Mauve + Sage For Autumn

 

Coordinating your morning coffee with a bouquet you buy for yourself.....highly recommended. I realize that the orange/red/yellow palette is the bread and butter of fall but isn't soft pink, and dusty sage on the list as an avante guarde autumn look? It must be. I just added it to the list. 

Feeling so scattered at the moment. Lots on my mind. So many jobs and ideas that are chattering in my mind. (must make lists!) And so much fervor waiting in the wings too. I can feel the off-stage clamor. Had a long, frantic dream last night about..."OH NO...its Christmas morning and I forgot the stockings!!!! QUICK!!!! Solve that problem before the kids wake up." 

That's one way to wake up peppy. Heh. I was jazzed on stress for a while even though I woke up to a quiet house with no Christmas in sight for weeks and weeks. 

Wound down by having whispered early morning conversation in the kitchen with Lockbox while she packed her lunch. I can't even really explain how much I love having her here for the sake of companionship and warm noshing. Its like a hit of college dorm-room camaraderie minus the ridiculous exams and sob fests over boyfriends. Tonight we are going out together after dinner for a sister-outing too which means meaningful discussion + mind-relaxing laughter at both ends of the day. Perfect way to start the week.

 

A Little Sand In Our Shoes

We took the afternoon off and headed to the beach. A little sand in the shoes, a little saltwater behind the ears, a little wind in the hair, just the ticket. I am still so new at identifying all the little things we find at the shore. I think I know more than last year but never enough. So many little glinting mysteries in the sand. So glad to watch the boys pawing around on the edge of the sea just as curious as I am and never ready to leave.

Autumnal Beach Explore

We took a little picnic lunch down to the shore that is a stone's throw from our house and had what I was calling at first the "Last Beach Outing of the Year." Heh. What was I thinking? It was gorgeous. Not super sunny and not over warm (high fifties) but there was no real wind and it was warm enough to be quite comfortable in our light jackets.

We explored a new beach we'd never been to (fun to learn our new neighborhood a little more), ate peanut butter in jelly in a hurried way and then spent a long time exploring the edge of the tide. So much wonderful stuff had washed up...oyster shells by the pound, pearly, purple mussel shells, claws from crabs, bits of horseshoe crab shell, and all kinds of fabulous sea weed.

Anyhow, all that to say that it was a great way to celebrate the baby turning five months old and it will in no way be our last outing of the fall.

I can't wait to go back! I forget how wonderful it is to just wander around bent backed, looking at all the ocean detritus that has rolled in and watch the boys chase seagulls and drive away with the scent of salt water rubbing off your hands onto the steering wheel.

Yay for living by the sea!

Beach Rules

This weekend we took Baby to the beach for the first time. We'd been working hard, logging lots of "Be Quiet! Hold Still!" hours for our poor squirrely boys so we all needed a little beach time. Wow did it feel great to just meander around with our toes in the water! We all needed the break. Welcome to a new season of beach weather!

At some houses a trip to the beach is a big exhausting excursion and sometimes it feels that way to us just because life is busy but, I do everything I can to make them relieving, simple times, even for Mommy and Daddy.

Here's how it works:

• Shoes stay in the car....wear nothing but your swimsuit and/ if you need it a t-shirt
• Shells, and sticks and rocks are the best toys...if I'm feeling really extravagant we bring shovels and pails. I don't feel extravagant very often.

• Build sand castles....out of sand...and rocks and seaweed and shells....that's it.
• Get really wet and sandy, its tradition!
• If you feel artsy, make sand sculpture...my favorite thing to make is pirates with seaweed hair and beards and dark shells for eye-patches

• Go for a long, slow wander down shore (or two...sometimes we can't resist)
• Collect things....my rule is that everybody carries their own loot but, pretty much anything not alive is game for pocketing.

• Look for cool living things to admire (at our beaches we have horseshoe crabs mating right now, lots of seaweed washing up and cormorants and other birds diving for fish as a few examples)
• Eat before romping on the shore because all the crumbs and sticky wash off in the water and sand
• Write your name in the wet-sand with a sea gull feather and watch the waves wash it away
• Skip rocks

Today Was Really Beautiful

Lots to savor tonight as I slip off to dreamland....it was a wonderful last day for my oldest boy to be three. Sometimes life feels impossibly lovely. Sweet dreams Ru!

We Escape But, Are Nearly Drowned In The Process

Wet, wet, wet today. But, I was not to be deterred from our first outing to see the outside world and fairly healthy individuals. We are all tired of each other and tired of our house and tired of being cooped up together. Time for a little out and about...even if we do have to wade through knee deep puddles and drive an amphibious vehicle to get out. You do what you have to do.

So, it wasn't really that wet but, it has been raining pretty mercilessly all day long (although they forecast snow so, hey) and in some places we did find the road had started to flood over a tad. At our house it really just meant the boys were allowed to carry their umbrellas with them when we left and nobody around here really cries too much about that. I realize child-sized umbrellas are a bit of a frivolity (yea even a bit of a nuisance as you have to restrict their indoor use lest they be destroyed instantly) but, they're a really adorable frivolity. I have a similar weakness for rubber boots although they're slightly more practical as they make the inevitable puddle jumping into a less painful experience for the onlooking mommy. But yes, also umbrellas make for really cute primary color heavy pictures. Cute is worth something.

We went out prancing through the wet to the shoe store where we measured Ru and Dee's feet and bought Ru two new pairs of shoes since he has grown up a size and a half and got Dee a pair of dress shoes he was without although his current size is still just dandy. You should all be proud of me because I did not buy myself any new pairs of shoes that I do not need. (Score one for reasonability! Yes!) Shoes at amazing prices are achingly hard to pass up, even if I don't really consider myself a member of the card carrying handbag obsessed, compulsively footwear collecting set.

Speaking of collecting things....just a quick note to let you all know that Liberty of London is the new Designer on a Dime that Target will begin featuring on March 14th. For those who have a touch of the Anglophilia that tends to infect those of us following certain bloggers (exhibit a, b, and c) or reading certain books dreamily in our spare time this could be both both deadly and an astounding stroke of luck. I am plotting whether it is foolhardy to plan a trip to Target on the 14th or if I should go the 15th. Choices, choices. *sigh*

And also, speaking of window shopping and dreaming and design inspiration and spring and other such lovely things....Argh! Just discovered Modcloth!!! Love love love. Where have I been? Did you all know about it and not tell me? I suddenly feel out of the loop somehow.

So, yes...

That got a bit rabbit traily in the direction of shopping suddenly. *ahem*

Not sure what came over me.

Happy end of the week! Am brewing a good post about children and food for tomorrow! Do show!