Happy Halloween!

Today I finished reading Life of Pi. That book blows my mind. It's disturbing, but it's so amazing.
Ellen dressed up as Sophia Vergara for Halloween.
I am trying to convince myself that I can, in fact, conquer Les Miserables. Watching this trailer helps.
I'm probably going to watch It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (I love Peanuts!), and maybe a spooky movie, since, yanno, it's Halloween and all. Maybe I'll try to summon the spirit of a dead ficus.

What are y'all up to for this Halloween?

Love,
Scout

Things That Are Nice

Showers.
Clean sheets.
Not working (not to be confused with "not having a job").
The smell of roasting garlic.
The taste of roasted garlic.
Re-reading a book you love (and avoiding any guilt over all the books you should be reading).
Not setting an alarm because you don't need one the next morning.
Autumn.
Not having bug bites (I happen to have plenty).
That Capt. Jas. Hook will be on Once Upon a Time tomorrow.
Not having a presidential debate on the night of my favorite television shows.
Jazz music - Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Buble, Julie London (thanks, Sarah!), and Blossom Dearie (who can tell me what else she's in?).

Love,
Scout

Morning Music: Howl's Moving Castle

After listening to this, you all need to go to your local Amazon/Paperbackswap/library and read the book by Diana Wynn Jones. You can thank me later.

Love,
Scout

Hiking

(Doesn't this remind you of Fern Gully?)

I went hiking on Sunday. We just walked along a local trail, but it was still really nice - the weather was especially gorgeous, and it gave me a chance to take some more Autumn photos.

Love,
Scout

Artist Spotlight: Gregory Alan Isakov

Source

Gregory Alan Isakov a) was born in South America and now abides in Colorado b) sings brilliant, dreamy, folk music c) has a cool name d) all of the above. Check him out. You know you want to.

Source

His website, Myspace, and Facebook.

Love,
Scout

P.S. I accidentally threw a Wilder Atkins song in that playlist and I'm too lazy to change it. Just consider it a bonus :)

Thoughts of the Day

1. I hate spiders.
2. The nicest man came and sprayed around where I work so I wouldn't have to find spiders anymore.
3. I cannot stop listening to the Pride and Prejudice soundtrack. To be honest, I'm not even sure I want to.
4. Presidential debates are dumb, especially when they are on the night NCIS, Parenthood, and New Girl are supposed to be on. Thanks, guys.
5. I want to go to New York (thinking of you, Kelly!). My goal: see Starry Night.

What's on your mind?

Love,
Scout

Guest Post: Lindsay - an Update

You may recall a recent guest post written by my friend Lindsay from A Log of My Life. Well, she recently sent me a Facebook message with the following update from her visit with Gretchen. If you need a recap, read Lindsay's guest post here.

I got to meet Gretchen whom I wrote about in the blog post! She is so, so great, and I like her and her family and friends very much. So many people at her school and church were saying, "And you met through Gretchen's BLOG??" It was so much fun.

Also! I mentioned to Gretchen that I'd written about her, and she said, "Yeah, on Cardigans and Old Watches, right? A girl actually found me through that blog and asked if she could support the feeding sites!" I was so happy to hear that! Way to go, Jesus and Ashley and everyone!

Really, interacting with Gretchen's sphere was my favorite part of my trip. Second place goes to wandering around a super rural residential area near the small airport we transferred at. (The locals kept staring at me and my friend and asking where we were going.) (And third place goes to the mangoes and buko shakes. Buko is similar to coconut, but better.) But yeah, Gretchen's sphere was my favorite, and it all made me so happy, and I wanted to share this with you!

The end!

-Lindsay

Thanks, Lindsay, for sharing! And thanks so much to whoever donated to the feeding sites! You guys are so awesome! 

Love,
Scout

Happy Birthday, Broder!

This is my brother. And me. This is me and my brother. This is a picture of me and my brother.

He's pretty awesome. He cooks food for me when I visit him. We joke about Homestar Runner. We have a similar sense of humor (kind of a scary thought). We watch Mystery Science Theater 3000. We have good times. Anyway, today is his birthday. He's basically an old man. It's okay. I love him anyway.

(Aren't you glad you left this on my phone?)

Happy barfday, broder! I hope it's spectacular. And you're lucky I lost all of those pictures I took of you at your church fellowship (when you told me you wanted a blog post about yourself? Remember?). 

Love,

Scout

Snapshots

Work. Knitting. Hiking. Pride & Prejudice. Howl's Moving Castle. Two bubble baths. A relentless hunt for Tim Tams (they're supposed to start selling them in October). Photographing the Amish. Listening to the Pride & Prejudice soundtrack over and over.

Love,
Scout

A Beautiful Mashup

I am SO excited for this. Did y'all ever listen to Audio Adrenaline or DC Talk? I know Kevin Max (of DCT) sang for Audio A a few times way back in the day, and they recently announced that they're getting back together with Kevin Max as a new band member! I am SO so excited! They also have one of the guys from Superchick.
Check it out here.

Morning Music: Nat King Cole

This song was in my head all day yesterday. Nat King Cole is perfect for cold weather. I also highly recommend this song, as it is perfect for Autumn.

