Remembering to Enjoy November 2013

This is one of my favorite times of year, but all too often I find myself succumbing to the whirlwind crush of work before Thanksgiving (also between Thanksgiving and Christmas) and forgetting to enjoy the things I love about this season. It can be difficult to carve out time when faced with a never-ending laundry list of to-do items, but in the past few weeks I’ve tried to do something each day to (in my own way) celebrate this time of year. It’s been small things, like taking the time to light a few candles when I get home, sitting with a hot cup of tea and a holiday related magazine for a few minutes (mostly salivating over Thanksgiving meal recipes), buying some fall-inspired flowers, and this past weekend making my first pumpkin date bread (recipe via Williams-Sonoma).

A peek back at August

So back in July I wrote something about “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.” It turns out that I was pretty wrong, albeit in a relatively good way. Work remained extraordinarily busy for far longer than I anticipated, but my free time was filled with other (fun) things. Some highlights: a visit from my sister and her boyfriend, my sister-in-law’s birthday outing, celebrating four wonderful years of being married to my husband, and finally, heading north to Toronto, Canada for a dear friend’s beautiful wedding. Here are a few iPhone snaps of some August moments: places discovered, a mini home project (my washi tape just wasn’t cutting it in terms of holding up our Alice Gao Instagram calendar), and favorite August flowers.

Hope that you are enjoying these last days of summer...

In My Home: Snapshots of Our Gallery Wall & Coffee Table

iPhone photographs edited with Snapseed

(1) Our Alice Gao Instagram calendar finally makes it up on our gallery wall.

(2) The (too rare) joy of a clean coffee table, made even better by some unopened tulips, Ellsworth Kelly, and Kinfolk Magazine.

In My Home: Elements of Style & Cooking Inspiration

I still remember my first copy of The Elements of Style – small, yellow-ish cover, paperback.  I absolutely couldn’t resist the beautiful illustrated version that you see below. 

(1) Carnations, The Elements of Style illustrated by Maira Kalman, and Casablanca lantern.
(2) A glimpse of my collection of cookbooks.  When I’m feeling creative I really love The Flavor Bible, a great resource that tells you which ingredients/flavors mesh well together.

In My Home: Print + Vases

You have probably realized that I am a bit of an Instagram and iPhone photography junkie.  Some of my favorite Instagram captures are of items from our Roosevelt Island apartment.  I love that feeling of looking at a long familiar object and having the sensation that I’m seeing it for the first time.  I’ve decided to share some of these moments via an “In My Home” series.  Hope you enjoy!

(1) A Josef Albers-esque print
(2) Favorite (and unbroken – the reality of life with cats) vases on our CB2 rug.