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charmed.
It was on the calendar for a month at least. Craft-y day with the ladies. That’s the title I gave the day. But before you can make crafts efficiently you have to fuel your body – right? Goodness – we did. Breakfast on the patio on a breezy comfortable Saturday morning with buddies. Freshly made potato hash overflowing with goodies like mushrooms and topped with fried eggs. Fuh-get-about -it. Homemade scones. Small enough to feel just fine to serve yourself more than one. And yogurt topped with blueberries and honey roasted sliced almonds. Delicious. During the morning we chose little colored beads and strips of leather and created a really…
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Five Minute Friday: Encouragement
I’ve been enjoying the assignment-ness of Five Minute Fridays. It’s like a tiny taste of school for this grown up who actually enjoyed high school. A one word topic is given by fellow writer Lisa-Jo Baker and the challenge is to write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking. And the other flip of the coin is to encourage other people to join in. I really think you should try it. Even if it’s only to remind yourself how difficult it can be to write for a mere five minutes. (Especially us mothers who say to our children when they complain of their school work, “Oh…
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Happy Birthday Mosely.
Mosely is officially ten, no matter how often Kevin keeps telling her she’s not allowed to reach the double digits. She used to be one. All smelling like baby formula and looking like a living cartoon with those enormous cheeks and liquidy brown eyes and soft fluffs of hair. Last night she blew out her ten little mismatched candles on her chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting. (She is a creature of habit – it’s always chocolate cake for her.) (I’m still using the exact same chocolate cake recipe that came from my friend’s mother – a friend I have known since seventh grade!) She celebrated with her sweet little…
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Autumn’s Bounty
Weekends in October in the foothills. They’re made for apple picking and BBQ eating. Good friends reclining on the porch. Boys with Nerf swords and whiffle balls crowding the yard. Catching up and checking in and stories of this and that. Sunshine and morning runs. Cinnamon rolls and chocolate cake. Potato soup and homemade salsa. Late nights and conversation and falling asleep while watching Parenthood. It’s a comfortable kind of weekend. Weather just right for the afternoon sun to feel like a warm embrace on bare arms. (But maybe a tad too warm for a corn maze at high noon with eight children and four grown ups and lunch on…
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The Final Forty Joins Us. In Florida.
It was a whirlwind drive. Florida to South Carolina Friday afternoon. (And back again in reverse Sunday afternoon.) And my phone’s battery died about an hour into the first morning and although we certainly had access to electricity, I had forgotten my charger and, frankly, I just didn’t want to carry my phone around. Page is a much better photographer than I am and I knew my weekend hours were very limited and I wanted to live them without the aid of King Solomon. Which is why this post is a wee bit shy on photos and why I am letting you know that I stole some photos from Gretchen’s…
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Forty: I Love You.
These forty days of celebrating forty have changed my life. Are changing my life. FORTY days. Forty days of good things. Forty days of waking up with a light heart (even on heavy days) and wondering what good was coming my way. And knowing, knowing, that some good was coming my way. Despite whatever the day might hold – urine on the floor, bad news at work, delays at home, bills to pay – at least at one point during my twenty-four hours on that very day, something good was going to happen. To me. For me. It’s been unbelievable. At once humbling and celebratory and exciting and hopeful and…
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surprise! forty feels fine.
I spent half of Year 39 thinking about Birthday 40. That number seemed so daunting. So definitive. So half way. So big. My thoughts were primarily focused on actually turning the corner on that milestone. Sitting at that iconic number. Four. Zero. But I did give a few thoughts to the actual day. July 23. I like birthdays. I always have. And I struggle with expectations. Now that’s a dangerous combination. It’s not that I expect people to do amazing things for me. And this is a difficult confession to share so I’m trusting you won’t judge me too harshly. But I have allowed myself to be a victim of…
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Friend: Five Minute Friday
It’s Friday. I’m jumping over to Lisa-Jo’s blog and joining Five Minute Friday again. Five minutes of writing on an assigned topic – no second-round editing. The topic is Friend. Go. _____ This year marks the year my children have developed real friends. Friends I think they will remember. Oh yes, we’ve been blessed with buddies like cousins and relatives and the family that will be and is the ebb and flow of our relationships together for life. (And those friendships are tight and wonderful.) But this year seems to be the year my children have made comrades amongst their peers. That they even have peers. Otto has friends. He talks…
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where this day finds me
I don’t know where you are. (Because that would be super creepy.) But I’m cozied up in a cabin in the North Carolina mountains with a hot tub, a box of Crunkles, fluffy white robes, a semi-roaring fire, a newspaper on our porch and four incredibly funny and entertaining friends. It’s New Years. And we are celebrating my long time friend Beth’s birthday – she’s forty! So far we’ve eaten fried green tomatoes and grits. Chatted into the wee hours. Laughed. A lot. Maybe even cried a little. And we’re only just beginning.
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I Like. A List
I like . . . . . . Saturdays spent with friends at an apple orchard. Evenings when kids are so exhausted they head to bed an hour earlier than usual and then they fall right asleep and I am left in a quiet home with my oldest daughter at work and my husband on a business trip, leftover fudge made by Julie and Netflix. Impromptu Sunday afternoon picnics downtown on an incredibly peaceful and perfect-weather kind of day. Beautiful handmade cloth napkins that match, gifted to me from my friend. (Even if the reason she gave them to me was because my own handmade ones were lacking in both…
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Dear Every Friend I Have With Whom I Never Seem To Be Able To Spend Enough Time . . .
Dear Every Friend I Have With Whom I Never Seem To Be Able To Spend Enough Time . . . There have been times in my life when friendships were plentiful and times when friendships were few. High school was full of friends. Junior high not so much. Freshman first semester I was a little hard-pressed to land with solid friends, but by sophomore year I was golden. Post-college friendships took a pretty big fall. I think back then my only friend was my newly acquired spouse. (Well, I still had those beautiful college companions but we all lived too far away from one another to hang out regularly.) And…
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Friday.
This weekend we’re just gazing upon sweet Miller. And making our little toys into safari creatures with our friends. And sharing a lot of hugs. That is all.
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everything.
Yesterday we spent the entire afternoon at a friend’s house. The kids played peacefully the entire time. Inside. Outside. In the hammock. On the grass. On the floor. Reading books. Laughing. Exploring. Waffles. Strawberries. Sunshine. Popcorn. Frozen yogurt. Sun tea. It was just so darn pleasant. The little girls were princesses, played princesses, dressed princesses. Piper Finn wore the sweetest crown made just for her. Books were read. My friend Jo taught London and Mosely (and me) how to finger knit. And the girls are wild about their new skill. (They stayed in bed last night and created long long long strings of finger knitted doll scarves and garlands and…
