advent beginnings

I'm sipping Tazo organic chai. My brain feels jumbled. Like, I've had so many good mail days, and I want to share them with you, but I may not have time. I want to mainly blog Advent thoughts this month. One of the several blessings of Advent is the opportunity to slow down, ruminate, sit still, and wait. I need to remember this as we prepare to host Christmas and fill our house with family.

But we started decorating! Our first Advent & Christmas in our first house. The tree is bare with the exception of a cranberry skirt and a St. John the Baptist tree-topper. As Johnny explained perfectly, we will gradually decorate the tree each Sunday of Advent. Here are the initial images in all their imperfect glory (I love that now):









I also started my Advent/Christmas inspiration wire. I'm waiting on port2port's and Lena Corwin's FROST prints, but the left side is complete:





I'm smitten with that Cross photo which I ripped out of last Sunday's New York Times Style magazine. Two of my obsessions are light and Church architecture, and now, Hiroshi Sugimoto's photography. The other wire pieces are (L to R) a port2port gift tag, art by my friend Robyn, and a port2port postcard. Mav's work is very inspiring to me this month (and always).

Lastly, I started a new inspiration board. It's not an Advent board, but unexpectedly, it matches my other board:





You probably recognize small stump, Gracia & Louise, and Eloquent Ink. The orange & yellow painting is by Meltem Aktas - I cut the tiny print out of an IMAGE brochure. I love the painting's title: "Courage to be (Saint Joan of Arc)."

It's time for lunch, then the much needed clothes-shopping. Another fact about me is that I loathe to shop for clothes. But my goals today are a skirt or two, a pair of jeans, a sweater, and striped socks - to wear with pajamas.