EvY at HomE

Oof I have approximately three blog posts drafted and I never published any. And judging from the fact that I barely even started those, I guess it's just one of those years. And hey, I'm off for a few weeks and have been for awhile so here I am! Ok life since July when I last posted was a whole. lot. of work. Work work work work work. Great jobs, ok jobs, sucky jobs, travel job, inspiring job. All the jobs. Each one was very different from the last and they were all on top of each other so taking a few weeks off was on purpose and very needed. And with the jobs was all kinds of LIFE things where I scarce believe I even did those things. Like at some point, I was in Oxnard for a retreat. And the crappy thing about when things are all on top of each other is that you forget those little things and I was constantly fighting with myself to stay in that moment. To just breathe and focus on what's right in front of me be it playing with a kid or listening to a speaker. Try not ...

On July 10 Alice turned a ripe old FIVE years old. We celebrated at home and then on Sunday the 14th we had a birthday party for her at Chuck E. Cheese. Dude, those parties are worth it. They do everything for you! All you have to do is pay money and show up! Usually I'm all about party throwing but the gift of having someone else do it... worth it! And guess what, Alice LOVED it. She was so happy to have her family and friends around and get to play games and eat pizza. What could be better? And we got this killer family photo. LOL.  Who is Alice at 5? Just the funniest. She likes to make us laugh. If a joke works once, she thinks it will always work and keeps trying it over and over. She lands one in 20 and that one that lands she'll milk until it's dry. She still has the most atrocious eating habits and her diet is ridiculous. She rarely tries anything new. She has about 4-5 ticks that we don't understand. We think it's her anxiety showing up in various ways...

I'm part of my church's women's leadership board, did I tell you that? We formed what became the base of the women's ministry, please don't call it that. This year for the summer we ran a pilot program where we had small groups but they were populated by only women and each group met at different times and had different topics. I chose the topic of women in the workplace, called it Women at Work and lead a group of about 14 women weekly for five weeks. We read the book "Dare to Lead" by Brene Brown and discussed it weekly as well as other lady in the workplace hot topics. We'd drink Rosé, I put cute pink and blue things around, turn on the twinkle lights, we'd hang in my backyard, eat cheese... AND USE A CLIPBOARD TO WORK ON EXERCISES FROM THE BOOK THAT KICKED MY ASS EVERY WEEK AS WE TALKED ABOUT SHAME, VULNERABILITY, COURAGE, EMPATHY, VALUES, AND FAILURE. Yeah, that's right. Instead of just some Lean In woo-hoo yeah lady power we got our b...

Well... we did it! Matt I went to England and Scotland and Ireland! Did we have a killer time? YES. Did we grow closer together? YES. Were our children fine? YES. Do we want to travel more? HELLS YES. We came back renewed, refreshed, enlightened. We talked about history, art, culture, people. We ate delicious meals at great restaurants and talked without children interrupting us. We saw beautiful places that filled our hearts. We walked. A LOT. We felt very at home in the English countryside! And I set foot in Downton Abbey. CAN YOU FREAKING BELIEVE IT?! We went inside the house too and saw the rooms from the show. We had tea on the grounds. We bought crappy merch. It was way better than I could have ever imagined. What a place! When we got back I was home for a few weeks and I'm on a short job right now while leading a small group of women and reading "Dare to Lead". It's been a nice mix of being a mom, being stimulated outside of work, serving, and now working...

Well, 2019 started out with lots of work so I'm just now having time off from a few back to back jobs. Matt and I have been sick and tired but this week coming up we're gonna rest and get some things done and I'll be spending a few nights planning.... our trip to the UK. Now that we're officially getting a tax refund, I've begun planning the trip in my head and online. Started a google map of places to visit, then a calendar, and then I started mentally planning what I'd be packing and.... We'll be going in the Spring and since weather gets unpredictable in Ireland, it's all about layers. Both shoes are designed for comfort and wet weather, t-shirt and jeans are my usual uniform, and to top it off either my blue navy Topshop coat or a navy blue rain coat. If it's extra cold, a pullover sweater, and a scarf and I'll just wear rose gold hoops and a necklace with the kids' birthstone every day. Ambre said to bring REAL socks so I prioritized...

I guess I never got around to recapping 2017. DOH.  I had this post ready with pictures but I'll do that later! 2018 overall was about survival with two small children. And survive we did and near the end we started to thrive. ALICE: Alice turned 4 this year and going to preschool three days a week for three hours a day. She's learned about what a "best friend" is and wants to rank everyone accordingly. She has a few "best friends" at school and we had ONE play date with her very gregarious bestie and her mom but that was enough to cement a partnership. Watching them play together has been an absolute joy and nothing makes a mom feel better than knowing their kid is beloved by her peers. Matt worked so hard to get her to use the potty. It feels so long ago that we went through that whole process because seriously... it was a process. The chart incentive worked as well as having her own little potty and going with zero pull ups because she woul...

Hi, okay so of course I have been a bad blogger. I'm working on a recap of 2018 AND 2017 and I have to be completely not distracted so I'm in the office and trying to focus. I am so happy to be in 2019. 2018 was good, kind of a limbo year and 2019 feels like one of action, of moving forward, of moving on, of literally moving my butt. Not moving homes though. We are especially enjoying our home lately. So with that... Let's get on with it.