So many things to say, not really sure where to start. I feel as if I’m going for a run after a year long hiatus — I’ve missed it, yet it takes somea lot of motivation to get there….and to keep going!
A lot has been happening since my last post in this space ….almost three months ago. Whoops! After moving to a new town, moving again, reprioritizing, and really just realizing I needed to let go of some of the mental stress I had going on, I stepped away.
Distance makes the heart grow fonder, right?
This long deep breath has been so good. So many little changes that have amounted to a lot. The biggest change was simply a moment to get my health – both mentally and physically – back in order and also see what I missed the most.
I’ve taken a break from creating….almost entirely! (Well, except for this baby zapping all my energy!) It’s been hard, but it’s been good. I sound like a bit of a broken record, but I just needed to miss it! I had gotten to a point where I didn’t feel like I was creatively being true to myself. I was constantly feeling behind, due to not giving myself adequate periods of time off during packing and moving from Pittsburgh, living in a temporary apartment, and packing and moving again to our home. I think part of that was to keep me distracted from dealing with all the change and missing so much back in Pittsburgh, so forcing myself to face everything head on has been…you guessed it: hard, but good.
I have so many idea whirling around my head, and we have changes ahead for us as a family, and I truly have missed you all. I’m not going to put crazy pressures on myself to create the most pin-able projects or crafts. I’m not going to stress about perfectly formulated posts and schedules. I want to get back to just sharing some favorites and finds. I want to get back to opening my front door a bit and saying, hey! come see what our crazy little life is like.
As the kids get older, I’m more and more aware of the internet space. I’m not sure exactly what that means, so it’ll be a process, I’m sure.
I could keep going – I mean, really! 3 months to catch up on! But I’ll end it here, with some photos to follow, of course.
announced on instagram a few months ago — surprise!
“Just to show me how much he loves me. They are even pink!”
Thanks for sticking around. I truly have missed you all.
I recently changed web hosts, and in doing so, realized that my email was down for about a month. I’m so sorry if you emailed and had your email message returned. It should be up and running now — please email me again. I’m so sorry! xo
Give thanks in all circumstances. I Thessalonians 5:18a
Praying you have a wonderful day with family, focusing on blessings more than the material and edible, but the immense blessings we cannot see as well.
I’ve been on one cruise. I think I was about 13? I remember getting used to the sway of the boat as we left the dock. It only took a few hours and my sea legs were found. Well, until the massive storm hit and I was so sick…. but that’s another story for another time.
It was getting off the boat that hit me hardest. My body had become accustomed to that movement it took a little bit of time for my legs to catch up with my brain: the ground doesn’t move like the ocean does.
I’m straddling this one foot on the ground, one foot on the boat thing right now, and I’m not sure where to stand.
I’m realizing that while I’m a creative to the core, I succeed most with structure and routine. If I feel I have all the time in the world, I take all the time in the world. Deadlines, expectations, schedule: they keep me on task and balanced. Without them, I procrastinate and feel like I’m trying to get the ground to make waves.
In the last month a lot has happened, and my routine is, well, non-existent. I often look around at the boxes and just feel completely paralyzed to tackle them all. My sketchbook of ideas is full, but the weight of all the other things that need to get done lead me to just staring at them, wondering when on earth I’ll begin to tackle the list.
So a few nights ago, I told myself I couldn’t go to bed until I finished sewing something. No half-done things filling up my office. A completed project – start to finish.
So I did. Harlow had a “spinny” skirt for ballet class. We bought the materials eons ago, but dumb ole me just felt like I couldn’t tackle one more thing….so in the drawer it went. Untouched, until Tuesday night.
Tuesday night I allowed myself space to just create. I ignored the living room *still* full of boxes. I stayed up a little past my bedtime. I felt the past 7 months of woe-is-me-creativity-funk start to fade. I can’t wait to share all the things stirring up that creative bug in me, just antsy to get out. <– see what I did there? bug…antsy. Okay, it’s dumb if I have to explain it, and really it was dumb in the first place.
Moving on!
So tell me, internet:
how do you get out of a creative rut? How do you stop listening to the lies of the internet: everyone is already creating everything, there is nothing new under the sun, nothing is Pinterest worthy.
I want to hear! Let’s encourage each other!
Some of the fun we’ve been having!
My sister, Kaitlyn, made all the cousins doctor scrubs! Jones happily showed his off for some trick-or-treating this year.
these two.
Harlow loves “reading” from her Bible. She has the best imagination, and I love seeing how her brain processes things. When we cook dinner, she always grabs her Bible and opens it to the book of Psalms: she calls them her recipe pages.
Andy and I keep saying it feels like we have new kids. Having a backyard to roam and explore has been incredible for us. The kids come in smelling like fresh air, and it’s heavenly.
One fun tip if you’re life is crazy (who’s isn’t….) like mine, but you want to document the milestones! I email myself with the subject line “Jones’s Milestones” or “Harlow’s Milestones.” The body of the email has the date and the milestone/memory. It’s so easy for me to go back and fill in the baby books….when I find them in the boxes. :/ True life!
It’s true! I really do love fall. And I also really love my ScanNCut2. Love might be a strong word, but I mean every letter of it! Next week and the one following I’ll be sharing a project just about every day — I need more hours in the day now that my creativity is coming back. ;) Christmas and winter projects will be coming at you right after turkey day!
