Every year I find myself in the same position when it comes to hosting - stressed. panicked, and overwhelmed by my long to-do list. Most of the stress stems from my desire for everything to be perfect. Hosting has become more about a performance lately than welcoming people into our home. When did it become about the hosts instead of the guests? This year I want to shift that mentality in my life - maybe you're wanting to do the same. Welcome to the club.Even though my focus is on stressing less and moving away from perfectionism, there are still things that need to be done before we host people in our homes. To help me stay organized, I created a short guide...
It was never in the living room. Our lives happened around a slab of wood. Our kitchen table was a sacred space growing up. We did the hard work of developing our beliefs and our character, asked big questions and shared all of our dreams. We fumbled over apologies and worked on humbling ourselves enough to ask for help. It was the spot for homework, dinners, celebrations, mourning, building and mending relationships, and everything else in between. Our family loves to eat and we believe in the beauty of sitting around a table together. “We don't come to the table to fight or to defend. We don't come to prove or to conquer, to draw lines in the sand or to stir...
My seven year old self loved the soft pink walls in my childhood home. My bedroom was a space that welcomed my imagination, my dreams, and all of my big seven year old emotions. From seven to seventy, we all need a space like this. One of the questions we get all of the time is how to easily shift the vibe of your space. Obviously there are many ways to do this, but one of the simplest ways is to change the color of your walls. Psychologists have found that certain colors have the ability to make us feel calmer and more at ease. When choosing colors for your bedroom, first consider using a neutral color that will go with a wide variety...
Normal, daily life ticking by on our streets and sidewalks, in our houses and apartments, in our beds and at our dinner tables, in our dreams and prayers and fights and secrets – this pedestrian life is the most precious thing any of us will ever experience.”
We went berry picking last summer and my youngest decided she wanted to carry each one she picked. After a while she started dropping berries - one, two, three, four - one after the other. It made us laugh a couple of times and then she gradually became more frustrated with her lack of coordination. We offered her a basket but she didn't think that was the solution and so the dropping continued. She wanted to do it by herself. It's not news to anyone that the world is hurting right now. Everyday it seems like we hear about another fire, another violent situation, another alarming statistic, and all of this on top of the pain in our personal lives....
