All the Feels: Summer, Working at Home, & an Update

As this summer started to unfold, I made a conscious decision to live in the moment– run around in bare feet, eat as many popsicles as my body would allow, and get my hair wet in the pool.  You see, even though summer is by far my favorite season (and even though as a blogger I was technically my own boss), in the past I put tremendous pressure on myself to keep blogging all summer long. I’d play with the kids all day, and stay up until 1AM squeezing in as much work as I could before passing out from exhaustion. One night, stressed out to the max because of an upcoming deadline, my husband looked at me and without a hint of judgement said: “I don’t understand. I thought you wanted to stay home and raise the kids. Now you’re working full-time. Is this what you really wanted?”

Blerg.

No, that’s not what I’d imagined when I walked away from my dream job as a school librarian. It’s not what I’d imagined after years of infertility and praying to be a mom. It’s not at all what I envisioned as I sat in the NICU by my daughter’s side. Yet, it was something new that had grown in my heart. I love the art of blogging– the writing, the connecting, the creativity, and of course all of YOU.  It’s the time away from my family I hadn’t bargained on, the infinite work, the pressure of trying not to fall short of everything I know this space can become.

So without announcement and fanfare, I went quietly into summer mode. My posting schedule dropped to one post a week, if that. I tried my best to keep updating on Instagram so I didn’t let the cobwebs pile up too thick around here, dusting off the laptop a few hours a week to make sure to keep up with my business. Young Living continues to take off more than I could have imagined, so that kept me busy too. In other words, I summered. I summered so, so good.

{all images below via my @MakingLemonade Instagram page}

There was the trip where my kids got their first taste of the river life with their bestie.

Testing boundaries of bravery as the amusements they finally were tall enough to ride got bigger, faster, and higher.

Ice cream. Oh wow, was there ice cream.

We discovered beaches filled with periwinkles on the rocky coast of Maine, where my kids hiked their first legit ‘mountain’ and peered down on the ocean.

Of course, there was some drawing. Harbor drawing.

ALL THE BERRIES.

There was some house hunting. And then no house hunting. But maybe some house hunting again.

Fingers sticky with s’mores. Salted Caramel S’mores, to be precise.

Naps.

Outdoor moving watching, and goofy faces.

THIS.

Doing scary things, like speaking to crowds. This crowd was particularly amazing.

We discovered that giraffe tongues are pretty disgusting, actually.

Lots of pooling, too. (That’s POOLing, with a ‘L’. Very important). Our favorite time to hit the pool was here, towards the end of the day– with bellies full of dinner from the snack bar and getting straight into our jammies in the pool locker room. Well, the kids did that. I basically drank my dinner and wore my cover-up all summer though.

And there was some camp. Just about the right amount of camp that gave me time to catch up on errands and pressing tasks and still spend a vast amount of time with my kids.

Truthfully, I took more photos with my mind & heart than my camera. As it should be.

As much as my brain is screaming “JUMP BACK IN FULL FORCE”… my schedule says, “not so fast.” In what may be the latest school start in the history of ever (and I am not complaining one bit, if that’s any measure of how much we loved summer), my son didn’t start kindergarten until late last week. Then my daughter is off for several holidays, and I’ve been summoned to Jury Duty.

But that’s okay.

My editorial calendar is filled. My projects are lining up and screaming for attention. I’ve read the whole Life-Changing Magic book, and you will too– go ahead and get your copy and meet me back here next week so we can KonMari together.

Summer may be over (for now), but we can always keep a little bit of it in our hearts.

Now pass me my tall boots and a crockpot. It’s time to get our autumn on.

Thanks for sticking around while I focused on my family. I promise the wait will be worth it.