Five Things on a Friday – 10/18/24

The weekend is here and it’s time for us to catch up. Grab a warm beverage, and let’s have a good chat. If your weather is anything like ours has been for much of this week, you’ll need something really cozy. Pictured above is a pumpkin wall I saw this week that I just loved, and I’m tempted to recreate something like it at our house next year. I have a few ideas for where to put it already. 🙂

This past weekend was Thanksgiving here in Canada, and we had a lovely, quiet holiday. Kennedy came home and we did a little bit of visiting with family, but not as much as usual since most everyone was busy or traveling that weekend. It was actually nice to have a more laid-back holiday this year, as much as I do love it when we can get everyone together and have an extra big holiday meal. I was sure that we wouldn’t be able to make it to the apple farm this year with our busy weekend soccer schedule, but Jack insisted that we squeeze it in for Thanksgiving, and I’m so glad he did. It’s such a nice little tradition every year and I love the way the house smells when I’m making up a big pot of homemade applesauce afterwards. The leaves were starting to fall just a little more quickly outside, and overall we just had an excellent, cozy time.

Above and below: One of my favorite views in the world is looking straight down the rows at the apple orchard. Our messy Thanksgiving brunch table.

The big fall. If I’m being honest, one reason that it was nice to have a quiet weekend was because I was still recovering from falling on my face a few days before. Why is it that we always seem to injure ourselves in the silliest ways? Chris and Jack were pulling out of the driveway to go to soccer, and I realized that Jack had forgotten a shirt that he needed, so I ran out to try to flag them down and give them the shirt. I was coming down the porch stairs, and I somehow managed to trip over my own feet and sent myself face-first into the freshly-sealed driveway. I managed to save my teeth by cushioning the blow with my hands and my face. And, of course, I didn’t save Chris and Jack any time because they had to come back and wait a few minutes to see if I would need to go for stitches or not. I ended up being sort of OK, but I had deep scrapes all over my hands, and a big split, fat lip for quite a few days. I definitely did not leave the house if I could avoid it because I was pretty scary-looking. I’m mostly healed up now, but it was just one of those things that leaves you thinking “How did that even happen?”

In happier news, the bathroom update project is coming together nicely. My giant wall art is all ready to be hung up over the tub and It’s exactly what I was hoping for. I took a little poll over on Instagram and my followers over there voted in favor of me adding this rug, so I’ll give the room one final look once the art is hung and will probably order that as well for a little extra something. I think, then, that the little update will be pretty much complete. I find it so satisfying that I designed this bathroom almost ten years ago and I still love it now. Dark grey cabinetry can be so divisive these days, and I do think it’s gotten a little outdated when it’s done in a modern farmhouse shaker style, but with really traditional cabinetry like I have in this room, it’s truly a timeless neutral. You can see how this bathroom originally looked when we first renovated it in this very old post here.

I was recently sent a fun little package just in time for the Thanksgiving long weekend from Grant’s, Gibson’s Finest, and Rewild wines to help us celebrate. The best part was that they sent over some festive, autumnal recipes for me to mix up over the weekend and it was such a fun little project for me. I always try to have a least one festive fall beverage at some point during the season, whether it’s a cozy mulled cider or a craft-brewed pumpkin beer of some kind. I hadn’t had the chance to check that one celebratory item off my list yet, so this little gift came right on time. I wanted to share a couple of recipes here in case you were looking for some inspiration for toasting this beautiful season as well.

Grant’s Smoky Maple Sour

-60ml (2 oz) Grant’s Triple Wood 12

-25ml (about 1 oz) Fresh lemon juice

-15ml Maple syrup

-Orange twist for garnish

Shake all ingredients with ice, then strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and top with an orange twist.

Gibson’s Apple Pie Old Fashioned

(pictured above)

-2 oz Gibson’s Finest Rare 12-Year-Old

-1 oz Pure apple cider

-0.5 oz Simple syrup

-3 dashes of Angostura bitters

-Pinch of apple pie spice

-2 apple slices to garnish

Shake all ingredients with ice, then strain into a rocks glass filled with ice and garnish with apple slices.

