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The Pierced Bean, An Escape & Other Such Nonsense

rockstar (4 of 1)

Meet Bean. 

The Rockstar.

Sporting jeans, a tutu, and cowboy boots, and rocking the glittered hair, tattooed arm and pierced nose, she was quite the sight to see, riding along on her preschool “Little Rockstars” parade float.

 rockstar (2 of 1) rockstar (1 of 1)

She rocked!  And I was one proud mama.

rockstar (3 of 1)

Speaking of piercings and pride, miss Bean got her little earlobes pierced on Saturday.  She was very brave, and just adores her new sparkly adornments. 

My hubby, our son, my dad and a precious friend spent the weekend at a cabin on a lake {boy time….aaargh!} while sweet Bean and I enjoyed some girl time…shopping, nail-painting, her first big-screen movie, pizza, ice-cream, and playtime with friends.  It was lovely indeed!

On a not so blessed note, I experienced my first nose bleed of the decade this afternoon when I attempted to take down the double stroller from it’s special home on a large hook on the garage wall…and caught it with my face.  My teeth still hurt.  Good thing I look good in purple, I might be sporting it on my face tomorrow for our anniversary.

Speaking of our anniversary…I get to escape with my all-time favorite person in all the world tomorrow.  We’ll be celebrating our 8th year of wild wedded adventure by heading back to our favorite little Inn on the West side of the state for a couple of days.  Glorious!  To say we are excited to get away and soak each other up {and, you know…stay up late…and sleep late} would be an understatement of apocalyptic proportion.

Remember this photo?

Loonies

This was us rocking our anniversary last year.  Good thing we get mildly cooler with age.

Speaking of cooler {aren’t these transition just seamless?}…we’re loving this gorgeous Michigan autumn weather.  The colors are striking, the breeze is brisk and the sun is warm.  Our new play set has had plenty of company over the last few days.  Fun!

My parents have been officially living with us {in the ‘love shack’} for a couple of weeks now and we’ve been reminded of how much we adore community life together!  Mom and I love cooking together, my dad is enjoying the zero-turn mower, and they’ll be watching the kiddos while we escape, so it’s been a real blessing all around.

On a completely random note…I’ve finally hit my pre-baby and pre-wedding weight {hip hip hooray!} and hope to drop these final 5 that plague my mid-section.  The waistline sightings I’ve had the past few weeks are wildly exhilarating.  I plan to celebrate with a tattoo.  I kid you not.  More on that later.

The only down-side to dropping the padding is when my husband randomly whops me on the behind, my fingers tingle. 

Note to self: plenty of junk in the trunk – some excess padding = more nerve exposure {consider yourselves warned}

More randomness…I’m excited to see the Chaos…Simplified ‘2012 Women’s Planner’.  I was tickled to be able to design the new cover and assist with finishing touches on the inside.  It’s in the final stages and I’m beyond delighted to hold the final product in my hands in a few weeks.

Well, friends…I’m off to bake up some acorn squash and apples and pack my little bag.  The question of the moment is…will it be warm enough to ride the bike to the inn and live scandalously wild and free for a few beautiful days?

Aaaah…a girl can dream!

Over and out.

Related posts:

  1. My Bean
  2. Happy 5th Birthday, Bean!
  3. The Bridal Bean
  4. Making Borax Crystals {& Other Such Nonsense}
«
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Complete nonsense, Daily Life, Home, Marriage, The Kiddos

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Simply Bloom exists to empower women to embrace their stories, live out their passion with purpose, and leave a legacy of love.
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Hello there! I'm Joy. Speaker, designer, author & coach, and creator of the #weROARproject. Welcome to Simply Bloom Co., where passion & purpose collide.

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What if grace has been waiting for you where perfe What if grace has been waiting for you
where perfection never could take you?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we wrap up our exploration of the 9 Enneagram types, and how each one engages grief, with Type One: The Reformer.

We'll explore the gift of integrity, the burden of the inner critic, and the freedom that comes when we stop striving to earn what God has already given.

The Enneagram may reveal the stories we've believed to survive.
But only grace tells us who we've been all along.

🎧 Episode 038 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
From the front, our little apple tree is living he From the front, our little apple tree is living her best life: laden with fruit and bursting with life.

But that’s only half the story.

Take a walk around the backside and you’ll see something entirely different: a large branch, nearly a third of the tree, black and barren. Clearly diseased. Clearly dead. Clearly in need of pruning.

And yet, every time I walk past it on our evening loop around the campground behind our house, it catches me off guard. I forget it’s even there.

Maybe because I prefer to look at the fruitful side.

And isn’t that a little like us?

