Normal days

I've been MIA on the blog lately, which typically means life has been crazy-busy around here. When my to-do list is overflowing, the blog is always the first thing to go. But, it's so nice to sit back and reflect on "our normal days" and look through some recent moments captured on camera. Time flies—that's for sure—but this is what matters.

I read this quote on one of my favorite blogs, A Cup of Jo: 5 beautiful motherhood tips, and got teary and thankful and sad—all at the same time. Of course, I had to quickly design a print of it. The words were just too good to read and forget. Bottom line is: It's the normalcy of life that we take for granted. We need to try and soak in every minute of it, because before we know it, it will be gone.

So, here's to our "normal" days...

Missing these boat days being our "normal"...hoping the next warm Saturday or Sunday, that's where we'll be...

And many more to come...

2014 here we come

Happy NEW Year! I'm still working on my resolution list...I've never been that big on New Year resolutions, but this year I AM coming up with a list. Just like everyone else, I do have many goals this year—there are some changes I want to make in my life in 2014—both personal and work-related. But one of my #1 goals this year is to slow down. To take a deep breath....this is the GOOD stuff. I want to continue to work with JOY and passion, and to not be overcome by deadlines, emails, to-do lists and STRESS. I want to soak life in slowly. I want to savor it ALL and I want to be full. More details on this coming soon.

That being said, I had to share this picture of our Calder-bear on Christmas morning. She brings such immeasurable, pure JOY to our lives, and I cannot believe she turns TWO in just 4 short days. January 5, 2012 will always be the most special day of our lives thus far. This time last year I was planning Calder's 1st birthday party (see blog post here). I can't believe it's been a year. Time and life for that matter, has been in speed-mode since then. While her 1st bday party was so fun (and let's be honest. exhausting too), we're doing it a little different this year. We're going to have a "Calder-day" with just use 3, and will make sure it's a fun-filled day with our girl. We'll go and do whatever she wants (probably end up at the zoo, the park, coldsnap for yogurt, you name it..it will be a GREAT day), and then we'll have cake and celebrate with our family later in the day. It will be VERY laid-back and perfect for us now.

Here's us on September 13, 2013, celebrating 5 years of marriage ... And flashback to our rehearsal dinner—despite the wrinkles, new hair color (which is currently more like the pic below...I know, I caved!), and darker circles under our eyes, etc.— this night still seems like yesterday. What a fun ride it's been and I pray 2014 is the best yet.

And finally, on an unrelated yet very-related note, our wonderful preacher, Brad Goode, asked me to design several prints featuring this verse from Josh 24:15. Brad and his amazing wife Rachel (check out her blog Heirs with Christ) have been SUCH a blessing to our church and to our family. Brad's always coming up new, fresh ideas and of course, I'm honored to help him every chance I can. Given it was the holidays, I literally threw this together in less than 30 minutes, BUT, It was perfect timing for me, and just what I needed to frame and hang up in our home. I hope your 2014 is full of gratitude and joy. Thank you Lord for a fresh start every morning. You make all things new, all the time.

The best time of the year

My heart is so full tonight. Merry, MERRY Christmas to all!

The girl LOVES to dance  

Thankful

I still can't believe it's Christmas time! We took Calder to see Santa this weekend and finally put up the tree and decorations. But before I share some Christmas pics, I'm gonna rewind time for a second...

We went to Chattanooga for Thanksgiving and it really was such a WONDERFUL time with family. Here are some of the people I'm most thankful for...

Loved seeing my cousin David, who flew down from New York. We've always had such a close relationship. When we're together—we immediately revert back to a high school maturity level. This view never gets old... Best Godfather around...and father-to-be in a few weeks! Due date is Christmas day. So thankful for my amazing sister-in-law, Deana. Can you believe she's having a baby in a few weeks?? And I'm not one to take (let alone POST) selfies, but this one brings back so many memories from our trip and our fun-filled shopping day. So long Chattanooga. Thanks for such a special time with family, and for reminding us about what matters...

beautiful words

Here I go again...love me some beautiful, wise words....

I shared this quote a while ago here. I love Whitney English's work and blog. What a huge inspiration she is.

TBT: the beach + white space

I've decided to do a "Throwback Thursday" post (if I can ever remember to do it), from my old blog onto this one. I still haven't figured out how to transfer my old blogger posts onto this wordpress blog (for a reasonable price that is!), and it makes me so sad to lose all of those years here. If anyone knows how to do this easily please let me know. I guess I could go in and manually transfer every post, but I barely have the time to repost one, let alone hundreds. So here goes: this post from June 2013 makes me happy...

What a wonderful weekend away with my two loves. This was our first actual “family” vacation— just us three. I think the images speak for themselves but we had a wonderful time. It was my-kind-of perfect: laid-back, sans makeup, sunshine, lazy beach days, catching up on sleep, building sandcastles, lots of snuggle time, poolside reading, yummy seafood and just good, quality time together.

I recently read something that has stuck with me:

“Life is all about the white space.”

If you’re like me, you make very little time for white space. My day is packed full of to-do lists, phone calls, errands and appointments. I always feel like there are never enough hours in the day to finish it all, and then 4pm rolls around and I don’t know where the day went.

So…I’m trying to make more time for the “white space” in my life…to say “no” to a design project when my plate is too full, to stop trying to be everything to everyone and everywhere at once…because that white space is so critical to balance and joy. That white space is where the things that matter happen and where our relationships grow.

Well, our little 4-day getaway was definitely full of white space! It was a relaxing, quiet, non-event-filled, long weekend—which was just what we needed. How nice to slow down for a little while and let time stand still.