You know what is straight up special about New York City? Some days it beats absolutely everything out of you. And then it fills you up with something even better.

Oh, this town.

I suppose right on cue with all of the new year resolutions flying around, as a family we are trying to be more mindful of how we spend our time.

Ignoring the buzzes that come from our phones, our email, our computers. Stepping back from the social media trifecta -- Facebook, Twitter & Instagram -- and instead seeing more of our family and friends. Tuning off the television. Simplifying our schedules so they look less like blueprints. You know, disbanding the armies of distractions in our lives. Looking back at 2012 I fear the thing I wasted most was time. And, time? Well, it isn't always kind to us. It goes and promises it will never come back.

So because of that Monday nights are my new favorite thing around the Stanley loft. I zip out to candelight yoga with a friend, come home to take a bubble bath {these bubbles are lovely!} and the mister cooks us dinner and puts CJ to bed. I'm secretly over-the-moon for my decadent little Mondays now. 

What about you, sweet friends, how do you disband your armies?

P.S. While Mondays are mine, the mister has his own night where he plays ping pong with the guys and drinks craft beer.

{Photo via Kae Laerin}

So I have a deep, soul-searching, philosophical question for you, sweet readers. What kind of tree are you? While you are thinking...

We are the Stanleys and we proudly say no to faux fir!

We are bristly needle, sweet smelling, heavy bough, deep evergreen, real live Christmas tree people. I feel the holidays when there is a tree making my apartment smell like an enchanted forest, when there are pine needles sprinkled across the floor sticking to my wooly socks. It is symbolic of the season, really. Our tree is living and breathing and pulsing in the corner, but the reality is, it is dying. And another year is, too. Making way for something...for the new. It's beautiful, really. Could you imagine if the Rockefeller tree were plastic? 

We've never really had a tradition of how we get our tree. We have gotten them from the farmer's market, from the guys selling them on every city street corner, but this year we decided to drive out to the mountains and cut down our own tree. 

And that feeling of Christmas carols coming from the radio, hot chocolate in a thermos and pine needles blowing from the top of our car down the highway.

Well.

That's Christmas.

And now the ante has been upped and not only does our tree need to be real. But we need to cut it down ourselves.

Here's a little peek from our adventure, if you'd like to see.

The Christmas tree farm was about as cute as a gingerbread house. You literally pulled down a dirt road, past a lake and up to a field of trees. Santa's little green soldiers.

We took a hayride out to the portion of the field where the trees were prime and proud. On the way our driver took us past their section of Charlie Brown trees, rows of bushes growing holly and bushes they use to make their wreaths. It was so pretty and the air smelled of sap and wood.

We searched through patch after patch of prickly trees, interviewing the potential candidates. CJ let them down slowly, describing one as too sharp and another as sort of tall and weird. What can I say, they just didn't have the qualities we were looking for. And then we found the one. CJ helped topple it down, we tagged it and...went to eat marshmallows by the fire, of course.

And just so we are clear, this is a kid happy on sweets...

And this is the Grinch when you cut off his marshmallow intake...

And once that was clear, we bundled up our tree and headed home.

So, sweet readers, what kind of tree are you?

I have been unintentionally quiet on the blog lately, but today, I want to be purposefully silent and take a moment to remember the victims and grieving families of the Sandy Hook school shootings. A pause to show we will stop our worlds to lift up those in need. However, quickly, I also want to share that if you want to help here are a few ways to support the people of Newtown. And a quote a friend shared recently. 

"The world is indeed full of peril and in it there are many dark places. But still there is much that is fair. And though in all lands love is mingled with grief, it still grows, perhaps, the greater." -- J.R.R. Tolkien

We are elbow deep in preparation for our tropical Thanksgiving shore side. The beach blanket is set. We are wearing our best bikinis. We've made a jazzy cranberry relish with pineapples and slid in a key lime pie along the typical pumpkin. 

Because today we shall give thanks.

There is nothing I could ever be more grateful for than my little trio of a family. My heart beats stronger and my steps are more purposed because they are in my life.

So, my dear readers, cheers to the things that we are thankful for and may they stack up higher than the turkey on our plates. And if you are so inclined, I'd love to hear what you are feeling especially warm and fuzzy about today.

Smooch.

I am so intrigued by holiday traditions. While so many of the typical customs string from family to family {raise your hand if you are having turkey tomorrow!} there are also fascinating and intricate things that vary. They reveal such a tender side to family life. Fun fact: A couple we know always travels to a different city during the holiday and eats one of the typical Thanksgiving staples for lunch. Once they ate turkey sandwiches in San Francisco and another time they had curry pumpkin soup in Delhi. Nifty.

When the sir and I were dating and living in Florida we always traveled to see our families in Pennsylvania {either his in Philadelphia or mine in Pittsburgh} for the Thanksgiving holiday. Once we had CJ, we prefered to create a more intimate and slow-paced tradition and opted to skip traveling and stay at home in the city since we usually travel for Christmas. We would cook and drink wine all day and then get our Christmas tree at night. I loved it. This year we decided to rent a house on the beach in Florida with my parents, grandmother, brother and sister-in-law. So I guess our tradition varies. 

But the turkey, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and football are always steady and the same.

I'm curious, sweet readers, who do you usually celebrate Thanksgiving with? Where? What do you eat?

P.S. If you are still looking for a dish to saddle up to the supper table with tomorrow this shepherd-less pie or this roasted butternut squash with feta looks delish! Or, hello, pumpkin creme brulee!

{Photo via Once Wed}

Bonjour from the beach, lovies! We arrived early Saturday morning after a 3am cab ride, 3 hour plane ride and 3 nearly lost suitcases. Whew.

