A Pee-Wee Herman sticker. It’s not the “best thing” I’ve ever found randomly on the street, but it’s certainly one of the funniest things I’ve recently found.
Last Saturday, Travis and I were walking at the farmers market, when I noticed a Pee-Wee Herman sticker on the public restroom sign. Then, as we were walking back to our car, I spotted another Pee-Wee Herman sticker on the parking garage window.
If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be and why?
This past April, I got my 17th tattoo—a peacock in the American Traditional style. 🦚 Technically, it’s my 18th tattoo because I had an old tattoo covered up with the peacock.
When I was around 23 years old and in college, I got my first tattoo—a butterfly on my lower back.
Yes, I was one of those 20-something college students in the early 2000s who got the infamous “tramp stamp.” 😏😂
“Ye are blood of my blood, and bone of my bone. I give ye my body, that we two might be one. I give ye my spirit, ’til our life shall be done.” — Jamie Fraser to Claire on their wedding day, from the novel Outlander (1991) by Diana Gabaldon
Today, is my 15th wedding anniversary, so this quote seemed very fitting! 🥰❤️
If someone were to ask me for one life-changing tip to share with them, then I would quietly say a quick prayer and offer this thought:
Love and trust in the Lord with all your heart. Pray for His wisdom so that you may know His will for your life. Then pray for the guidance and strength to follow it.
Trust me, friend—I speak from experience. It took me more than 25 years to truly understand the importance of this.
Photo of me at a local coffee shop.
For much of my life, I struggled with my faith. Whenever I experienced hardship, I turned away from God instead of turning toward Him.
Is my life perfect now that I have returned to the Lord? Not at all.
Life still brings difficulties, disappointments, uncertainty, and sorrow. The difference is that I no longer walk through those seasons alone.
Photo of me at a local greenhouse.
By God’s grace, even the difficult moments have taught me something and have drawn me closer to Him.
I am still very much growing in my faith. But each day, I find that my faith grows a little deeper. I am learning to trust more, worry less (big emphasis on this one!), and see things more clearly than I once did.
One habit that has improved my life the most is 🗣 DAILY PRAYER! 🙏🏽
It has been one year since I returned to the Lord and returned to faithfully practicing my faith, and I am SO grateful for God’s great love and mercy.
I am lost without Jesus and my daily prayer! 🙏🏽 Prayer helps me stay connected with God and keep Him center of my life.
Photo I took at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.
I start each morning by first lighting my prayer candle, dipping my finger in Holy Water (we have a bottle of Holy Water gifted to us from our church), and signing the cross. Then, I begin to say my morning prayers in my kitchen.
Why my kitchen? 😅
Well, we live in a small house, and I am usually the first one to wake up before my husband and the children. So, I say my prayers in the kitchen first thing in the morning!
Photo I took at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit.
I also keep a prayer card that lists specific topics to pray about each day of the week (i.e. Mondays praying for the week ahead, Tuesdays praying for the sick, etc.).
And I keep a prayer list to pray for any personal needs or the needs and requests of others.
So, when I tell people I will add them to my prayer list and pray for them, I truly mean it!
My pastor once told me prayer is the most powerful thing we can do. 💯🙏🏽 It is one of the best pieces of advice he has given me.
I strongly believe in the power of prayer. No matter if I am feeling happy, frustrated, stressed, or sad I pray to the Lord. No matter where you are in your faith journey or if you are feeling unsure, prayer can help you connect to God.
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful.” — James 5:16
💜 XO
P.S.—if you would like me to pray for you, please let me know! Peace be with you. ✌🏾💜🙏🏽
📸 Feature image of St. Bonaventure Chapel in Detroit, Mich. when I visited the Blessed Solanus Casey Spiritual Center this past spring.
This question of the day is very timely, as I am having a tough day on this Wednesday. 😏
Our minivan needs some costly repairs, and it’s our only vehicle. So, it immediately triggered my anxiety.
Negative thoughts and questions started swarming through my head, and I felt a little defeated, at first.
What about this…? What about that…? How will we…? How much will it cost…? Trying to hurriedly come up with solutions, and so on.
Beautiful Cosmos flower 🌸
Pause and just breathe
But instead of letting it get me down, I took a few slow deep breaths and quietly sat in the kitchen for a moment. 😌
The kitchen is the heart of our home, so it just made the most sense to pause here. 💜
I decided to stick with my morning routine: light the prayer candle, morning prayers, get the tea kettle on, tidy the kitchen, start breakfast for the kids.
