Our curtains finally flutter, brought to life from their motionless slumber by November breezes our open windows usher in.

I’ve just returned from a solo bike ride where my overactive brain was hushed by the sound of wind and the occasional cracking from an acorn that lined up perfectly beneath my tires. 

In observing different gratitude projects circling social media this month, I’ve been thinking about its very complex meaning.  So many of the things we are grateful for have inverses: having a home vs. not having a home, being healthy vs. being ill, having a job vs. being unemployed, etc.  But gratitude is more than an I’m-so-glad-my-life-is-better-than-that-person’s-life list.  In fact, it shouldn’t be that at all.  Being exposed to the inverses of good fortune is a wonderful catalyst for gratitude.  I can’t help but kiss my babies’ cheeks and feel thankful for their health when I hear of mamas huddling over sick babies in hospitals; and witnessing storm damage, gas lines, and crowds of hungry people gathered in the northeast this week certainly makes me thankful for food and power and a structurally sound home.  This is only one facet of gratitude though, lending to the very important awareness component of its meaning; but it doesn’t seem a very humble definition.  The true depth of gratitude comes when you move beyond awareness and find ways to do something for someone else–to bring gratitude to other places in the world.  I still make lists of things for which I’m grateful. I still need stories of “not having” to sometimes remind me of what I do have.  But I’m learning more to breathe gratitude and to find ways of practicing it hidden in corners beyond the obvious check-lists of health, jobs, home, things, etc.

So right now, I’ll string them both together–enjoying little moments right here, right now and finding ways to help make someone else’s “right here, right now” a little better.

Enjoying…

Walk friendly weather.

More Kitchen Time this Month

…which reminds me, fellow blogger and friend Meagan Francis at The Happiest Mom has launched The Kitchen Hour, a great way to connect and inspire moms during the time when we’re preparing dinner for our family.  The Kitchen Hour offers podcasts you can listen to while you cook, bringing tips, recipes and fun inspiration for connecting your family right to your kitchen.  I was honored to be part of Meagan’s first podcast and look forward to seeing how this grows!

Tights and Weather that Permits Them

Finding Nella “Playing Car”

(line up chairs and grab a tupperware top steering wheel)

Slowly Creating a Space Nella and Baby will Share

Inexpensive Decor Ideas

(inspired by Land of Nod catalogue: a cardboard letter and some yarn)

Watching Little People Explore

Things that Make YOU Happy: (#enjoyingthesmallthings on Instagram) 

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And ways in which you can help someone else enjoy little things and big things right now:

Ultimately, I know we are once again going to be impressed with the resilience of NYC and surrounding areas because they overcome…that’s what they do.  But they need help.  To assist in Hurricane Sandy efforts, I’ve asked some friends in those areas to help direct efforts where it is most needed.  Some of the most affected areas in NYC are Far Rockaway, Staten Island, Long Beach, Oceanside, Red Hook and Breezy Point.

You can donate your help in the following ways:

* Text REDCROSS to 90999 to quickly and easily donate $10 (will be deducted from your phone bill).
* Text STORM to 80888 to quickly and easily donate $10 to the Salvation Army.
* Text HUMANE to 80888 to quickly and easily donate $10 to the Humane Society (Humane Society is working to rescue animals that were left behind and to provide shelter for them).

Or you can make specific donations in food and supplies that are most needed, and they will go directly to places in specific areas affected by the storm:
* The items on this Amazon Wish List go directly to Staten Island Sandy Relief.
* The items on this Amazon Wish List go directly to Moms New Jersey Sandy Relief.
* For Far Rockaway Recovery, click here.
* See New York Times list of ways in which you can help.

And thank you to the compassionate readers who helped kindly inform where help is needed!

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Darkness creeps in earlier now–more time to burrow into our nest and enjoy family.

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The fabulous Shop Ruche is returning in sponsorship this month, offering their incredible collection of affordable, vintage-inspired and unique products for both mama and child. 

Hummingbird top, Shop Ruche

Shop Ruche has been one of my favorite online stores for some time now, and whether I’m looking for a particular item for an event, a gift for a friend, a seasonal wardrobe addition or a unique find for baby, Shop Ruche is guaranteed to have something great.

Favorites: Finishing Touch Blouse, Homemade Home for Children Book, Cabernet Peplum Dress, Stevie Floppy Hat, Hillary Indie Ruffle Heels, Jewel Tone Chevron Dress, Country Ankle Booties, Pom Pom Hat in Honey Mustard

Check out their new winter look book, launched today. 

And, Shop Ruche is offering readers a great discount on their children’s line this month.  Buy anything from Shop Ruche Children and use code KELLEHAMPTON15 for 15% off (offer runs through November 7, 11:59 PST). 

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What are you enjoying?
How are you feeling grateful right now?

Don’t forget to vote tomorrow. 

