Happy 2018, friends!

My husband, Bodie, the two dogs, and myself headed up to the Adirondacks to celebrate the holidays.  The drive was LONG.  Like 24 hours not counting stops.  Most of the drive went very well, and we had time to talk about life, passions, projects, and random silliness. 

When we got up to New York, it got very very cold.

I constantly read about the negative impacts caused by social media, and I have a feeling you do, too.  It causes depression.  It's fake.  People are buying their followers.  There's an ongoing movement for people to give social media the finger.

But I'm not riding that train, and this blog post is not about that.  Today I am focusing on why I love Instagram, and how I credit the platform for being one of the most profound and beneficial influencers of my life.

Long ago, I was sitting in a cold dark office (literally it had no windows, and would blow cold air from the vent). 

Hello!

I wrote this post up a couple weeks ago, but never got to editing and publishing it.  Mom life kind of happened, as it always does, and then Hurricane Irma was looming in the distance.  We had a few days of preparation, worry, and sugar binging from stress.  Luckily, Northwest Florida escaped Irma's wrath with just tropical storm conditions, and a strong northern wind. While we were super fortunate, parts of Florida were not.  I am researching how I can best contribute to helping those who were hit hard by Irma (and Harvey!), and will soon share more details.  Thank you for all the love and prayers.  We are so grateful to have all of you.

And now for the post I've been meaning to post...

Why not minimalism?  Just kidding.

As my personal and professional life have drifted towards minimalism I often get weird perplexing looks from people, as well as the frequent, "why on earth would you want to live that way?" questions about my lifestyle choices.

Let me take you back.  Years ago, I had a lot of stuff.  If you don't believe me, you can ask my husband.  

Happy Saturday everyone!

What are you up to this weekend?  We went out for pizza and pineapple cider (so good!) at Whole Foods last night.  We tend to go there a lot because little Bodie is a really picky eater, and I know there are some things he will eat there.  Nothing worse than going out to dinner with a toddler who refuses to eat and is bored.  I won't even go there!

Anyhoo.... This is a follow up to the last blog post that I wrote about stressful times.  Pour yourself a cup of coffee and read along

Hi!  

I'm going to jump right to the point today instead of my usual long winded intro.  

Lately I've been feeling a ton of stress.  I've been under financial pressure recently, my least favorite kind of stress.  You see, my husband and I both work for ourselves, and that means that we have no sense of security.  I can't count on a steady paycheck ever.  I chose this life, yes...

I'm so excited that my video + photos made the news! Check out the clip below. 

Well, I certainly bit off more than I can chew...

Last week, I shared all about the flamingo experience I had here as well as on Instagram + Facebook.  I mentioned that prints were available, thinking maybe a few people would want to buy some.  I received over 100 inquiries within the first two days, and they keep coming in.