Some really beautiful and haunting images from gingerlillytea’s Flickr set, Explore…

{images shown belong to gingerlillytea}

This morning my husband and I went out for a walk at a local Audubon Sanctuary.  It was glorious.  I wish sometimes that I could capture these moments with you all and post a “scratch-and-sniff” link, because the smell of the woods was heavenly.  Leaves are just beginning to fade and fall, and the mingling of them with mounds of pine needles while baking in the sun was incredible.  The forest was quiet, except for a constant little “pop” and small “thud,” about every minute or so, as the animals start to pluck the acorns from the trees.  The paths were literally covered in acorns as apparently they’ve been at this for some time now.  The only other noise besides their acorn gathering, were our footsteps and the quiet hum of crickets.  Next time I’ve got to bring my other camera to capture this sound and share it with you all.

{for more of my morning walk images, check out my Flickr}

Yes, it took me a while… but, I’m finally warming up to the idea that summer is truly over (yes, today’s the first day of fall).  Autumn means chilly nights to spend snuggling by the fire, sleeping peacefully with cool air at your face but staying toasty under thick covers, making warm bread and hot soups, picking apples and pumpkins and drinking hot cider, and enjoying the colorful foliage.  Stephanie’s posting from this past week on 3191 Miles Apart really got me excited.  The photos conveyed autumn’s colors, and more importantly, the feeling of fall.  I knew it would take me a few weeks but finally, I’m ready to let go of summer and embrace fall.

{images shown belong to 3191 Miles Apart and Stephanie Congdon Barnes}

I’ve never really been a fan of the color yellow, unless it’s more subdued (not acidic, like a bright lemon yellow).  However, Floris and Jennifer’s Wedding (found via Snippet and Ink) has proved me wrong.  I LOVE the yellow that they used; a bright, cheerful, bold yellow.  They included the color in their floral arrangements, invitations, favors, but also in a homemade photo booth and (get this) a ping-pong table.  If I had a ping-pong table at my wedding reception, I would’ve been so much cooler in my husband’s friends opinion.  I am simply in love with that idea, and in love with this color yellow.  I’m so glad they changed my mind!

{images shown via Snippet and Ink, photographed by Daniel Kiyoi}

Have you been following Chelsea on her amazing travels through Sweden?  She’s staying there for an extended visit, from summer through fall.  I’ve been drooling over her trip photos in her Flickr set “Sweden” and now I desperately want to visit (although Camilla gave me some photographic reasons for wanting to visit not that long ago).  Thank you, Chelsea, for keeping your loyal blog readers in the loop on your travels!

{images shown belong to Chelsea Fuss}

Everytime I visit Wholefoods lately, all I want to do is purchase and eat (by the dozen) their snickerdoodle cookies from the bakery.  So I was very pleased indeed when I went over to Smitten Kitchen today to see what to make for dinner to see a recipe for Snickerdoodles as the first post.  Sugar cookies with the right amount of cinnamon go perfect with a tall glass of milk or a hot cup of tea… or maybe tonight they might just replace dinner!

Snickerdoodle Cookies

{image shown belongs to Smitten Kitchen}

This morning while reading SouleMama, I started noticing a trend…  In many of the photos of Amanda’s daughter Adelaide, there is usually the house cat, Banjo, either nearby or in her lap.  So I went over to Amanda’s Flickr and low and behold, there’s a set called “A Girl and A Cat,” filled with photos of the two.  As a fellow a cat lady, this set truly melts my heart.  I love how children and animals can become fast friends, and it brings back memories of me and my cat Ernie and our special bond when I was growing up.  Kitties make such good friends, and I love how close these two are and have been ever since Adelaide was a babe.

{images shown belong to SouleMama}

There’s something that makes me giddy when I see objects grouped by pattern or color.  I don’t know if this is my “design brain” that enjoys it, or perhaps the Type A and organizational part of my brain (which maybe is the same part).  So this Flickr set created by salbug00, called Grouped by Color (found via Oh Happy Day), really speaks to me.  Some are from an old calendar he found, others he created.  They’re all great in my book… and makes me want to go color coordinate some of my bureau drawers…

{images shown belong to salbug00}

My Labor Day weekend was filled with lots of time with family, lots of relaxing, and a tiny bit of baking.  One of the delicious recipes I tried was Blueberry Cake from Simply Recipes (my favorite food blog).  It was such a simple recipe: not too many ingredients, easy to follow, and in the oven in no time.  I used frozen organic wild blueberries (the tiny ones) since it was a small cake (only 2-2.5 inches high) I wanted to use a smaller berry.  Even though the berries weren’t fresh, I’ve noticed that you can’t really tell the difference between fresh or frozen after their baked.  I served the cake at a Labor Day family cookout and it was well received.  Definitely a recipe I’ll be using again!

Blueberry Cake

{for more of my baking images, check out my Flickr}

I recently had the pleasure of designing custom notecards for my fantastic sister-in-law for her birthday.  She chose a design that consisted of a simple line illustration of flowers with a beautiful handwritten typeface, both in a brillant emerald green ink.  To add more interest without compromising the writing space, I blind letterpressed tiny rosebuds across the open white space.  I really enjoyed working with such a lovely client (wink, wink) and really loved that emerald green ink.  That’s definitely a color I’d like to use more of!

{for more of my letterpress work, check out my Flickr}