Our leaves came yesterday.  And by “our leaves,” I mean the ones that come in a big box every October— the ones my cousin gathers up from her back yard and ships down to us. 

It’s silly how happy these leaves make me.  They remind me how creativity can often grant us the things we want but lack.  Dream it? Build it.  Want it?  Create it.  We had a little northern fall–even if it was for a day and contained to a small corner of our back yard.  My Florida girls know what it sounds like to crunch their feet in the leaves, what it feels like to jump in them and what it smells like to open a box of dried Maple and Oak and Beech leaves–rich and earthy.  Lainey can stumble over the word “deciduous” and tell you what it means.  And I can enjoy the best of both worlds…where I am and where I come from.

Our Box of Leaves Tradition: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.

Have a wonderful weekend.  I’ll return to Friday photo dumps and #enjoyingthesmallthings photos when our travel is over next week!

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A little weekend sponsor shout-out to one of my favorites:

I wear this skirt twice a week.  I ordered it a size up and pull it over the belly.  It’s yellow and flowy and oh-so-fall.  And it’s a perfect representation of all the pretty you’ll find at Shop Ruche, one of my favorite on line stores.

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I’ll be writing from San Diego next week.  If you’re in the area, come say “hi” at the book signing Wednesday, October 17th at Mira Mesa Barnes and Noble.

The pumpkin patch plan (you do know I’m using the word “patch” very very loosely) was in place for Monday night this week.  But Jim Cantore (that’s Brett) pulled his radar gun out mid afternoon Monday and predicted bad weather.  However, he assured me Tuesday night would be perfect.  As I recall, he said “guaranteed beautiful.” 

So last night we got ready to go–cute overalls for the girls, hair done, dinner early, out the door.  I was stoked in that high-on-shellacked-gourd kind of way, eager to fulfil another year of traditions and capture all these moments of my girls in the golden hour of sunlight.  No sooner did we pull into the “patch” oh God, I can’t even write that word without laughing parking lot, and a monsoon hit.  Downpour–the kind that sends farmers running to save their crops from being washed out. 

We sat in the car.  “I’m not leaving until this is over,” I announced.  I was so pissed.  Like a child who didn’t get her way kind of pissed.  And I was pissed directly at Brett.

“I’m so mad at you,” I told him in the best bitchy teenager voice I could muster.

“Pissed at me?  Like I planned this?  Who do think I am, God?”  Brett laughed.

“You know what, Brett?” I asked.  “Yes.  I think you’re God.  You claim to know more about weather patterns than anyone I’ve known, and in the nine years I’ve known you, you’ve never failed me.  You told me it was going to be beautiful, and I’m not leaving until it is.”

Do you know how much effort it took to act that childish?  There are voices all up inside me, screaming for me to grow up, but sometimes I am stubborn.  I could not let it die, and I was determined to pay him back for his bad forecast.  It lasted about ten minutes–the immaturity, not the storm.  The storm just kept on raining and despite our efforts to get out when it was “only sprinkling” (a.k.a. raining enough to make two kids cry), we finally called T.O.D. for our plans around 6:40–enough time for me to make it to Fred’s for some much needed Straighten Up therapy.  I found it, returning home later to hug Brett and laugh off the “Sorry I’m a bitchy wife sometimes” episode.  It was very funny in hindsight. 

So Take Two was tonight.  It had a great start.  I got dressed, looked in the mirror at two ginormous-but-not-in-the-hot-girl-kinda-way breasts and turned to get Brett’s opinion.

“Does this shirt make my boobs look like hugemongous pregnant sacks?” 

And he stared at me and said nothing.  And then “Well, um….” 

“Oh my God,” I cried, peeling off my shirt.  “I’m so not wearing this.”

FYI, Shirt #2 didn’t do much better.  Dude, the pregnant boobs.  For the love of God, make them stop.

The point of all of this?  You ride the unpredictable wave of parenthood that soars right next to every other unpredictable thing like weather and people and life.  And you make the best of it.

The kids were a little bit miserable tonight.  Ever so lovely and soul-fulfilling but yes, miserable too.  We made the best of it.  We swatted bugs, picked up crying kids, walked through swampy grasses, took pictures in lighting that was thick with gray haze, and we made a helluva fall memory.  It was so imperfect but wonderful and so completely us.

And here’s the video to prove it.

Pumpkin Patch from ETST on Vimeo.
Song: Campus by Vampire Weekend

In other lovely happenings, I loved this moment today.

And watching Bill Gates mastermind my phone.

Happy Fall Y’all. Tell me some recent lows and highs if so inclined. 

Low:  No cold front yet.  Our dryer broke.
High:  Knowing things will slow down very soon.  San Diego next week and Everybody Plays.  Hopefully meeting some of ya’ll at the book signing (next Wednesday, October 17, 7:30 p.m.  Mira Mesa Barnes and Noble in San Diego)