The Weeks We Were Still Existing (Yes, we do)

Summer is officially over, and so are both our holiday and my little break from the blog. Of course, quite a few things happened during those weeks, and I don’t want to leave them out entirely — even if some of them did occasionally make an appearance in our Instagram stories.

Our holiday began much the same way it ended: with everyone gathered around a table.

Mike’s older brother Arthur and his wife Lottie moved into the house next door a few weeks ago, and we’ve been spending a lot of time together ever since. Sometimes they come over for a barbecue, sometimes for coffee, and sometimes simply because they can. I absolutely love it. Lottie is, technically, also our children’s nanny, although that part has changed a little recently.

Because we now have Mewriel of Cats Hollow.

Mewriel is our bot housekeeper, tasked with bringing some semblance of order to our chaos. She cooks, too — and the girls already seem to prefer her food to my culinary efforts, which is obviously very encouraging… And Mewriel is always there. If anyone is wondering whether her name was intentional: yes. Yes, it was. There had to be a cat reference somewhere, right?

And since we apparently really are the Family of Cats Hollow by now, I had a new picture made for our hallway. I think it turned out ridiculously cute.

Life outside our house was fairly busy as well. Lottie and I teamed up for my own entry in the Lanikaverse photo contest, and if we don’t pass for Bennet sisters, I really don’t know what to tell you. Naturally, as the organiser, I’m only entering for fun and won’t be part of the actual competition — but the photo alone was worth it.

Somewhere in between all of that, it was also my birthday. Mike surprised me with a beautifully decorated kitchen, a cake and an extensive shopping trip to COCO Fashion. Choose your partner wisely, ladies. 😊 Almost six years and three children later, he can still do this like no one else.

At the end of August, we also had another book club meeting. Admittedly, I’ve let the actual book club part slide a little lately, and we’ve been having more informal get-togethers instead. But I got to spend a lovely afternoon with my sister Georgianna in the garden of her bookshop, and that is something I always enjoy enormously.

Liv spent some exclusive time with Auntie Georgie at home and later she went with my Sister and her Partner Geoff on a little exploring trip. The excitement was real 🙂 and the little one wasn’t particularly easy to calm down that day.

By now, autumn has slowly started making its way into Cats Hollow, which was reason enough for a cheerful photo session with my sisters.

We really did try to behave ourselves and stand nicely for the camera. Ava had prepared everything so beautifully, and somehow we even managed to take some genuinely lovely photographs.

Things did go slightly off the rails eventually.

But, well.

It was fun. And i took some new profil pics too.

Mike also came up with the idea for this wonderful autumn rain shoot, and I love these pictures so much.

And at some point during the week, we even managed to sneak in a date night. We love trying new places for those, and this little restaurant was particularly lovely — intimate without feeling old-fashioned, modern without being cold, and definitely somewhere I’d recommend.

SORAYA´S CRAVE RESTAURANT – https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Soroya/167/245/26

So yes, my everyday Second Life has me back completely. And perhaps my favourite part of it is still the quiet mornings, when Henry is lying in my arms, perfectly content, fed and smelling wonderful, while I have my coffee and see what the day has in store for us.

There has been quite a bit happening elsewhere in the Lanikaverse, too. This week, a new issue of the Cats Hollow Gazette finally appeared. I decided to separate Cats Hollow from Lanikaverse as far as the websites are concerned and give the town a website of its own. Now that our new Town Hall has turned out so beautifully, I’m also planning several services that will eventually be available through the website. catshollow.com is still being filled with content little by little, but from now on, the Gazette will be published there exclusively.

Last Sunday, Mike’s sister Sayokii stopped by for a visit, Mewriel made her fantastic lasagne, and somehow our dear neighbours seem to possess a sixth sense for knowing when there is something good to eat at our house. Naturally, they only happened to stop by because they needed to borrow an egg… And naturally, they didn’t object in the slightest when we invited them to stay for dinner. Nothing beats having family right next door. 😊😊 and less than five minutes later, our dining table was full of food, laughter and family chaos..

I also explored a beautiful region for my Lilleth blog post this week and took my new lace coat (by Just Because) out for its first proper outing. If you’d like to see more, just click here.

The best moments are still the ones we share together as a family, again and again. This little snapshot was taken during one of them. Cosy, warm, and simply us. I think we’re ready for the colder season.

And in the end, this evening finished much like so many others before it: all of us gathered on the playroom rug at home, talking, playing, watching the children and somehow ending up there together.