Some Things We Are Thankful For (A List Composed While Making Breakfast)

Brunch

Safety

Central air

Car rides together

Education

Down comforters

Antiques

Norfolk, VA

Knit socks

IPA's & Star Wars

Goat Cheese

Opportunity

The sense of smell

BBC America

Coffee

Feist & Beirut

Bow ties

Lightroom & f/1.4

The most giving friends

Rosemary

Wonderful families

Dr. Niles Crane

Debussy

Blessings upon heapings full of blessings

---------------------------------------

By all means, guess away at which were mine & which were Jared's. 

Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Giveaway : June Jars

 I am so very excited to present you with our very first giveaway!

It only makes sense that our inaugural giveaway is in partnership with June Jars, owned by our besties, Amelia & Andrew. They launched the June Jars shop this past year as a local alternative to what is found on seemingly affordable online shops that are suddenly unaffordable when you calculate shipping. Amelia found herself in this exact position earlier this spring, & decided to make one for herself, instead. As she carried it around town, she was constantly being asked if she took orders, because as it turned out - Richmond, VA loved June Jars. It actually loved them a lot, & soon June Jars were flying off the shelves of many local shops. It has been an absolute joy to watch this shop take off, even expanding into Hampton Roads & NOVA. 

To be honest, carrying my June Jar around is one of the ONLY ways that I stay hydrated throughout the day. I'm always pretty aware of staying hydrated, especially after working in the outdoor event industry for going on 5 years. But after reading THIS ARTICLE, I have been especially motivated to keep the water flowing. For whatever reason, I find that I absentmindedly drink nonstop if there's a straw in front of me. It's totally great! Each June Jar is 24 oz., which means I need to drink AT LEAST 4 jars a day, although I shoot for about 6. In summary, they're super affordable, from a local shop & are a major help in the hydration department. What is there not to love?

AND WE WANT TO SHARE THAT LOVE! One lucky reader will win a June Jar, plus 3 straws to commemorate Thanksgiving week around these parts. (Can you believe it's the end of November? Because I've pretty much been writing November 8th as the date for the past two weeks. However, I've also been adding 2014 as the year, sooo... I'm just a mess.) Entry details below!

TO BE ELIGIBLE: "Like" Sitting in Our Tree & June Jars on Facebook! (This is important, so we can contact you if you win!)

TO ENTER: Leave a comment on this entry by Saturday, November 30th (appropriately, Small Business Saturday!) telling us what you are thankful for this year. Winner will be selected at random from eligible entries!

WHAT YOU'RE WINNING: One 24 oz. June Jar + your choice of three (3) straw colors.

Winner will be announced at 9:00 p.m. EST, Sunday, December 1st, via the Sitting in Our Tree Facebook page.

Bonne chance, everyone!

adjusting to life in a home office

Still car-less! Jared, in his husbandly wisdom, took me to my parents' house today before he went to work so I could partake in some socializing after two days of non-stop alone time in my office. We are heading to Richmond for a Friendsgiving celebration this weekend, & I was able to prep some of the dishes we're making in my mom's significantly more glorious kitchen. Guys... I've been actually making the recipes that I've pinned & it's sort of been a game changer. As someone who is mediocre in the kitchen, & finds it to frequently be a hostile environment, it's been encouraging to make food & then actually have it be a tasty success. I feel like, skilled. Or at least like I'm learning skills. Progress!

We live about 200 ft. from a coffee shop, & I'm always tempted to go down there to work... But I love my new office so much (although it still has some final touches that I need to complete - Thus, no reveal yet. Oops.) & I know that a coffee shop = spending money on coffee that I should be saving. & let's be honest, I'm probably going to skip the coffee & go straight for hot chocolate, which my thighs do not need. Working from home has already been a tremendous lesson in self-control & time management. It's really tempting to stop halfway through the day & just stare at the clock, counting minutes until Jared gets home & I have another human to interact with. It is so very rude that our apartment doesn't allow dogs. That's all I'm asking for - Just another heartbeat in the apartment! Mais non. Not yet, anyway.