Love,
Scout

Autumn Package Swap

This month I participated in an Autumn package swap! It was hosted by Kristin at Vignettes. I was paired with Taylor from Anticipation. We emailed a couple times and perused each others blogs and went to work! It was so much fun to find fun things to send to her, and then to come home after a weekend away and find her package to me waiting for me in my room.

A letter.

Tea (including pumpkin spice chai - a favorite of mine) and hot chocolate! 

A scented candle that smells like caramel latte, apple pie, and cedarwood. 

Chocolate to eat and a chocolate face mask. Now, I don't exactly know what a "nib" is, but that candy bar was definitely tasty. 

Stationary! Taylor paints (check out her Etsy), and when she saw I liked this set of notecards, she gave them to me! 

She also sent the cutest pair of mittens and two bright nail polishes - because sometimes cold weather can be a little drab.

Love,
Scout

The Autumn Leaves

Chilly air. Grey skies. Autumn leaves. Seeing your breath. Hot chocolate. Jack-o-lanterns.  Wood stoves. Fireplaces. Television specials (Charlie Brown). Pecan pie. Apple cider. Gloves, scarves, boots, hats.

I love this time of year.

Love,
Scout

Guest Post: Kelly on Contentment

Another guest post! I'd like you guys to meet my friend, Kelly Davie, from school. Kelly is super smart - she knows, what is it? Greek and Hebrew or something ridiculous like that. She's cool and always shares funny stories about cooking, homemaking, jewelry making, and being married. Check out her blog here.

Hi there, I'm Kelly.

I'm married to Colton.

Yowza, right?
In July of 2011 we had a beautiful, musical, joyful wedding in Alabama.

In August we shot a short film in Tennessee,

Then packed our bags and headed to Hollywood!
If you look really closely between Colton and his best friend Bryce, you can see the Hollywood sign.

We like it here - we've been in LA for a little over a year. It seems crazy to say that. Somehow, it seems like we've been here forever, but it also seems like we just got here. Do you know what I mean? 

Colton works as a Cinematographer and Camera Assistant. His schedule is pretty random, but that means that he's at home most of the time with me! He's actually within an arm's reach as I type this. I love it. When he's working, though, it's pretty intense. That's how the movie biz works. For example, last year he had a pretty slow month - he hadn't worked but a few days. Then he got a call one night from a production company saying, "Can you fly to the Bahamas tomorrow morning?" "Uh, okay!" he said. So he ended up flying out within 12 hours of the phone call, and was gone for about two weeks. (Near the end of the shoot the whole production ended up having to flee the country in private planes to avoid arrest, but that's another story!)

My schedule is much more steady. I'm part housewife, part jewelry maker. (You can see my etsy shop here). My days are spent washing dishes, cooking, doing the laundry, and trying desperately to make our apartment look presentable. (I'm a very messy person by nature, and most days it's really hard to fight that!)

I think it's very important to find peace wherever you're at.

Sometimes I find myself getting antsy or cabin fever-y. I think that's mainly because I *feel* like I'm not doing anything important. I'm not earning money. I've never actually had a "real" job. I can't even seem to keep up with the housework, even though there are so many working moms who can raise three kids, work part or full time, maintain sparkling kitchen counters, and even go to the gym a few times a week. That's not me!

But here's the thing. What I do IS important. My husband needs me. He might not have even lasted in LA without me here... it can be a very lonely city. I can cook up a storm. I can brighten the days of my neighbors and the mailman and the cashiers at the grocery store with my smile and a few kind words. I can host community group at our apartment and put my domestic skills to use. I can paint pictures for my friends. I can listen to Colton if he's had a bad day at work and help him unload grip equipment from the car.

And at the end of the day, I can look forward to spending time with my sweet husband, watching a movie, eating cookies, and making him laugh by angrily shaking my fist at the tv when I lose another MarioKart race.

And that's a very, very good thing. I am blessed to be where I am, to be doing what I do.

So if you ever feel discouraged, be your own cheerleader and remember that the world wouldn't be the same without you in it! You were made to be here.

Kelly's blog.
Kelly's Etsy shop.
More of Kelly's beautiful wedding photos (you know you want to).

Love,
Scout

Morning Music: Waltz

Love,
Scout

Bein' Quirky

You're welcome.

Love,
Scout

Sweet Potato Soup

I absolutely love the combination of chilly autumn weather and hot soups. The other day, after reading this post on A Beautiful Mess, I decided I wanted my own sweet potato soup - but not exactly like Emma's. I wasn't feeling quite so daring that afternoon. So, after spending a few minutes looking up recipes online, here's how I made mine.

Sweet potato soup.
1 serving.

Ingredients:

• 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 of an onion
• 2 Tbs butter
• 1 c. chicken broth
• 1 scoop almond butter
• sprinkle of pepper
• dash of ginger
• two dashes of cinnamon
• brown sugar and/or cream for topping

First. Chop up the garlic and onion and let it simmer in a pot with the butter.
Second. Chop up the sweet potato. 

Third. When the onions are soft, add the rest of the ingredients (except brown sugar and cream) to the pot and let simmer for about 20 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft. 

Fourth. When the sweet potatoes are soft, blend your soup to the desired consistency. If it's too thick for you, add more broth. 

Fifth. Dish out your soup, add some brown sugar (and maybe cream), and enjoy! 

Love,

Scout