The And Space
I first heard about The And Space from my internet friend, Liz. She talks about living in a space where we can hold two very different (and often opposite) feelings at the same time. I’ve been thinking a lot about that this year, but in particular this holiday season. Joy & Sadness. Hope & Uncertainty.
We’re missing so many of our favorite people. We’re mourning the normalcy of life as we’ve always known it. We’re hoping for “herd immunity” and vaccines and the promise of hugs in 2021.
But on the other hand, we’re finding gratitude in our jobs, in our health, and especially in each other. We’re slowing down and savoring each moment we can spend together (even if that looks different than we’d like).
Merry Christmas, friends.
Fried Egg Sandwiches
In Episode 17 of the FinalVibe podcast, Jan “Gma Jan” Kempker shares a story about her dad and the fried egg sandwiches that he would make for homeless people who came to their home. He had no idea that this story would be passed along to his great-grandson or that his legacy of kindness and compassion would be shared with the purpose of positively impacting others and encouraging them to live out their legacy as well.
And as Andrew went on to say, “That’s legacy at it’s finest…Too often we overhype the big stuff in life. We’re sitting here, celebrating your dad for the kindness in his heart to feed a homeless person an egg sandwich.” This story is simple and it’s actionable. We can create a legacy for ourselves based on the way that we serve and care for other people when all the cameras are turned off and we think no one is looking.
I’ve thought about this everyday since. How does this play out in my life and what will my fried egg sandwich story be?
Nine Things I Learned This Fall
This month, I’m linking up with Emily P Freeman to round up lessons I’ve learned over the past 3 months. I love what Emily has to say: “For years I’ve been engaging in a practice of looking back before moving ahead…We are doing our best around here, setting the intention to engage in reflection while also realizing we are all, in a way, relearning how to be people in the midst of countless transitions, questions, and reconsiderations. This is the place once per quarter where I share my in-process considerations, not necessarily fully worked out narratives. You’re invited in on the journey. I reserve the right to change my mind.” Here are my lessons from September through November 2020:
- The more you try to control, the less you actually can.
- Change points us in the direction of our priorities. I heard this in a radio commercial recently and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. There has been no shortage of change in 2020 and I feel like my purpose and my goals have continued to stand out to me.
- There is power in just doing the next right thing. You don’t have to get to the end goal today, you just have to take one small action step toward it.
- It is safe to trust that God knows better than you do.
- Documenting life is a good way to cultivate gratitude. As I flip back through my journal from 2020, I’ve found this to be more true than ever. Things have looked different but I’ve almost become more thankful for all of the good people, experiences, and things that surround me.
- Simplicity is key.
- You have to do the work. This year, I’ve been reading a lot of books on leadership, minimalism, habits, and goal setting but at the end of the day you’ve got to put in the work to implement these practices. Without doing that, there is no growth.
- Fall still isn’t my favorite, but there’s still always something to enjoy. Honestly, I love the idea of fall but when it’s actually fall, I’m just reminded of winter right around the corner. And at least winter has Christmas and snow to redeem it. I think the pictures above are proof enough, though, that there are plenty of things about this season to enjoy.
- It won’t always be this way. We won’t always have our nights and weekends free. We won’t always have time for a walk around the block with the pups. We won’t always have an hour to cook dinner. We won’t always have the ability to work from home. Allow this to be our deep breath and our pause.
Currently | December 2020
B A K I N G
I’m not huge into baking, but anytime I do bake, it’s always chocolate chip banana muffins. I’ve been making them the same way for years, and the recipe is fantastic (no thanks to me, I found it online). I’ve also been wanting to make beer bread and scones ever since Sarah made them for us in October.
D E C O R A T I N G
We started decorating the house much earlier this year than we ever have. With being at home more, it just seemed like it made sense. In general, I would say that we lean towards “essentialism” in most things and that includes Christmas decor. I love the lights, the vibe, the cozy, all of it and am definitely tempted to completely go crazy throughout the entire house. I bought a few things this year to add to our collection – a faux fur table runner, two small wreaths, and a macrame tree. I’m loving the absolutely everything about it.
