My favourite reads from the week

Well, I think it’s safe to say that Winter has officially arrived here in Alberta. After a few days of heavy snowfall, the world outside our windows is starting to look like a Winter wonderland and I have to say, we’re all VERY excited about it here in the Mercer house! As much as I love Summer around here (it always seems to pass by far too quickly), I can’t imagine a Winter without the beauty and fun activities that come with all this snow!
Carson’s been itching to go tobogganing in the woods near our house ever since the first snowflake hit the ground a few weeks ago. In fact, all of the neighbourhood kids got together last weekend, shovelling up all of the snow from the yard to make their own little snow jump to share. But now, with all the snow that fell this week, they’ll all be able to head into the woods to hit up all of their favourite hills again – Carson is already counting down the days until the weekend.
All the snow hasn’t made it very easy to work on the gazebo, so we haven’t made any progress at all through this week on that. Thankfully, Brady did get a ton done last weekend before all the snow hit (you can see all of the framing progress from last week’s update to this week in the photos below).

For right now we’re just planning to install the first layer of planking on the roof, which will be enough to keep the snow off the hot tub area through the Winter at least, but we’re thinking we’ll finish it off with some cedar shingles next Summer. I think Brady also plans to add some cedar skirting, though I’m not sure if that’s a now or later project too. The finish line is in sight at least – with one side of the roofing in place already, we’re hoping to have the rest of the roof finished up this weekend. #fingerscrossed
On the blog this week
I shared my first home tour of the holiday season – our bedroom space looks SO cozy all decked out for Christmas!

And a collection of my favourite holiday candles to fill your home with scents of Christmas.

And now, here’s what I’ll be catching up with this weekend…
weekend reading
Here’s a great resource to help you find the right sized rug for any space.
And you need to see this incredible century old house restoration. Every inch is SO dreamy!

This lovely Thanksgiving table is just so warm + inviting.
Where do you fall in the great Christmas decorating debate?
It’s cozy views like this that make me want to fill our home with all things Christmas the day after Halloween.

I think this prediction of the 7 Christmas trends that will be huge this year is pretty spot on.
Brady & I love making fancy cocktails to sip by the fire. Can’t wait to try a few of these Christmas cocktails this holiday season.
Finding SO much inspiration in the simplicity of this French farmhouse holiday decor. Definitely adding the adorable dried orange garland to my must-try list this holiday season.

And speaking of things I’d like to try this holiday season, these lovely handmade ornaments just moved to the top of my list.

Finally, here’s what’s on my nightstand this week.
Wishing you the most lovely weekend!
I can't wait to hear your thoughts!