While my brother and sister-in-law were in town over the holidays, we squeezed in a mini-photo session late one afternoon. There are so many things that I absolutely love about Rob and Katherine, but one that comes to mind as I am looking back through the photos is that they truly enjoy doing life together. It is impossible not to laugh and have a great time when they are around. I hope you enjoy this glimpse into our time:
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Congrats to the winner: – “ohhhh…I would love to enter! Travis and I are expecting our son, Asher, in early March!! “
Brittany, be sure to contact Stephanie at sessiejune@yahoo.com or 706 599 0728 to redeem your shoes. So excited for you and your sweet (and soon-to-be-stylin’) boy on the way. 
**Edited to Add: Stephanie has generously offered to extend a 20% discount to everyone who participated in the contest. At $15 a pair (reg. price $18.50), there is no better time to purchase a pair for the little one in your life. Thanks, Stephanie!
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For those of you not connected with us through Facebook, my hubby and I have some exciting news to share. We are expecting our first baby in May! More details on that later. In honor of our big announcement, I am so thrilled to be able to offer my first blog giveaway! Whether you are like us and beginning to build your collection of baby necessities or you have friends and family with little ones (or little ones on-the-way), today’s giveaway is for you.
Stephanie Taylor of Sessie June offers a variety of custom-made baby items including bags, quilts, burp cloths, shoes, and more. Each of her pieces is expertly crafted and designed to capture the best blend of ease and comfort for baby with classically-modern styling elements. Stephanie has generously agreed to give away a pair of her custom-order baby shoes. Designed for pre-walking little ones, these shoes can be made in sizes Preemie to 18 months and customized from a variety of fabric selections for a boy or girl.
To enter, leave a comment below.
One entry per person. Contest ends Friday, November 20th at 5PM EST. Winner will be announced on the blog at that time.
*Comment moderation is turned on, so please be patient if your comment does not appear right away.
To contact Stephanie about any of her items, you can email her at sessiejune@yahoo.com or call her at 706 599 0728.
My church launched a new series yesterday entitled “Kindness Wins” and I couldn’t not share it with you. It turns out that in the days of the early church, the words “Christian” and “kindness” were so close in spelling that they were almost interchangeable. In fact, there was much debate among those who looked at Christians because they couldn’t figure out if Christians were a movement fueled by Jesus or by kindness. The church was marked with kindness in such a way that it had an amazing impact on their community who was going through much unrest. Wow. Wouldn’t it be beautiful if we could return to such a legacy? In a time when our nation is experiencing the ups and downs that it is, if we could take those moments to show someone a glimpse of the Lord’s heart for them I am convinced that change would occur.
So the challenge to us? For the month of November, perform at least 1 random act of kindness a day so that our community becomes literally blanketed by these kind acts. Take a look:
Kindness Wins from Daniel Bashta on Vimeo.
So what about you? I would love to hear from you any ways that you go out of your way to show kindness to others. It’s amazing what a difference a simple act can make!
is it just me or did the arrival of september bring with it the anticipation of cool mornings, leaves changing, and tasty autumn (yes, i prefer autumn over fall) cooking? even though it’s still in the upper 80’s here in atlanta, i couldn’t help layering a cardigan a few times last week and even venturing into the kitchen to make some baked fall goodness. one recipe in particular seemed to be a perfect transition from summer to fall, and we enjoyed it too much not to share.
Country Applesauce Muffins (from Williams-Sonoma “Muffins”)
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped, or 1 cup dark or golden raisins *
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/3 cup almond oil, walnut oil, or canola oil
1 large egg
1 heaping cup applesauce (use a cup for measuring liquids for this step)
*I used 1/2 cup dark raisins and 1/2 cup golden raisins–a perfect solution if you don’t want the raisins to overpower the muffins
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 standard muffin cups with butter or non-stick cooking spray.
In a bowl, stir together the flour, walnuts or raisins, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.
In another bowl, whisk together the oil, egg, and applesauce until smooth. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the applesauce mixture just until evenly moistened. The batter may seem dry at first, but it will loosen and smooth out as you beat the mixture.
Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it level with the rim of the cup.
Bake until golden, dry, and springy to the touch, 25-30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve them warm or at room temperature, with butter.
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And voila! Andrew and I both agreed it was the perfect recipe to usher in the season as it has just the right hint of the best fall flavors.
I’d love to hear from you: what are you most looking forward to about the coming season?
friday afternoon is here, and i, like many of you, am busy tying up loose ends before the weekend arrives. just this morning andrew and i were talking about how we want to spend the weekend. what things we want to check off our to-do list. running errands. meeting up with people. maybe squeezing in a date (yes!). it can be so easy for the weekend to turn into another blur of activities and “to-do’s” that when monday rolls around we find ourselves in need of another weekend. this afternoon something caught my eye that i thought would be a good thing to hold onto as we approach this weekend.
a friend of mine posted on her facebook status that she “knows the best things in life are free. let’s name some.” as we are all busy getting the loose ends of our work week tied up, i thought this was a great way to to head into the weekend and to gain a bit of perspective. a reminder to be thankful. while we may still have a busy couple of days ahead, we can still pause to enjoy those moments that cannot be bought.
i’d love to hear from you. let’s name some of those things that you can’t put a price on. i’ll start:
sunsets.
i am looking forward to reading your thoughts! i’ll add more of my own as you comment~