G I F T I N G
I mentioned this a few times before, but we’re trying to do as much shopping as possible at small businesses (and bonus points if they are local)! I wrote this list of small businesses that we love and have been super thankful to get to help support many of them already this holiday season. We still have a few gifts to wrap up, but for the most part we do a majority of our shopping on Black Friday and the few days that follow.
H O P I N G
I’m hoping for more hugs, more family time, more in-person connecting, and a whole lot less COVID in 2021. Fingers crossed.
S E N D I N G
Tomorrow my Christmas cards arrive!!! I absolutely cannot wait to see how they turned out and send them to our family and friends. For the first time since our wedding, Kevin and I had professional photos taken and I just cannot stop looking at them. I am going to be making it a point to get them done every year from now on. (I also plan to share them here, too!)
December Goals
November was a whirlwind of stress and COVID spikes, so I’m not going to even try to pretend that I came close to getting much done in the way of goals. At the end of the day, my number one thing was to keep up the exercise routine. And I definitely did that. I cannot say enough how much of a game changer that has been for my mental and physical health this year. It’s ranged from Orange Theory work outs to walks around the block with the dogs and so many different things in between. I’m excited to build on this habit in 2021.
November Monthly Goals
- Paint Built in Book Shelves – I had really good intentions (I even have the paint!) but it didn’t get done, so I’m taking it off my list for the time being.
- Read 4 Books – I read 6!
- Replace Blinds – This fell down on the priority list, and didn’t get done in November. I’m not 100% on when it will, so I’m putting it on pause for now.
- Complete my Real Estate Courses – womp womp. Extended until the end of December. Let’s hope I can wrap this thing up!
- Show Small and Local for Christmas – We have loved shopping local this season. I did a fun little round up here of our favorite places.
- Vote on November 3rd! – Yep!
November Weekly Goals
- Two Orange Theory Fitness Classes – check, check but I’ve frozen my account for the time being due to COVID.
- Weigh In – done!
- Budget – done and done, proud of our progress this month!
- Weekly Sabbath – I practiced a Sabbath every week but one, we’ll call that a win.
November Daily Goals
- Exercise – got most days in November.
- Read the Word / Prayer – honestly, I could have done better with this one.
- Take Vitamins – high five!
- Journal – Yep!
November Highlights
- We voted!
- Taylor and Todd got engaged!
- Kevin attempted the 10,000 calorie challenge with Andrew.
- We tried HelloFresh (yum!)
- We decorated a little earlier than normal for Christmas.
- We did Thanksgiving, just the two of us.
November Favorites
Food: Hello Fresh Bulgogi Pork (we even did a vlog about it)
Book: The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman
Purchase: Cricut (Merry Christmas to me!)
Song: This. You’re Welcome.
This month, I feel like I’m getting back down to the roots of my goals by only including things that will move the needle in one of these two areas:
Goal 1: Prioritize my health – physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, environmental, and social.
Goal 2: Allow open to be an invitation to live intentionally.
It feels good to get back to the basics. Each year, by December, I notice that little side goals, or things that I just want to tick off start finding their way into my monthly list and that’s not really the point of completing Powersheets for me, personally.
December Monthly Goals
- Send Christmas cards – I love doing this each year and think it’s an awesome way to connect, especially in a year where I haven’t gotten to see my family as much as I’d like.
- Take a week off work! – I need this. Looking forward to taking some time off after Christmas.
- Set phone hours – The scrolling numbers are creeping up. I’m trying to work on intentionality, so here we are setting some boundaries for what that looks like.
December Weekly Goals
- Sabbath – New month, same goal. Love this practice and look forward to it every week.
- Meal Prep – This one helps the next one, and it just makes my days feel so much easier.
- Weigh In – Really proud of my progress both on and off the scale but this one just helps to keep me accountable.
- Budget – Ready to finish out strong.
December Daily Goals
- Meditate
- Track Food
- Exercise
- Bible Study