squirreling away for winter

 we have been busy in these parts, preparing for winter. this year we hope to have a little warmer winter indoors. having an old house means lots of drafts and loss of heat. we our doing our best to remedy that by installing an outdoor wood boiler, insulating  wherever we can and hoping for a better outcome. other little things have included planting a whole bunch of bulbs for a beautiful spring display. bringing some plants indoors. the oxalis pictured above and bringing the amaryllis out of hibernation so it can bring some blooming cheer to the winter months. its also made me want to plant more bulbs in pots to have indoors. i love the blooms all year round!

 jason working on our wood shed  behind the garage!

loving list

 a short list of things i'm LOVING:

• fall porches
• stirring up the compost pile in hopes of a rich soil for spring
• this free plumes printable 
• finding loads of inspiration in ripped out magazine pages ( cleaning out is very good )
• pinterest
• equal parts red wine and glogg ( a swedish spiced drink you can get at ikea ) it makes the most delicious mulled wine
• light ( candles, string lights) in these darkening days
• feist's new album metals
• a handknit, from a sister most dear.
• this lovely blog 3191 miles apart
• kinfolk
• knitting baby things for friends and "one day"

a good reminder that distractions need to be dealt with...

sometimes technology sucks the time right out from under us. we let it. i definitely let it. this caught my attention. i hope it catches yours as well.

a few more from september

 elmo & zoe

another wedding cake for another beautiful wedding. jeff and nicole chose pound cake with pumpkin filling and cream cheese frosting and chocolate cake with cherry filling and cream cheese frosting. great flavors for an autumn wedding!

foods i like

 the other evening i had some peppers that i wanted to eat before they got too old, so i thought of stuffed peppers. digging around in the cupboards and fridge i started thinking of reinventing the stuffed pepper, so i made a greek version. turkey sausage, olives, hummus, feta, rice and roasted tomatoes... they turned out terrific.

 just a pretty still of our fall table the other night.  breaking out even more candles for these days that are getting shorter.

lastly, a new recipe tried! caramel stuffed apple cider cookies. and that is exactly what they taste like. best right out of the oven or heated again. whats not to love about a gooey caramel stuffed in a cookie? not to much. the recipe can be found at the cooking photographer! a little more work to stuff a cookie but oh so worth it!

another corner of our home

 i often feel reluctant to share spaces of our home  here. i love/ hate our home. its in a constant state of repair and disrepair. even though this space ( my creative space) is still going to get renovated one day... it has felt more "finished" and cozy lately. so here is another part of our home. i feel blessed to have this extra space to call my own.

autumn salad

apple butter frolic

we had a busy weekend. a wedding to attend, 2 cakes to make, friends to visit with, a fall party to attend, a frolic and a birthday party. this post is just of the apple butter frolic we attended. its a yearly event focused on the traditions and everyday life of the mennonites. since it is held in the fall time, the big event is apples. apple fritters, apple butter, apple dumplings. there was also yummy chicken potpie, pulled pork, scrapple, ham and potatoes, etc. demonstrations on farming, keeping house and crafts. here are a few highlights from the day.

CD release party

 last evening i had the pleasure of attending and providing the cakes for a cd release party for some dear friends. they put out a beautiful worship cd, recently. you can check them out at shores music if your interested. shores music label is a sister to shores of grace ministries. shores of grace ministries are doing a great work in brazil, ministering to prostitutes in hopes of setting them free, through restoration. showing the love of God our Father to the broken. it was a great night of worship and celebration with this couple pictured below and other bands on the shores music label.

Aquarium via my phone

i recently went with a friend to the baltimore aquarium. here are a few shots of the many fish we got to see. it was fun to go again, since i can't remember the last time i was there. her kids loved it, since they've never been to an aquarium, their excitement was contagious, so i thought i'd snap a few pictures to share. the manta rays, sharks, dolphins and sea turtles were to hard to capture, but were a very big part of pools there. a perfect way to spend a rainy day!