walking before midnight...

Greetings! Tara and I have been talking about how we have kind of lost the knack of both blogging and taking photographs. After many chats and coincidences we decided to partner up and photograph our magic hour walks. Once a month, we will be posting photos and writing about our early evening wanders not too far from home, we're calling it walking before midnight. We hope to encourage you to grab your camera and go for a walk when the light is its most pretty and your surroundings appear magical. Begin small, take a wander around the block or your neighborhood. Look for color or interesting combinations and have fun!

Tara and I couldn't live in more different environments. She lives in the desert and I live on the coast but we still see magic and beauty in the simplest things. From flowers to rocks to cacti or sand, we aim to appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.

I took my magic hour walk along the sands of Avila Beach. Usually I like to walk this sandy stretch early in the morning when the tide is out and there are very few people milling about. Walking this beach after 6pm changes everything about my walk...the tide, the people, the sights, and sounds.

The tide was super high, which made walking in the sand a little more work. My feet would sink, sink, sink, in the soft, soft sand causing the incoming tide to embrace my knees. The air is warmer in the early evening and of course the light, more golden.

 

There are small mounds of golden seaweed scattered across the sand. Feathers are everywhere, poking up out of the sand like small forests and tangled up like a dance party with the golden seaweed.

After wandering out towards the cliffs as far as the tide would allow, we turned around and wandered up to the small village full of touristy shops, coffee houses, and tasting rooms (this is wine country, after all).

It's a tiny little stop along the coast but there is much to look at if you slow down and look. I love the colors I can see, the rust, the green, and the puffs of pink.

How quickly the light changes but it may be those hills you see in the background. One minute the light was golden, the next it was as blue as blue can be and the temperature dropped. People began packing up and making the trek up the sand back to their cars and their homes.

Really, this stretch of sand I love so is not very large at all. Maybe half a mile from end to end. Mostly sand and seaweed with the occasional sand crab tickling your toes. If the tide is out far enough, you can walk to the end where there are small green crabs that hide behind amongst anenomes and if you time it just right you may see a whale breach right before your eyes, a pair of sea otters will float by, and lines of pelicans cast shadows across the sand peppered in criss-crossed footprints of the seagulls as they do their early morning dance before the sea. Click here to see Tara's desert adventure.

sweet november: a giveaway

Greetings friends! It is time for our run of sweet november to come to an end, Tara and I do hope you enjoyed it and felt inspired in some way. To celebrate, we have two fun giveaways created just for you.  

Leave me a comment (I know, many of you dislike my word verification but without it, the spam comments are CRAZY) letting me know what your favorite bit of sweet november was and I will pick a winner on Tuesday, November 13. Hop on over to the pink couch to see what Tara has for you and leave comment if you would like to be entered into her giveway. Here's a handy dandy recap of all the pretty:

scrumdillydilly

hello fall

spice it up

squash and succulents

simple fall ensemble

november sweet treats

wrap some string around it

pretty place setting

breakfast time

cold mornings and happy scones

the pink couch

Welcome to Autumn and Cinnamon Pumpkin Seeds

Autumn Picnic in the Park

Pumpkin Maple Panna Cotta

Pretty Package and Hostess gift ideas

Autumn Wreath tutorial

Tie Necklace tutorial

Something to wear ~ Fall

Hello Fall - mini scrapbook

For my giveaway I have put together a wee pack o' dilly for you filled with buttons, fabric yoyos, happy scrappy fabrics, vintage postcards and garland. Here is a sneak...

 thank you for visiting!

****CONTEST NOW CLOSED****

sweet november: spice it up

Lately it seems that fall is synonymous with pumpkin spice, not that I'm complaining but my last trip to Trader Joe's revealed more pumpkin spice goodies than you could shake a stick at. I may only be a tad bit whiny about it all as I love me some pumpkin spice but now that I am anosmic and have absolutely no sense of smell I can't help but be bummed out about missing all that goodness. I do have to tell you that I think all that pumpkin spice out there is a whole bunch of smoke and mirrors (she types as she takes a sip of her pumpkin spice chai latte) see there is no pumpkin in pumpkin spice, nope. Pumpkin spice is a lovely mashup that may contain cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg. It depends on the maker. 

I like my pumpkin spice on the fragrant spicy side and have a recipe to share with you. My recipe adds a bit of black pepper which you can leave out if you like, it also has a fair amount of ginger in it and if memory serves, I do believe Ms. Tara is not a fan of the ginger so you can leave that out as well. 

 This recipe will make a little more than you need to fill an empty spice jar, my little jar came from Cost Plus World Market. Pick up a bunch of spices in bulk and you can make a small army for holiday gifties. I use a teaspoon of the spice in my oatmeal and often add it it to my oatmeal cookies. This also works just dandy on apple dishes as well...it's what I use on my apple pie! I hope you enjoy me little recipe and project, don't forget to hop on over to the pink couch, I believe there is a lovely picnic to be looked at! 

sweet november: hello fall

Hello friends, Happy November! Here in the western United States we are just beginning to see signs of my most favorite season of all. We've had some kooky temps, mornings as low as 45 and highs in the 80s but still, that magical light is sneaking in and the clocks will be turned back and fall will definitely come for a visit.

It's been two years since Tara and I brought you our tribute to fall with Sweet, Sweet November and we thought it was high time we share another batch of fall goodness. From color combos and inspiration to pretty diys and tasty recipes we will share a full week's worth of goodness with a pretty giveaway mixed in to keep it kicky.

For color this year, I'm drawn to the usual suspects orange, brown, cream...green with maybe a touch of teal and/or purple. Here's a happy peek at what is to come this week...

Today, Tara is sharing some of her favorite things, I'm going to share with you some of my favorite fall music. When the sky appears more grey than blue and there is a hint of moisture in the air, when the wind kicks it up a notch and the melody of the leaves scattering chimes through the open window, it is time for me to play my fall music. Fall music for me is less about the lyrics and titles and more about the memories of being wrapped up in a vintage quilt full of softness and threadbare bits as I would sit on our lumpy secondhand sofa and watch the rain fall through our picture window. The house would be lit by a candle or two and my mother's music would play on the record player that took a long time to warm up. So when fall hits in a-go-goland, on comes the tunes of Harry Chapin, Cat Stevens and Paul Simon along with a few more I have added through the years. The playlist is quite long so I created a mini version for you to listen to if you like.

What are some of your favorite tunes for Fall? I would love to listen to something new. Don't forget to pop on in to the pink couch to see what Tara has to share. Thank you for hanging out, tomorrow I've got a nifty breakfast recipe for you.

sweet november, part 2

We're bringing it back this year! Tara and I loved hosting our week long Sweet November blog hop 2 years ago, so much so, that we've been working away on another edition! Starting next Thursday join us for over a week of Autumn inspired projects, crafty tutorials, recipes, fun ideas, photos and a couple of giveaways! Stay tuned!