Happy Monday!

What a wonderfully exciting week it’s been! In case you missed it, I launched A Daily Gathering and Gathering from Scratch.

Gathering from Scratch is a weekend workshop-retreat at an historic stone farmhouse in the Shenandoah Valley of West Virginia. Beth Kirby and I are working together to put together this creative retreat, and I couldn’t be happier. Thank you for all the support and excitement for A Daily Gathering and Gathering from Scratch! If you’ve been thinking about attending, you better snatch up your ticket since we only 2 more available!

For the past two weeks, my family’s been visiting…what a blessing they live close enough to hop in the car and visit for a few days. I’m especially thankful that my sister Sarah (and my 19-month old neice) drove out from St. Louis and spent spring break with us. I just love my family!

Today I’m getting back into the groove after two weeks of family visiting: cleaning the house, trying to get Zoe back on her normal napping schedule, organizing, and prepping for a couple of upcoming busy weeks.

My whole life I’ve been a procrastinator (or, as I like to call myself, a procrastimaster). Before I could work on what really needed to be done (like writing a paper for school), I’d have to get my life in order and make my surroundings organized and inviting. I’m definitely still a procrastimaster, because before I want to blog, or cook dinner, or pack for a shoot, I usually feel like everything has to be neat & tidy. I hate cooking in a disorganized, cluttered kitchen, and I really enjoy a pretty pantry. I love opening my cabinets and seeing our provisions neatly arranged in rows, all transplanted from their blah, colorful packaging to beautiful, [usually vintage] containers. I’ve had a gallon of honey sitting, unused, in the pantry for several months…the honey had crystallized and it was too inconvenient to use. And the container wasn’t the prettiest. This morning, I decided to send my mom off with a jar of her own honey, so I went ahead and re-packaged all the honey into jars. Now when I open my cupboard, I’ll see these lovely vessels, filled to the brim with light amber nectar. Such perfection! Just need to find containers for all the food things (spices, etc.).

As part of getting organized and back into the groove, I’ll be working on posting more consistently on here. Ever since having Zoe, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to blog, let alone every day. I get discouraged when I can’t find the time to post every day, and I let myself get bogged down in feelings of inadequacy and failure to live up to my blog title. haha! My mom really encouraged me to set out the goal of posting twice a week. So, here goes! Thanks for the support, mom!