It all felt a bit much. I'm usually pretty active on my instagram, even if I don't have a chance to write a blog post, and the other day, I wrote this on my profile:This week felt difficult for a myriad of reasons. Nicholas was in a car accident (he's okay! The car is not), Coop has a cold, and a few other things are weighing heavy on my heart and mind. I read this timely bit, from Jonathon Parnell's "Reading to Walk": "So how will you face it? What follows are three prayers for facing Monday--or any less-than-enthusiastic tomorrow:1...

Life has been a swirl of joyful visitors for us! It's been wonderful, and all our visitors are the best kind—low-key and they make your heart glad. All that said, having people in town does upset our routine a bit (routines can do with a bit of upsetting from time to time, though). Today is for catching-up, tidying, writing this post, reading, and knitting, as a bit of downtime. I mentioned in Nicholas' annual birthday post that my sister-in-law, Katelyn, came to visit us! We celebrated Nicholas' birthday together with fun meals out, a trip to the dog park, baking and cooking together (her and I), and lots of Dominion...

Baked PB oatmeal or just "PB oatmeal" as we fondly call it, serves as our breakfast at least 300 mornings of the year. I've mentioned it about one million times on the blog, since I've been making is for us ever since Summer posted the recipe almost exactly five years ago, but I've never actually shared the recipe and how I make it. Over time, I've adjusted a few things and tweaked it to it's current state. I adore recipes like this that I can make again and again...

As the temperatures cool and the holidays approach, I dream about having a simple, savory, throw-it-in-the-oven, baked breakfast casserole. I had some specific criteria in mind:fast prepdidn't have to make it the night before (but you could if you want to)short ingredient list, made up of mostly pantry staplessimply seasoned so everyone would enjoy and it could work with a variety of sides (it would be great with fresh fruit on the side)yielded enough for one meal for five to six people, or a few meals for fewer peopleThis casserole delivers that, and it reheats beautifully. If you like, you can prepare the entire filling the night before, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before baking, and bake per instructions...

I enjoy the taste of coffee, yes, but also the practice of slowing down, choosing to savor something, meeting a friend for conversation, and holding a warm mug in my hands. I suppose that's a lot of emotion tied to my coffee drinking. No matter, I drink it everyday, and since we've lived in Austin for nearly two-and-a-half years now, I've developed a method to my Austin coffee drinking. If you're curious, I've previously written about our daily home coffee routine...