Last Day of School Convos with L

This morning on the car ride to school, a little voice from the backseat asked me a question. 

“Mom, is there peace all around us?”

I’m not sure where this question came from. And I certainly wasn’t prepared to answer it.  I fumbled and said, “Well yes buddy, there’s peace all around us.  Ugh, and when there’s not peace, we need to act with peace to spread more peace.”

That seems to satisfy him.  And he continued.

“Mom, Brad* (not his real name) from my old school in Atlanta wasn’t very peaceful, was he? He used to hit me and my friends. It wasn’t nice.”

{Where do these thoughts come from?}  Me: “Well, no buddy that wasn’t very loving or peaceful. But when someone acts unkind to you, you should always act with kindness towards them. They often just need a hug.”

L: “But mom, if he’s being mean, I need to just walk away, right?”

Me: “Right bud. Never respond to unkindness with unkindness.”

L: “Christian and Issac and I were always nice to each other. We played peaceful games together.”

I think he must be missing some of his buddies from Primrose this morning.  Well, missing some more than others.

This sweet boy surprises me every day with the words that come out of his mouth.

I should mention that this morning he was insistent that there was spider poop all over our bathroom that had seeped into the walls. He certainly has an imagination!

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day weekend friends!  I hope you are doing something fun or relaxing this weekend.  We're staying put and have visitors coming to us!  My parents are coming down tomorrow and then our good friends from Atlanta are coming with their kiddos on Sunday for the afternoon and spending the night.

One of the surprising side effects of moving has been spending more quality time with our friends from Atlanta.  Instead of an hour visit here and there, when we get together it's usually for a whole day and often over night.  It is sweet time together and I cherish it more than I did when we lived in the same town.

The husband and I are going appliance shopping tomorrow to hopefully kick start this kitchen renovation.  And we may do some cabinet shopping as well.  I'm not sure if we should go with a big box store for cabinets (i.e. Home Depot or Lowes) or if we should use a local guy.  I guess we need to check out both and compare prices and quality.

We may even join a pool this weekend.  It is already H.O.T. in Macon, so I think having access to a pool is going to be necessary for the summer.  I wish we had a beach trip down to 30A on the calendar this summer but so far it doesn't look like that will happen.  Maybe we can get in a late summer weekend visit.

Enjoy your weekend!  And thanks to all the veterans and especially those who have died serving our country.  My daddy was a Green Beret in the Army and my granddaddy was a Colonel in the Army.  My neighbor here in Macon was in the Marines and is currently in the reserves - and she is inspiring!  I had drinks with her and her friends a few weeks ago and I'm in awe of women in the service.  Thanks to all who have served or who serve to make our country a great place to live.

Blog On

I don't usually give much thought to these blog posts before writing them. They just sort of happen. And most of the time I have no idea if anyone is reading. Or if whoever is reading is finding something helpful in my words. I write for me. It's cathartic to get it out on paper. Whatever the current "it" may be in my life.  But this week I've had three different people tell me they enjoy my posts and the honesty in them.  I love hearing this. I love knowing my lack of filter is good in some people's minds.

I hate when I can't write about things going on in my life.  Work is the main one. I really wish I could put it all out there and then maybe I'd be in a better state of mind about the whole thing. Because truth be told, I'm in a lawyering funk right now.  Some might argue I've been in a lawyering funk since September of 2007 when I first started practicing.  But this feels different. This feels deeper. And I'm having a hard time digging out from the funk. I simply don't enjoy it right now. I don't know why that is and shouldn't get in to the various factors in a public forum.  But being in a work funk is hard because it tends to permeate into the rest of your life and I am trying to prevent that from happening. I think I'm doing a decent job, but perhaps you should ask my husband.

He on the other hand, loves his job. Thank goodness.

Lukas and Julian are almost done with school for the summer and since I'm working full time they won't be with me.  They'll be with their nanny for a full week, morning camp for three weeks and then with our nanny those afternoons.  Then they'll be with her again for a week and their last week of summer we're going on vacation.  I wish I could spend the summer with them. This working mom thing hits me at the strangest times. Some days I'm content with the setup and then others I'm depressed that I'm not their primary caregiver during the day. Today I'm sitting in the latter camp. At least I get off work at 4:30 and spend more time in the afternoons with them now than I did when we were in Atlanta.

