square photography

* all photos from my Instagram

Helping Hands

Mormon Helping Hands :: Hurricane Sandy :: Rockaways, NY from Joshua Brown on Vimeo.

Josh Brown is a true talent and this is his work.

visit the Helping Hands facebook page

art for a good cause

Check out these posters you can buy to support Hurricane Sandy victims.  One of our friends designed one and I think it is quite cute.  I'll have to buy one and maybe another one or two...

Other ways you can help and donate.

Organize your own coat drive through New York Cares
Donate to your local Deseret Industries
Check out NYC SERVICE for other ways to help from near and far.

square photography

* all photos from my Instagram

November

My favorite month is October with its beautiful fall days, the beginning of crisp air and the start of the Holiday Season, in my eyes, with Halloween kicking it off.  November is just one more month of

holiday fun.  I'm so glad its here.

We have left our pumpkins out to rot and decay.  I had good intentions of making pies with them but that didn't happen this year.  Its so crazy how easy it is to waste perfectly good pumpkins... anyway.  November will have been an exciting month once its over.  We've already celebrated Thanksgiving with friends, hit the scooting milestone with one child and mastered the Big Boy Bed with the other.  We still get to attend a wedding and vacation where it is snowy and sunny.  I am really looking forward to that infamous Thanksgiving feast and spending time with family.  

Oh, November, I am so happy you are here!

ps.  Am I the only one with a husband that MUST participate in Movember?

coat drive : update

I'm pretty much obsessed with my little (not little at all, actually) coat drive.

It started as a serious desire to help a week ago today.  (I wanted to rent an apartment for a month and bring my mom out to babysit just so I could go to the areas that are in need and help non stop.  Unfortunately, that just isn't in the cards for me right now.)  It has spread to many different organizations and groups.  I am so grateful that so many have rallied with me in this cause.  I am so lucky to have been able to start the ball rolling to collect warm coats for my neighbors back "at home".

There is a sweet story about one of the coats donated.  The son of Zack's co-worker wrote a note and left it in a pocket of the jacket he donated.
It said that the coat was his favorite coat but that he was giving it away because he knew some other child needed it more than he did.

I too thought of writing a note but didn't.  I regret it now.  This is what I would have said.
"This coat is very special to me because it was from my husband when we were dating.  We lived in NYC and I didn't have a warm coat for the winter, only this light weight one that I layered over everything.  He gave this to me one day and it kept me very happy and warm.  He has since given me other coats and I knew someone could get better use of this coat.  I am happy that I could give it to you."

This is a great post from the New York Cares website where I am sending the coats. 

 VETERANS DAY PARADE NOVEMBER 11 WILL BE A RALLY FOR STORM VICTIMS, COLLECTING COATS FOR NEW YORK CARES 
Read the entire post here.


The final count for the first shipment...  
235

Can you believe it?!!!  I thought my goal of 100 coats in a week would take a miracle.  I am pleasantly surprised and so humbled by the response to support my idea and mostly those in need. 

Stay warm, NYC!

coat drive

After living in NYC for so many years and then not being there to help after Hurricane Sandy, I felt terribly sad.  I wanted to help so badly.  I actually prayed to know how I could help.  I was searching online for ways I could help other than monetarily when I came across the New York Cares website.  This organization is no stranger to me.  Zack and I both volunteered with the organization several times.  I knew what I could do to help once I read the following quote.

"In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, New Yorkers are in need of warm coats more than ever this winter. To meet demand we need to collect 200,000 coats, but, due to the urgency created by Hurricane Sandy, we desperately need 50,000 coats this week!"

 So, organize a coat drive I did!

peaches + pectin

I have canned plenty of times in my lifetime but never in the last 15 years and never freezer jam.  Recently my in-laws picked up a box of peaches for me.  I decided to make freezer jam.  Mine turned out more like peach syrup.  Its actually really good so I'm not sad about it at all.

* I used the recipe on the pectin package.

Autumn colors

a lot of Halloween firsts

Happy Halloween!  It was a lovely October.  Fall here in the PNW has been so beautiful, and Halloween was a dream.  Living in a house and in a neighborhood with houses, not apartment buildings like I've had for the last 8 years, made for a very different and familiar celebration this year.

We had decorations up all month and wore costumes several times.  We partied hard.  After all, it was Haven's very first Halloween, Odin's first Halloween trick-or-treating, our first time hosting a Halloween party, and lastly our first Halloween as a family of four... AND in a house!  I can hardly wait for next year.  Its a good thing that Halloween marks the beginning of The Holiday Season.  Its going to be a good one!