Good things lately.

I've found myself with a bit of unexpected time and thought I'd update the blog this morning. How are you on this sunny Saturday? I've got quite a lot to get done (as always), but am also going to take some time to fill back up as well. I can tell I'm only a couple of steps away from complete exhaustion and maybe even a little burn-out. I know myself well enough by now to understand that a slight change of pace, a lingering cup of coffee or two, a slow and sunny walk or bike ride will fill me right back up and set my feet in motion again.  I'm wanting to do BIG things in my life and I think in our hustle culture/you should be serving or working all the time, we sometimes forget BIG things take BIG rest and time for joy too. At least for me! 

Let's dive right in to the good stuff. One of the girls has been baking bread and they make the BEST weekend breakfast sandwiches with bacon, egg, and Tillamook sharp cheddar. During the week I'm a homemade protein bar breakfast gal, every single day before work. But once a week on a Sunday? This hits the spot.

An at home lunch on one of the many snow/ice days we've had lately. An egg, kale, brussels sprouts, and a creamy tahini dressing. 

The girls had such fun sledding on the ice/snow!

We keep these markers on our dining room table at all times. They truly spark creativity!

You know the drill. I'll always slow down to savor a sky.

I've had this plant for ever and ever. It was all bent over and for months I've thought that I should tie it up. Well, I finally got around to it a couple of weekends ago and it looks even better now than this picture! We have a ton of indoor plants and they are all so huge I'm not quite sure what to do with them. I just love plants.

New unit at work! I take a single idea, like sewing, and build my learning/library standards around that. The kids seem really excited to start this!

Some of the winter weather that Arkansas decided to have for about two weeks. Thank goodness it's now sunny, the sun is staying out until 6:00, and we even heard the frogs back at the pond last weekend. Heaven on earth!

My favorite restaurant in NWA.

This.

I think a lot of times about how many of my choices (or people's in general) don't look that amazing. Like meal prepping a week's worth of salad in a Ziploc bag looks rather mundane. But the payoff is a body that feels good, not spending money on lunch, and energy to not only keep up, but thrive with both my family at home and my students at work.  I like to applaud the little things that make a big difference. This is one of them.

Tired, but happy while drinking my favorite coffee drink EVER-the Lucky Penny latte' from Arsaga's at the Mill.

An afternoon with the power out....so soup on the stove it was. I'm so glad we have this stove! We can at least warm food up and have boiling water for hot chocolate, coffee, etc.

This will probably be an overshare but maybe it will help you too? For a couple of months I've had dry, itchy skin on my eyelids of all places. Sometimes it would even look like hives or a bite. It itched like crazy and despite me having a very good skincare routine, none of the things I was using was helping. Along came this stuff! I read about it online, had someone at Wal-Mart help me find it and it worked after only one application! I put this on my eyelids at night and in the morning and it's completely healed the problem. Plus, it's not one of those expensive eye creams. Highly recommend!

I was working on this case during parent/teacher conferences and it was a great conversation starter with students and families. :)

Fresh bread on a Sunday morning. Yummy.

We don't have a color printer at work so I printed the letters and clipart on colored paper. I then added the little stitch lines with a black marker. I liked how it turned out.

Power out. Candles and our camping lanterns to the rescue! 

This looks about right! My messy, book-filled life.

Fiddle! Our fiddle leaf plant is just doing SO well. Brett made a little flat base for the plant on wheels, so that I can turn fiddle every few weeks. She is growing like crazy! Anyone know if I should stake the plant up? 

I LOVE drawing on the iPad. I've read some things on how digital art is becoming too much and isn't like regular paper and paint art. But to me-art is art is art. It's all art!

My new BFF when I run. 

Pretty colors and patterns.

More iPad drawing for fun! 

Hopefully we're easing out of our hot chocolate and turtleneck days. 

We really love our local community/fitness center! We have a membership and love to go swim. Some of my other family members go to use the gym facilities. Such a nice thing to have only 15 minutes or so from the house!

Putting chocolate chips in the bread dough is a very good idea, it turns out.

A relaxing evening, sitting in bed with a favorite hot chocolate and healthy cookies. For real, they are! The recipe is down below and you won't believe what's in these. 

I was sitting across the room and saw the sun and shadows on this wall and asked Brett to pleaaaaaase take a picture. 

Running five million places after work and this made me smile.

This was the scene after we'd been home for days already.  Art, puzzles, and more to keep us busy and having fun after our school work was done.

The snow a couple of weeks back! This was what it looked like by the time we almost made it home. It came down so quick.

The favorite, healthy cookies! I make these often and put some of the dough in the freezer for a midweek snack.

Snow! It sure was pretty. 

Homemade pizza by Brett. 

I've been eating the same type of salad for several weeks. Kale, quinoa, chickpeas, and whatever veggies I can throw in. Then a lemon/tahini/smoked paprika dressing on top. I'm actually going to switch to dairy-free yogurt, blueberries, and granola this week for lunch because I've kind of burned myself out on the salads. I'm sure I'll be back to them after a week or two because it really is so delicious, I can eat it quick, and it gives me good afternoon energy.

Coffee is my favorite ritual and routine of the day.

Magic!!

I don't love naps because I don't like having to get back up and jump into productive mode again. But I do love an afternoon rest time in bed, with the sun warm on my face. This is definitely a weekend treat. 

I found a painting of mine that is my absolute favorite and displayed it in the dining room for now.

One of my favorite drawings I've ever done. What are you reading? I'm always reading 4 or 5 books at a time. I read a very wide variety.

Valentine's Day! Brett was so sweet and got all of us girls flowers.

I like this picture a lot. 

I like this one even more because of the sun! This time of year feels like the start of something new. There's spring and summer travel to think about, the garden, camping maybe, short-sleeve shirts, shoes with no socks. I just love it! 

What's good in your world? How are you filling back up to live the life you've been called to?