After a whirlwind summer, September has felt encouragingly slow so far. We had a cold front last week that had us pulling out long sleeves and lounge pants, and it was a sweet little preview of the months ahead! I can’t stop thinking about the upcoming holiday season and how different it will look from last year when we were barely sleeping, I was nursing around the clock, and our nerves and stress over caring for a newborn overshadowed some bits and pieces of the festivities. Now, Charlie is our best little friend and seems to be learning something new every single day. I’m so curious to see how he’ll respond to the activities on our fall list, and then the joys of Advent and Christmas!! But, I’m getting ahead of myself…here are a few things I’m loving this month :)

Purchase: I almost never make impulse purchases, but when I saw these New Balances during J. Crew’s Labor Day sale, I knew they’d be the perfect addition to my “momiform” wardrobe :) They’re so cute and comfortable, and I love the rose gold details! They also come in cream and gold.

Book: Dave and I have a bit of a fascination with wine (have y’all seen Somm? SO good!), so I was excited to dig into Cork Dork. The author is a former tech editor at Huffington Post who left her job (in which she thought about virtual things and worked on a virtual medium) in pursuit of experiencing life in a more sensory way. This led her to wine, and she spent a year immersing herself in the wine world while studying to become a certified sommelier. I always love reading books written by journalists, and this one was incredibly interesting–it looked at wine and wine culture from so many different angles and tackled questions like “What’s really the difference between a $5 bottle and a $500 bottle?” and “Are sommeliers born with more advanced smell and taste than the rest of us, or can those senses be developed?”

Store: Guess which store I randomly went into the other day that made me want to try on almost everything? Abercrombie and Fitch! Seriously. I’ve caught glimpses of their rebrand over the last year or so, and have noticed a handful of bloggers wearing their pieces that I’ve loved, so I was curious to take a peek for myself. Sure enough, the store (where the music was playing at a reasonable volume and the air did not smell like Fierce ;)) was filled with cozy, all-American basics that I promptly wanted to snap up for fall. On my wish list? This adorable blush and white pullover, this navy lace shift dress, this striped long-sleeve tee, and this perfectly cozy sweater.

Local spot: Okay, this isn’t a Raleigh-area local spot, but just in case I have any readers in Southeastern Wisconsin, I had to include it! As I mentioned at the beginning of the month, we spent a few days in my dad’s (tiny) hometown in August, and while we were there, my mom found a total gem of a coffee shop/garden center/event space called Boxed and Burlap. We had so much fun hiding out from the rain in their cozy space one afternoon!

Beauty product: I ordered a few new Beautycounter makeup products the other week and now have all of the items that would be in my Flawless in Five (previously called Five-Minute Face) set! I’ve been sticking to these six things on a daily basis and they are completely living up to my (high) expectations. For reference, I use Tint Skin Foundation in Linen, the Touchup Concealer Pen in Light, the Color Define Brow Pencil in Medium, Volumizing Mascara, the Powder Blush Duo in Flamingo/Apricot, and Lip Gloss in Peony. You can read more about Flawless in Five in this post!

Blog post: Especially in a season of life when my home is messy far more often than it looks like this, I was so encouraged by two of my friend Emily’s recent blog posts: House Contentment Hack and The Beauty of an Imperfect Home.

Memory: An extra-special photo of four generations in Wisconsin! Charlie’s sticking out tongue slays me :)

What are you loving this month?