When we look back at the year 2016, I think we are going to say, “Whew. That was a lot.” We road-tripped. We bought a house. We sold a house. We went to full-time self-employment. We created a new class and launched a new shop (well, as of next week :)). We parented four kids and […]
1. Today is my birthday. 2. I am 37 years old. 3. Truth: I just typed that I was 38 and had to think real hard about how old I actually am only to realize that I aged myself by one year. 4. This is what happens when you start getting older. You can’t remember how […]
We often say that stuff doesn’t matter. And, yes, of course that is true. In the big scheme of things, stuff is meaningless. Absolutely. 100 percent. I always thought this was true, but now I can say that after living with very, very little, I believe it more than ever. It’s the people and the real life experiences that […]
I’m about to do something crazy. Something every woman (except maybe professional athletes and models) would rather pull out their eyelashes one by one than do … Believe me, when I first shared this photo on instagram, I was a little freaked out. But I had a nudging feeling inside my heart and felt like this was […]
Friends. We leave on our 3.5 month road trip in 9 days. I’m starting to freak out a little. As the date comes closer, our to-do list gets bigger. Our heads were beginning to bulge, so we taped up a laminated poster to a very visible door and have been adding tasks as we think of them. Things […]
I sat on the beach, tears streaming down my cheeks, asking the hardest question I could think to ask: WHO AM I? Towards the end of our trip to Hawaii last spring, I just needed a moment to myself. Just me. And God. On the beach. I get this way sometimes; it’s the true introvert in me. After […]
Be Kind. The quality I admire most in others, the one character trait I wish for our children and the word I’d love for our family to be defined by is kindness. My friend just told me this weekend that in a study of what makes marriages last, the biggest factor was kindness. Honesty, communication, love – these […]
This edition of coffee chat is brought to you by my first eggnog latte of the season: For some insane reason, Costco already has eggnog in stock and I just couldn’t pass it up. I’m an afternoon decaf latte drinker and makes these lattes at home (here is my recipe). So while chatting, I’ll be […]
This week is Make Your Bed week hosted by Crane + Conopy, an online resource for gorgeous bedding at affordable price points. They generously sent me a new white duvet and shams with handsome gray piping detail (see it here) which looks so crisp on a bed – made or unmade. My plan with this post […]
Friends. My brain has turned to mush this week. First of all, the sky turned dark and it rained for the first time in what seems like months. And when it gets all gray and gloomy around here, it makes you extremely sleepy and unmotivated and blah. So I’ll give credit to the weather for […]
Sometimes I look back at the post archives on the blog and think it’s fun to see what was going on one year, two years, even four years ago to the date. When I came across this post from August 15, 2011, it felt like a good one to bring back for today. We’re all pretty aware […]
Ryan and I took the boys on a day trip to Mount Rainier this weekend. You know how it is when you live somewhere and take certain places for granted and skip out on doing the ‘touristy’ things because you aren’t a tourist? This was one of those things. But Ryan has summitted the mountain twice […]
I made up that number. I’m not sure why. If you’re new around here, sometimes I like to do what I call COFFEE CHATS. This is where I just spew all the little stuff out at once – kinda like if we were real life friends sitting around over a cup of coffee and hitting […]
I haven’t been great at opening my bible these past few years. I’ll just put that out there from the start. The reasons are legit – my kids wake earlier than I do, I’m just so exhausted by the end of the day, I’m not part of a formal bible study so I don’t know […]
My friends Myquillyn and Emily (and their dad) host a monthly podcast covering all sorts of themed topics. Their most recent, and the one I listened to yesterday, was titled What Only Summer Can Teach Me. They talk about the things they have learned this summer and I was so inspired, I decided to join the […]
