photo by kristen bach
dew + grass
in Daily Beauty
dried flora arrangement
one more arrangement using found flora for the winter season (well, it may not be the last one ever, but the last one for now...)...the other day, i came home to a bundle of beauty at my door, left by my friends mandy and steve. i love that mandy knows how much i love seedheads, pods, and dried things, so i went to work making a simple arrangement using her ingredients. i love this container- it is a cast iron shape with a built-in kenzan (a japanese type of flower frog), which makes for easy arranging- almost fool-proof, really. i love how these types of arrangements last and last. to dress them up, you can hit them with a little gold spray paint- yes, i love a hint of gold spray paint this time of year (see here and here)...enjoy!
winged seeds
in Daily Beauty
grandma's christmas toffee
every year we would travel to northern wisconsin and spend the holidays at my grandma b's house. she always had an array of handmade candy on hand and her toffee was my favorite.
this year i tried to make some adding roasted georgia pecans. it never tastes as good as when grandma makes it.
i followed this super easy recipe and it was delicious. i doubled it and shared it with friends and neighbors.
seedheads
in Daily Beauty
photograph by rinne allen
more giving ideas...
the last few fridays we have featured places or organizations we love, with the hopes that some of you reading may want to support them over the holidays...by spreading the good word or donating to the organizations themselves...
there are so many worthy organizations out there, both close to home and further afield- it makes it hard to choose which one to feature today...but, we decided that we would talk about an organization that helps some of those who need help the most: the hungry children of our community.
the Food2Kids program through the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia provides food over the weekends for children in our local school district, and across the wider Northeast Georgia region as well. through this program, the neediest children are given backpacks of food to take home each weekend, to insure that they will not go hungry from the time they leave school on friday to the time they return on monday morning. the backpacks are filled with food that is nutritious and also food that does not require cooking, so that nourishment is easy. while the food bank receives food through donations for its other programs, the Food2Kids program does not accept donation of actual food, therefore it depends on monetary donations to purchase the food that goes in the backpacks each weekend.
please consider a donation to this worthy cause this holiday season.
fungi
in Daily Beauty
photograph by rinne allen
foggy country drive
in The Country
a few weeks ago, i went on a little roadtrip, to the south. setting out in early morning meant that i was passing through the fog for most of my drive, and it was so pretty. i stopped a few times to take photographs, and then, of course, i had to stop by one of our favorite houses, the mason house, too, because it was right on the way...then i crossed a lake twice and got the almost all white photos below...
words and photographs by rinne allen
sage colored wood
in Daily Beauty
photo by kristen bach
in the midst of a busy holiday weekend we decided to escape and head to the country. we stumbled upon this sweet historical homestead, shields etheridge farm. we spent the afternoon wandering around the grounds, admiring the textures, history, artifacts, lights, shadows, and it's overall beauty. enjoy!
shields etheridge farm
fading
in Daily Beauty
photograph by rinne allen
from the woods
{note, this post ran a few weeks ago, but it got lost in the shuffle when we switched over to our new site design, so we are re-running it today, so it stays in the mix!}
my family spent five days in the woods over the thanksgiving holiday. this bouquet was made from what i could find on a long walk...rose hips, grasses, hazel, galax, and these funny long sticks with bumps on them- know the name? i don't, but my boys had fun playing with them.
photographs & arrangement by rinne allen
bark
in Daily Beauty
photograph by rinne allen
holiday recipe ideas!
every year around this time we like to round up some of our favorite recipes that would make great gifts, in case you need some ideas or inspiration for some yummy home-cooked treats...all of these are tried & true and are certified crowd-pleasers...enjoy!
rosemary chocolate chip cookies
dark chocolate truffles
spiced maple pecans
hot-cross buns
rosemary-orange sugar cookies
rose hips
in Daily Beauty
photograph by rinne allen
the r.e.m. steeple + nuci's space
Athens' music history is deep and wide. People from all over the world come to our town to learn about it and visit the hallowed grounds of the early scene. One of the most iconic sites, the steeple of St.Mary's church, is the place where many r.e.m. fans begin their visit, as it is all that remains of the site of the band's first show in 1980.
The steeple still stands tall, but is in need of repair. Luckily, it has a good neighbor. Nuci's Space, the musician resource center, lives next door and they have launched a campaign to raise funds to repair the steeple in order to integrate the structure into their space, and their mission. Their campaign is in it's last few days (or, even hours!) of fundraising.
Please consider supporting this good cause, whether you love r.e.m., or you just love Athens, or because you want to support Nuci's Space's amazing mission.
red bank
in Daily Beauty
photograph by rebecca wood
last week, i went on a drive to one of my favorite places, hancock county, georgia. i passed this abandoned house and wasn't going to stop (because, you know, we stop at *so* many abandoned houses already!), but then i saw the smokehouse out back through a last glance in my rearview mirror and i knew i had to turn around. it is always a little sad to see houses with good bones like these falling to ruin. but, then again, that is part of their mystery and charm.
abandoned house
in The Country
words and photographs by rinne allen
peeking through
in Daily Beauty
photograph by rinne allen
a favorite spot of mine, graves barn stand tall near downtown sparta, georgia. it has not changed much in the 15 years that i have been visiting, and its folk gothic woodwork gets me every time. this style is very unique to the area; to my knowledge there aren't any other structures with these forms. and, on this late fall day, the barn was the perfect backdrop for the colors of the drying grasses and dark plum-reds of the leaves nearby.
graves barn
words and photographs by rinne allen