Five Things Friday

1.  Tomorrow will be our second house concert of the fall season and I am oh so excited.  Probably means it's time to blog about the first of the season.  I due time.  Nonetheless, house concert nights are my very favorite nights of all.  Especially this time of the year.  It's cool and crisp outside, and warm and cozy inside.  The house fills up with friends (old and new) and family.  There are smells galore as people share their homemade goodies at the pre-show potluck.  There are smiles and hugs and laughter.  And then the music.  And the quiet and peace that falls over the crowd as we take in the beauty of yet another perfect night of acoustic music.  Ah.......

2.  I've been purging and organizing and simplifying and it feels SO GOOD!  It started with the guest room closet...expanded to the garage, then the pantry, the store-everything-that-doesn't-have-a-place extra kitchen cabinets, then the junk drawer.  And moved into my office yesterday.  I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.  Rather than spring cleaning...I find that I want to declutter and simplify going into winter.  I want my home to be clean and organized before I cozy up for the season.  And we're making some serious progress on this front!

3.  Last weekend we had the most glorious date night.  Dinner at a new to us restaurant, Fruition, and then the Todd Snider concert, which is always one of our very favorite live shows.  Such a fun night with my favorite person in the world.


4. This.  Nothing makes me happier....

5.  I'm on a mission for the following items for the house....
vinyl storage inspired by this
console table for the top of our stairs

Gratitude For the Loveliest Night Ever

Solo dinner, wine, reading this beautiful book, eating a perfect meal at Colore Italian Restaurant, and then seeing my newest obsession, The Milk Carton Kids, perform at Swallow Hill with a good friend. Really doesn't get much nicer than this for a night off.

Grace

The other night as we were sitting down at the dinner table, Sadie started this conversation...

S: "You have to say those words first"
Me: "What words?"
S: "Those words that the man at Aunt Shirley's house said"
Me: "Huh?"
S: "Those words that Grandpa says before dinner"

And then it dawned on me that she was asking to say grace before dinner.  After pausing to think about it, I explained to her that we don't really say those same words at our house, but I suggested that we can talk about what we are thankful for before we eat dinner...and that that is pretty much the same thing as saying grace.

So we started with Brian and he told us that he was grateful to have lots of work from his clients that day.  I said I was grateful for my friends at work that day. 

Then Sadie stated without hesitation, "I'm thankful for my long, beautiful, light-pink, light-purple, light-blue ponytail".

Someday love, someday....

Tim For Dinner

This is my new favorite cookbook

and Dinner A Love Story is a great blog by one of its authors.

This book has so many great, cheap, and most importantly, QUICK and EASY recipes. I've been making one or two every week since I bought the book and it has helped my in my neverending quest to simplify dinner preparation. I really want to prepare a homemade, healthy dinner every night we're home, but I also want to spend quality time with Sadie when I walk in the door after work each day. These recipes allow me to do both! Hallelujah!