My next trick in this new at-home chapter is figuring out the whole fitness thing. I've certainly cut down on my bad eating habits by not being in an office environment, which has also helped with our budget. But! I'm less active without having four events to work every weekend, & said budget doesn't really allow for yoga classes or a gym membership. This saga to be continued... But also, leave me any tips or tricks in the comments, please. I'm accepting aaaaaall the advice.

Tomorrow is Friday! How's that for a happy thought?? xo

two weeks later...

Oh man. Two weeks later... 

What a long, unexpected blogging break! I have such high hopes of someday adding sponsors to this blog & doing some bigger things, but when a month like this pops up & quickly snowballs into mild chaos & brief catastrophe - Well, it's awfully nice to be able to just take a step back & be present away from the computer screen. Beyond nice, it was necessary!

As you may know, I quit my job of three years as an event coordinator & have been pursuing some of my dreams of becoming an entrepreneur/small business owner. I keep promising more details on all of this, but I'm still (STILL!) getting ducks in rows & aligning stars. In the mean time, I've been using my time to also pursuit some of my artistic passions - hand lettering, photography, crafting - to continue contributing to that whole "affording to live" thing ;) It's been awesome, & I've been learning SO, so much. A lot of these types of projects all landed in my lap this month, & I have been BUSY. Which is amazing, since as a work-from-home-wife, downtime is sort of terrifying & causes deep moments of self-doubt & decision regret ;)

So, that's part of it. However, last week, in the midst of the busy-ness & deadlines, I also wrecked our car on the way home from my sister's birthday dinner. & when I say wrecked, I mean totaled. & when I say our car, I mean our sparkly, new (to us) car - The one that didn't need repairs once a month, or a jump-start once a week & was made in this century/decade. Not Jared's nearly-20-year-old Civic. No, no. I am positively fine, & no one else was involved, & I am so blessed to have been wrapped in God's arms for protection during the accident, because it could have been so much worse. It has been a long past few days of phone calls with the insurance company & car shopping & sore bones... So, that's the other part of it.

It has been a long, long month. The overwhelming message through all of it is that our God provides. Providing projects & clients, protection & solutions, peace & stability.

& so! I'm feeling refreshed - & just in time for a Friendsgiving weekend in Richmond, the wonderful Thanksgiving holiday & a South Carolina wedding weekend shortly after. I even have our first ever giveaway on the radar, so don't give up on this little blog! WE HAVE SWAG, SWAG I TELL YOU!

Thanks for hanging in there. I'm planning to frequent these parts more often.

some things about recently

Hullo, friends. I've been absent around these parts, which seems to be a trend about this time of year for me. Sometimes, real life calls & then keeps you on the line foreverrrr & once you finally hang up, you don't feel like talking for a bit because you're just simply talked out. & that's precisely what's happened. The brief synopsis of where I've been is:

// I've been blissfully busy with a few newborn photoshoots recently, & let me tell you. Babies are just the best.

\\ My date for Halloween was unable to attend the festivities at the last minute, so our Grease costumes were scrapped (because what is a Sandy without her Danny Zuko?) & I made a makeshift Fashion Blogger Cinderella costume. It was pretty ridiculous...ly awesome. Apologies for the shoddy photos. Danny Zuko is also my photographer so...

// Then Halloween was over & the world (aka ME) rejoiced, for the holiday season is now upon us. I'm a firm believer in not overlooking Thanksgiving to get to Christmas, but it was pretty exhilarating to be in Target as they took down the orange/purple/black & replaced it with red/green & that one sad little row of orange things that are supposed to represent Thanksgiving. Our tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving, & I avoid the Christmas radio station until then. REGARDLESS OF THESE BELIEFS! My friend Emily (you know, the bff from IN that got married this summer?) cannot help herself but to jump right into the Christmas spirit on November 1st every year, & I got a text message bright and early the morning after Halloween saying, "Happy Christmastime starting day!" I responded with this:

\\ My next trick is to get rid of the head cold/sinus infection that I somehow picked up over my weekend in Richmond. I guess that was my karma for bringing my sickness there over my birthday weekend. Merp. I'm hoping to kick it QUICK because I have wreaths to make, menus to plan & trips to finalize. Constantly popping my ears & wanting nothing more than watching Frasier on Netflix with a glass of grapefruit juice nearby is just slightly counterproductive.

So, that's a little bit of where I've been. How's your November so far?