What a whirlwind of a week! What is it about a long weekend that makes the rest of the week feel so weird?! I had a horrible time remembering what day it was this week. Surely I’m not the only one. Since I took an unintended blog break (what even?!) over the last week, I thought I’d pop in a with a Friday post and catch you up on all that’s going on in our world. This is going to be long and disjointed, but hang in there — I have a fun announcement at the end of today’s post!
1. Camper Update
Since my parents are leaving for the beach tomorrow, we’ve been working hard to get the campers finished before their trip. We won’t be headed down for a few more days, but we’re so close. I finally made a master list of everything that needed to be done before we leave and divided it up according to what I needed help with and what I could do on my own. I’ve done about 80% of the work myself, but a few things required heavy lifting, a more gifted seamstress, and power tool precision. Those things required a little assistance from my favorite people.
I’m happy to say that Opal is 100% done and I’m taking photos of every detail for you tomorrow. I’m planning to start sharing the makeover on Thursday, June 15th, and will be sharing a full post about each “room” of the trailer, along with a camper hacks post full of the behind-the-scene details, packing suggestions, and some general information on how we organize and utilize our space. If you have any questions or suggestions about things to share, let me know in the comments so that I can tackle those before we head out on vacation.
Unfortunately, we had a bit of a power tool emergency over the weekend and I can’t believe we got everything done. Josh and I had been using the table saw for most of the morning, cutting bead board and trim for the bathroom in the camper. For whatever reason, one of the smaller pieces jerked and pulled his hand into the blade and I thought he had lost a finger. Fortunately, he didn’t even need stitches and within an hour he was back outside with a grin on his face. My dad helped me finish up the bathroom floor, while Josh offered us moral support.
2. End of the Year Shenanigans
The girls have had such a great year at school this year, but we were all ready for a break. Ella has struggled to stay focused over the last few months, so we were glad for her to have some time away from the classroom. I’m hoping that fifth grade is a huge challenge for her and that she doesn’t spend her whole year wishing she was in middle school already (this has been a thing for the last several months — she barely missed the cut off to start school a year earlier and we would definitely have made that decision for her). She ditched the last day, but had a fantastic time the day before at her eighties themed dance party. She talked for a solid week about what to wear and how to fix her hair. Sophie wouldn’t have missed a minute of school if you offered her cold hard cash in exchange. She cried the day Josh kept her at home the week before, but he missed her while he was in Virginia and wanted some one on one time. She was not amused.
3. Summer Break
The kids are beside themselves over being at home every day. It has been so fun to have the pool in our backyard and we’ve only just started summer. Obviously, we don’t let the girls swim without observation, but it’s nice not to have to commit to an entire pool day in order for them to swim. I can work in the camper or sit under the pool house porch or work in the yard and they are both right there. If we aren’t in the water or sitting right on the deck, they have to swim in pairs, and so far that is working out brilliantly. I’m pleased to say that both girls have been devouring books around the pool each afternoon and there isn’t much that makes me prouder. Sophie is still loving her graphic novels and Ella picked up a new series when she was in Virginia a few weeks ago. I’ll have to put together a summer reading post with their favorites pretty soon.
4. Upcoming Blog Posts
Despite my absence this week, I have a long list of potential blog post topics in my calendar, so I need to get it together. After you guys gave such great responses to my Readers’ Survey in January, I thought I’d ask you a few questions today, to see exactly what it is you want to see over the next few weeks!
A few weeks ago, my friend Rachel shared a post about how she uses Goodreads and it made me realize just how much I was underutilizing this tool. I’ve since been updating my account almost daily and I’ve loved organizing all of my books into categories and building a better to read list. I know I share monthly book review posts, but are you the least bit interested in seeing how I use Goodreads, how we can be friends there, and how I keep up with reading in general?
I’ve got a two month Orangetheory update coming for you on Monday and I cannot wait. This month has brought some major changes and I’m more excited than ever to keep up the momentum. Stay tuned.
Do you know about wireless SD cards for your camera? I use one to get photos from my big girl camera, to my phone, and onto Instagram. If you don’t know about them, would you be interested in a tutorial / review on my favorite ones?
I know we ditched the recurring fashion related posts around here, but are you interested in seeing a few things I bought for the beach or a summer wish list?
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been sharing a Currently post with my monthly infographic, a Coffee Date post, and a Little Letter Link Up. Although they are all slightly different, I feel like I’m sharing three update posts within a few days of one another. Tell me — Do you enjoy them all for different reasons? Do they feel repetitive? Should I give one (or more) up? If so, which one(s)?
Last year, I shared vlogs for our beach recaps, but in years past I’ve done daily posts filled with photos. Which do you prefer? I’m trying to decide if I want to film our entire vacation again.
5. The Daily Dime Link Up
I’ve been sharing a monthly day in the life post with you guys since the beginning of the year. One of the most requested things here on the blog, were more “real life” everyday sort of posts. I like giving you a peek into an average day, but I also love being able to look back and see a snapshot of what we were up to at a given point in time. After several requests and much thought, I’ve decided to join with a few of my favorite mamas and bring you a new, monthly link up, where you can find as many of those posts as you’d like. We’ll be sharing our post on Wednesday, June 14th at 6 a.m. CST, and the link party will be open all month.
Here’s how it works:
- Take ten photos of your day,
- Blog about what you were up to,
- Include the Daily Dime banner (below),
- Add a link to at least one of the hosts, and
- Come back here to link up!
It will be super fun to take a peek into the lives of so many women in different stages in their life and you can link up once, occasionally, or all the time. You pick all the time, right?! We’ll announce the date for the following month in our posts each month, but they will always be near the middle of the month. We have guests hosts lined up for the first few months, but will be choosing one participant to help us guest host each month moving forward. We hope this will be a great way to encourage participants and to spread the love by sending new readers your way.
You can visit the other hosts here: Kristy | Kerry | Chelsea | Sarah | Jennifer | Courtney
