‘fun carts’ but I find them to be very un-fun. I bang into end-caps, it corners like a boat and the kids never stay seated in them. BUT, they do have fun and so every once in a while {when I’m feeling particularly kind and generous}, I say yes to the fun cart.  The conversation about these carts on IG was pretty entertaining. Always fun to know I’m not alone in my mothering madness.

Okay, one last thing to share. Last saturday morning, my No.2 asked to do watercolor-decoding art. It was one of those moments when all of us sat around the table peacefully creating and smiling and all was good.

It’s a super easy project – just write a secret message with white crayon on white paper and then pass it to your friend {or brother or mom} to decode by watercoloring over top and revealing the secret message.  Perhaps a craft to try this weekend?

I’m off today to help move my grandparents into their new assisted living home. It’s been a long and emotional process to get to this point and so if you think about it, say a little prayer for our family. I’m excited for this new phase for my grandparents, but transitions are always hard and we’re all hoping they get settled and feel at home quickly.

So there you go. Randomness for today. As always, I am so thankful for fun blog reader-friends like you. xo.

{come hang out with me on instagram!}