For almost two weeks in June, this was our home away from home. I know that camping isn't for everybody, but I am so fortunate that the other three people in my house adore it just as much as I do. I'm going to share a post next week with some detail shots inside and a few ways that we make camping work for us. This week, though, is all vacation fun and games! I edited all of the beach pictures and "narrowed" them down to only 78 that I want to share with you. Wasn't that gracious?! I'm sorry that I'll never be that minimalist blogger who edits their vacation recap to the three most beautiful, stylized photographs. I just can't do it. And because there were so many to share, I'm planning to post every day this week! Josh and I got up bright and early after the concert and were in Gulf ...
The Night Before
Remember when I said that beach recap posts would start today? Well, I can't exactly tell you all about our trip without telling you how we spent the night before! Way back in January, I bought Josh concert tickets for his birthday and we finally spent a fabulous weekend in Atlanta in March. When I bought those tickets, there was nothing closer to us, but right after their newest album dropped a whole host of new dates were released. And guess where Houndmouth was playing? Our plan had been to drive down to the beach on Wednesday evening, but we decided quickly that Thursday morning would work just fine. We enlisted Josh's brother and his wife to join us (even though they had never heard of the band) and were super excited for a mid-week double-date. Josh and I debated where to eat, but ...
What’s Up Wednesday?!
What we're eating this week: Well, Josh and I started another round of Whole30 on Monday, so our meals are looking decidedly healthier than they did last month. Coming off of three weeks of vacation {and too many indulgences after we got home} was a shock to my system for sure. Josh has been eating about 75% clean since January and I'm more than a little jealous of his results. I decided to jump on the bandwagon and tackle my first Whole30 of the year {I started two other times in 2015, but didn't exactly follow through}. I'll be sharing an update at some point later this month, but until then you can follow along with my Whole30-exclusive Instagram account. What I'm reminiscing about: The beach. I mean, how can I not? I've been editing and uploading photos to share with you next week ...
June by the Numbers | Bullet Journal Update
Sharing a monthly Infographic Update was one of my favorite things I committed to this year. I was super impressed with myself for following through in January, February and March, but April kind of derailed me. Before I knew it, we were a few weeks in and I hadn't written much down to help me keep track. Then it was time to share May and I felt like I couldn't work on it until April's was finished. It just snowballed from there. I decided the only way to really get myself on track was to illustrate the numbers in June and stop feeling guilty about April and May. June was {for obvious reasons} my favorite month to compile yet. And I've come up with a new system to help collect data for the following months and *hopefully* I won't fall behind again. In case you didn't put two and two ...
Holiday Recipe Ideas
We are only days away from a sunny holiday weekend and what better way to say "Happy Birthday, America" than with good food?! And in case you are still debating what to throw on the grill this weekend, here are three of our favorites! Stuffed "Beer Can" Burgers Stuffed, Grilled Mushrooms Bacon Chutney ...
Dear Friends,
Friends who agree with me and friends who don't. I'm writing you this letter because I am confused and heartbroken and just done. I am writing this because I love you and because I think we can do an even better job of loving each other. It's been a long time since I wrote you a letter and I wonder if you know how I really feel about you and about Jesus and about our country and about my children and all of the concerns I have for their well being. On Friday afternoon, I overheard someone say "Well, I guess you heard that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage." Being out of town and away from the newsreel for the last few weeks has been nothing short of amazing, but it also meant I was more than a little out of touch with what was going on in the "real world." I had seen ...
Collaboreads | Paper Towns
What better way to kick off my return to the blog world {hello, unexpected two-week hiatus} than to link up with the always fabulous Amber and Rachel to share an "almost" book review. They introduced us to #collaboreads last month and today is the day we finally get to link up! The concept is simple - there are only five steps: Visit their blogs and see the criteria for each month's link up. Go choose a book. READ {you get 30 whole days}. Write a review to link up with Amber & Rachel. Do it all over again next month! The criteria for June was that the book had to be on the New York Times' Bestseller List at the time you began reading. Last spring, I was given a sizable Amazon gift card and decided to use to download all of the new and slightly more expensive ...
Recital Recap | Six Years
I made the joke on Saturday that Dance Recital day is one of my favorite days of the year and one of the other moms raised her eyebrows and said "Really?!" It's probably hard to imagine because we spend twelve hours running up and down flights of stairs, swapping out tights and costumes and hair accessories with no thanks and I'm pretty sure I didn't manage to eat a bite of lunch until sometime around 3:30. The thing is, it's a day spent with little girls smiles and glitter and any day spent watching them do what they love best is a day well-spent in my book. Since Ella's team performs in all three recitals, we were up early with a full face of makeup and a car packed to the gills. We left Sophie lounging at home with her daddy while we grabbed Chick-fil-A for breakfast and headed ...