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Weekly Recap: Fun Trips, Spring Break, and ABC Dates!

Weekly Recap: Fun Trips, Spring Break, and ABC Dates!

Welcome to my weekly recap post where I share a little peek into our week, share some links to things I don’t want you to miss, and highlight some things you may not have seen on the blog this week.

It was Spring Break this week for four of the kids and Kierstyn and I spent last weekend through Monday in Kansas with my parents. We got home late Monday afternoon and then picked up Kaitlynn from her Singapore/Indonesia trip a few hours later. We stayed up processing her trip, she went to bed, slept really well, and woke up to have 30 minutes to pack and then leave with friends for a week at the beach. (I told her if she got really good sleep, she could go on the the beach trip so she was determined to make it happen!)

(The below pictures was taken when we picked up Kaitlynn at the airport after she had been traveling for 24+ hours home from Southeast Asia! I thought she would be exhausted and barely functioning, but she was so energetic and excited!)

Since it was Spring Break week and we didn’t need to get up and out the door early in the mornings for school, Jesse and I took advantage of that to catch up on our ABC date nights! We ended up doing three date nights this week (!!!) and did C, D, and E! I’ll be sharing more on Instagram soon if you’re curious where we went/what we did!

Speaking of Instagram, I started a brand-new account there this week that I’ve been thinking of doing for a little while now. So many of you have loved when I’ve done my cleaning challenges and have asked if I could share them in a way that you could refer back to them. This account will be just that! Every week day, I’ll be sharing a reel with a very simple cleaning challenge (usually that you can complete in 5-15 minutes!) If you need some motivation to keep your home more clean, organized, and decluttered, be sure to follow along. And in my typical style, it will not be perfect or magazine-worthy, but I hope that it encourages you to just do something because something is always better than nothing! Go follow my new cleaning Instagram account.

After multiple trips for multiple people (Silas and Jesse were in DC last week on a school trip!), I’m ready for everyone to be home under the same roof again! We’re starting to gear up/prep for Kaitlynn’s graduation (she just got her senior pictures back and they are stunning! See them here.) and summer plans.

And middle school baseball starts in full force this week! Jesse is the assistant coach, so he’s at all the practices with Silas! Which means a lot of life will revolve around baseball the next few months — and we absolutely love it! I love all the fresh air and sunshine we get sitting on the sidelines… though since Jesse will be coaching, it will be interesting to figure out how to keep the three younger children occupied by myself. But I’m working on a game plan and grateful that they are all older and Kierstyn is almost 4, so she’s much more capable and responsible than last year when we had three under three!

I’m guessing many of you have seen the funny crunchy video comedy clips from Really Very Crunchy on Instagram or TikTok or YouTube. Emily and Jason Morrow are the talented writers, producers, and actors for these and I got the privilege of interviewing Emily in-studio recently about her brand-new book, Really Very Crunchy: A Beginner’s Guide to Removing Toxins from Your Life Without Adding Them to Your Personality.

As my word for the year is health, I’ve especially loved Emily’s videos and her book. She makes me laugh, she makes me think, she teaches me a lot of things I never knew about (and then need to go Google for more information!), and she does it all in a very gracious and kind way.

In this episode of the podcast, Emily shares some really humorous stories (including why she got a pedicure and then took off the polish before coming to my house for the interview!) as well as very practical advice on how to live a more health-conscious lifestyle without breaking the bank. We talk about a lot of practices you can implement that are free and easy + she shares her best tips for eating healthy on a budget (they were so good and inspiring!).

Emily’s refreshing approach to the crunchy lifestyle, filled with self-deprecating humor, makes it accessible to everyone, regardless of their current choices. (She reminds us often that “crunchy is a spectrum” and it’s not worth losing relationships over crazy crunchy rules you’ve concocted.

We also touch on the challenges of balancing a crunchy lifestyle with real-world situations and she shared a recent situation she navigated at a family dinner. Emily encourages a mindful and compassionate approach, reminding us that we can have strong convictions without belittling, condemning, or ostracizing others.

The conversation also extends beyond dietary choices, as we also talk about the interconnectedness of mental and physical health. Emily’s perspective on stress and the importance of a balanced approach to health is so important for all of us to hear and remember.

Listen to the podcast episode here or click on the player button below to listen.

Something Special For You — and It’s FREE!!

Have you ever felt like staying on top of allllllllll the regular household tasks can feel like a never-ending job!?

Maybe it’s the season you are in that has been filled to the brim with hard, stretching, or unexpected things.
Or maybe it’s that you don’t love cleaning and organizing and find yourself easily productively procrastinating on other things (can anyone relate to that??).
Or perhaps it’s that you feel like you just don’t have a good system in place and you don’t have time to create one.

If you’ve read any of my books or have followed along online for any length of time, you know that I’m all about streamlining and eliminating decision fatigue.

And I want to do exactly that for myself — and for you! — when it comes to helping both of us keep our homes and lives in order.

Introducing the FREE Simplified Home Checklists!

I decided to make a set of lists for all my regular home tasks that I can reuse every day. Then that info can be out of my head and down on paper — forever! And I can just check things off as I go each day, with a lot less effort!

And guess what?! I’m giving away these checklists to you for FREE! Because there is just something about a doable list to help make the whole day feel more productive, right?!

When you download the FREE Simplified Home Checklists, you’ll get:

An easy set of regular household tasks for you to quickly go through and check off each morning, afternoon, and evening so you can feel more on top of things all day long.
Extra space and some ideas for you to personalize your lists with tasks that are unique to you.
Two versions to choose from for those who are home most of the day and those who are away from home most of the day. (You get both versions, so that you can decide which is best for you!)
Weekly, monthly, quarterly, and even annual checklists for your tasks that need to be done regularly, but not daily.

These simple lists will not only help you simplify your life and save you time, but they will help you start your day with a few quick and easy wins! And here’s the thing I’ve learned: when you start your day with a few quick wins, you’ll usually be inspired to follow those with even more wins and productivity!

Here’s to less stress and more joy and organization in our lives!

Click here to get your FREE Simplified Home Checklists.

Links You Should Check Out

If you love deals, don’t miss the Top 10 Deals From This Past Week post! There’s a hot deal on my favorite magnesium lotion (it ends Sunday night!), an Under Armour sale that has been very popular, Lululemon and Squishmallow deals, plus more!
Did you see I posted the recipe for Easy Overnight Artisan Bread last week? This is SUCH a winner recipe and I’m loving hearing from so many of you who are trying it out and loving it, too!
Speaking of recipes, we also re-did and re-posted the very popular recipe from the archives: Portion-Sized Freezer-Friendly Baked Oatmeal. This is a yummy and nutrition-packed breakfast or snack idea — or really, something you could eat any time of the day!

Every Saturday, I send out a newsy personal letter from me sharing what books I’m reading (and very honest reviews of them!) products and resources I’m loving, what movies/shows we’re watching, plus insider news, thoughts, and recommendations I only share with my email subscribers. If you’re not subscribed, you are missing out!