Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have an amazing day with family and friends...and lots of FOOD, of course. Since today is about remembering to be thankful, I thought it would be the perfect time to share this quote which has really been resonating with me: "Learn to appreciate what you have, before time makes you appreciate what you had." A bit sobering, but such a good reminder, don't you think? I so easily get caught up in the mindset of more-more-more, never feeling satisfied and always looking to the future. But I actually have so much right now! It reminds me of another quote I like: "The secret to having it all is knowing that you already do." This is something I really want to learn. I truly believe gratitude is the key to being happy in the present.

Anyways, that's my two cents for the day! Now time to go get stuffed.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to share my new favorite apple pie recipe. I just made it for the first time last week, after my sister-in-law told me about it. Then a couple days later, Allrecipes (which is based here in Seattle) delivered pie to a bunch of local businesses--including the company where I work. Guess which pie we got? Yep, this exact same one (it’s their top rated apple pie). I figured that was probably a sign that I should tell you guys about it. This is seriously the best apple pie recipe I’ve ever found…and I’m a pie girl, so I've tried quite a few.

Apple Pie by Grandma Ople (from Allrecipes)

Ingredients:
9 inch double pie crust
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 apples, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour to form a paste. Add water, white sugar and brown sugar, and bring to a boil. Reduce temperature and let simmer.

2. Place the bottom crust in your pan. Fill with apples, mounded slightly. Cover with a lattice work crust. Gently pour the sugar and butter liquid over the crust. Pour slowly so that it does not run off.

3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees F. Continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes, until apples are soft.

The instructions and ingredients are a little bit different than any other apple pie I’ve ever made (I know, no cinnamon?!), but don’t be scared off by that. My favorite part is where the butter-sugar mixture gets baked onto the crust. It’s so yummy.

So, if you’re on pie duty for Thanksgiving, give this recipe a try. And let me know what you think!

We've been working on our bedroom over the last couple months, and it feels so good to finally give it some love! I have a tendency to put all my energy (and my cutest stuff) into the living room and dining room, since that's what people see when they first walk into our house. But the bedroom is where Ben and I start and end every day, so we finally decided that it was time to put some effort into it. And it’s really making a big difference! It’s so nice to wake up and get ready in a room that feels more put-together (you can see some "before” pictures in this post)

The biggest change is, of course, the bed. It's a tufted upholstered bed from Target. We got the navy color when they did a big sale about a month ago, and I love it! It’s actually more of a deep royal blue than a true navy--which I was glad about.

The other main difference that we've made so far is to move my desk into the bedroom. I'm now using it as a vanity. To be honest, I hardly ever sat at it when it was a desk, anyways--I guess I'm more of a sit-on-the-couch kind of girl. So this works great. I also finally got a "big girl" mirror for above the vanity. The one I had before was a cheapo $5 floor mirror, so this one is a huuuuge improvement. It's from Decor Planet!

There are still several things on my list (a blanket for the bed, a rug, and a ghost chair for the vanity, to name a few) but at least we're getting closer. I would have loved to do a big makeover and reveal it all at once, but since our budget isn’t huge, we’ve just been chipping away here and there…so I’ll be sharing more bedroom photos again soon. Little by little!

What do you guys think so far? What room in your house are you working on? Do you like to do everything all at once and get it over with, or do you chip away at it month after month as well?

I'm sharing the DIY instructions for this colorful acorn garland over on the Bali blog today! If your mind is already switching to winter/holiday mode, you can apply this same principle to anything, really--pinecones, twigs, etc. Add a little paint in your favorite colors and they'll feel seasonally appropriate, but also very "you."

Check out the rest of the photos here!