And then I spent the rest of the morning in my garden. My happy place. 😊🌼
Potato flower in the garden! 😍🥔🌸 We will be harvesting potatoes very soon! This made me SO happy. 😊
It doesn’t make the problems go away. We will still have to get the minivan fixed. I know that.
But I also trust in God; He is my hope. 🙏🏽
A timely message of encouragement
Yesterday, we went to the Tuesday evening Mass. Fr. Jim’s homily focused on having hope and trusting in Jesus even when life throws us some curve balls.
I’m thankful for his very timely message. It turned out I would need it this Wednesday morning. 💜🙏🏽
Our spider flowes are doing their best in this heat. 🥵🌸
And tending to the vegetable plants and admiring our flower blooms was the joy and peace I needed to help me take a break from the stress of auto repair issues. 🥰🌸💜🙏🏽
We’ve been living in Michigan for ten years now, and we’ve never traveled more than two hours outside of our local area. I know that’s pretty wild, huh? 😆
The first five years we were living here, the thought never crossed my mind to explore more of the state. I honestly wasn’t expecting us to live in Michigan for over five years.
We also fell in love with exploring more of Detroit and the metro area, so the past ten years, our leisure time has been spent close to home.
The Detroit Institute of Arts is one of our favorite places to visit in Detroit.
But right around the seven-year mark, I started to realize we needed to actually start exploring our other cities and towns in our new home state! 😄
Here are a few cities/towns I want to visit in Michigan.
Mackinac Island (M has been to Mackinac Island, and she really enjoyed it.)
Grand Rapids
Traverse City
Lansing
Port Huron
St. Joseph
Frankenmuth (We visited Frankenmuth once in 2017, I think. We attended a hot air balloon festival, but we didn’t actually explore the town, so I’d like to go back again.)
And I’d really love to go camping in the UP!
Milliken State Park and Harbor in Detroit. I love going on bike rides here!
I know Michigan has many amazing cities and towns, especially in the UP. A lot of people I know who live here, like to travel to the UP for vacationing and just to get away for a weekend.
I hope one day our family will be able to start going on road trips to visit more of the Mitten State!
💜 XO
“To move, to breathe, to fly, to float… to travel is to live.” — Hans Christian Andersen
At my age of 45, I tend to gravitate towards the “grandma activities.” 😂👵🏽
My days are always so busy with homemaking, homeschooling, and just being a wife and mom to our six kids, so I like to keep it simple and focus on more quiet activities.
Here are a few things I do for fun throughout the seasons.
Crafting. Right now, I’ve been creating my own jewelry. I’ve also been learning how to do nature journal sketching and watercolor painting.
The DIA is one of my favorite art museums to visit throughout the year!
Spring, Summer, and Fall Seasons
Once the weather warms up again, I usually spend more time outside of the house. These are fun things I like to do in the spring, summer, and fall.
Gardening—I garden at my home and a community garden.
Attend local festivals.
Go to the lake with my family.
Nature walks on the trails. Last year, we discovered a microforest in our local area. The kids and I love going on nature walks in the forest!
Antiquing, thrifting, and vinyl shopping (I love collecting classic jazz records!)
Bonus: this daily blog and street photography. I also continue my nature journal sketching and watercolor painting in these seasons, too.
I love gardening! I’ve been learning how to grow my own food. Every garden season, I learn so many new gardening techniques and information about growing food.
And with that, here are a few moments from today!
💜 XO
“Stay where you are at.” Spotted this sticker on a light post at the hardware store.
Silly Sentences. Today, the kids played with DK Silly Sentences. It’s a fun way for children to learn how to create sentences.
Blue jay stopping by the patio for peanuts. With the weather being so cold in the single digits, the birds have been hanging out more at my bird feeders. 🐦
I’ve been teaching the kids how to do laundry. With homeschooling, I like to include learning essential life skills as part of their education experience.
Today’s Prayer. As part of a Christmas present, M (23) gifted her younger siblings prayer cards. Zechariah (10) likes to read a new prayer card each day.
Zaya (5) putting on her Hello Kitty makeup.
Zaya’s makeup bag. 🥹😊 Big sister M gave Zaya a makeup bag she no longer needed. Zaya was really excited about it!
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.” John 14:27
