Sweetpea… Butter bean... Snookey Ookums.. October starts Thursday. THURSDAY. How?! 😂 September has been our month of coming home. We've gotten back into our routines. We've cooked dinner. We've talked about making our houses the place to be. We've gathered people. We've made Game Day count as dinner. We've practiced taking care of Future Us. And now? We're ready for October. Not because everything is perfectly organized. Not because the freezer is empty and waiting. Not because we've...
3 days ago • 2 min read
I think one of the nicest things we can do for ourselves this time of year is notice the season we're actually in. Not the one coming next. Not the holiday we're preparing for. Not the weather we wish we were having. 😂 Right now. Late September. The light is changing. The evenings are getting shorter. The produce at the market is shifting. The house starts asking for lamps instead of overhead lights a little earlier. And even though we've started talking about preparing for the holidays...
7 days ago • 2 min read
Okay, Sweetpea. Darling. Angel of mine. I've made us a plan. Last Thursday, I asked you to think about the things that make the holidays harder than they need to be. The overflowing freezer. The guest room that's become a holding zone. The weeknight dinners that completely fall apart in December. The Thanksgiving dishes we KNOW could have been made ahead. The gifts with nowhere to hide. The seventeen things we suddenly remember need doing at the exact same time. And I told you I've been...
10 days ago • 3 min read
I have a question for you: What could you do now that would make November You want to reach back through time and kiss you on the mouth? 😘 I'm serious. Because somewhere around the middle of September, I start noticing something. The calendar isn't exactly busy yet. But I can see it coming. October will arrive. Then somehow we'll blink, and it's November. Then there are approximately seventeen things happening every weekend, someone needs you to bring an appetizer, the grocery store is out of...
14 days ago • 3 min read
I would like to officially declare something: Game Day counts as dinner. There. I said it. You do not need to make a “real meal” after everyone has spent the afternoon standing around the kitchen island eating chicken wings, chips and dip, little sandwiches, and approximately 47 bites of something cheesy. That WAS dinner. 😂 And frankly? Some of my favorite meals look exactly like that. A table full of little things. Everybody reaching for something. Someone standing in the kitchen eating...
17 days ago • 2 min read
I have a September assignment for all of us: Make your house the place to be. Not the fanciest place to be. Not the cleanest. Not the place with the biggest kitchen or the prettiest dining room or the most impressive menu. The place where people walk in and immediately think, Oh, good. I'm here. THAT place. Because I think sometimes we make gathering at home so much bigger than it needs to be. We wait until we have the right table. The right dishes. A free Saturday to clean every baseboard. A...
21 days ago • 3 min read
I have a question for you this Monday: What can you do today that Thursday You will be ridiculously grateful for? Not December You. Not someday-when-you-finally-get-your-life-together You. Thursday You. She's close enough that we actually know what she might need. Maybe she'll be tired. Maybe the week will have gone sideways. Maybe she'll open the refrigerator at 5:30 PM and desperately hope someone in there has a plan. And this is where one of my favorite parts of my Holistic Hosting System...
24 days ago • 3 min read
September is here, and I am so ready for her. (But, y'all... this 90˚ weather can leave!) Not in a rush-the-season kind of way. More in a fresh notebook, tidy kitchen, dinner simmering, let's get our rhythms back kind of way. This month at Chez Sweetpea, we're leaning into enjoying our homes, gathering people around the table, getting back into routines that support us, and quietly preparing ourselves for the busier months ahead. Think: 🍎 Apple Country🏡 enjoying home🥘 cozy-but-not-too-cozy...
28 days ago • 4 min read
Tomorrow is September 1st. And I don't know about you, but I am ready. Not ready for pumpkins everywhere. Not ready to put on a sweater when it's still 80 degrees outside. And certainly not ready to skip straight past this beautiful little stretch of late summer. But I am ready for September. There's something about this month that has always felt like a second January to me. Maybe it's all that back-to-school energy we've been talking about. Maybe it's the fresh notebooks. Maybe it's...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read