Sprints and Sprinklers!

I want to remember them just like this.

Young, brave, silly. Free.

I want to remember this stage of our life. Even though it's been a challenge, it's also been a dream come true, watching my boys grow together in love.

I want to remember this summer, every moment of it. This humidity, thick enough to swallow. The slick wet of the sprinkler, the infectious giggle of my baby, the flare of the sun through the backyard trees. Everett's flick of the frisbee, Daxton eying his brother with adoration. Stevie instructing them with everything he knows. I even want to remember the thickness of my body, the roundness of my thighs, ripe with nourishment for my baby boy. I was created to steward my family just like this. I am blessed.

I want to remember it being so hot, so so hot, that we all ran into the yard to cool off in the sprinkler 15 minutes before dinner. Even the mosquitoes needed a reprieve from this heat, and I won't be able to forget them, since our bodies are now riddled with their bites.

I want to remember Everett screaming "super heroes!!!", as he sprints back and forth through the sprinkler.

Every single moment of this life is a blessing. Every single moment, not just the picturesque ones when everyone is smiling in their perfectly pressed clothing. The messy ones, too. The sweaty ones, the stinky ones, the screaming ones. The moments when I'm overwhelmed because everyone is hungry for dinner, the moments when I'm followed into the bathroom by everyone because they all want to tell me things they need, the moments when I'm so tired that I want to slump into a nap at 4pm. These moments, though trying and taxing, are my great blessings. Because they are weaving together the fabric of this family that I am so privileged to shepherd. When I was a little girl, I never really dreamed of having a family. I always dreamed of having my name is lights on Broadway and wearing a red dress while I accepted an Oscar for best actress ;) Gotta love the dreams of a child! But now I know that this, this life I am living right now, is the greatest dream that could have ever come true for me. It's not easy, it's not perfect, but it is stunning. I revel in this blessing, to be a mom and a wife, and if I never accomplish another thing outside of this family life, I will still be a successful, accomplished, astonishingly blessed woman.

The heat is making me all swoony and that is just okay. May there be sprinklers and super heroes and melty popsicles in your future this weekend! Happy summer to us all!

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Family Beach Trip!

This stretch of beach is very much like a second home. I've visited this place every year for over twenty years and it never ever dulls in it's extraordinary way of smoothing out the wrinkles in my mind. Watching my son build sand castles, learn to body surf and pick up seashells in the same sand that I did as a little girl is a wildly special experience. And since Stevie's family and my family took this vacation together every year for years, this is a cherished place for both of us. It just doesn't get old. In fact, as the trip comes near, we lean into the joy of planning and preparing for it. It's like we both know that we are about to drop all of our fears and doubts and stresses into that ocean and receive an overwhelming ovation of peace and soulful prosperity.

I have the funniest memory of Stevie when he was like 17 and I was 13. He and my cousin David used to troll the beach wearing puka shell necklaces and attempt to hit on girls. I thought he was so lame.

And then I married him :)

It seems like every year that we visit this beach, we have handfuls of life possibilities that we discuss while we walk along the water. Something about walking along the shoreline absorbs all the questions of our circumstances.

I remember walking the beach hand-in-hand while we excitedly discussed getting married.

Walking this beach, nervous and excited to move to Boston for him to go to Harvard. What would New England be like??

Walking this beach, thrilled about moving to New York City. And scared about pursuing my dream of being an actor in that crazy place.

Walking this beach (okay, waddling), gigantically pregnant and anticipating how our life would change as we added a member to our family. If we only knew the magnanimous source of passion and joy Everett would bring to us - and now Daxton, too!

Walking the beach, weighing the option of job opportunities, moving potentials, dreams, family, struggles, victories, an a myriad of other elements.

Walking along this shoreline has really helped us work out a lot of things over the years. Thank goodness for those meandering walks, where the ocean itself has been like a voice of reason in our discussions. And now we are joined by our sons in enjoying this special place. I am overcome with gratitude for this shared haven of sun-splayed comfort and peace.

Time stops here. The days run together and I almost forget that I have a phone or a camera or that technology even exists. It's always exactly what I need, at exactly the right time.

Life is so beautiful, friends. I hope you find a place where you can drop your worries and doubts and hopes into your favorite body of water this summer. Even if it's only the neighborhood pool, there's something neutralizing about those waters :)

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Watermelon Mojitos!

I know that it's not officially summer yet, but the temperatures in Georgia have reached into the sweltering degrees, so that means its time for weekly watermelon runs to the grocery store. I love the combination of watermelon, lime and mint, and I whipped up a few treats this week re-imagining this symphony of flavors in a few fresh ways. This mojito was by far my favorite, so I wanted to quickly share it here with you all in case you need a new cocktail for those Bachelorette viewing parties. P.S. I'm not watching this season because I am on a strict bedtime schedule. My 5-month-old shows no middle-of-the-night mercy. Hence the cocktail creations :)

Ingredients:
- 1/4 watermelon, cut into chunks
- 20 mint leaves
- juice of 1 lime, plus more cut into wedges for garnish
- 2-4 tbsp. maple syrup (depending on how sweet you like it)
- 3/4 cup light rum

Method:
1. Puree the watermelon in a high-speed blender (I love my Vitamix) until consistency is smooth, about 1 minute.
2. In a pitcher, combine watermelon puree with 2 tbsp. maple syrup, rum and the juice of 1 lime. Stir vigorously to combine.
3. Place several mint leaves in each individual glass and muddle. Add ice and pour in watermelon puree mixture. Garnish with more watermelon chunks, lime wedges and mint leaves. This serves 4-6.

