I am certainly not a food blogger, and it has been some time since I shared a recipe on the blog. However, I wanted to share a "recipe" or method, if you will, for our very favorite beef roast in the crockpot.
Welcome to my annual post of our life in the last year – a review of all the big and little events, travels, habits, heartbreaks, and joys. These posts require a lot of time and energy, in part due to sifting through all the posts I wrote in the last year, but also because these posts spur me to reflect and sit with the previous year for a moment, before stepping into the next one.
As a home cook, I spend a lot of my time in the kitchen everyday, and lately, I've been finding so much joy in trying lots of new things in the kitchen with items from our garden, ingredients purchased locally, or new recipes made with my sourdough starter.
I always think of how January feels like a continuation, rather than just a new beginning. We kind of slide into the new year, only a day older, not truly that different. It can certainly be helpful to think of January first as a new start, as it is, of course, in some ways. But I also think there's a joy and a perseverance of the continuing on that I like about the start of a new calendar year. Here's a few snippets of life in that transition: the closure of a year and the beginning of a new.
Every January, I assemble a blog post of sorts that catalogs our year. Largely organized in list-form, I touch on the big and little things, events and thoughts and experiences that shaped our life over the last year. I do find this incredibly helpful as a sort of reflection, a glance back on the Lord's faithfulness, to show me, time and time again, that He is a good God. And with that mindset, I feel less encumbered as we continue on into the new year, more ready to face a full year of new, fresh days, with the heart attitude that regardless of what the days will hold, mundane or exciting, difficult or good, I can walk into the future with hope and trust in Him. Plus, I do enjoy looking back on a lot of the little details of our life, the ones that make me smile or think, Oh, yes! We loved that! What a little joy in our life.
Per usual, this time of year flies. I've had much of this post saved in a draft for what felt like only a few days, but has in fact, been weeks. Time to catch-up a little on life these last few weeks!
Fall feels like a number of transitions, one right after the other. We are now bridging into late fall, with lots of frost in the mornings, first sightings of bare trees, and darker, cozier evenings at home. Of course, there is talk of Thanksgiving and Christmas on the horizon too, along with early preparations for those. I do tend to be swept by the momentum of this season, if I'm not careful. I'll admit that Christmas music accompanies us throughout the day sometimes, and I've already done most of our shopping, but I do want to be intentional to savor the almost-but-not-yet. To not wish away November and it's baring of trees in favor of the glow of Thanksgiving and Christmastime. There is great beauty and contentment in this month, as well. I don't want to miss it.
Once I've written a post with little list-y bits and pieces of our life, I can't help but write more posts along the same line. I don't have anything eloquent to say, but here are a few things from this week:
Now that we're well into January, I'm sitting down to write and glance back at the last year. I'm not much of a resolution-maker (not fundamentally opposed, just not for me), but I do find it's healthiest for my heart and mind to reflect and then continue on into the next year. Like every single year, there are good, hard, and in-between snippets and seasons.
We have lived in our home for well over a month now. While there are ways we look forward to further make it our own, it already feels like "our" home. I wanted to share a few photos of it so far. I love noticing how light greatly alters the feel of a space. The way the afternoon light casts shadows and warmth on the kitchen tile. The morning sun through the window. My coffee on our table in our kitchen. Leaves on our deck on a cloudy, rainy day. The sinking sun peeking through the trees in our backyard.
A page is turned. And with the occasional morning temps in the fifties, I feel eager for fall and all the coziness that accompanies. Here are some little glimpses into our life lately, specifically the ones cheering my heart, giving me joy.