Paint-a-read-a-thon ’24. Kennedy has been wanting to get outside and do a little plein air painting somewhere other than our property, so we made a plan to do a quick overnight trip up to Grand Bend while she was home for Thanksgiving/reading week. We decided to stick to what we know and booked a stay at Oakwood Resort near Pinery Provincial Park, which we’ve visited almost yearly in the summer for camping and in the winter to stay in their yurts and cabins. We had been having trouble finding a spot elsewhere that we could be sure would have the right combination of beautiful scenery and non-existent crowds, and we were pretty sure that we could find some good painting spots in Pinery Park. The weather was a bit chilly, but we hiked around a bit and found some beautiful spots. She set up and painted for hours while I just sat and read, and it was so crisp, cozy, and relaxing. There were more people there than we originally expected to see but, as I suspected, anyone who saw her painting was quite delighted by it, so it was actually really nice. Once our fingers and toes got a little too cold from sitting still for so long, we headed back to the hotel so she could add a little more detail. It just a fun, unique little getaway, and I think we’ll do something like it again soon.

NEWS AND FINDS

-I discovered the most amazing little local Ontario shop for gifts, Maggie & Dix, last week. I found perfect little things for so many people on my list and a few things I wanted to add to my own wishlist as well. They carry many unique decor and seasonal items as well as hard-to-find brands like Cornishware, Emma Bridgewater, and Fitz & Floyd. After I placed my order, I messaged the owner to let her know how much I enjoyed shopping with her, and she graciously sent me a discount code to share with my community for their early gift shopping! Use code CREEK10 for 10% off until October 31. Free Canada Wide Shipping for orders over $150.

-The October survey results are in! I send out a little survey to my email subscribers every month to check in and see what they’re enjoying, what their opinions are on various things, and what they’d like to see more of on the site. If you aren’t already subscribed to my email community, you can sign up here to receive my newsletters. I was surprised to find that when it comes to Christmas preparations, most people preferred to wait until the fun of the holiday rush in December to get everything done, with a few people also enjoying working on Christmas all year long. It was fun to hear that my readers would like to see more decorating and DIY ideas as well as more thrifting and antiquing adventures. I am more than happy to oblige, and I’m currently working on a few ideas. 🙂

–Currently reading: I’m just finishing Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein, which seemed very appropriate for this month.  Jane Eyre is up next and I’m excited for it. I’ve read that it’s a perfect, cozy book for autumn, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for. I’ve been on a great run with checking classic books off of my “to read” list, and it’s just so satisfying and enjoyable to get all these title checked off my list. Classics are classics for a reason.

-I recently worked with Bond & Grace to give them some feedback on one of their upcoming product collections based on classic literature. I just love everything this young, female-led company does, from their award-winning art novels to their curated art prints based on works on classic literature. They’re recently started Lit Talk, a literary podcast, which sounds so interesting. The first season covers Frankenstein and Mary Shelley in depth, so I’m excited to dive in now that I’ve finished that book.

-I went on a quest to find plain black sweatpants recently, which sounds like a fairly simple task. I wanted a straight leg, plain black color, and I wanted them to fit. This was apparently a little too much to ask. After placing, trying on, and returning more orders than I care to mention, I finally found the Lululemon Soft Jersey Straight-Leg Pant (available in a short length! hooray!) and they are pretty near perfect. Ideally, I wanted something that was a bit polished looking and not too frumpy. There were reviews with women saying they were even wearing them as work pants and after trying them on, I can see why. They really do almost look like black trouser-style pants. And they don’t wrinkle! That’s my favorite part. Anyway, a great basic. A very good “side of the soccer field” pant. Highly recommend.

-I recently came across these Fancy Panz, and I thought they were actually really practical and useful products. They’re made for transporting and serving dishes made in disposable foil bakers like you would bring to a potluck or a big holiday get-together. While, in an ideal world, we would all use reusable dishes for everything, there are many times when a lot of us need to bring a dish and leave it behind after we go home. Fancy Pans are a good case for your flimsy foil baking dishes, so you can bring them safely and cleanly to your event. You then leave the foil dish behind and just take your Fancy Panz home with you afterward, without that awkward moment of wondering whether you should take your ceramic casserole with you while people are still eating or leave the host to clean all the dishes that you’ll come and pick up again at a later date. Anyway, maybe not entirely earth-friendly, but useful for those odd times when you find yourself in that situation.

-Oh wow. I saw these glass tea light “lamps” the other day, and I thought they were the cutest thing. They’d be so lovely on a table or to flank a mantel at Christmastime. What a fun, simple way to make basic, inexpensive tea lights a little more special. I think these would make a lovely gift as well for anyone who loves to entertain.

-Follow me on Instagram to keep up with all the day-to-day happenings around here between blog posts!

-Check out my shop page to browse all my favorite finds, products used on my projects, and reader favorites. Find my October favorites here.

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• Five Things on a Friday 10/4/24