Easing Into Cozy Season: Five Favorites I’m Loving Right Now
There’s a specific week every September when the light changes before the weather does. You notice it walking Scout in the morning: that low gold slant, a little chill you didn’t have yesterday. I’m not ready to fully commit to cozy season one day it is hot and the next day it might be cool here in Paso, but I am ready to ease into it. Slowly. With intention. Here’s what’s on my radar this week.
Beth Webb’s Habersham Project
If you want a lesson in restraint, look at what designer Beth Webb just did with a stately Atlanta property called Habersham. She’s designed this particular house three separate times for three different owners over the years, which is its own kind of remarkable. Returning to it this time, for a new family who wanted something traditional but not overly formal, she described the experience as like “seeing a dear old friend”. The result honors the home’s classic bones without being too precious. It’s featured in Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles’ November issue, photographed by Lisa Romerein, and it’s exactly the kind of “elegant but lived in” I’m always chasing in my own home. This wonderful home whispers in the season.
I have long been a fan of Beth Webb’s work. I have featured her here many times. You can find all of my features here.
You can see more of this lovely project on Beth’s website here, or in Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles here.
Two Neutral Cozy Outfits of the Week
There are two pieces I am coveting for fall: a gray COS cashmere sweater (the kind of gray that goes with everything and looks expensive because it is) and a fabulous Pierre-Louis Mascia scarf in one of his vintage look patterned prints that instantly makes a plain sweater look like an outfit. What I love is how differently you can style the exact same two pieces.
Outfit one is easy and daytime: those great Chicos jeans, boots, and tortoise accessories, a tortoise brooch from Ralph Lauren (also coveting) and machete earrings, and a great bag I am determined to purchase. It’s the version I’d wear to run errands or meet a friend for coffee and still feel pulled together.
Outfit two takes the same sweater and scarf into evening: silk pants instead of jeans, a vintage rhinestone bag, statement earrings, and carpet mules on my feet. Same two anchor pieces, completely different mood. That’s the whole trick to a Collected Wardrobe: buy the good sweater and the great scarf once, then let everything else around them do the changing.
A Healthy Fall Recipe
For the recipe, I’m doing a cheater’s version of the New York Times Italian Wedding Soup, the one everyone’s been making for years with homemade mini meatballs. I skip that step entirely and swap in Amylu’s basil parmesan chicken meatballs from Costco, which taste like someone’s Italian grandmother made them and take zero effort on a Sunday when you’d rather be out wine tasting. Simmer them right in the broth with the veggies, the pasta, and Parmesan rind if you have one knocking around the fridge. Nobody at the table will know the difference. I promise. I also often substitute quinoa for the
Ingredients
- FOR THE SOUP
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large yellow onion chopped (about 2 cups)
- 3 medium carrots diced (about 2 cups)
- 2 to 3 large celery ribs diced (about 1½ cups)
- 2 large garlic cloves minced (about 1 tablespoon)
- Kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal and black pepper
- 8 cups 2 quarts chicken broth, plus more as needed
- ½ cup acini di pepe ditalini or orzo
- 3 cups packed baby spinach
- Grated Parmesan for serving
- 2 Pkg Amy Lu Basil Parmesan Meatballs (whole foods, target, Safeway, Albertsons etc)
Instructions
- Make the soup: In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot add the meatballs, turning occasionally, just tow warm through. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Step 3
- Add the onion, carrots and celery to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are crisp-tender, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic, 1 teaspoon of salt (or 2 teaspoons if you’re using low-sodium broth) and ½ teaspoon black pepper. Cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Step 4
- Return the meatballs to the pot, add the broth and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir in the pasta, lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes.
- Step 5
- Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach until wilted. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed. (The broth should taste pleasantly salty.) Serve hot, topped with Parmesan. The pasta will continue to absorb liquid as the soup sits; you may need to add broth when reheating. Soup will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator or 3 months in the freezer (see Tip).
- Tip
- To freeze, cool soup to room temperature in the pot, then transfer to airtight containers and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, or run the container under hot tap water until the soup releases. Transfer to a pot and bring to a simmer, partially covered, adding more water or broth if necessary.
A Cozy Fall Read
I’m loving Buckeye by Patrick Ryan. It’s a sweeping, quiet novel that follows two couples in a small Ohio town ( I am a Midwesterner) across four decades, from World War II onward, tracing what one impulsive kiss sets in motion for the rest of their lives. It’s the kind of book you sink into slowly over a season, not race through in a weekend, which makes it perfect cozy-season reading. It’s a New York Times bestseller and a Read With Jenna pick for good reason. Keep it by the fire with the soup simmering.
Textural Home Accessories for the Season
Cozy season is when I let texture take over the house the way it takes over my closet. A boucle pillow added to the mix on the sofa, my favorite Libeco throws reenter the den. Rattan and hide trays for the coffee table, because they warm up a room the second you set them down. Linen napkins in a nubby weave instead of the crisp summer ones. None of this requires a redecorate. It’s a drawer’s worth of swaps that make a house feel like it’s settling in for the season right alongside you.
That’s my five for this week. Easing into a season doesn’t mean throwing yourself in all at once. It means noticing what you’re drawn to, letting it in a little at a time, and trusting that by the time the leaves actually turn, you’ll already feel at home in it. We have rented a condo for the month of September in Walnut Creek so there isn’t much decorating going on around here. Hopefully I can ease into it”!! Now let’s pop over and visit Annie and Mary Ann for their Sunday faves.
I’m a fan of both Beth Webb and COS. I have a gray cashmere COS sweater in my closet that is so well made – I can’t remember when I purchased it, and it’s not going anywhere this season, so it was well worth the splurge. I just printed out the soup recipe for one night this week.
I do love both those outfits. Inspired by your pics of fall vignettes. Cleaning out a closet and reorganizing holiday decor, figured I may as well put out my fall decor. Feels a little early for it, with 90 degree temps still in Knoxville, but as you say, I can ease into it. Thanks Cindy.
I am reading and enjoying Buckeye too. Did you notice he dedicated to Ann Patchett and her husband?
Love love love that sweater but I have a very short neck. So not sure I can pull it off. And the Frida Khalil earrings got swooped up!! Printed out the soup recipe and I can’t wait to make it when it cools off. Great Sunday faves Cindy.
Hi Cindy,
Thank you so much or the soup recipe, that is happening here!! Sounds delicious! I love decorating the house for Fall and it is nearly done. Have not bought the pumpkins for the front door yet waiting for Trader Joes’s heirloom pumpkins to come in. The weather is changing and the mornings are cooler. Love everything you have shown us. That scarf and sweater, just wow…..
I also really enjoyed the book and it stayed with me for quite a while. The awfulness of not being loved as a child and how it affects your life…
Have a beautiful sunday!
That soup looks delicious! I’m ready for cozy season! The colors, thre food, all of it! Is that your planter on the stone pillar? It’s so gorgeous filled with such beautiful pumpkins and foraged branches!
I’m loving all of your suggestions this Sunday. From the gorgeous sweater to the easy soup and novel to the boucle pillow cover. The weather is starting to change yet I haven’t been motivated enough to switch from summer to fall until reading your post this morning. Thank you sharing your fabulous ideas! Now I am going to go check out Beth Webb’s site for more design inspiration.
That soup…omg. I’m sending it to Howard as he is the Costco shopper.
And Beth Webb…those candle sticks on the mantel and fireplace in the dining area. Love it!