Dear friend,

Hello! I’ve been meaning to write you for quite some time to share a little bit about what’s happening around here. There’s so much I want to tell you about, but I’ll try to keep it as short as possible so not to take up too much of your day.

I’m just going to come right out with it…this past year or so has been a difficult one for me when it comes to blogging. About 5 years ago (coincidentally right around the time my brother passed away), I noticed a shift in my brain. I began having trouble focusing and following through on things or even really caring much about things I formerly cared a lot about. As a former Type A, get stuff done, kind of person, this shift was really hard for me to deal with. I’m not sure if it was the grief, getting older, hormones, or what but there was a definite change I had a hard time dealing with….

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As of last week, when Kelly turned 13, I officially have 2 teenagers in the house! Everyone tells me that teenagers are tough…but so far my experience has been uniquely positive and I sure hope it stays that way!…

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I was sitting at my kitchen table on a Sunday morning, reading the newspaper and drinking my coffee. It was a quiet morning, the kind I absolutely love. I felt happy and loved, but overshadowing this feeling was a simmering feeling of discontent. I couldn’t put my finger on where that feeling was coming from, because on the surface everything seemed perfectly fine.

A few minutes passed and I decided to pick up my phone and check Facebook. The first thing I noticed was a status update from my best childhood friend, Julie. She currently lives in Georgia, but I noticed that her update said she was driving home to visit her parents in our hometown. Our hometown of Altamont, KS was 2 1/2 hours from my house. I hadn’t been back since my high school reunion many years prior.

As I was sitting there, a sudden feeling washed over me…one I couldn’t ignore. I needed to go home, and I needed to visit Julie. My week ahead was a busy one, but I knew I had to find time to make the trip home, even if it was for just a quick lunch and hello. …

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Exactly one year ago May 1st, I started a journey of a lifetime. Yes, I got my very first tattoo, but more importantly I started my own 1 Second Everyday Video project.

My friend Cheryl was into her second year of capturing 1 second of video memories everyday. I fell in love with her very first 365 day compilation and decided I wanted to give this kind of video project a try as well. I am so very glad I did. Doing a 1 Second Everyday video project has probably been one of the most fun and meaningful projects I’ve ever embarked on. …

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Like many of you, I have spent much of the past year following the KonMari Method of decluttering my home. What I learned from reading The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up has been a constant theme in my life. “Does this item spark joy?” is a question repeating over and over again as I’ve been faced with the decision to declutter something or even bring something new into my home. It’s a method that has worked wonders in my life…until Christmas.

As I look at the giant stack of boxes that keep coming into my house for Christmas presents, I wonder where I went so wrong. How did I once again get caught up in the value of “things” over “joy”? Simply seeing these boxes and knowing the impact the clutter inside will have on our house makes me anxious. In fact, many of the things I’ve “KonMari’d” from this past year were Christmas presents from past years. Why did I allow myself to get caught up in shopping, shopping, shopping, yet again?

I’ve already made the mistakes I’ve made this year, but I vow right here and now that next holiday season will be different. Instead of choosing things, our family is going to choose experiences. It’s the experiences we share together… from big to small… that brings happiness to our lives. By not allowing more clutter into our house and by bringing more experiences to our life, we will be released from the stress of being suffocated by a house full of things.

As I think to next year, some ideas I have for experience gifts for my family are:…

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Our summer is officially over and the kids have been in school now for a whole week. It was so hard for me to let summer go this year because it was one of our best, yet. I intentionally didn’t do my typical Summer Bucket List, but instead deemed the summer of 2015 “The Summer of Yes”.

I vowed that this summer, I was going to say yes as much as I could. If the kids asked to do something or had an idea, even a far out there idea, I said yes (naturally within reason). We had so much fun!

It was the summer of lots of swimming, beaches, pink hair, reading, ice cream for breakfast, sno cones for lunch, sleeping in, staying up late, friends, family, baseball, bike rides, travel and more. I loved absolutely every last second of our summer! (Well I could have done without my mom being so sick and hospitalized for most of it, but even that brought some fun adventures for our family). …

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8 years ago we brought a tiny little twig of a lilac bush home from my husbands grandmas house. As soon as the Iowa snow would melt away, Grandma Doyle’s lilac bush would flourish in the most stunning way, bidding goodbye to the harsh winter. Beautiful, fragrant blossoms gave everyone hope that warmth and new beginnings were possible.

Since Nick and I were two people without any kind of green thumb whatsoever, we planted our tiny twig and hoped that someday it would blossom into a beautiful lilac bush.

8 years later, we have been enjoying our own blooms off our now flourishing lilac bush. For the past several years it’s continued to grow and has produced the most beautiful blossoms. Each early spring, I love to just sit by the lilac bush in our yard and appreciate its scent and beauty. I also think about Nick’s grandma and how thankful I am that she shared a bit of her beauty with us….

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Now, more than ever, it’s time for us to Reclaim the Kitchen. 

When I was a kid, eating out was a special and very rare affair. We ate together as a family most nights, created the meal together and cleaned up after dinner together. My siblings and I were involved in sports and other activities, but family mealtime – at home – was always a priority for my parents. We adjusted our schedules to make sure that eating out rarely happened and that we were all together as a family each night for dinner.

Did you know in 1900, as a society, we ate 98% of our meals in our homes? Today, it’s less than 50%. Times have certainly changed! This is why we believe it’s time to reclaim the kitchen. I’ve partnered with Wolf to help families put down the remote, avoid the drive-thru, and get back into their kitchens to cook and enjoy meals together. Watch this short video to learn what reclaiming the kitchen is all about.

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