Life Laid Bear

Thankful 45/52

Today, my brother turns 19. How is it possible that he is 19 already? The years are passing by at warpspeed, and I can't catch up. It seems like just yesterday I was his age and he was just starting to drive. Of course, he didn't want any help learning. Because there is nothing his big sister can teach him. 

Today, I am thankful that my parents decided to have another child. I am thankful that I didn't have to grow up alone. That I always had another person who I could play with and talk to. The boy that looks so much like me. The boy that acts so much differently than me. The boy who is really not a boy anymore. 

Today, Christian, I wish you a happy birthday. I hope your day is filled with lots of love, well wishes, and cake. 19 is a fun year, and I know it will be one you will never forget. Go Florida Gulf Coast! 

A Beach Weekend

Living so close to the beach, you would expect to find me there more often than I really am. It's the porcelain skin and whatnot. You know those times where you come off of the beach looking as red as a lobster. Well that is me all the time. So when my mom booked a cabin just 30 minutes from our house, I had to say yes. Of course with SPF 75 in hand. So this past weekend, we headed out with my parents and Kyle's parents for a short but sweet beach trip. The cabins were beautiful, the weather was perfect and the company was excellent. 

Graduation Day

This past weekend, my brother graduated from high school. We are 5 years apart, so I knew this day would come but I wasn't fully prepared when I saw him walk across the stage at the ceremony, I can tell you there were unexpected tears spilled. The ceremony was relatively short but very beautiful. 

We don't get family photos very often, so this seems like a pretty good time to snap one. This is the best one we could get, and I think it's pretty great. 

We had a wonderful weekend of being with family, friends, and celebrating my brother! He will be heading to college in just a few short months and it was so nice to spend some time with him.  

Priorities

pri·or·i·ty

noun

plural noun: priorities

1. a thing that is regarded as more important than another.

   "housework didn't figure high on her list of priorities"

These little things called priorities are hard to understand. Sure, we know what they are. By definition, it seems so easy to comprehend. But that doesn't tell you how to manage it in real time. Our parents told us all about having them, and also about cleaning our rooms, and not procrastinating. But now that I am an adult, my mindframe is "do I have something to wear to work tomorrow, or do I have to do laundry". It isn't always pretty, but it is definitely true. Are you with me? 

 

The hard part to me about understanding priorities, is trying to balance them. How do you decide what things stay and what things can wait in our already too short of a day? 

 

I want to write more, journal more, make more, and just sit and have a morning coffee. But do those things matter when you have laundry, a husband to feed (who am I kidding, I don't cook), dogs to love on, work and an ongoing list of spring cleaning you don't want to do? 

 

I guess my point, which leads to a question is how is everyone else doing it out there? Are you making lists? Do you have a secret weapon to managing time? How do you prioritize your life into need to do and have to do? Any suggestions?

 

Easter Weekend at the Beach

Have you ever had one of those weekends when things just worked? A weekend of relaxation, no running around, not working too much, or really much of anything important. Those are my kind of weekends. And this was our past weekend. Our two families decided that over the Easter weekend, we would all get together and rent a beach house near St. Augustine. It works for our families, it is how we like to get away. So we got away to an adorable cottage style house by the beach. 

We had a couple days of yucky weather, but one day of really good beach weather. That is all you really need. Just one good day of perfect weather to sit on the beach with snacks, drinks, and good company. The other days looked a lot like this. Relaxing on the front porch with 4 pups and 9 family members. 

 

We had a couple of really great family dinners locally, and everywhere we went was absolutely delicious. 

The weekend was over too quickly, but it makes it easier to come back to the work week if you had a relaxing weekend. So we are back to real life feeling great, and looking forward to the next family weekend and hopefully getting off the sofa sleeper. 

 

The Baby Shower

At the beginning of the month, myself, my mother in law, and my sister in laws best friend were honored to be able to put on a beautiful baby shower for my soon to be niece and sister in law. She was in town for a month, so it was the perfect time to celebrate baby Penelope Rose. 

 My sister in law has loved Alice in Wonderland for years and years, so when she brought up using it as a theme we jumped right into it. Messy, good cluttered, and full of wonder is really what we were thinking. Most of her friends and family came together to make this beautiful day special. 

The plan was to have the shower outside, but the rain had other plans. So we went with plan B and it worked out perfectly. I hope our mother to be loved her shower as much as we did. 

 The best part of the whole day was seeing Cassie spend time with all of those that love and cherish this new journey and chapter that is motherhood. Baby Penny, we can't wait to meet you soon!