Summer Recap, and things I love…

Y’all, it’s been an amazing summer! We’ve gotten really good at protecting our schedule and family time (especially in the summers), and have learned to say NO to almost everything. One of my favorite Jen Hatmaker quotes is ‘if it’s not a Hell Yes, it’s a solid NO’.

Words to live by.

Things that we DID say ‘Hell Yes’ to this summer, included our annual family camping trip (you can read about those adventures here), a long-weekend mini vacation to St. Paul where we got to visit my brother’s family, stroll the sculpture gardens, eat yummy food, and visit the zoo.

We’ve been doing projects together around the house (as usual) and outside around our acreage. This involves lots of patience and trips to the home improvement store. If you were lost in the store and asked my 6-year-olds where to find the oscillating belt sanders, they could lead you right there. #BuildingMascots

We’ve been making slow but steady progress on the playhouse… adding a roof, some random walls/windows for added structural integrity, and eventually monkey bars. For some reason, the twins are obsessed with monkey bars and that’s all they want to play on when we go to the park. That’s such a departure from what I loved as a kid. I don’t think I even touch the monkey bars in my childhood, which probably explains my lack of upper body strength. We really need to do an update post on this playhouse (here are Part 1 and Part 2), but we’re just going to wait till it’s finished and painted… that way we can do a FINISHED reveal post! That will be in the spring for sure, so don’t hold your breath.

I got a wild hair and DYED MY HAIR WILD. My friend is a brilliant hair guru, and I talked her into giving me an ombre purple situation. It’s not this bright anymore, but I love it as a faded lavender too. SO FUN!

I’m not very good at taking selfies seriously, so snapchat filter it is.

Anywho, some fun things happening in the online world that I thought I’d share… my friend Gina is launching a course on how to decorate your home to be the beautiful backdrop of your family’s everyday life. She dives in to the thought process behind decorating and shares her tried and true tips, as well as the tools you’ll need to use her simple formulas for decorating a beautiful home.

She includes workbooks and cheat sheets to guide you along the way, helping you make cohesive decisions about your home with confidence. I might be biased because she’s my friend, but girlfriend REALLY DOES know how to decorate. I mean…

There is limited space in her course, so CLICK HERE to register!

In other online news, I’m completely obsessed with this bathroom by Justina from The Jungalow. It is JUST.SO.INSANELY.PERFECT. Every finite detail has me swooning. And to be honest, I’ve never used the word ‘swoon’ before, because it’s annoying. But I literally can’t think of a more perfect word to describe this gorgeous bathroom. Color, pattern, wood grain, and PLANTS all in one place! (please PIN from the source)

My friend Medina from Grillo Designs shared this simple yet USEFUL spice rack tutorial:

This isn’t entirely NEW news, but my friend Jen from Life as a Rambling Redhead release a physical book that is sooooooo hilarious. It’s called ‘W(h)ine’, and every parent/grandparent, teacher, and childcare provider needs to read this book at their earliest convenience. I was literally laughing tears the whole way through. I need to buy another copy, because I gave my (already read) copy to the twins’ Kindergarten teacher with a bottle of wine… because I’m sure she needed it.

Also, Jen is just a hilarious human being (she doesn’t even need to try) and has a cult following on her Facebook page where she does Facebook LIVE’s about everything from potty training to husband’s underwear. I just can’t even.

One last thing, I’m SO PUMPED to share that you can get a full set of Unicorn Spit on Amazon right now for $98 bucks (Click Here)! This is SUCH a steal. If you have a single creative bone in your body, you need to get your hands on this magical paint/stain/glaze potion.

If you’ve made it this far in my post, you might be interested to know that when you sign up for my email list, you’ll get an update each time I publish a new post! All the cool kids are doing it.

Now go make your world beautiful!

~Bethany