Baby Boy has decided that I don't need to sleep anymore. At 5:30am I was up and ready and thinking about how I will never have another baby girl nursery in my home. I LOVE that I am having a boy but girls are all I know!
So here is an example of an E-Design nursery. Of course this is highly variable because we would use pieces you already have and such, but starting from scratch is fun too!
- I love bookcases that can be screwed into the wall for safety! I put baskets and toys at the bottom because they are going to rip whatever is there right out!
- I love pieces that grow with them. The kantha blanket serves as a crib blanket and then a throw/heirloom later.
I feel like there's a lot to cover because its been 6 whole months since I've typed the bloggy letters. But with a theme of underachievement (that was my resolution for this year) I was bound to fall off the blog train at some point. Ill try to keep this organized!
UNDERACHIEVEMENT
I missed "meet the teacher" day at the girls' preschool and who knew they did all the sign ups that day. Rob for sure didn't know. For the entire fall semester I did not bring one snack or help with a party in any way. I combined the girls birthdays... that are two months apart... for one mega christmas/unicorn/cookie party because I cannot do two parties and have another child. Speaking of another child: I got pregnant again, after a failed pregnancy in May, which is our greatest achievement of the year.
After I started making space for myself, (I think the cool word for this now is "margin") I began to see what I really WANTED to do and pursue.
I linked up with a lovely lady in Midland (@jtproperties_and_staging) to take photos of homes, help stage homes, and soon will embark in interior design with her and on my own.
Staging by Jamie Cole, Photo: Me
Staging by Jamie Cole, Photo: Me
I started as the marketing coordinator for Habitat for Humanity Midland and have loved my very part time gig. Follow the instagram (@restoremidlandtx)
I started consulting for beautycounter. Did you know its the most googled beauty brand of 2018? I love that people want to know what ingredients they are using and are caring for their skin and bodies! I am highly allergic to synthetic fragrance and even synthetic vitamin e (which is in everything) and I don't even have to think about if I will break out with beautycounter, it just works and works WELL. Here's the link if you're interested. My favorites are the charcoal bar, brightening oil, overnight peel and Cream blusher in caramel (trust me on the color!).
HOUSE PROJECTS
We knocked out some fun smaller scale house projects:
1. Updatied the wet bar area
2. Finished the tiny bath
3. Cleaned up the look of the front door and vintage brass knob (that is my new favorite old thing)
4. Replaced the towel bars with these cheap and awesome hooks (because Nora hung on one like a gymnast and ripped it right out of the wall)
5. Almost done with brothers room
6. Replaced butter splatter tile in the girls bathroom (apparently I never got an after shot)
I love the community we have found in Midland. When people ask me with a slightly disgusted tone, "How is Midland?!" My first response is "I love my people." I can walk to 4 friends houses in less than 5 minutes. I know I can drop my kids off with a friend and run an errand or go to a doctor appt and not feel guilty about it because I will keep their kids too. Food just shows up on my porch, one time half eaten by a creature but we still ate it haha (it was homemade sourdough!!) I can ask for prayer and receive it. I can ask for help. We had lots of people over and I loved it. It wasn't out of a feeling of "should" but out of "want." I don't clean up for them... well unless there is no path to even walk around. I don't apologize for the state of my house or my laundry piles or how I look because Im not sorry, it just is what it is.
Rob has been home almost every night and I love the simple rhythm of our life. We say all the time, "our life is so simple." We count it as a blessing and don't take it for granted.
MOST LOVED SONG OF THE YEAR (by the whole family):
John Mayer "New Light"
LOOKING FORWARD
I have lots of plans per usual. More plans when I drink coffee and less when the caffeine wears off. I am officially closing my etsy store PaperTherapyShop. Its been 8 years and its run its course. If you would like any prints let me know and you can pay shipping, I would be happy to send them to you. Email me at papertherapyshop@gmail.com
I want to grow my @theHouseGoat business and instagram. This looks like interior design, consulting, and encouragement. I want to allow people to know me, know my design aesthetic, know my heart, and my heart for a feeling of home base and function.
I want to be intentional with my time. Planning my time spent on social media instead of scrolling until my eyes turn into chicken nuggets. I want to sit with my kids and play without interruption of real or seemingly pressing needs. I want to invest in my friends and their families. I want to ask good questions through our broken up "is that a happy or mad scream?" conversations.
I want to speak all the good things I think about Rob to him. And just good things in general. He gets to be my sounding board for all my frustrations so I think I need to balance it out a little.
I want "a bit of earth" for my kids. We currently have no grass/dead grass for them to play in and that kills me. We have a side yard I have big plans for. I don't think they care at all but my most cherished childhood moments were running wild in Colorado creeks and trails and open spaces. For now we have dirt lovers, at least they're outside!
I want to give this side of the living room some love. Its pretty bla. I'm thinking a credenza under the tv with benches and pillows on either side. Or maybe a bench that runs the whole length of the wall with built in storage??
These are all great things but as I have learned with our marriage goals over the last 9 years, you gotta be realistic. Rob and I started writing our goals for the year down on our anniversary and as I read through the progression, I laugh.
Year 1: Take a major trip, record a 5 song ep....
Year 8: Have a staycation, think about writing a song.
Actually, I think we even took a year off from making goals on purpose so we couldn't fail at them for a whole year.
My realistic goals are to keep my children alive, love the Lord through my obedience to reading His Word to myself and my kids. I want to pray hard.
QUOTE OF THE YEAR: "Why do you cry so often? For the same reason I laugh so often. Because I'm paying attention." -Glennon Doyle
The first time I got pregnant I miscarried. We went to the doctor and saw a baby with a heartbeat... and the next time we didn't. I was devastated. I couldn't handle it at all really and mostly just fell apart.
I just remembered that I write a blog sometimes. Insert
shrugging sholders girl emoji here. But I did remember and now I write this
from outside a teepee in the middle of nowhere because that seems like a good
time for blogging. Rob and I took a mini vacation for our 8th
anniversary (and also for my sanity) to Marfa, TX. Such a weird cool place.
I'm sitting in the coffee shop I worked in as a barista my sophomore through senior year of college at Texas Tech. I love this place, J&B Coffee, but there's way too many people in here. I should have just stayed in Lubbock and bought this place apparently. When I worked here there were not this many people which led to many days just standing behind the counter, drinking this same chai I have in my hand now (far superior to starbucks) thinking about what I was going to do with my life. And now 13-ish years later I'm sitting here writing about all the things I'm not going to do.
Underachieving is harder than you'd think. There are so many choices in one day and in many of them you can ask yourself, "why am I choosing this over that?" Is it because I'm being an achiever? Am I choosing this to be an underachiever... and does that mean I'm overachieving at underachieving?!?! So January is just for figuring it out.