Notes:
- Some people might prefer to strain the watermelon puree to have a more juice-like consistency. I like the frothy, smoothie-like consistency because it almost feels healthy? (Don't tell me that it's not - watermelon is FRUIT.) It's totally your preference, so if you like it that way, by all means STRAIN.
- With the subtraction of the rum, this exact recipe makes great popsicles! My son has been eating them (and asking for more!) all week :)
- Feel free to add more maple syrup if you like it sweeter, more lime if you like it more sour, or more rum if you like to have a goooood time ;)

I hope you have the happiest happy hour with this recipe! Let me know if you decide to give it a try! xox.

Summer Garden Update.

We did this thing.

And we might have gone a little crazy.

We had to remove a few trees in our yard. We had a birch tree dying in our front yard, and some red tips rotting behind our mailbox. So when we had the arborist out and got a quote to remove them, we started doing this terrible thing where we dreamed about what would look reeeeeeeally good in place of those trees. Which led to dreaming about what shrubs should go around the new trees and which mulch would look best and perhaps adding a few stones here and there to pull everything together... and somehow we had concocted a full front and back yard landscape plan. All from sitting on our front porch and drinking beer and getting mosquito bites.

Stevie and I are extremely different. We plan differently, we execute our days differently, and we often have these ridiculous arguments over whose way is "more right". But this thing about landscape and outdoor beauty, for some reason, combines our forces in a really agreeable way.

So we just pulled the trigger and went for it.

I often hear people talk about how they fixed up their house before they moved, and by the time they finished the projects, they had fixed up their home so well that they didn't want to move anymore. We don't really want to move anytime soon, but we both really love grass and trees and flowers (and birds and bird feeders and bird watching...), so we decided to invest in some long-term perennials this summer that we can enjoy for many years to come. I can't say that we will live here forever (I truly don't know what the future will bring), but I am loving our outdoor space more and more with each season, and I feel really excited about spending this summer outdoors. Now that I'm not knocked up and trying to avoid potentially zika-infested mosquitos :)

What we did:
We added a pink dogwood tree, a white dogwood tree, a Japanese maple tree and a smattering of blueberry bushes and encore azaleas and knockout roses. We threw in some hydrangeas for good measure and camelias because why not and lorapetalum because we NEEDED them and some geraniums because yeah. Stevie rebuilt part of our fence that was falling over and added a stone walkway because he's my hero. We topped everything off with dark mulch and lined the entire yard with flagstones and oh yeah, we threw in a couple of pallets of pansies because he just had to have them. And like I said, it was so much fun agreeing that I couldn't say no to such things.

So here we are. Spending our mornings drinking coffee in our rockers on the front porch, gazing out on our grassy knoll and our evenings grilling burgers on the back porch, gazing at the wonder of our little Eden and it makes me happier than last year's squirrel-infested tomato garden ever could (they ate ALL my tomatoes, those little rascals). We are enjoying the updates of our home without an impending move ahead of us. And we are well on our way to creating my dreamy English cottage garden (which is the master plan). Little by little, it's happening :)

What are some of your favorite perennials? I know it's not very millennial of me to share about landscape-such things here, because it seems like most people my age aren't into landscape, but I just looooove it. If you're a crazy plant lady, tell me what you're dreaming of planting in your yard!

That Momiform.

This is the day that the lady at Sams Club didn't take my picture for the membership card. She was all, "You don't look like you're ready to have your picture taken, you can get it taken next time." Oops. Little did she know, 60 seconds before I walked in the door, we took these photos for the blog. I wanted to talk momiforms with you guys - you know, the real clothes us real mamas wear when we're momming. I thought walking into a big box store makeup free and double-timing the stroller and buggy depicted mom reality well...? Don't worry, we didn't switch our membership from the reigning king, Costco. Long live Costco, you guys. It doesn't discriminate against my scruffy vibe :)

While I value and appreciate the art of delicious fabric and custom tailoring, the truth is that I barely ever wear those cute clothes that hang in my closet. Most of the time, I am a bit unwashed and throwing on the cleanest clothes on the top of my stack of laundry. Lately, this consists of these nursing tanks, these oversized tees and these loose-fitting chino shorts (currently 25% off!) Sandals or sneakers, depending on the need for the day. I have a super big baby, so I like to wear sneakers to keep myself supported for the long haul of the day :)

Below are a few links that are perfect for everyday wear that give me an alternative to the other mom uniform I'm often sporting - yoga pants and a tank top. Thank God athleisure is a thing, can I get an amen?

Have any favorite basics that you are constantly rotating through in your closet? I would love to know if you have any comfy ideas I should be adding to my routine!