you might wonder if i was driving while i took these pictures. i urge you to put that thought out of your mind. i cannot say that i wasn't, but i do not want to encourage the habit in anyone, most especially me.

fall is definitely over, and winter is definitely here. i have been wearing my thick down jacket and my uggs almost every day, especially on our morning and evening walks. it turns out that if you are warm, you don't mind the chill in the air so much. who knew.

this year, i want to celebrate the winter solstice, but i am not entirely sure how to do so. any good ideas for me? what are your favorite ways to celebrate things?

{my attempt to capture 52 photos that represent trust – my word for 2011}.

this photo represents trust for a few reasons.

one: i do love my home. i feel safe there. safe to be, safe to be me. i've been thinking about the people who will live in this apartment after i leave, whenever that is, and how they are so lucky because they will be getting a space that will be full of the most amazing energy.

two: for a long while now, i've been idly wondering how to bring more light into my living room. a few weeks ago, i had a vision of a canopy of twinkle lights. oh my goodness, the vision was beautiful. as is usual, the vision looked slightly different in my head (slightly more magical, i must confess) than it did in reality – it might need a few more tweaks before i am done – but the lights definitely add even more warmth and coziness to the long dark evenings.

three: i am trusting that time and energy spent on this project is not a distraction from the millions of other projects i could be working on in each moment – that working on it is helping with everything else i do, even if i cannot see how just yet.

won't you come for a walk with puppy and me?

oh, how i wish you could.

the sun is shining. the air is crisp. it is the perfect day to be outside and let the calm of the world around us soothe the chaos inside of us.

before i head out the door, a couple of quick announcements:

if you wish your life had a pause button so you could rest a bit, check out the pause. there's a special on through the end of december and i do have some openings.

also, i added the november/december collection of prints to the shop. they are joy, peace, and gratitude.

happy thursday!

which has nothing to do with anything, only i felt like sharing it.

apparently i am on an iphone kick. i took my iphone and atlas on an errand to the light bulb store on mississippi ave and then we wandered around the neighborhood afterward. does that second photo not make you think of the book the secret garden? i thought so.

remember when i shared my opinions about diet coke and pickles? well, here's the next topic that needs to be discussed. it is pumpkin and raisins, people; not pumpkin and chocolate chips.

everywhere i go, every autumn, there are pumpkin-y things that include chocolate. i do not understand this combination. it's too sweet and too dry (the dry part probably makes no sense to anyone but me but i can't think of a better way to explain it).

pumpkin and raisins, on the other hand, are a perfect combination. it is not too sweet and the raisins make the dough a little juicy. my most favorite cookies in the world are pumpkin raisin cookies. i can eat an entire batch in one sitting. sometimes i do. (i suppose that's obvious, or else i wouldn't know that i could.)

i used to discuss this with the great harvest bread store. every year, they made a pumpkin bread with chocolate chips. every year, i would explain to them that it needed to include raisins, not chocolate chips. alas, they never quite agreed. sometimes they agreed that raisins would be good, but they said that people really seemed to like the chocolate.

i find this so strange. why would you eat pumpkin and chocolate when you could eat pumpkin and raisins? pumpkin and raisins for everyone, i say!

i have decided that the definition for woebegone needs to include a picture of atlas wearing a t-shirt. doesn't he look miserable? i hated to do it, but he had a wound that needed to heal and would not stop licking it, and i finally got tired of shouting no at him.

if i ever wonder why i cannot get my dream bedding, i just need to look at this picture of muddy paw prints on the bed. (i feel like this photo does not even do the mud justice.) why is it that a) my brilliant rainy day ideas always involve a very wet and muddy dog and b) the same wet and muddy dog likes to dry himself off on my bed? i suspect that pre-atlas-me would think current-me has lost her sanity because current-me just looks at the paw prints and smiles because she is so happy that she has an atlas pup to track mud on the bed.

my intention for the month of december (i realize it's not december, i started early) is to take really really really good care of myself.

