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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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I am regularly overwhelmed by the kindness of God I am regularly overwhelmed by the 
kindness of God in the small + simple.

Things like twinkle lights + Christmas jazz,
scraping out the peanut butter fudge pot
all by myself while sitting on the counter,
and walking around the corner to find my
loin fruit snuggled up together over tea.

They may fight like cats + dogs at times,
but their bond is deep and true and sweet.
Happy release day, @dralisoncook 💛 Written at Happy release day, @dralisoncook 💛

Written at the intersection 
of faith and psychology, 
this book is yet another 
soul-nourishing,
heart-healing, 
boundary-fortifying 
gift from Alison Cook
(if you’ve had a heart-to-heart
with me in the past two years,
you know how much I loved 
‘Boundaries for the Soul’). 

As an enneagram 2 who was raised 
in the church, this book was a timely
and liberating read. Pure balm for the 
weary, recovering-people-pleaser soul. 

I am beyond grateful for the wisdom, 
compassion + experience that Alison 
brings to all she shares (and it was
such an honor to be on her launch 
team for this beautiful new book).

Need a survival guide for your growth
and healing journey? Here you go! ✌🏼

#thebestofyou #thebestofyoubook #womenoffaith #healthyboundaries #healthyyou #healingjourney
Find yourself a tribe of people who will, togethe Find yourself a tribe of people who will, 
together, spend a beautiful Saturday
morning pulling this workout off:

• 20 mile run
• 340 tire flips
• 2,000 air squats
• 1,000 pull ups
• 1,500 box jumps
• 2,200 pull ups
• 600 devil press
• 3,300 sit ups

Brutal. Amazing. 
Exhausted.
So grateful for these two - their friendship, enco So grateful for these two - their friendship,
encouragement and wise counsel over the
past decade of being our pastoral couple
has been such a gift to our family 💛

Congrats on your retirement, dear friends!!
“Over the years, I have come to realize that t “Over the years, 
I have come to realize that 
the greatest trap in our life is not 
success, popularity, or power, 
but self-rejection.”
 :: Henri Nouwen

Somewhere along the journey of 
life, we start to believe the lie that - 
despite being made in the very image 
of a good and beautiful God - who we 
are is inherently bad and broken, and 
we learn to cover that deep sense 
of inadequacy (and the shame that 
accompanies it) with performance.

Because our visceral 
human response to 
‘bad + broken’ is 
‘reject + conceal’.

We think it’s the rejection of others
that cuts us to the core, but the truth
is…most of us walk around wounded 
by a constant and unrelenting sense 
of self-rejection and self-loathing.

Want to know why we feverishly seek 
out the approval and validation of others?
Why we desperately want others to like us?

Because we’re out of touch with our
inherent value and worth, and we’re
not sure that we even like ourselves.

We resent our weakness,
and abandon ourselves.

/ / /

But this good + beautiful God of ours…
He is drawn to our weakness like a
moth to a flame, swooping in to
bring strength and grace.

Paul writes in Corinthians 12:9 that 
he learned to delight in his weakness 
because it was when he was week that
“His strength is perfected in me”. 

Or, as the Passion Translation so 
stunningly puts it, “my weakness 
becomes a portal to God’s power”.

Precious ones, we can shun our tender
still-in-process places, pretend to have 
it all together, and hustle for our worth…
OR we can drop the masks, offer kindness 
and curiosity to our hurting, broken parts,
and learn to live fully seen and known.

But we can’t have both.

And yes, it’s scary.

Today may we choose
…grace over perfectionism
…curiosity over shame
…acceptance over rejection
…gentleness over judgement
…wholeness over pretense

You are loved.
And they’re off! Alathea is in 10th grade and A And they’re off!

Alathea is in 10th grade and
Aiden is heading into 8th grade.

Here’s to a year full of grace,
discovery, friendship + growth 🙌🏼
"Faith isn't the ability to believe long + far i "Faith isn't the ability 
to believe long + far 
into the misty future. 
It's simply taking God 
at His Word + taking 
the next step."

:: Joni Eareckson Tada
Day 15 | Beach Day + Travel Prep We fly out late Day 15 | Beach Day + Travel Prep

We fly out late tomorrow evening so today
has been a lazy day of laundry, laying in the
sun, a petshop visit (where Aiden fell in love 
with a cute rat + I discovered zebra finches), 
an impromptu stop for bubble tea + stuffed crepes [oh my word, were these delicious!!],
shopping [I found the best, comfiest - Joe
would argue ‘ugliest’ - romper at the thrift
store that I can’t wait to wear on our long
journey home], and Aiden is currently off
doing his thing: fishing right from the pier.
Our view from the lodge last night ✨ Our view from the lodge last night ✨
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