Chattahoochee River Recreation Area

A November Afternoon

My Wanderings

This time of year I love flipping through recipe books, magazines, and blogs, exploring all of the unique and delicious recipes and meals that people are creating to celebrate the holidays.  A home-cooked meal, shared with friends and family is a wonderful way to celebrate the joys of the season.  


I am just afraid I won't have enough days to cook all the recipes I've piled up, book-marked, highlighted, and marked with post-it notes. Oh, the quandaries I face!  Just so that I am not alone in this predicament, I'm going to share some of the temptations I've found!

Buckeyes by Smitten Kitchen

Cheesy Spinach Lasagna Soup from Finding Joy in My Kitchen

Slow Cooker Mashed Potatoes

Not only do I love cooking, but I love decorating for the holidays.  As soon as September hits, I pull my pumpkins out, candles, leaves, fall garland, blocks  that spell out "blessings" and a touch of anything else that brings the feeling of fall into my home! 

If you're still decorating for Thanksgiving, these are really cute printable cards aka art. :) 

Today's Fabulous Finds Thanksgiving Subway Art

And look at this creative, frugal idea!

You can see how it's done at Choose to Thrive

If you haven't even thought about Thanksgiving yet, here is a free downloadable e-book with some yummy recipes and good tips! Click here

I'll spare you my Christmas finds until later...my dad had a rule growing up that we couldn't listen to Christmas music until after Thanksgiving! So no Christmas posts until after Thanksgiving either!

Remember, the secret to having a relaxing holiday is taking the time to plan out the details!  Embrace all of the beauty this season has to offer.  "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven" Ecclesiastes 3:1

Last Weekend

Last weekend, a friend had us over to carve pumpkins. 

There was yummy food and good company...

a bonfire, where I got to roast my first marshmallow of the season :)

and unbeknownst to me, the Hunter's Moon!  I took this picture, without realizing it was a special moon. :)  Thanks Cheryl for sending me the link!

I love fall!

When There Is Never Enough Time

It seems that whenever life gets incredibly hectic or exceptionally busy, I let practical things overtake my life and I ignore the "me things" I like to do! Blogging being one of them. I'm trying to get better about establishing me time, but I'm finding it rather difficult.


Last week was good. Very busy and productive.  


Wednesday was a typical, middle of the week day.  I was blessed to begin my day by reading chattingatthesky’s post on grace.  She says,  “this grace awakening has happened slow, over time, less like a firework and more like a seed. Some of it came through understanding what it really meant when I was 7 and said Come, Lord Jesus. There are deep, theological truths that I have studied and discovered that have helped me see the logic of this freedom.”  So beautifully true.  If you have time, read all of her posts on grace! She is an amazing writer that I have recently discovered in the blogosphere  and she describes grace so beautifully. Love it!  I was also able to finish hanging the pictures in my dining room and doing a few fall decorative touches. 

I spruced this up...

By adding some acorns and leaves, with some orange tea lights!

I added some acorns and leaves to this candle holder...

AND some acorns, leaves, and tea lights to this dish!  All very simple and thrifty, but evidence that fall has surrounded us!

Thursday was a high-strung, packed out, God give me grace, DAY!  So we'll just skip over it.  Except the part where Caleb and I shared a coffee at Starbucks and sat and talked.  It has been so long since we have done this and it was wonderful!

Friday was spent working, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, and getting ready for out of town guests, Autumn and Bobbie!  They arrived around 9 and we got to spend the evening catching up.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures, because......I don't know why. Anyways.

Saturday we woke up bright and early to begin our lineup of fall activities!  We met the rest of the gang and headed up to the mountains to explore a pumpkin farm, along with the rest of humanity.  Apparently, it is not just ME that has this great idea in October to go do "fall things".  Everyone and their brother and cousin and neighbor wanted to do the same thing!  We were blessed with beautiful weather and great fellowship, but geeeez, there were A LOT of people. 

Sunday was a great day!  I was able to have great conversations with Autumn and Bobbie while I FINALLY got my curtains ironed and hung in the dining room.  It was nice to have some catchup girl time with them.  Then we went to church, and as usual, had a wonderful, thought provoking, uplifting time.  I am so blessed that we are meeting people, making friends and feeling at home there!  God is so good!

Though this week carries a lot  of the same things that last week carried and that the week before carried and that the week before that carried, I am thankful for the small blessings that God provides us with every day. On Sunday, we sang "Did You Hear The Mountains Tremble?"  I remember this song being popular several years ago, but loved singing it again! Here is a youtube video of the song for your enjoyment. :)