#brbchasinglight

currently, november edition

enjoying all the daylight hours I can lately

busting out the peppermint mocha coffee creamer... 'tis the season!

waking up really early these days, which means I'm...

drinking a lot of coffee to keep me awake

eating Milano candy cane cookies

craving all the peppermint things lately

filling up my gas tank for $20(!!!)

trying to learn how to purl

brainstorming documentation ideas for 2016

putting together a calendar for all of my "Happy (month)" photos I've taken this year

missing my grandma like crazy this time of year

savoring all of her traditions we can still do without her

working like crazy this weekend

thanking my lucky stars I don't work in retail anymore ;)

finishing my cup of coffee and then...

rushing out the door to get to work! happy Saturday  

a memory: thanksgiving

This picture always reminds me of Thanksgiving, and it shows a true memory of my grandma without having to show her face. 

Thanksgiving morning 2011, my grandma making crusts for three pies: cherry, pumpkin, and lemon meringue. Her rolling out pie crusts, made from scratch from a very worn, falling apart at the seams cookbook from her mother. There is flour everywhere: on the kitchen counter, on the floor, all over her sweatshirt, on the dog. I remember running into my room and grabbing my camera, not wanting to let any of this real life stuff slip by. 

Little did we all know, 2011 was the last year my grandma made pie crusts for Thanksgiving dessert. She officially handed over the reins to my mom who promised she'd do her best and she watched on the next Thanksgiving while my mom took over the process she had done for the last 45 years. 

This is our first Thanksgiving without her. Grandma won't be there sitting in the big picture window in the living room, a 7&7 in hand asking when dinner is ready. She won't wave me away with my camera whenever I try to take her picture. She won't say grace before dinner and she won't pile the brown sugar on top of her squash (a habit I seemed to inherit from her). She won't be there to yell at the football game with my mom. She won't fall asleep in her recliner when her food coma hits.

This is our first Thanksgiving without her and I am so thankful for my memories. I'm thankful for the time I got to spend with my grandma. I'm thankful for photography and all the little moments like this one that I will hold inside my heart forever. I'm thankful for Magic, and for gratitude because it's always the little things that turn into big ones, and those are the ones that matter the most. 

wake up & smell the roses

magic monday

It's cold enough in the mornings now that you have to start your car before you go anywhere. Hats and mittens and warm scarves are now popular again. There is frost covering the grass and ice dotting the windshield of your car. All of the leaves have sang their autumn song. It's almost officially winter just as Thanksgiving approaches. 

I'm staying up and sleeping late these days. The cats are my space heaters & I usually end up throwing off my blanket burrito in the middle of the night. I'm thinking about knitting scarves again. I'm drinking tea and coffee and dreaming of homemade hot cocoa. Cozy is the name of the game right now and I am excelling at it. 

I've been thinking a lot about time lately. November does that to a person, I think: makes them wonder where all their time has gone. I am missing being seventeen and full of life. I am missing coming home for winter break from SCAD and feeling that sense of homecoming after reuniting with all of loved ones. I am missing Webb's runs and bumming around Walmart with the two people who get me the most. 

I'm thankful for nostalgia because it brings out the good things. And I'm thankful for being up at 6 AM when the sky looks like this. Happy Monday.  

the rainbow blanket

It's done. It took approximately 7 months and 3 days for me to knit, cast on through cast off. My goal was to accomplish part of #1 on my birthday list: use up all my yarn stash. While I am not even close to accomplishing that goal, this got me in a better place than I started this year. 

This blanket saw me through the first half of my engagement, and it saw me get engaged in the first place. I drank coffee on the balcony and listened to podcasts while I knit all summer. I worked on it when my grandma was in the hospital being treated for pneumonia. I worked on it when I was down in Burlington for her funeral, needles clacking together to keep my mind off the all-encompassing grief. 

A lot of love has gone into this blanket. A lot of love and a lot of stitching hours and a lot of hand cramps and more than one coffee stain. I always envisioned this being a "back of the couch" blanket and I'm so excited for that to finally happen. 

Last night as I was taking pictures for this post, I sat down by the lake to watch the last of the sunset. It was the perfect way to break this blanket in, I think. Now I need to come up with another knitting project! 

progress > perfection

All photos taken on my iPhone 4s, processed with VSCO app, & uploaded to Instagram March-November 2015. 

magic monday

There are days when you wake up sad & feeling downtrodden, then you get up and run errands and come home and do your makeup and take selfies for half an hour because you're feeling yourself. Happy Monday guys. 

magic monday

The best thing about the time change (besides the extra hour of sleep) is all the extra sunlight in the morning. It helps drag my groggy butt out of bed when I have to work first shift. This morning I woke up at 9:30, the earliest I've woke up on my own on quite a while. I'm sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and knitting with Grey's on in the background. Falling back into old habits is the best. Happy Monday, friends. 

all hallows eve

I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween. I dressed up as a cat for work and then came home and had to keep the cats from using my glitter pumpkin as a toy. I can't believe it's November already!