Everyday Life: Summer Liberation

Today is G's last day of school, which means summer vacation begins this afternoon!

I thought about making a summer must-do list and checking adventures off one by one. 

But. 

I'm trying to declutter our lives, simplify our schedules and make enough space to burn with passion -- so adding more to-do lists to the fridge would be sort of defeating. 

Instead, I've been thinking about all the liberation summer brings.

So here's what you won't catch me doing this summer:

Copious Amounts of Cooking 

Yeah, I said it. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time in the kitchen preparing meals. Of course, we're not going to feasting on boxed dinners or processed food either. Rather, we'll be eating plenty of fresh food from the garden, grilling our meats and veggies and rarely turning on the oven. 

And if my kids want celery and almond butter for lunch with a side of blueberries? Cherry tomatoes right from the vine? Raisins and nuts?  Go for it, littles. Go for it. I'm not doing the food fight this summer. {But I will still be culturing my coconuts and veggies and giving the old Vitamix smoothie-blending workouts; I haven't totally lost my mind.}

Grocery Shopping the Middle Aisles

Speaking of the food fight that I'm not engaging in during meal times -- well, I'm not doing the food fight during snacks either, which pretty much means I'll be bypassing the middle aisles of the grocery store a large percentage of the time.

With so much fresh fruit and veggies, which both boys like one or both, we'll be snacking on easy-to-prepare snacks like strawberries and nuts, pears and peanut butter and carrots and hummus. Because we are NOT spending all summer debating which snacks are sometimes snacks and which ones are always snacks. 

Scheduling 

Even though we're involved in really good activities and we enjoy so much time that is scheduled and planned, we're not filling the calendar days this summer. 

Today, the sun was bright shining and beautiful and it was so nice to say yes to a friend's text message asking if we wanted to meet at the park in our neighborhood. When weeks are totally scheduled, though, it makes those kinds of impromptu fun dates impossible. 

I kind of want to see what happens when we wake up and just live the day. 

New Projects

My brain twin and I are masterminds of projects. But this summer, as soon as we wrap up the first-ever Little Lake County Green Guide, we're writing down ideas and tabling them until school restarts. Mostly, I've decided to say no to any new projects simply so I'll have some time to work on my long-awaited and already started e-book and its corresponding site. 

Sorting Socks

Now that I have my barefoot shoes for working out, I'm tossing all of our socks into a bin and saving them for cold weather; I've spent way too much time lately trying to tame the sock explosion.

And I'm allowing my children to buy and wear the croc shoes I've been adamantly against for several years. {Do I have the only kids in the free world who hate wearing sandals every day? Why do they prefer gym shoes?}

Fight the Daylight

Bedtime is a huge struggle during the summer months because of the lingering light -- this summer, so long as we don't have crabs scurrying around the house or yard, we're not enforcing lights-out bedtime at the normal 7:30-8:00 time period. 

And because we aren't scheduling, it's no biggie if we sleep later in the morning and eat breakfast at 10 a.m. 

So. What are you NOT doing this summer so as to live the simple life for a few months out of the year? Please share your ideas!

January Simple Swap: Clean Closet, Clean Start

We all want to live healthier, more intentional lives, but sometimes it seems overwhelming and daunting to take even small steps toward our ideals because there are so many steps before us.


Simple Swap was born out of a desire and passion to encourage other women on journeys toward living healthier, more inspired, intentional lifestyles through implementing one simple swap per month. 




Each swap will:

1. Take 30 minutes or less to accomplish

2. Be inexpensive to implement or boast overall, long-haul {health} savings


3. Focus on improving health/eco-friendliness, being good stewards of our resources and/or fostering a creative and intentional life.

Some weeks, all three will be accomplished in 30 minutes or less!

My creative cohort Robin from Diet Coke on the Rocks already made her January Simple Swap! Check it out!


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Hello, closet. Look at you. You've really let yourself go. 

I think for your New Year's Resolution, you should really think about shaping up. And I'm going to help; I'm not leaving here without having unloaded a lot of dead weight.


Oh, my closet: a neglected space that has ended up as more of a junk room than a home for clothing, shoes and other essential gear.

Try as I may to keep things organized and neat, simply it's been impossible because we've just have too many things in there.

Too many clothes that are too big for me.

Too many clothes that are too worn for John.

Even too many shoes that I can no longer wear because apparently feet shrink after losing a bunch of weight.

Also, the random items -- a duck-down pillow topper for a bed, unmatched socks that haven't had a partner in years, junky plastic hangers from newborn clothes -- count among the too manys as well.

Part of the motivation behind Simple Swap was to encourage my heart as well as my friends to be good stewards of what we've been given.

In this house, we have been holding onto too-big clothes, unused shoes, unworn shirts and unappreciated household items for too long.

I long rationalized that hanging onto these items was a practical way to ensure we wouldn't have to buy more -- in the event that we needed them again in the future, thus making us good stewards because of all the money we'd save from rebuying the same things.

But a new definition of stewardship has been pressing into my thoughts -- one that says items are made to be used when they are needed, not saved for the possibility of future use. 

There are bodies that need those clothes now, those shoes now.

Aside from that, I've been thinking a lot lately about how our stuff can start to own us instead of us owning our stuff. 

I've been dodging two baskets of clean clothes settled in the upstairs hallway for days because I've been so busy picking up other things -- the toys, the books, the dishes, the Christmas decorations.

We have so many things that need to be picked up that I don't have time to get to it all, which is one way I've easily become encumbered by our things. 

So, in an effort to be good stewards of our resources and in an effort to simply own our stuff, we are going through a long process of disowning about 500 pounds of our stuff.

We made a big dent tonight with the home base of the bedroom closet, as it's been one of our biggest strong holds, consistently overlooked because it's so out of sight.

We discarded all of the clothes that haven't fit for quite some time and are sending them packing to the Tri County Thrift Store, a local organization that uses the profits from donated items sold to help in our community's pregnancy and parenting help center.

I shall not miss you, cute but too-big shoes since I have not worn you in more than one year.

And we said goodbye to some other items by giving them away and posting freebies on good old Facebook. The result? Cleaner and lighter.

Are you ready to get lighter?

Give yourself 30 minutes and disown, disown, disown!

If you're anything like me, you might actually feel the dead weight coming off your shoulders as you free your stuff and free yourself from it.

If you have to think about an item for too long and begin rationalizing ways you'll be using it, simply send it packing.

Also, this month, Simple Swap and Dress Like a Girl are combining forces! 

While clearing out your closet, kill THREE birds with one stone: Disown your stuff, be a good steward and Dress Like a Girl!

Don't miss Melissa's brilliant method for dwindling a closet full of clothing that doesn't quite do the body justice.

The first step to dressing like a girl, after all, is identifying what's flattering and makes us feel good!

After snapping a few photos of your swap, link up here in the January Simple Swap/Dress Like a Girl Challenge co-challenge! BE SURE to visit at least the person before you to encourage her on this journey!

{There will not be a giveaway for linking up this month because the point is to send things packing, not home new items!}