weekend things.

It’s Sunday afternoon and my house is so quiet.  My husband is at a church meeting, the rest of us got home about an hour ago and all my kids are playing or reading quietly in their rooms.  This is such a random time to be writing a post, but sometimes in those quiet moments I get little thoughts and things I want to share with you, dear readers who have been following along with me for (in some cases) many years.  Here are a few random thoughts today:

Thank you.

Oh how I appreciate you all!  I should tell you that more.  Its crazy because I started all of this as just a fun creative outlet while my husband was gone all the time getting his MBA and I was home alone a lot with 3 little kids in Arizona where it’s too hot to go outside much like 6 months of the year.  And now it’s grown into this whole lovely community of people and so many of you have been leaving comments and interacting with me for so many years that I consider you friends.

Sometimes the internet still blows my mind.

Anyway, the long and short of it is, thank you.  For following along and letting me be creative with you, sending encouragement, and being friends from afar.  Sometimes I feel like an imposter, but your encouragement always gives me the guts to keep going.

Texas Roadhouse.

Last night Craig and I took Ava on our date with us.  The 3 older kids had a church youth activity so she got to tag along.  We went to Texas Roadhouse for the first time in probably a decade.  I’m happy to report that those TR rolls are just as amazing as I remembered them being!  Holy Moly that honey cinnamon butter could be it’s own food group.  Ava kept slathering butter on every possible inch of her roll, and I let her because, it’s just butter, she’s a fourth child and you’re only 6 once. ;-)

Fire Building.

I built a fire last week before we did our evening scripture study in the family room, and it was basically the best fire I’ve ever built.  I feel like that deserves to be acknowledged because even my 13 year old can build a fire in the fireplace better than me, but this one got big fast and stayed toasty warm for hours!  Even Craig was impressed.  I love living in my farmhouse so much.  There’s lots of quirky, pain-in-the-butt things to deal with (especially as we remodel) but there are so many good things.  Like having a big-old stone hearth for getting cozy around.

My hair cut.

I’m now one-month in from my latest chop and I am so glad I cut off my hair again.  There were like 5 minutes where I worried I’d gone too short, but then I remembered my hair grows crazy fast and it’s already grown out enough that I’m glad I went this length.  Also, this blow dryer I shared with you has become such an amazing game-changer hair tool for not just me, but all the Robinson ladies in my house.  I haven’t even had to pull out my straightener since I started using it, my blow-outs look better longer and my hair has never felt so healthy.  If you haven’t tried it yet, I recommend giving it a go.

Travel.

All the way home from church today, Craig and I were discussing and planning the rest of the year’s travel.  I’ve felt much more fluid about where we go this year, and so even though its already March we’re still deciding on where and when we’re going to do our different trips for the rest of the year.  We decided on Quebec for February back in November and (it was one of my favorite trips ever), but we’re still deciding on where we’re going to go for the rest of the year.  We have a bunch of family coming out in July and we’re going to do all the East Coast/New England things (super excited for that.).  And we’re considering a few warm locations for April, a few places in Europe for late summer/early fall, but it’s so loose right now.  We loved our trip to Europe last year (so so so much).  But we decided that this year rather than spending 3 weeks traveling in a row, we’d like to travel for shorter periods (a week to a week and a half at a time) more frequently (every 2-3 months.). It’s easier for me where I run my own businesses to not be away for quite so long, and also, after a couple weeks everyone gets a little tired and you start to have a diminishing return.  Plus, I’d like to see more places.  Anyway, I’m rambling.  Do you want to see more travel content from me?  I still feel like it’s a newer subject and it doesn’t seem to get the same amount of engagement on the blog as other subjects so I wonder if this is something you’d like to see more of?   Let me know.

Revolution Math.

I teamed up with Revolution Math in February to do an instagram campaign with Ethan.  Revolution math is basically fun online math tutoring for kids 1-5th grade.  For the campaign Ethan got to try out their free month of tutoring trial and I shared it with you all.  I have to admit, I was skeptical at first, but it is such a great program.  They’ve turned a little extra math help into a fun interactive story/game/ activity time with awesome professional tutors.  Ethan loves it.  And I think it’s a great way to get tutoring for your kids in an environment where they feel completely comfortable (at home).  I’ve loved watching Ethan come out of his shell during the sessions.  He’s normally a very shy kid.  I wanted to just share it over here cause I know there’s a lot of you here that probably never see my instastories, and you might have kids who would benefit from trying this out.  You can get the first 4 week of tutoring free (just $1 shipping for the learning kit).  Just use the code: DRESS1  and sign up right here.

Unstuck.

Do you ever feel like you get stuck for awhile and then suddenly, pow.  Everything starts moving again, your direction makes sense, you have more motivation.  I feel like I was stuck, almost in a funk for awhile and then something shifted towards the end of last year.  I’ve made more progress personally, in my home, my business and in life in the last 3 months than I’ve made in the last 2-3 years.  Ironically its made me a little inconsistent here on the blog, mostly because I’ve been anxiously engaged in the action of change.  But my ducks have been getting into line and I am so happy with where things are going.  I’ve had all these wonderful life changing epiphanies in the last few months, and I’m so excited to share more of this with you all, actually starting this week!  Tomorrow!  Make sure and come back for that!

Well, that’s the end of my little brain dump.  Haha!  If you made it this far, you deserve a cookie!  Happy Sunday dear friends.  Hope the rest of your day is filled with peace and rest and something yummy.

See you tomorrow!