(actually, this was supposed to be my intention for the quarter – the quality i am working with is wholeness. better late than never, right?)

the trouble with this particular intention is that i have a hard time taking good care of myself, let alone really really really good care of myself. i am better at it than i used to be, but it's still an ongoing practice.

the other day, in a fit of inspiration, it occurred to me that this might be more fun if i pretended that i was my very own butler. named jeeves, of course. have you read the book wake up, sir by jonathan ames? jeeves is the main character's butler and my inspiration.

i tell you, having a butler is the best thing ever. i wish i had hired one years ago. he is so kind and caring and thoughtful.

last night, i was so much in flow that i forgot to eat dinner and worked at my computer for so long that my back ached and ached. i really needed jeeves to remind me to eat and to get up every so often, but apparently i gave him the evening off.

a very sad and dejected me-this-morning: "jeeves???"

jeeves: "i'm sorry to hear that you had a rough evening, sir. maybe a round of yoga would set you right? i'll put a fleece blanket nearby in case the idea appeals to you.

also, i noticed that you took an aleve this morning; might i suggest that you rest today? i will wash the dishes later and put another load of laundry going, but we can save the other things until tomorrow. if you rest this morning, maybe you will feel like going for a hike later. it is such a lovely day and you always feel better when you're outdoors.

by the way, you are out of aleve, so you are going to want to visit new seasons later and buy aleve and toilet paper. you know you will think about both of them until they're purchased. i'd go for you, but i know how much you enjoy grocery shopping. maybe you can also buy yourself some more stuffing and have it for dinner."

me: "that does sound nice. thank you, jeeves!"

jeeves: "you're very welcome, sir."

(isn't he kind and caring and thoughtful? he always has the best suggestions.)

(and yes, jeeves refers to me as sir. i refuse to be called ma'am, and jeeves refuses to call me sweetie. sir was a good compromise.)

i think portland is having the most magnificent display of autumn colors since i moved here in 2006. i almost cannot stand the gloriousness of it. seriously. there has been a great deal of squealing and clapping with glee. (i often think that i should not be allowed to drive in the fall. i am horribly distracted.)

apparently atlas spent this visit to the doggy ranch trying valiantly to catch bella, a little weimaraner who can outrun every dog there. he never caught her, but he certainly gave it his all, as evidenced by his trimmer waist and more visibly muscular torso.

the tiny leaves in the last photo looked like stars on the sidewalk.

since now is the time of year when so many of us need to pause (to rest and recharge and renew) more than ever, and it is also the time of year when it is the hardest to find the time and/or money to do so, i am offering a special on that service for the remainder of the year. if it speaks to you and the time is right, do sign up. there are a couple of spots available in november and a few more available in december.

i usually drink a great many eggnog lattes this time of year but i don't love coffee. yesterday, i had a brilliant plan. i always have a box of chai tea latte on hand and you add milk to it, so i bought eggnog and i am going to make eggnog chai lattes! i am anticipating the goodness of the eggnog without the coffee taste. fingers crossed that it actually is tasty.

do you want a good salad idea? roast cauliflower with olive oil, sea salt, and curry powder. toss salad greens, thinly sliced pear, red onion, and walnuts into a bowl, then add the roasted cauliflower (warm or cold, both are good). for a dressing, i like to drizzle it with olive oil and add a pinch of sea salt. it is delicious – and perfect for this season.

speaking of cauliflower, in my personal experience, one head of cauliflower equals one serving of cauliflower, especially if it's roasted. i always wonder what people do who are cooking for more than one person.

i'd love to hear what's going on in your world today.

i left my beeswax votives burning while i ran upstairs to get the vacuum the other day.

on the way, i got distracted by the internet. ("on the way" being a stretch, of course, since the vacuum is in the room at the top of the stairs and my computer is neither in that room nor on the stairs.)

such a pretty pretty outcome, but such a bad bad idea. i can see all the ways in which this could have gone wrong.

i am leaving it there for a while, exactly as it is, as a reminder that candles should not be left unattended. (ok, also because i think it's pretty, but definitely as a reminder.)

i always put atlas’ bed on the rebounder while i vacuum the downstairs. i paused my vacuuming efforts yesterday to take a quick photo in the kitchen. while i was doing so, i heard a thump, and came out of the kitchen to see what was going on. this is the sight that greeted me.

i am pretty sure there is a rule that says no dogs on the rebounder. apparently that rule is rendered null and void if the dog’s bed is on the rebounder.

p.s. apparently atlas fell in love with a little white pug at the doggy ranch. they’re in the photo on the left, six rows down, surveying their doggy ranch-dom. don’t they look cute?

i wander around singing this line every october. i know it's actually part of a christmas song – well, if you replace month with time – but it feels so much more true to me right now. i do so love october.