Flora & Fauna

a whole lotta random for a thursday night

I've had so many thoughts rolling around in this head of mine all ~~day~~ week and so now that the world's LARGEST pile of laundry has been folded away and clean sheets are on the bed I can write them all out. It's a lot of good (I've been coming across the best stuff lately) and a healthy dose of random just because that's how we're rolling tonight. Speaking of random I literally just discovered that a cardigan I bought over a month ago is in reality a sweater!! I was hanging it up for the first time (yes since I bought it, can you tell I keep my closet soooo organized) and I was like "hey! why is the tag on the front???" and then my eyes got cartoonishly large as my mind began to process the facts that a) I just "bought" a sweater out of my own closet b) it's the most amazing sweater because it has buttons on the back c) double duty clothes rock. So yeah, expect this discovery to be featured in an outfit post soon because it's pretty much all I'm going to be wearing right through Christmas.
And now that we're in November it's time to be grateful for the first time this year... Just kidding, at least I hope not. I actually started the year trying to have gratitude be my focus and cornerstone and so far it's worked out quite well. Because on every bad day I found myself ending with a prayer and the thought that "in the end there will still be m&m's" so that's kind of been my rainbow after the storm. Now that I'm thinking about it how fitting because m&m's have all the colors of the rainbow!!! Including brown... I almost had something going there (inserted that darling disappointed/sad/shy emoji face). I do have something brilliant for you on the topic of rainbows though. The December, or better known as "favorite things exorcism, crying, shaking, omgsoexcited," issue of Oprah came in the mail today and it was just so chock full of crazy goodness. Good Oprah issues always make me feel like my soul drank a big old mug full of sleepy time tea. On the last page (usually the best page in the whole issue) she shares something Maya Angelou once told her and it was just like a slap on the back of my head, in the best way possible:

"Say 'thank you' right now. Because your faith is so strong you already know God put a rainbow in every cloud."

YES. I want to tape this to every surface of our home so we never forget it. So good. It's funny because on the drive to New York this week we were just recollecting all those experiences in the past year alone that we thought were so tragic and life ruining that all turned out to be for the best. And going back further I remembered how one of my life's biggest growth spurts happened to be one of the most painful and dark periods of my life. But gosh am I grateful for it and man did I ever need it. So it turns out, the person I am today (which on most days I think isn't half bad) was the rainbow God put in that cloud for me.

Now that we're on the topic of New York City I want to assure you that I will be posting a disgusting amount of photos from our trip there but not until next week, if only because it's going to take me all weekend to edit and upload them all. And oh my goodness we miss it so much. I was such a sad panda driving through Maryland on Wednesday feeling all sad for my cronut-less self. But then I traveled through our forest to come home and got called honey a good half-dozen times by strangers since getting here, and Birdie sleeps so much better in her crib, and I forgot how good that autumn candle smelled and I made coffee in the percolator and used the peppermint flavored creamer and... I was a happy puddle of Michael Buble's "Home." I will always adore the city (and in case anyone is getting the wrong impression - DC FOR LIFE!!!!) but man oh man give me a rainy day at our little blue cabin, a good book and cup of coffee and you have found my happy.

And so on that note I leave you with this "new to me" Laura Ingalls Wilder (also known as my spirit animal) quote:

“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives for which we should be particularly grateful. They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness - just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it; just warmth and shelter and home folks; just plain food that gives us strength; the bright sunshine on a cold day; and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”

Happy weekend friends!!

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, by Flora and Fauna

valentina at 10 months

It's been a while since I did one of these "updates." I'm sort of awful at this whole documenting thing it turns out. I have a baby book with approximately three pages filled in (that's probably being very optimistic). I missed one month of her "growth" photos and I never write in the pretty mummy diary I bought myself. I genuinely wish I was one of those people that was on top of things like this but instead it always seems to slip my mind. I wish I could hire a "scrapbooker" of sorts that would create all these fantastic mementos for me that I don't have the willpower to do myself. I don't know if lack of willpower is the right term... scatterbrain perhaps??

Anyways, a few weeks ago, by some cosmic miracle I actually remembered to take her ten month photos! When I started these back in January the owl pillow was a random prop that happened to be on the chair I was using for taking the photos. I'm so glad I ended up keeping it in because it's become a wonderful tool for seeing just how much she's grown. Folks I have a big girl. The newborn days are long gone, the infant phase passed almost imperceptibly and the baby stage is slowly on its way out. Sometimes when I'll catch her from afar, standing up or playing by herself, I can hardly believe this is the same baby girl we brought home ten months ago. I've had Belle since she was a puppy and a bevy of kittens but never have I seen change take place so rapidly and with such definition.

There are certain mornings when I'll go in her room to get her from her crib (lately she's taken to standing, clutching her dog, waiting for me to get her) and I immediately will notice that this is not the same baby I put to sleep last night. There will be a certain look, a slightly different arch to her eyebrows or a subtle sound that will become yet another new piece of the growing Valentina puzzle.

And then I will scoop her up, smooth her darling cowlicks and kiss her on the forehead and make her promise to always be my baby...

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, by Flora and Fauna

magic in the air

This past weekend we spent an afternoon enjoying the foliage and the decorations around Georgetown. The neighborhood is always lovely but bedecked in yellow and red, and with plump pumpkins of all shapes and sizes it is even more enchanting. The farther up (and away from Wisconsin) we went the quieter and more deserted it got. We would pass the occasional mum pushing a stroller but other than a few squirrels here and there it felt as if we had the whole place to ourselves.

There was a peaceful stillness in the air, a last quiet before the holidays come jingling their jolly way into our homes, bushy trees, roast turkeys and all. Christmas was already sneaking itself in with those inescapable festive Starbucks cups and with the holiday display at Target slowly creeping up on the last of the Halloween decorations. But on Saturday it was as if every red tipped tree was saying "ssshhhh... take it all in before it's gone." Before the leaves are bare and even your warmest scarf won't keep you warm anymore. Before the days are gray and you can cut the chill in the air with a knife. And so we did, with great delight!

We felt every crunch, took deep breaths of the golden air and opened our eyes extra wide to make sure we didn't miss a single tree, leaf pile or pumpkin lined stoop. It felt as if we walking in an oil painting - the world looked creamy, glowing and soft.

At one point in our walk I knelt down to play in the leaves with Birdie and found myself aching with bliss. I shut my eyes and tried my darndest to just seal it all in my memory forever. This day. My daughter at ten months with six teeth, little tufts of soft brown hair, ruddy cheeks and those tiny toasty hands. To remember the exact shade of red of the maple leaves. To remember the way magic seemed so palpable. It hung itself ever so delicately and winked at us through the few lines of twinkle lights that had already been wrapped around a tree or two. It was autumn at it's best and an unadulterated hint of Christmas. And honestly what could be more perfect?

One day I know I'll need this day. I'll curl on the sofa, close my eyes and go back to a day when nature sprinkled magic in the air in the form of leaves twirling their way down to the ground one soft silent gust of wind at a time.