"How's the campaign going?"
It's the question I get most often. It's also the question I'm never quite sure how to answer.
Good? ... Great! ... Your guess is as good as mine. ... We'll see May 17th!
The truth - I suppose - all depends on what you're measuring.
This weekend we hosted a Winter ONE-derland party in honor of Felix's first birthday. Considering this child was born during a snow, it seemed like an appropriate theme. Well, the weather had other plans and it was 70 and sunny! I could have hosted the dang party outside!
For my 30th birthday, I created a list of 30 things I wanted to do. One was to write a historical fiction short story. This is the story and as Ruby keeps calling to me here lately. I thought I'd share it here.
One of Nicholas's New Year's resolutions was to try freezer meals. He'd prepped meals for the week on and off through 2015 and wanted to see how it would work to prepare an entire month's worth. Then, we could just pull a meal from the deep freeze, throw it in the crockpot, and on a busy day dinner would be waiting for us.
Fifty years ago this month, John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. In commemoration of this event, there have been articles and magazine spreads and television specials on the man, his presidency, and his death.
Many have also focused on the figure who has always been the most fascinating part of Camelot for me.
Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.
Two years ago, Nicholas lost his job right before Thanksgiving. Suddenly, I was facing a very different holiday season than I had always experienced. Gone were the fancy Christmas cards and giant trees. Gone were the piles of presents and big holiday parties. Instead, stripped away and laid bare, I had to decide what it was that I loved so much about this holiday.
I found that while I love the sparkle and the celebrations, Christmas has so much to offer in the way of quiet magic and peace.
Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about stories. How important stories are. How we each have a collection of stories - stories we tell ourselves, stories we trot out at dinner parties, stories that become a part of who we are.
I have stories. Stories I love that I tell over and over again. I decided it was probably time to record those stories.
This story is probably my first story. I’d had traumas and upheavals and just general drama in my life at this point. I’d had fun and fallen in love and had a couple crazy adventures. And yet, I knew this was different. This was the first thing that happened to me that I remember thinking - now THIS is a story. It’s a story I love to tell and as a result, a story some in my life are tired of hearing.
But too bad for them… because here it goes.
In the summer of 2000, I went to Italy. I had just finished my first year of college and had begged my parents to send me on a study abroad for the summer. A group from my school was going for five weeks to Rome, Florence, and Venice and I convinced my parents I had to go despite the fact I had just returned from a month in Europe the summer before.
The brutal truth was I had spent all winter and spring trying desperately to extricate myself from a terrible relationship and I needed to get away.
Bye, bye, Halloween mantle!
Hello, fall!
I made a pine cone garland using Thig & Thistle's tutorial, although I didn't have to punch holes in my ribbon. Bought my first chalk marker (holy moly, those things are awesome!) and created chalkboard art inspired by this Chalkboard House sign. I added some branches from my yard and dollar store pumpkins I spray painted a couple of years back and VOILA!
This post is sponsored by ULTA Beauty.
I am not a beauty blogger. I wear makeup and I LOVE my red lipstick but I’m not an expert or even a serious fan. Honestly, putting myself together feels like one more thing to do.
That was until I stepped through the doors of Paducah’s brand new ULTA Beauty.
My husband and I have been married for ten years. Not long enough to get to the really good anniversary presents but long enough I wouldn't feel ludicrous offering marriage advice.
And long enough I couldn't help but slightly roll my eyes at the opening sentence of the latest viral post Marriage Isn’t for You by Seth Adams Smith.
Having been married only a year and a half, I've recently come to the conclusion that marriage isn't for me.
Mr. Smith goes on to elaborate that marriage is for the other person. It is a commitment to your spouse – to make them happy, to meet their needs. This commitment is also about your future family and children and creating the best possible environment for them by loving unselfishly and unconditionally.
To that I say, “Bless your heart! Let's check back in five years.”
Today I'm potty training Amos! Since our approach with Griffin worked so well, I'm following the same strategy and thought I'd share a post I wrote on Salt & Nectar explaining our potty training technique.
You will have correctly surmised from the title of this post that I have in fact potty trained. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, I now only have ONE child in diapers. Let me try that again for those of you in the back...
I ONLY HAVE ONE CHILD IN DIAPERS! HALLELUJAH!
