Living in our home sometimes feels like being on an extended stay at a spiritual retreat house. It’s a little bit ridiculous, and wonderful, all at the same time. There are always candles burning, acoustic instrumental guitars playing softly in the background (often times it’s Jonah playing his own guitar for us, which is my most favorite thing to listen to), people sipping tea and reading peacefully while sitting in front of the sun that…

Sometimes I feel like one of my main motherly duties is to float around our home all day unexpectedly knocking cell phones out of peoples’ hands while barely slowing down my stride and murmuring under my breath, but just loud enough for the family recipient to hear, “Be present.” Few things drive these people crazier than that, but it has about an 85% efficacy rate that I’m going to carry on with until I find…

I caught myself praying this morning.  Now, I know our Elf On The Shelf’s name is Jesus, but that is very misleading because we are not religious. Like, at all. Like, we’re pretty sure Jonah isn’t even baptized.  I say that because we’re pretty sure my mother, who was studying to become a nun before she met my father in the Philippines, secretly got him baptized one day when she was babysitting. We kept a…

Sometimes I feel like one of my main motherly duties is to float around our home all day unexpectedly knocking cell phones out of peoples’ hands while barely slowing down my stride and murmuring under my breath, but just loud enough for the family recipient to hear, “Be present.” Few things drive these people crazier than that, but it has about an 85% efficacy rate that I’m going to carry on with until I find…

At some point in our lives, most of us have done a thorough cleaning out of our closets and drawers. I’m talking about the kind of cleaning out where you end up with piles of things you’re donating or discarding, not just a couple of tops and pairs of shoes. If you have, you know how game changing the whole experience is.  It’s actually liberating to cut ties to things that you know have been…

Once we can find the courage to let go of the things that no longer serve us, we will end up with newfound space.  This space, however, must be respected.  Sacred.  We must not confuse more space on our book shelves as automatic space to fill with new books. More room in our drawers is not a way to justify more clothing purchases. Getting rid of sweets from our diet does not make drinking more…

This has been a recipe in the making for years, but I think I’ve cleaned it up enough so now it (1) makes a LOT…about 40-45 oz of dressing, (2) doesn’t require a ton of equipment that needs to be washed, and (3) makes, basically, everything you put it on delicious. Once it’s mixed well, we actually put most of it into a 36 oz. Yeti Rambler Bottle with a Chug Cap. We then add…

Letting go. Of anything. Is almost never easy. And, there is so much to let go of: bad habits, articles of clothing, the books on our shelves, grudges, worries, children as they grow up, loved ones that are about to die, and relationships that no longer make sense for a variety of reasons. We will do anything, go to almost any length, to preserve our memory of how those things made us feel or the…

Ben and I have been married 11 years now. While I know that’s not that long, it is plenty long enough to know what ebbs and flows feel like in a long term relationship. The flows are certainly more “fun”: we’re getting plenty of sleep, eating clean, and drinking more tea than tequila (which is arguably not more “fun”, but feels way better the next morning).  It’s also when I feel like we’re holding each…

Something I’ve been really working on with our kids is this: trying not to suppress or demonize any feelings that they experience. It’s something I never noticed in my behavior until recently. But, now that I’m making an effort to be conscious of it, I see it in my words so much.  And, something that Ben and I have worked on reminding ourselves is that so much of what we say and do will subconsciously…