The week before Christmas at our house was filled with many quiet hours. It’s not what you think though. This is how I expected the week to go: casually catching up on all of my stitching in plenty of time for deadlines, finally doing some decorating and wrapping some presents, maybe baking some Christmas goodies, maybe even seeing some friends. It couldn’t have been further from what actually happened. The house was unusually filled with all four kids most of the week, but it was eerily quiet as they were sleeping or curled up in fetal position for hours on end. My teen tried to go to school once, after 70 minutes she was calling for a pick up. She missed all 5 days of school this week and the rest of the girls’ attendance wasn’t much better. I won’t go into all of the details but it was definitely a way to force slowing down. Nothing went as planned, we had to skip out on a lot of Christmas activities and all in all, it was pretty sad.

Besides feeling sorry for my children, I coped fairly well. I’ve been trying to choose joy. In the NOW. I know that if I’m waiting for things to get easier, simpler or better…I’m going to miss out on the NOW. Life will always be complicated, there will always be struggle, unresolved conflict, days and weeks that don’t turn out the way you thought they would. Despite feeling miserable on and off myself, I’ve been trying to just take it as it comes.

Another thing I was thinking about this week is all of the families who deal with illness on a daily basis. I know of so many parents who have children with chronic illness. Yes, sickness in our house has been inconvenient for the past 6 days but it is nothing compared to what others face each day. My heart goes out.

Very thankful for both my mom and Erik’s mom sending soup over this week and to my sister who checked in on us. My husband went above and beyond with taking care of us all and doing all kinds of extra things around the house. At times like this it is so clear that we are in this together (cue “clowns to the left of me jokers to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you”) There’s no one else I’d rather be stuck in the middle with than him. Also thankful for a whole pile of natural remedies we used to help us (chicken broth, thieves EO, RC, deep relief, lemon ginger tea, cold compresses etc) It was a very quiet week but there are always things to be grateful for. Always. Merry Christmas friends!

I’m not a coffee drinker or a tea drinker, or any kind of drinker at all, really. Call me boring, but in restaurants I mostly order “water with 3 to 4 lemons”. Not to be mistaken for 34 lemons, which a server heard one time and over dramatically gasped at the request. Ok, I guess it was something to gasp at.

Bulletproof coffee. I’m not exactly sure WHY I’ve been drinking it, but it sure does warm the body on the chilly days. And all the coffee/tea drinkers are thinking WOW, at 37 years old she finally learned that?? I’m mostly behind on everything.

Just a side story…one that I can’t believe I am about to admit on the world wide web, but it DOES give you a little peek inside my world. Once I happened to turn on the TV (I don’t really watch TV…) It was back in 2012 and the Grammy Awards were on. This amazing, beautiful, talented woman was singing this really catchy tune and I was right into it. I listened to a few of the lyrics and did a quick google search to find out that the song was…wait for it…Rolling In The Deep, by Adele. Up until this point I had not heard of Adele and I remember excitedly telling my sister about this awesome singer named Adele and I asked her if she had ever heard of her! She still bugs me about the time I discovered Adele.

ANYWAY. Back to the bulletproof coffee. I’ve been drinking it, I’ve been tolerating it, and it warms me up. Here’s how I make it, but of course, you can adjust any or all ingredients to your liking:

1 cup Decaf Coffee

1/2 scoop Young Living Chocolate Pure Protein Complete

1/2 scoop Collagen Peptides

1 tbsp MCT Oil

1 -2 tbsp Coconut Cream (from a can)

3-5 drops Stevia

Any other Bulletproof Coffee drinkers out there? Do you make it like this or different?

Have you ever been in a season of go go go? Maybe you are in a season of go go go right now.

For me, the last three months have been simultaneously magical and exhausting. Who knew starting up our embroidery business after an 8 year hiatus, launching a website, creating a new minimalist clothing line for my side biz complete with a new name and branding change, along with all of my other “regular” duties would be so time consuming. HAHA. Ok, my husband did. He did warn me about doing it all at one time. But when the fire (fires) are lit after being idle for so long...I had to a strong urge to run with it all. 100% all in. The best part? Through it all, anxiety has been at a minimum (and if you know me, you know this is a huge deal!) and I am truly enjoying all of the changes and new beginnings in my life. 

I catch myself smiling at the most random times, I feel content and like I am where I’m supposed to be. It’s a little odd, because this is no where CLOSE to where I thought I’d be closing off 2019. Even if you would have asked me back in July. I wouldn’t have had the foggiest clue. There were quiet rumblings in my heart and I knew change was coming, but I would have never guessed all of this would happen. Dreams that I had tucked away deep down inside, and even ventures that I have full out resisted and screamed NO at for years, here we are. 

