One of my goals this year is to try and be more mindful of my time. Knowing where my time is going, being more intentional with it, and getting ahead of our schedules.

For so long, as a mom with four kids and a husband who travels a lot, I always felt reactionary to my days. Like I was constantly on the defense, responding to whatever emergency popped up or whatever ball seemed to have dropped (which seemed to always be the case) and I hated it.  It’s a lot to juggle six people’s schedules, plus manage my own personal schedule.  But I knew I could do better.

So this year, JonPaul and I together as a team, are trying to change that, and for the first time really be mindful of where our time is going, and hold ourselves accountable, and find more “time” in our day.

So here’s what we found that works….

One family, ONE online digital calendar

I feel like I was probably the last person to still use a paper calendar, but you guys, for the past decade (at least) I’ve been a paper calendar fanatic. Falling on a sword to JP that I would NEVER go digital.  I’m totally eating my words. My biggest complaint is that I didn’t do it years ago. Read More

Every year I think things are going to slow down. That this year will be the year I’m really going to treasure every moment, slow down and soak it all in. But every year, as December rolls around, I’m somehow amazed at where the time went (and there was no slowing down in sight). And this year was no different. In fact, I actually feel as though the opposite is happening. The older I become, the older the kids become, the faster the time goes.  

2019 went by in the blink of an eye. It was an incredible year for our family.  An incredible year of growth.  So many ups and downs, for all of us.  Big wins and big heartaches.  Milestone birthdays celebrated, a forever home purchased, DIY projects started (most completed, and others not so much).  New friendships made, and some that we let go.  New jobs, new career paths, and new schools.  A year filled with growth, humility, and gratitude.  A year of overcoming fears, pushing boundaries and challenging comfort zones.  A year filled with (many, many) paint cans, YouTube “how-to” videos, sandy floors & wet bathing suits, tears over website glitches, high fives over student council wins, and too many kids in “mom and dad’s” bed than I’d like. 

2019 was a year of abundance, of both the good and bad.  And as I look back at the year now, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for all of it, and I’m taking so many lessons this year gave me into the New Year. 

Here are the lessons I’m grateful 2019 gave me….

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Whenever I’m entertaining or hosting, especially around the holidays, my kitchen can become a zoo.  Filled with dishes, people, food and little kids running around between it all. Pure mayhem.

So whenever possible, I try and take as much stuff OUT of the kitchen as I can.  Especially cocktails.  

Creating a bar area OUT of the kitchen is really simple, and a great way to create another space in your home for people to gather and come together.

We recently purchased this bar cart from West Elm (which we love and is currently on sale) and it works great.  But you don’t need a bar cart to set up your own bar.  Honestly, lots of things can work as a bar.  A buffet, bookshelf, sofa table, you name it.

We carved out an area of JP’s office (oh, who am I kidding? I’ve completely taken over the office, so I should just staring saying “my office”.  Sorry JP) to create our own little bar area using a combination of built-in shelves and our bar cart.  And it turned out great.  We have our calendar and budget meetings in there (you married friends know what I’m talking about; I refer to them as our “office hours” ;).  It’s great because now when JP gets stressed about saving for college or how to best color coordinate six different schedules on one calendar, we just pour ourselves a little drink 😉 

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We’ve moved around a lot over the past few years. Like, a lot. So it’s been hard for our little family to create special holiday traditions year after year.  When I was growing up our family had so many traditions.  The menu for Christmas eve, the order we opened presents, where we went out to eat.  We did the same thing, year after year. 

But our family traditions have been a little different.  Since we’ve moved all over the country, and in many different homes, our family traditions are still forming.  “In the works” if you will.  Which I think is more common than not for many young families.

So this year we’re paying close attention to the traditions we DO have, and ones that we’d like to create.

First and foremost is our Christmas tree.  We always put our tree up Thanksgiving weekend.  In the past, we had always put up a real tree, but this year we did something a little different.  In our living room, we decided to try an artificial tree from Wayfair for the first time ever and I am so happy with it.  It looks so real and is perfectly low maintenance (which let’s be honest, is exactly what this mama needs this year).  I love how we could put our tree up early this year at Thanksgiving, and know it will still look great weeks later when we host Christmas this year with all of our families.  

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