All my #selfie ladies {House & Heart Keeping}

No, but seriously. We're talking about house & heart keeping this week:

Monday- What reality looks like. The dirty bits of our life that are so completely normal to each of us.
Tuesday- And, what comparison + hating on our own life does to us.

So, as I stated yesterday I'm a huge fan of #selfies. Sounds silly, right?! But listen. I'm a fan because it's that one moment that you have. Your hair worked. Your makeup looked right. Or you liked your outfit. Or the sun was shining, your Husband remembered to take out the trash and everything came together for the perfect moment in time.

The #selfe.

The moment in time you felt great. Confident. Beautiful. Secure. Sexy, even. That one.

As a mom/wife/friend those moments are rare (hello, please read my post on Monday where I can barely make it out of our master bedroom without tripping on something) and MUCH needed!! We are stretched in a lot of directions, scattered, pulled, stretched thin almost. Cleaning up poop (literally, y'all) and making sure we buy milk.

We need more of those #selfie feeling moments in our life.

I really believe that the more we find to love about our own life, our everyday- the more joyful we become. The less we compare. That's the way it has worked in my life! We live in a very social media oriented world. I'm an over-instagramming-queen. Snapping photos like there's no tomorrow. I try to capture the pretty in our everyday (very mundane at times!) life.

So, I just want to encourage you to find something you like about yourself or your life. Your hair. Your scarf. Your new flats. Your coffee mug. Whatever. And post the heck outta it. I promise that moment will feel good. And who cares if your socks don't match and you can't find a clean coffee cup in that pile.

Rock that #selfie, y'all!!
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I hope these few posts have encouraged someone. Tomorrow I'll be back to my normal pretty things posts for awhile. Be encouraged that you're not alone. Sometimes the days are reeeeally long when you have little ones (no matter how much you love them to pieces!). There's a light. They will be potty trained one day! Right?! ;)

That Comparison {House & Heart Keeping}

Ohhh, that comparison. She (comparison just must be female, y'all) sneaks in so unexpectedly. As you're scrolling through your instagram feed.

I with I had everything together like she does. Ping.
How does she keep up her house and life so perfectly? Zing.
Why do they have all the fun and I just sit at home? Ding.
Seriously. How can they buy those things (whatever it may be) and live such a perfect life? Ping.
And her hair. I mean. I barely make it out of bed to brush my teeth. Nevermind my hair. Ding.
How does she find the time to chop all of those vegetables and menu plan one month out?! Zing.
And seriously. They only eat organic?! Poor Jonah. He gets Velveeta Shells and Cheese. Ding.


Little darts of comparison that completely make you feel like you couldn't possibly be as perfect as that one, or have as fantastic of a life as another.

Can I get a witness?  I've felt this before. Comparison. Throwing a pity party of one because my life doesn't seem to be quite as good and lovely as someone else. OR, it doesn't even have to be someone else. My life doesn't seem to be quite as good and lovely as I THINK it should be. My high perfectionist standards. At one time or another each of us has felt inadequate. That we don't measure up.

This human nature is SO strong willed. It covets. It compares. It envy's. It is jealous.

It's all about a perspective change.  When you compare yourself and your life with someone else's it leads to discontentment. Literally becomes a drain to your joy. You cannot compare yourself with anyone else and be focused on YOUR own purpose in life.

I just want to encourage you to find the beautiful in your own everyday. I really feel like finding things we like about our own lives (however small they may be) makes US happier people. Happier Moms. Wives. Friends. Trying to find the good + pretty in our life brings joy and appreciation. When your focus turns to the things you like about your life, funny how that happens. Don't be surprised when good things start happening!

If you bake tasty cupcakes, be a good baker! Wrap it up prettily and gift it to people. Just because. Take photos of it and take pride in it. You're not crafty, but you sure can cook (hey hey) then cook the mess out of some soup and find someone sick. Know what I mean? Encourage one another.

So. With that being said I'm a fan of #selfies. Talk to you tomorrow about WHY.
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What do you guys do to stay joyful in your everyday lives? 

Reality Ch-ch-check {House & Heart Keeping}

I posted a lot of pretty, shiny images last week. They were in order. It was LOVE week. Those pretty things + crafts + excursions were perfectly in order.

I waited a long time (until Jeremy and I were both goooood and ready) to have a baby. The waiting to be a Momma was intentional. We wanted to be prepared and be in a place in life that we were ready, not that you're ever really- ready. But still. I've said ready quite enough. You get my drift. So, the one thing that I thought about most was making every little (even small) thing count when I became a Momma to Jonah. My late Sister-in-law was the best example of this. She made each little milestone SO BIG. And, special. I loved that about Stephanie. That's what we're being intentional about as a family. Celebrating life and love. And, that's exactly what we did the last two weeks. LOVED BIG. 

Yet. Still. I think I need to keep things balanced here on the blog. My instagram feed is all about finding the pretty in our everyday life. So is this blog. I mean, you wouldn't want to come here and read about my dirty dishes everyday, right? Exactly. But, I do want to be quick to tell everyone that my instagram and this blog although it is REAL and those things REALLY did happen. Our life is not all rainbow and sparkles. 

We just celebrated love and pretty things, so this week I would like to share a little slice of reality with you. Yes? Okay. Let's do it. 

First up: Exhibit A: 

my blog is shuddering at this image. promise.

Meet my dirty bits. Sounds like an rated R rap song, right? Hahaha. Welp, there's a slice of reality for your viewing pleasure. While I was crafting all of those cute mustache classroom valentines + baking bread + taking photos of Jonah wearing cute outfits--

You can certainly see what I wasn't doing. Ahem.

The aftermath of the pretty. You get the point right?? There are toys ALL over our living room. Laundry piled up to the sky (at least that's the clean pile!!). Dishes overflowing the sink and the counter and the other counter. That's my least favorite chore. Thankful Hub does those! (And, just so you know--while I AM gifted with a Hubs who does the dishes. He does NOT clean his side of the closet. Ever.)

But, I digress.

That is LIFE, y'all. I choose to make crafts rather than folding clothes. I choose to bake rather than swiffering the kitchen. I choose to take Jonah to the park after school rather than cleaning the bathrooms. Those are choices that I make every day. I mean, at some point it all gets cleaned and looks presentable. LIFE. I am not betty freaking crocker AND mr. clean rolled into one package. 

And neither are you. So just remember that. 

Let's stop beating ourselves up when we think our life isn't "perfect", okay? Let's not compare ourselves to the pretty girl who lives in NYC and looks like she has a picture perfect brownstone + wardrobe + life + perfect children who don't throw fits in Old Navy  (NOT that my child has ever done that. Ahem.). I am a multi-tasker, but even then. Sometimes my multi-tasker just breaks down and goes on strike (see Exhibit A up there, y'all!). 

Find the pretty in your everyday. Let the dishes wait a day. Go outside. Take a walk. Focus on the good + beautiful blessings in your life. And I will too! I promise it will be rewarding for us all. Our lives don't have to be perfect, to be beautiful. Neither do our homes. There is no one perfect, but THE One. Tomorrow I'll be back to discuss this topic little more. 

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Y'all don't look too closely at my Exhibit A now. 

And, we can still be friends even though I'm messy, right?? 

Okay.

Good.