When it felt like the sky was falling

Also in here: links to make you smile + the Meaningful Gift Guide comes tomorrow!

Nov 13, 2024

Hello my wonderful readers! Last Wednesday, my eight-year-old, Lucy shot this video:

Feeling gutted by the election results, I decided there was nothing to do but offer my kids as much joy as I could muster, so we went to the beach.

This sunset felt like a gift from the Universe.

While things feel so grim and miserable on a macro level, I’m going micro and focusing all my energy into my kids. I am the architect of their childhoods, and nothing and no one can stop me from loving them my way.

“When I look at a sunset as I did the other evening, I don’t find myself saying, ‘Soften the orange a little on the right hand corner, and put a bit more purple along the base, and use a little more pink in the cloud color.’ I don’t do that. I don’t try to control a sunset. I watch it with awe as it unfolds. I like myself best when I can appreciate my staff member, my son, my daughter, my grandchildren, in this same way.”

— Carl Rogers

painting

I’m about halfway through a scene from our road trip up the California coast. Here’s the bottom left corner so far.

Over the weekend I gathered a ton of floral photographs for my upcoming collection. And, since right now is the perfect time of year to photograph sunsets (did you catch that secret?), the kids and I are going to shoot a couple rolls of film this week for my beach collection. It’s all coming together!

“If you need confidence, talk to yourself the way you would talk to a friend.
If you need persistence, talk to yourself the way you would talk to a student.
If you need patience, talk to yourself the way you would talk to a child.”
— James Clear

today’s bouquet

How I’ve made a perfect turkey five times in a row. Related: my tabletop.
Wouldn’t this top be pretty for Thanksgiving dinner? Or this one! Pilgrim coded!
My cool little sister Mary, who hiked Mount Kilimanjaro and plays the harp, created a floral design pinboard that is truly medicinal.
Still thinking about this open secret in museums and the powerful moral at the end of the story. (4 min)
What a fabulous watercolor — in 3D, no less! (via Britt R.)
Continuing my tradition of giving my baby Michael Shepherd Steele a sheep on his birthday. (via Adri L.)
Looking forward to my quilting era.
Have you seen this exploded fruit bowl going around the internet?
Obsessing over two sweaters: one in raspberry and one in crinkly silver.
Have you ever seen more dreamlike wallpaper?
My friend Grant is selling some of his never-before-seen oil paintings.
In college, I spent a week in Istanbul on a study abroad program. I bought only two souvenirs, a necklace that got stolen later that summer (sad) and a pair of beautiful hand-painted trivets for my mom. Gasped when I came across these almost-identical ones! (in blue)
Added this lip crayon to my Christmas list.
More romantic poems please.
Jessie’s flower garden is inspiring. Also, I love how her husband insists on including one thing she hates at the end of each newsletter, haha.
Well of course I am very into this painters coat.
If you’re wondering what having four kids is like, here’s a pretty good visual.
Same.

“To love your neighbor includes Christlike deeds of kindness and service. Can you let go of grudges, forgive enemies, welcome and minister to your neighbors, and assist the elderly? You will each be inspired as you build your tower of love for your neighbor.”
— Gary E. Stevenson

happy holiday

Skip this section if you’re not ready for Christmas yet!

If you’ve listened to the Pentatonix version of God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen from The Grinch as many times as I have, you deserve this cute towel.
Now is the time to order stockings. We love our monogrammed needlepoint ones, inspired by the kind Nate’s family had when he was growing up. Schoolhouse has a bunch of pretty ones, I’d get this red and green.
What a chic menorah, I’d pair it with blush candles.
The Meaningful Gift Guide is coming tomorrow!