There has been a lot going on. It always feels like there are never enough hours in one day. But I’ve learned a few things along the way. Here are my top 3 tips for staying calm and

1)Pace Yourself. All of the things do NOT need to be done this day. I have an ongoing list of “to-dos” and I specially mark the ones that are priority. I have been able to convince myself that the rest of the list is there so I don’t forget about a task, and somehow, even if the list has 25 things on it, it isn’t overwhelming to me. I am constantly evaluating what the top 3 or 4 items are, and working on those first and then if I get to other things on the list, bonus! This has really helped me. I wake up in the morning and review the 3 or 4 priority items and know that if those items were ALL I managed to accomplish that day, I would still be doing well.

2)Focus on what it is you are doing at the moment. Watching volleyball? Don’t be thinking about work. Stitching? Don’t be thinking about the messy kitchen. Making supper? Don’t be thinking about any of the rest of it. Be present in what you are doing at the time! I have been intentional about blocking out ANYTHING that doesn’t relate to the thing I am doing at the moment. This has helped me so much!! If I’m watching my daughter’s volleyball game, it doesn’t help me to be thinking about all of the other things I need to do that day yet. I want to be invested in the game!

3)Plants are your friend. Peace and Calming and Stress Away are two essential oil blends that have been my BFF’s for years now, but I’ve really bumped up the applications. Hello clarity and grounding. When I apply oils, I take time to be still, to be intentional about my breathing and to clear my mind.  It’s amazing how powerful it is to stop and take some deep breaths. Inhale and exhale. Just breathe.

And because I have one more REALLY good one, here’s a bonus tip. 

4)Make time to do what YOU need to do. Yes everything may be fun and exciting and your task list MAY actually fill your soul. But there’s only so and so long you can run at top speed, you still need to take care of YOU. For me, sitting still at a desk or at my embroidery machine for hours on end is a big change from the active lifestyle I love. This morning I made time to get out to a 1hr fitness class because my body and mind CRAVE that time of pushing myself and challenging myself in a different way. Did I have time for it? No. But I made it priority today because I know how much exercise helps me be better in every area of my life.

I’d love to hear YOUR best tip for staying calm and managing life when it’s full to overflowing. Click the button below and let’s chat!

PS - the crewneck pictured above is part of the new line I just launched! Check it out HERE.

This past summer there was a big shift for me.  I could feel the rumbling and sense that change was coming and yet I was still caught by surprise.  You see, for about a year I was in somewhat of a rest mode. I didn’t have a direction, I didn’t feel like I had much of  a purpose to my days besides…well…resting. Healing. Waiting. I was doing my daily tasks with joy and contentment and there were many meaningful lessons learned but my days were far from my ‘norm’. It was an odd space to be in, but yet as I look back I can see just how that season was preparing me.

Although, can one ever be fully prepared? I know I didn’t feel prepared when, after that year of rest, suddenly—seemingly overnight, all kinds of ideas and dreams felt urgent. It’s like my heart had been on silence mode for a good long while and suddenly it was calling out loud and clear. I listened to my heart cry, I was so relieved to finally HEAR something that I jumped, all in. I started before I was ready, before things were all nicely lined up perfectly and wrapped in a neat package with a tidy bow on top. I didn’t have things mapped out, I didn’t have a timeline or formula and I didn’t even know what the end goal was. Those are the humble beginnings of this website.  Since 2009 I have been on a journey and I don’t exactly know why, but I have the strongest urge to share it.  So here we are.  Inhaling courage, exhaling fear and putting it all out there.

Friend, let me ask you…what would YOU do if you weren’t afraid? I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “once you become fearless life becomes limitless”.  Do you believe it?

Thank-you for being here, truly! However you came across this little space on the internet, I am so glad to have you here. My biggest hope and dream would be that you would find joy, inspiration and some small nugget to add value to your life here on these pages.

I’ve been a momma for almost 15 years now and I still feel like I’m trying to figure it all out. Does one ever figure it all out? Who even knows. But I must say, I have made great strides in a good direction over the last while.

It’s been a challenge, and often emotional as I’ve let go of what’s good to find what’s best. Life looks very different than it has in the past years, but one day I just up + decided that enough was enough. I realized that no one else was responsible for my happiness.

I felt motherhood passing me by. I felt overwhelmed and under pressure a lot of the time. And then, I got to the point where I finally TRULY realized that my life is a result of my choices. And if life wasn’t working for me, I needed to make some better choices.

This has been a work in progress, but it has evolved into something beautifully freeing. It might even truly be the first time in 14 years that I don’t feel like I’m falling behind in every. single. thing. It’s a good feeling. Have you ever felt proud of yourself for doing the hard things? Like, truly proud. For finding the courage to step out and make the changes that you know in your heart need to be made. These are the kind of things I want to talk about here on the blog. Real life things. If you are a momma reading this right now, know that you are seen. I'm here to tell you right now that you, friend, are not alone.