Wintry Weekend

I had a wonderful weekend filled with lots of Christmasy activities. I baked cookies with my mom, went to "The Nutcracker" with a friend, and my husband and I listened to Christmas music as we repainted the kitchen. It's not necessarily the best timing to do the latter, but we need to finish this task before our Christmas party Thursday night -- yikes! We went to our friends' holiday party on Friday night, which was so much fun, and left as snow had just begun to fall. The following morning I woke up to sunshine and a snow-covered view. I so love this time of year!

Photo by me. 

Patterns

Today my city has a snow day. Nearly everyone is tucked in at home. Although a lot of us will probably try to do some work, I suspect our pace will be different. I hope we slip into new rhythms and take note of the patterns around us as our normal setting is altered.

Pattern is what first attracted me to the incredible artwork by Barcelona illustrator Judy Kaufmann. She captures the dance of buildings, quirks of individuals, beautiful growth of trees and the hypnotic, chaotic, wonderful movement all around us (and her blog is pretty great too). Have a look:

Photos from here.

White Out

After a very full and hectic week, it's quite nice to be forced to stay in this weekend. A big storm rolled through, canceling plans and keeping everyone in their homes. Outside, a thick blanket of snow is making everything brilliantly bright, and inside we're staying warm and not doing much at all.

The bright outdoor light brought to mind this fantastic Victorian, featured in Living Etc. White materials and simple-lined furniture seem the perfect counterparts to all the natural light this home gets. It's just lovely.

Photos from here.

Now's the Time

Happy December! We got the first teensiest snow of the season today, and the temperature didn't pass thirty degrees. But it feels like time for this. I like winter weather in the days leading up to Christmas. I like how frigid air and snow set the tone for twinkling lights outside and warm get-togethers inside. It's a special time of year and I want to feel it all.

I find this photograph by Raceytay completely magical. Wouldn't Montreal be a lovely place to spend the holidays?

Photo from here.

Time to Hibernate

I'm looking forward to a little getaway with my honey this weekend. A cozy resort, lots of relaxing and maybe some snowshoeing. 

Happy weekend! 

Photo from here.

Flights of Fancy

I am absolutely taken with the Allison Trentelman's bird photography at NatureMandalas. Her images capture such breathtaking moments in time. And the snowy world her birds inhabit seems like a quietly magical place.

Photos from here.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

But just like the song goes, it's truly delightful inside tonight. A blizzard is raging outside, but we're safe and warm and happy. I'm not sure what the storm will do to our holiday plans tomorrow and Friday, but I really can't ask for anything more than I have right now.

Photo from here.

Winter Wonderland

The other day, I ran across these stunning photos of a snowy New York City. They're by Jamie, the photographer and blogger behind From Me To You., for a special project for Simple Blueprint. I keep returning to these images because the stillness and quietness of them is so magical -- especially when you consider they were taken in one of the most dynamic places on earth. I don't know how she did it ... but I'm so glad she did!

Photos from here.

Let it Snow

Ooh, what a crazy couple of days it's been, weather-wise. We had our fist blizzard of the year, which pretty much gave our entire city a snow day yesterday. I love that most people and businesses and organizations decided all the things on their to-do lists weren't crucial enough to make them attempt to drive through the snow and ice to work.

Our home was extra cozy. My husband watched a movie while I read by the fire, with the pup curled up next to me, of course. We saw kids playing outside in the snow and adults trying to unearth their driveways from heaps of the white stuff. We enjoyed our Christmas tree and even the fact that our Internet was down. We were snowed in truly, in a great, old-fashioned sense of the term.

Here are a few snapshots from our snow day. Stay warm!

Photos by me.

Yippee!

We had our first big snow of the winter yesterday. I woke up today to a world blanketed in a beautiful layer of white. 

Snow is great early in the season. We haven't gotten sick of scraping our cars and shoveling our sidewalks. It's pure fun -- much like this absolutely adorable dog romping in the fluffy stuff!

Photo from here.