A thank you and a short retrospective

Or, a round up recent posts, in light of new faces here and me being on vacation

At this moment, I am heaping random items (snacks, swim diapers, an excessive amount of sunscreen) on the counter in our laundry room in preparation for our first family vacation.

When you read this, though, we will be a few days in, hopefully not any worse for wear after a lengthy car trip and enjoying lots of firsts with our kids—first vacation, first time on the beach, first fourth birthday.

So, in light of being “out of office” (i.e., my kitchen), and there being several new faces around here (hi!), I thought I would share a round up of my top (and favorite) posts so far.

I’ve recently been thinking about how our time and attention are our most precious commodities, and I think it is such a gift to share it with someone. Thank you for just a bit of both! I appreciate it immensely.

Here, Q and L are in our backyard. But right now, they are on their first vacation. :)

1. I quit participating in this part of social media

This one is about getting TOO caught up in the social media comparison game, and what I’ve found to be my personal antidote to that. It isn’t a perfect remedy, because I’m only human and sometimes I still find myself scrolling and comparing, but overall, I feel like I have a better handle on it now than I’ve had before. Now, if I could only put the phone down before bed and grab my Kindle instead.

2. In defense of the exclamation point!

I love that this one has resonated with people! (Exclamation point!) This one is about communication styles and emails. And exclaiming. 😄

3. On decision-making like my 3 year old

This post shares something I’d like to emulate from my 3 (almost 4) year old, and it involves saying no—shamelessly, when I’d like to. Which, as an adult, is harder than it should be.

4. How to intentionally decorate your home

This essay about home decorating is one of my earlier posts, and one that I spent a lot of time on. It documents my process for styling our home and focuses on playing the long game — finding stuff you really, really love instead of just filling spaces.

5. Maybe tomorrow (on fresh starts, familiarity, and hopefulness)

My very first post! I spent a lot of time on it, because it felt so weighty, so important. I’m proud of it. 💌