I spent many summers on Anna Maria Island in Florida when I was growing up so I'm so excited to share this place with CJ. We've snorkeled to the sand bar for sand dollars, checked out the parrots at the local gift shop and walked to the pier for ice cream cones for breakfast, so we are off to a grand start. 

And the sunsets.

We have a dance party until the sun pops over the horizon every night.

So.

Tropical Thanksgiving 2012 is well underway.

I'm curious, what is your favorite beach? I'd love to hear!

Happy weekend, sweet friends. A few months ago we decided to rent a beach house with my family for the Thanksgiving holiday, so we are retreating to a tiny island in the sea called Anna Maria off the coast of Florida. We plan on eating our turkey off of frisbees in our bathing suits. Not really. And the sir and I plan on taking a walk every day at dusk to watch the sun melt like a drippy egg yolk. Really. Have an adventurous one!

+ The New York Times has a Thanksgiving help line. Genius.

+ Everyone needs a coat-igan, no?

+ I'll be baking these for our tropical Thanksgiving feast.

+ I want to do this for somebody special.

+ I've added about 213 new places to visit thanks to Airbnb's new neighborhood guides.

+ Such an intriguing article about Tory Burch.

+ This polish is so pitch perfect for the holidays.

+ I laughed for an hour when I saw these. Gag gift?

+ I want to jazz up my cutlery.

+ These holiday cards are pretty spiffy.

+ I've gone and fallen in love with a kitchen product.

+ Do a little good. This calendar raises funds for Hurricane Sandy relief.

{Photo via BiCoastal Blue}

So, the upshot of this whole post? A perfectly sweet and crisp recipe for a fall drink. 

But, first.

Last week CJ and I sidestepped off of Fifth Avenue and took a walk to the Central Park's Conservatory Waters. We had already been on the 5 train, switched to the 6 train, sat through a doctor's appointment and walked a handful of city blocks, half of which my hands were full carrying a little boy whose knees "were too heavy to walk anymore." My feet were throbbing from it all, too. {Truth: I was also breaking in a new pair of oxfords. Ouch!} I debated just doing the whole Central Park thing another day. 

But.

It's fall.

In Central Park.

Another day and it could be winter.

And we don't get uptown often.

So we ducked in and walked along the path, especially slow, on account of our heavy knees and uncooperating oxfords. 

We saw the usual hot dog vendors, the perfect skyline of the Plaza seemingly painted behind the trees, the artists asking to draw our picture, the tourists staring at maps instead of losing themselves in one of NYC's gems.

You know what we didn't see?

The blaze of red, yellow and orange of leaves on fire with fall. Sure, we spotted a few leaves speckled with brown and softer greens that were, maybe, if you winced your eyes tight enough, faintly yellow. But nothing looked intentional, purposeful. We heard a saxophonist play Sinatra over and over. Central Park was hitting the same note, too. Green. Everywhere. Where was the power of the season?

And our knees were heavy and our feet hurt.

Back onto the sidewalk, back on the 6 train and then the 5. And then home.

But before home, a stop at my favorite coffee shop. The barista was new. He had a toothy smile and wore a beat-up grey beanie and he was well versed in all the fall fixings. Pumpkin spice lattes, hot cider, hot chocolate, dashes of nutmeg on your drink.

There it was. Fall. 71 blocks downtown and right in my face. Or mouth.

Iced coffee with soy, to go.

The toothy-grinned barista in his beanie looked like I had committed a cardinal rule against the whole fall season by idolizing a drink that isn't steamy or foamy or filled with a pumpkin patch. Or maybe I was just grumpy because the blistered feet and the heavy kid and the wobbly knees.

Iced coffee with soy, to go.

For the final few blocks home, the light was soft like honey. The brutal sun of summer had melted away. Leaves rattled along the ground like whispers for cableknit sweaters. The air was fresh and biting, nipping at the impending arrival of winter. It was unabashedly fall. Maybe without the crimson leaves or the cinnamon drinks.

But, fall, nonetheless. 

And you know what? We'll make it uptown again and so will the bright leaves, buttered in all the shades of the season.

And in the meantime, the upshot, a little fall drink that isn't warm or filled with pumpkins.

Cranberry + Apple Tea

eight cups of water

four tea bags

a handful of cranberries

two apples, sliced

a few glugs of agave syrup, or 1/4 of a cup of raw brown sugar

Boil the eight cups of water in a pot on the stove. Reduce to simmering and add the tea bags and fruit. Let it all mull together for 15 minutes or so. Stir in a little agave syrup or sugar to sweeten it up. Pour into a pitcher over ice. Or not. Warm is good, too.

P.S. Pumpkins, we still love you.

Hip, hip for the weekend! We are going on a steam train ride through the Hudson River Valley that drops you off in a giant pumpkin patch hidden where two mountains meet. We're excited to drink hot apple cider on the train and wear wooly sweaters. I'm hoping the leaves are on fire with color right now and the air will be crisp enough you can hear it crinkle. What are you up to this weekend, friends?

+ This year in review is awesome!

+ It's cozy-up-and-read weather. Here are some great suggestions.

+ What a happy home for your rings.

+ Just drinking with Hemingway. No biggie.

+ The human body as a subway map.

+ Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. You're welcome.

+ How to host a pumpkin carving party.

+ And while we are talking pumpkins...hello, gorgeous!

+ This strongman costume makes my heart hurt it's so cute.

+ Oh, yep. Wishlisted.

+ Pretty, tiny braids.

{Photo credit: unknown}