December Favorites 🫘

It’s the holiday season! And it’s already been a whirlwind of life. My partner proposed to me during a fall photo hike, and we’ve been riding a small wave of euphoria telling friends & family our good news.

We traveled to Tennessee for the thanksgiving holiday, and I’ve been keeping a memory book / junk journal that I made to help slow down time & preserve the moments we’ve been sharing.

We’ve also tried dipping our toes into wedding planning which is kind of terrifying. I feel like we know just enough to be intimidated by the system of wedding culture, but we’re putting off that deep dive until after the new year. [See: Taking the Initial Leap into Wedding Planning 🫘]

In the meantime, my favorites this month are all festive & bright:

✹ Thrifting for Holiday Decor

We’ve been finding cute Christmas decorations at our local thrift stores nearby. Our hope was to find a tree this year, but they were all snatched up so quickly at the beginning of last month. So we’re focusing on fun quirky decor, lights, and collecting ornaments to place on our future tree.

Also, while I prefer a real Christmas tree, we travel so much during the holidays that it doesn’t make sense for us to take care of a real tree for a couple weeks. And surely so many fake trees exist in the world that aren’t wanted anymore, we would love to give an old tree a new home. 🎄

✹ Seasonal Treats 🍪

Ever since a Trader Joe’s opened up near us, we’ve been enjoying their seasonal items du jour! It’s been another sensory way to incorporate the seasons changing in addition to walking around our neighborhood/local nature scenery. I’m especially loving their cranberry pistachio biscotti with my coffee in the mornings.

✹ Junk Journaling / Memory Keeping

Okay, I wrote the same thing last month [See: November Favorites 🫘 ], but this time it’s different! Using bookbinding techniques and my sewing machine, I made a junk journal / memory book the day after we got engaged because it had been on my mind as a concept (I had just written out my faves list the day before) and it just made sense to start one immediately. [See: Junk Journaling Our Engagement Chapter 🫘]

I call it my “memory keeping book” because saying “junk journal” makes it sound like our engagement wasn’t special! But I love this thing, and I especially love how easy it is to record memories haphazardly while still looking aesthetic.

Learn how to make a smaller version here: How to Make an Upcycled Sketchbook 🌼

✹ Styling White Outfits

Listen, I’ve never worn all white. I’ve never had the urge. It always makes me feel like I’m standing out too much, like I’m going to stain it immediately, or like I’m trying to be a fancy version of somebody I’m not. But, I was inspired to try to style some all-white (and by white I mean off-white and beige) outfits for some upcoming events to celebrate our engagement— and I’m so excited about it! 🥰

I ordered some white (cream/tan) skirts in different textures so I could play around with the monochromatic look. It’s been a great excuse to finally go for this color and actually try it out. Plus I told myself I could embroider, dye, or embellish them later if I felt like I wouldn’t wear them again. But I’m kind of hoping they look good and stick around in my wardrobe!

✹ Quilted Book Covers

At the beginning of the year, my precious mom gifted me a sewing machine for my birthday. I’ll admit I’ve been intimidated to learn a new skill this complex, but I’m gaining confidence slowly. I’ve made two projects so far by gut instinct and this time I’m using a pattern by Rosie Caldwell.

For Christmas this year I’m gifting my mom a quilted book cover. I’m learning so much by working on this project! It was a lot to wrap my head around as a beginner so I didn’t take many photos, but I plan to make another for myself in the future. And I’ll document it next time.

✹ Local Music Experiences

Last weekend, some friends and I went to a show to support our favorite local band friends, The After Hours. They played a house show in this guy’s basement. A local who just really loves music. His house was filled with interesting collectible items and tons of posters of famous bands from over the years— a true music lover & connoisseur. He turned his basement into an amateur event space for local bands to play and it was so cool. String lights everywhere, free beer, and familiar strangers of all ages gathering in one place to support community bands. It felt so DIY, underground (literally), and cozy.

In this same vein, I don’t know how to describe it, but we’ve been so impressed by folks in our city who are maybe 10-20 years older than us who are actively making space for culture and community to exist. It’s energizing and inspiring. ⚡️

✹ Analog Lunch

After spending a week immersed in Tennessee for Thanksgiving without looking at a device, I felt overwhelmed to come home to a week full of working in front of a computer screen. It didn’t help that I started scrolling intentionally at first, and then mindlessly again.

So I told myself I would read a book at lunch. I have some books that are just essays, aka the book version of a video essay. So that’s what I spent my lunch break on and it was nice on the brain + eyes. I think I’ll keep doing it for a while.

✹ Tis the Season to Live in a Bookshop

There’s something about cold weather + Christmas that makes me feral for a cozy bookshop. The amount of pure potential emanating from the shelves is a seasonal rite I can’t ignore. And with New Years creeping around the corner, it makes me want to vow to become every version of my higher self all at once lol

I mostly just love browsing the shelves and taking inspiration away from the designed covers, and reading snippets of books I may want on my shelves. Dreaming and recharging. During the week I’ve been watching Emilie’s Literary Corner, a Parisian bookseller vlog, when I need a cozy bookshop fix that doubles as a body doubling background video.

Our neighborhood bookshop is hosting a live jazz night for folks to browse and melt inside the coziness, so I’ll probably be there sipping coffee and transcending later this week thank you.

That’s all I’ve got this month! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season! See you in the new year! 🤎