I’m really starting to enjoy blogging again now that I’m doing these monthly posts. I love being able to look back on what I’ve been up to. Click to check out June and July.

Right now in life, I am:

MAKING our house pretty. Over the last month we’ve painted our , our , and the connecting the two rooms.
COOKING homemade gluten-free blackberry pies (turns out it is a family tradition! My great-grandmother used to make fabulous blackberry cobblers from blackberries she picked in the backyard–the same backyard I grew up in), rice crispy treats (first time I’ve had those in forever!), and eating lots of fresh cherries. (along with other more sustainable things, you know) I also baked my yesterday!
DRINKING a pineapple juice/orange juice/grenadine/rum cocktail every so often.
READING .
WANTING to get some more paintings done, print some more prints, and open an Etsy shop.
PLAYING  over and over again (Drew is obsessed!) and (it made me cry. I’m so sentimental.).
SEWING new curtains for the living room from plain white sheets.
CROCHETING a throw blanket for our living room.
WISHING for for our apartment. Love it!
ENJOYING our freshly painted house and how different (better) it feels.
WAITING to hang our living room gallery wall until I have all the pieces painted/framed/collected.
LIKING , , , hiking, and with (my husband, sister, her husband, nieces and nephew). Sweet little Gig was my little shadow all last weekend. :)
WONDERING why I decided to chop half my hair off! I miss my long, wavy/curly hair. Short hair is so much maintenance!
LOVING that summer is slowing down. The last few months have been so busy! Looking forward to a quiet fall.
HOPING that my hair grows quickly!
MARVELING at the ability of sweet little kids to help you slow down and take life in.
NEEDING to paint more (mostly actual paintings, but there are a few more walls here that need to be painted too).
SMELLING fresh homemade gluten-free apple and blackberry/raspberry pies Blair, Gigi and I made last weekend. Made with apples we picked (photo above) and berries we bought because I’m obsessed. This was the fourth berry pie I’ve made this summer.
WEARING more black and white lately. I even bought some black skinny jeans last weekend.
FOLLOWING the “one-minute rule” lately. Don’t put off any task that takes a minute or less to accomplish.
NOTICING lots of stars on our visit to the country. I wish we could see the stars better in New Orleans. I love this quote, “If people sat outside and looked at the stars each night, I bet they’d live life a lot differently.”
KNOWING that I need to spend a little more time on our “curb appeal.” Our rosebushes need to be trimmed (they’ve grown like crazy in the last year!), weeds picked, more mulch spread, some other potted plants need to replace our current ones (our little potted rosebushes constantly struggle with black-spot like crazy. Time to replace them with some simple little boxwoods.) Maybe in September I’ll tackle that.
THINKING a lot about self-improvement and happiness. Fall seems like the perfect time for a fresh start. Love this quote I read today, “Happiness is a collection of small, pleasurable moments.”
BOOKMARKING . Oh how I wish our couches looked like that one! (someday…)
OPENING up my creative endeavors by joining the New Orleans Lettering Arts Association! First meeting is next weekend! Can’t wait to learn some new calligraphy techniques! I bought some new supplies this weekend! My new version of “back to school” supplies.
LAUGHING at  at a roadside Farmer’s Market.
FEELING thankful for quality sister/niece time last weekend, a weekend getaway/time spent in the country/nature, and for our beautiful, cozy little apartment to return to.

P.S. This past week (September 4th, to be exact) marks 4 years since my first blog post here! Happy 4th Birthday Icing on the Cake blog!