We’re pretty comfortable displaying the beautiful parts: the wins, the answered prayers, the accomplishments, the parts of life that look healthy and fruitful.

The broken parts? The grief. The struggling relationships. The things we’ve neglected. The places where we’re tired or hurting or simply not okay?

Those we tend to tuck around the backside, hoping no one notices.

But here’s the thing: what we hide still needs tending.

We don’t have to be ashamed of the barren branches. We don’t have to pretend they aren’t there. And we certainly don’t have to wait until everything looks beautiful before we allow ourselves to be honest.

Maybe growth does look like good fruit.

And maybe sometimes it looks like finally walking around back, taking an honest look, and saying, That needs to go.

Pruning isn’t failure.
It’s making room for what’s still alive.

And if you’ve got a few dead branches of your own right now, take heart. You are not the barren branch. You are the whole tree. 🌿

#SimplyBloomCo
If you are a Nine, my prayer is that you would nev If you are a Nine, my prayer is that you would never lose your gift of bringing calm, compassion, and steadiness into a fractured world.

Those are beautiful reflections of the heart of Christ.

But may you also discover that your voice is not an interruption, your needs are not an inconvenience, and your presence is not optional. May you become the kind of peacemaker who tells the truth with love, receives love without shrinking, and lives fully awake to the life God has entrusted to you.

May you know, deep in your soul, that you don't have to disappear to belong.
What if the peace you've been protecting has come What if the peace you've been protecting
has come at the cost of your own presence?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we're exploring Enneagram Nine: The Peacemaker.

Nines have an incredible gift for helping others feel safe, seen, and understood.
But somewhere along the way, many learned that staying connected meant staying quiet.

What if healing isn't about becoming louder?
What if it's about believing your voice already belongs in the room?

🎧 Episode 037 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Permission Granted. In case you needed someone t Permission Granted. 

In case you needed someone to tell you: yes, you should absolutely make the impromptu stop at the roadside farm stand and buy the $5 bouquet of flowers.

No, you do not need a reason.

No, you do not need to be buying them for someone else (although that is a perfectly lovely thing to do, too).

Buy them for yourself.
Put them in your kitchen.
Smile every time you walk past them. 🌸

And support your local flower growers and farm stands while you’re at it.

That is all.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled scrolling.
If you are an Eight, my prayer is that you would n If you are an Eight, my prayer is that you would
never lose your fierce love for justice, your courage,
or your willingness to protect those who cannot protect themselves. 

Those are holy gifts.

But may you also discover the freedom of being protected yourself.
May you find people with whom you no longer need armor. And may you know, deep in your bones, that the God who fights for you is inviting you to rest...
not because you're weak, but because you were never meant to carry every battle alone.
The year we moved into this house, a peach tree sp The year we moved into this house, a peach tree spoiled us thoroughly. It produced more peaches than we knew what to do with—cobbler, galette, crumble, smoothies, fruit leathers, and basket loads given away.

Our expectations for peach season were high.

Turns out, that tree was throwing itself a retirement party.
It died the following year.

We’ve since planted two more. The one that has always been unproductive surprised us this summer with these gorgeous, generous peaches. The healthy, established tree that usually produces? One. Single. Peach.

Fruit-bearing is an interesting thing.
Unpredictable. Relatively unmanageable.
Sometimes delicious and sometimes disappointing.

And maybe that’s why I love the reminder it offers:
performance isn’t always a good indicator
of what’s happening beneath the surface.

Take heart, dear one.

Some seasons, you’ll crush the to-do list,
accomplish the goals and have plenty to show for yourself.

Other seasons, you’ll simply keep showing up.
Quietly. Consistently. Faithfully.

And that is enough, too. 🌱
What if your greatest strength was never meant to What if your greatest strength
was never meant to become a hiding place?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we're continuing in our Summer Enneagram Series by exploring the Type Eight: The Challenger.

Many Eights learned early that strength was safer than vulnerability.
But what if healing isn't about becoming less strong?

What if it's about discovering that courage
and tenderness were never meant to compete?

God isn't asking you to lay down your strength.
He's inviting you to lay down the armor you no longer need.

🎧 Episode 036 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
If you identify with the Enneagram 7, my prayer fo If you identify with the Enneagram 7, my prayer
for you is that you would never lose your capacity
for wonder, laughter, creativity, and hope.

Those are sacred gifts.

But may you also discover the freedom of staying present
when life feels heavy. May you trust that joy does not disappear
when sorrow arrives. May you find that God is not only present
in the moments of celebration, but also in the quiet,
painful places you once tried to avoid.

The One who created your joy can also hold your grief.

You are loved.
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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