My friend, Julie, will be sharing the ScanNCut2 on HSN today at 5pm! Be sure to tune in either via television or online. (if you order online, don’t forget to sign up for ebates, so you can get 6% back on your purchase from HSN!)
Thanks for sticking around even though I’ve been pretty quiet around here. Sometimes you need to step away to realize how much you miss something, eh?
The ScanNCut2 is going to be on HSN today! Super excited to share more of the new features of the ScanNCut2 with you–working on tutorials as I write this!–but today is a great day to get it at a good price. My friend Julie is going to be sharing the new machine and features today on HSN. The tentative air times are 10am and 2pm, and you can stream it live online if you don’t get the HSN channel!
We are still pulling ourselves out of long weekend land – it was full of outdoor movies, swimming, frozen yogurt, and morning cuddles.
It’s amazing how these little babies cause our material possessions to multiply exponentially. I have a long list of “nice to have” baby things, but the truth is, I have a very short list of essentials. Other than a lot of love and kisses and cuddles, babies don’t need a whole heck of a lot more.
One thing that is on my shortlist? .
We are a proud pacifier family. Harlow loved hers and Jones was a fan from the get-go. I remember putting off using one with Harlow for a few weeks and then wondering WHY on earth I waited when she was all of a sudden so pleasant with that little thing in her mouth! I learned my lesson, and Jones joined the pacifier club pretty early on. We recently had the chance to try the new – they are trim and all one piece of silicone — and Jones loves them.
Finding a great pacifier that works for your baby can be a difficult feat, but also one to rejoice over when it actually happens! Especially when life doesn’t allow me to just sit and nurse for hours on end in the middle of the day, his pacifiers have saved the day. Another plus? I can buy them and other accessories at my favorite happy place: Target. Let’s all do high kicks and happy dances together.
also has bottles that have given me the freedom to sneak away during a typical nursing session knowing Jones will take a bottle. I love that the bottle’s design keeps Jones from swallowing a ton of air, and the is flexible and designed with breastfeeding moms in mind. Double win.
What items make it on your short list of essentials? What’s your biggest “mother’s helper” that you recommend?
Happy Monday!
xo
This post was created in partnership with Munchkin.
I have so many amazing memories from my childhood, but our camping trips are definitely some that make the short list. When I was really little, we camped a few times (that I can remember) in a tent, but after a torrential downpour one night, we upgraded to a pop-up camper and never looked back. Our pop-up was retro as some might call it, but my mom and dad fixed it up with new curtains and things. The fanciest thing about it was the swing out kitchen — if I close my eyes, I can visualize the three of us girls poking sticks in the ashes from the campfire the night before, my mom prepping eggs to scramble for breakfast, and my dad cooking bacon on the picnic table with a little propane stove.
Most of our camping trips were in Minnesota somewhere on the bike trail. We’d wake up, eat some breakfast, and then we would hop on our bikes for the rest of the day. I would throw out some estimate of mileage here, but I was a kid and memories have a weird way of growing astronomically (we biked 150 miles each day! I was only 10.) or completely wrong in the other extreme (we biked about 5 miles a day. We left after breakfast and didn’t get home until dinner.)
So I have no idea, but I remember usually finding somewhere to get ice cream along the way. Bike rides are always better with ice cream.
Or if you’re Jones: corn on the cob. (You guys, I have NEVER seen him cry as hard as he did when we took the corn away from him for about 30 seconds to pop a bib on him. Guess he likes corn!)
Our lunches would be packed and eaten along the way, “Little Bunny Foo Foo” would be sung on repeat and we would return to our campsite ready for dinner, campfire, s’mores and usually a game of cards. I learned how to play Hearts on our camping trips, and I remember a few games of Rummikub and Rack-O too. For dinner one night, we’d make pudding for dessert. Looking back, I cannot imagine how funny we looked: instead of using a beater to mix up the pudding, my mom would put it in a container for us to shake. We’d take turns shaking it until the pudding was good to go — and even writing that makes me laugh.
I love how some of my most favorite memories are the ones that are so simple.
We haven’t attempted camping with the kids yet, but Harlow and Andy have started the tradition of camping outside in the backyard. We don’t really have any outdoor space at our apartment, but I can’t wait for them to continue the tradition when we move to our new house in the fall. Having lived in the city before, stars were a little more difficult to see: I can’t wait for our kids to experience campfires and campouts right in our own yard with the stars shining brightly above.
In the meantime, we are enjoying picnics on the beach and at the park. We are grilling at friends’ houses and making memories as we go. I’ve begun taking our Stanley cooler with us everywhere — it keeps food cold for 36 hours and is super sturdy and easy to carry. It also doubles as a seat, which is always coming in handy. I love that the top will hold a vacuum mug or thermos in the elastic, because my BFF, coffee typically travels with me wherever I do.
Today we used our Stanley Adventure Cookset to cook broccoli on the grill — I definitely want to try this over a campfire sometime! Just add water, broccoli and pop the top on to keep the steam in.
Another new campfire favorite is chutney and brie cheese.
Place the brie round on a skillet and cover with chutney. Let it melt and sizzle and smell amazing – remove from heat and eat with tortilla chips, pita or small slices of bread.
You. Are. Welcome. ;)
Happy Camping! What are some of your favorite memories of camping — or not so favorite memories? Anyone else wake up in standing water in their tent? — and what are some traditions you have with your kids now? I’d love to hear!
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