Holy grounds.

January 26, 2017

Sometime this past year, my motherhood bank account dropped below zero. My reserve credit card on extra love and patience was maxed out. There was no penny left to spare. In the wake of my physical, mental, and spiritual bankruptcy, I was left with a brutally honest image of myself. I was becoming as juvenile as my three year old who screams and whines when things don’t go his way. I felt angry and short on patience. Happiness in motherhood can often be synonymous with defeat, guilt, and loneliness. I was so deeply thankful and happy to be a mother, but never had I felt stretched so thin. Never had I felt so insufficient and unworthy. I could no longer find the easy button on my life. It was time for an attitude check, a re-set on mindset, and a fuel up.

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Travel Diary: Asheville, NC

January 24, 2017

I am not the best at spontaneous travel. It’s easy to talk myself out of going anywhere with 5 children, let alone a long car ride and a weekend trip to an unfamiliar city. However, Gabe and I both want to take advantage of any opportunities to spend time as a family, show our kids parts of this country, and encourage adventure and curiosity. So I am learning how to keep things on the simple side with packing, and say yes before thinking too much (hello melancholic). So to be ahead of the eight ball and forgo January squirrely-ness, we headed to Asheville, NC…
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Mini + me: Best shops for knitwear.

January 19, 2017

I tend to stuff my babies in sweaters and knitwear for my own viewing pleasure. I myself have been living in the same stack of sweaters all season, and I thought I would share with you all some of the best shops for knitwear for ladies + little ones.

(Wearing: Sweater, sneakers, denim from AE)

I wait till January to pick up sweaters since that is when they all go on sale. I will just get an item or two that I know I will wear to death, and that will last over the years. Here are the places I always look first…
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Master Bedroom Makeover

January 18, 2017

The master bedroom…..a place we spend little time, but the time we do spend there is valued. It is the place we unwind from the day, and re-charge for the next. In recent months it has been filled with boxes from our move back in May due to our downsize in closet space. It was actually a welcome change considering it forced us to get rid of anything we didn’t use or need. Our bedroom wasn’t a priority when we first moved in, but we soon realized the disheveled clutter that was consuming it was not contributing to a peaceful day’s end. It was doing quite the opposite. Every time we walked into our room our anxiety levels rose from the clutter. So we decided to bite the bullet and make it a focus.

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DIY Animal Planters

January 12, 2017

DIY Animal Planters
You have probably spotted all kinds of planters across our home over the last year. I love every kind, but especially ones with character. I wanted to provide more ideas of ways to make use of what you may already have for home decor. I was so tempted to scoop up a few ceramic animal planters I had seen recently, but it occurred to me that this quirky option could be a fun alternative. These DIY animal planters take about ten minutes to create. I hijacked a few forgotten dinosaurs from the bottom of my son’s toy basket and transformed them into succulent planters and/or bookends. Here is the easy how-to….
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A Southern Snow Day

January 8, 2017

It snows about once a year in Georgia, but even then rarely sticks. I didn’t know quite how to explain to my little ones that their Christmas wish for snow wasn’t probably going to happen this year…

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The best of 2016 and moving forward.

January 5, 2017

I wanted to jump into a new fresh start on the blog this week, and not even take the time to look over and evaluate the past year. I realized, however, that I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the highs and lows of the year in order to move forward in the right direction. Each of you readers that visit IHOD are the reason I am able to keep going this year, and it is important to me that I keep an honest dialogue with you because if you are going to invest time in IHOD, I want that time to be an uplifting part of your day. I apologize in advance for the lengthy post, but these things need to be addressed!

I ended the year pretty burnt out as I do almost every year, and welcomed the extra time with my children and husband at home. I could have used two more weeks, but I decided the number one rule/resolution/goal whatever you want to call it, is not to force anything. This will apply in all areas of my life. Regret, bad moods, stressed relationships, missed moments….all of those things are a result of forcing good to happen. I just want to BE this year, and allow myself the ability to experience each day as it comes without self imposed expectations. Still with me? Okay good.