And in totally unrelated news, my panic attacks have stopped. At least for the moment.  I've stopped drinking after realizing most of my attacks occurred after I've had one drink (or more). I'm not sure they're related, but for the time being I'm experimenting with a lack of drinking alcohol. So far it seems to be working, which is both great and annoying. I like my wine, always have and always had planned to. But I dislike panic attacks more it would seem.  I'm wondering if it's the sugar reacting in my body?  We'll see.  So don't count on me for any inappropriate drunken shenanigans anytime soon!

Some good Kitchen news!

So, y'all, we finally got some GOOD news about our kitchen renovation!  After failed attempt #1 and failed attempt #2, the husband took matters into his own hands and decided to rip up our entire kitchen floor to find out what was really going on. The floor guy had said he couldn't know what the problem was until we got down to the original level.  So when I went to Denver for my conference, the hubs took a sledgehammer and went to town.  He discovered parquet floors throughout the kitchen, which we suspected were there.  Why someone decided ugly vinyl tiles were better than parquet is beyond me. There seemed to be a bit of a slope in the floor but nothing I'd have even noticed if I weren't looking for it.

So we got our floor guy back out and he delivered the news.  It's totally fine and we can put WHATEVER flooring down we want!  No need to fix any joists.  No need to level the floor (except in the pantry - no biggie).  And no SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLAR check to be written for some structure problem that doesn't exist!  Hallelujah!

This means we're back to the drawing board.  We pulled out our original plans and tweaked them a bit last night. I'm actually happier with our current new layout design. So we need to buy new appliance ASAP (we're hoping there are some good Memorial Day sales going on).  Then the next step is finding a cabinet guy (or going with a big box store) and selecting the cabinets, hiring a contractor to widen one of the door frames, reconfigure the pantry and patch our ceiling to get rid of the stains from the water leaks.  Then it's electrical and plumbing. Countertops after the cabinets are installed and finally putting in the new flooring.  So basically we have everything left to do.  But we know we can do it!  I'm just praying no more huge financial hiccups come along our path.  And how bizarre is this?  We were at breakfast yesterday and I got to chatting with the mom at the table behind us and low and behold, she's an interior designer!  So maybe I'll get her help in selecting some things along the way!

Have you renovated your kitchen before?  Any tips?

I'm really excited to get this ball rolling again!

Mystery Hostess Social

Happy Friday friends!  Is anyone else surprised that we're already in the middle of May and that next weekend is Memorial Day weekend?!  There's only two more weeks of school for my munchkins and our schedules are filled with Parent-Teacher conferences, the end of tee-ball party, a Toddler Art Show and a few more soccer practices before it is officially summer!  

So I decided it's time for a Beautycounter End of the School Year Incentive! For a little fun in the midst of all the May craziness, I am having a MYSTERY HOSTESS SOCIAL!

Have you been thinking about trying Beautycounter's line of personal care and color cosmetics that are free of harmful toxins? Or are you already and a customer and need to re-stock your favorites or try something new like our new Spring/Summer Cosmetics? (The Dew Skin is fantastic!) Now is the perfect time!

Today through next Friday, May 22, for each product you buy, your name will go into a drawing for all of the hostess rewards!  That means one person will get 50% off a few Beautycounter products of your choice, PLUS, I'm throwing in a gift from me...our recently SOLD OUT Countertime Vibrant Eye Perfector! (Thankfully it's now back in stock! And one lucky winner will get one free as a gift from me!)

In addition, anyone who places an order of $200 or more will automatically get a Glow Sugar Scrub as a gift from me! I am happy to help place your order or answer any questions, just message me! Or shop the Mystery Social Here: http://bit.ly/Mysterysocial

Truth. Beauty. Transparency.

Y'all.  I am so excited to be working with this amazing company.  Our founder and CEO, Gregg Renfrew was on FOX Business last week talking about Beautycounter and our mission.  Check out the clip below!

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/4226250077001/creating-healthy-non-toxic-cosmetics/

I've found what I want to be doing with my time.  I am loving this company.  I am loving the products and how great my skin looks.  And I am inspired by all the amazing women I'm in contact with because of this company.  My trip to Denver for the conference solidified everything I was already thinking.  It's hard work, but I know that this is my thing. This is my passion. I'm so thrilled to have found it and to share it with all of you!

UPDATE: a great article on Beautycounter was just published on Yahoo Finance. Check it out: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/beautycounter-sales-surpass-one-million-130000869.html