that cozy mood

I’ve started putting a few Christmas decorations around- our vintage-style Christmas lights are out on the fence in front our house & our fake tree is up in the family room awaiting decorating- but step 1 woohoo!!- but for the most part I keep my holiday decorating pretty simple. This year, with all of the photoshoots we’ve had and all the wildflowers in the meadow this fall, I have a lot of dried things around.

On our sideboard (left) is a brass vase of dried olive branches and the shade of sage-y green is my current favorite for the house. (I say “current” because, come spring, I’ll be in love with the chartreuses & deep mossy greens out the windows!) The kids put most of the things in the drawers here away themselves and so while it’s not the neatest, I didn’t have to do it and I’m strangely comfortable with our arrangement.

We went to visit my dad & family in the Midwest for Thanksgiving and hit a few snowstorms on our way out which took me into full-on winter mode. My dad lives in Lake Geneva and it’s one of my favorite places around the holidays. It’s a sweet nostalgic little lake town and is always decked out with garlands, lights, and eventually ice sculptures when it’s cold enough.

We spent a couple days working at the Lauren Liess & Co warehouse while we were there and got some of the holiday goods photographed and up on the site! I also brought a haul of amazing antiques in. They’re going quickly and I have to admit, I did end up bringing a good amount home with me–eeek!

Our portable rechargeable lamps are my current obsession. I took a brass one home and everyone has been stealing it for their bedrooms! It has 3 settings and I love it on the dimmest setting for when I’m tucking the kids in (or more realistically, they’re tucking me in!!) at bedtime.

If you’re planning to shop small this year please consider shopping with us! I hand-pick each and every item in the Lauren Liess & Co. shop and I basically fill it out with things I want (and have!) in my own life. I try to keep a range of price point for all shoppers with both high (hand-woven alpaca sweaters) & affordable (hello mom jeans!) so there’s something for everyone.

Fall has gone by so quickly and, while I’m so grateful for all the things that are making life so busy, I’m really looking forward to some downtime over the holidays to hang with family and friends. I’m off to a full weekend of the Nutcracker (the girls are in ballet) & the school play (the two younger boys are dwarves for the weekend 😉 and I hope you have a beautiful one!!

I’ll leave you with two of the coziest things in my life: Honey Bear + soup! (to get the recipe go here and be sure to check out all of our soups!! I’m a soup fiend so there are a bunch!!)

xo