So blessed!

This was one of the best weekends we have had in a long time, the perfect combo of family, individual, and adult time and complete with great friends, food, laughs, and memories.

We have not used a non-grandparent sitter for Will in awhile and decided to see if his fave former teacher was available for watching him today. She was. What a blast they have had together all day too! Greg and I truly enjoyed spending the day in our old stomping ground of DC, getting to catch up together and with other awesome area friends we haven't seen in awhile. Nothing quite like a beautiful day with perfect company in our fave city! We really are blessed.

Unfortunately, we have seen several close friends go through separations or divorces recently, some of whom also have young children. That's always heartbreaking to see. It's only made open and honest communication even more of a top priority for Greg and me. We aim to never take the other for granted, take time for the other every day, and try to practice empathy for the other. 

Marriage is not easy. It takes hard work, compromise, and the ability to make decisions and communicate as a team. We may not always get what we want, and times will certainly not always be easy. I remember our vows well from our wedding over 7 years ago, and we have certainly already been through some difficult times. Luckily, we got through them and emerged stronger, ready to tackle whether challenge or obstacle lies ahead.

Greg is an amazing partner, husband, best friend, and father. I know I am beyond lucky and try my best to let him know this every day, even in the smallest way.

Take time to cherish your loved ones and tell them just how much they mean to you. Life is too short -- and precious -- not to.

#soblessed #gratitude 

Joy!

This face captures the pure joy of enjoying a Friday night in...and the awesome food that can come with it. #soblessed #happiestbabyever #gratitude 

Namaste!

It only seems appropriate to end today with a yoga prayer for inner and outer peace, seeing as I was fortunate enough to end the day in a beautiful Gentle Therapeutic Yoga class at Sage Yoga. Happy almost Friday, all! #thankgoodness

May there be peace in heaven,

Peace in the skies,

And peace on earth.

May all the waters know peace,

May all the herbs and plants know peace,

May the great trees of the forest know peace.

May all the forces of the universe know peace.

The immense, transcendent Reality is peace.

May all know peace,

Peace and only peace,

And may that peace come unto me.

Om peace, peace, peace.

Gratitude matters!

I'm grateful for the little things today -- a delicious BBQ chicken salad, new purple nails for fall, my son walking everywhere (and happily tearing up the house in the process), and being in bed before 9:30 pm. I'm not sure life can get any better. #mommywin #purebliss #soblessed 

Balance!

Hi, my name is Kay, and as you know, I have an addictive personality. This has lead me to doing all kinds of crazy things impulsively, from getting 5 tattoos to running a 50 miler just to see if I could finish it (And I did!). I have had to learn how to be less impulsive and more rational, and thankfully, my husband is a master at this. We are opposites in many ways, and it just works. It really does.

Sometimes, my addictive personality prevents me from making smart or logical decisions. Take reading for example. Ever since the dawn of time, I have loved reading. It quickly became an obsession, and I could never get my hands on enough books. My husband is the same way, and it's no surprise that our son is heading in that direction too. The sheer number of books in our house is absurd, even with my Kindle and audiobooks on Audible (Speaking of new obsessions...).

So, I just HAVE to share my latest, awesome find with you, Carry On, Warrior: The Power of Embracing Your Messy, Beautiful Life by Glennon Doyle Melton. Many thanks to my girl, Mary, for recommending it! Could there be a better titled book for this page?!! I think not.

So, yeah, this book is my current love. It even prevented me from getting to my 5 am OT class yesterday because I was up reading it too late. #bookwormfail

I know many of us are striving to find that true balance in life between work, family, ourselves, and all of the other commitments we have. I am certainly a work in progress with this. Who isn't?

I need to share with you some of Melton's thoughts on balance:

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When folks ask me how I find "balance" what they are really saying is, "I feel so much tension in my life. How do I get rid of it all and find peace?" I always say that I think we have the wrong idea about what balance is. 

Balance is not the absence of tension -- it's achieved through tension. My yoga teacher taught me that balance happens when opposing forces pass equally against an object. I have that kind of balance. I have marriage pressing in and kids pressing in and work pressing in, and church pressing in and friends pressing in and I think of all of these powerful, worthy forces working together to keep me solid, upright, and balanced. When it feels like one is pushing too hard and I get wobbly, I just focus on strengthening the others up a bit. And I just make sure that everything causing tension is worthy of pressing on me.

I think that we women must make peace with the fact that since we care so much and serve so much and assume so many roles and great loves, we will always feel tension pressing in. But maybe we can think of that tension as holding us up instead of tearing us down. It would be a great tragedy to have nothing important pressing in at all.

---

Isn't she great? I love her and her writing. So, what's worthy of pressing on YOU today?

#findingbalance #lifelongjourney #positivity

No fear here!

I mentioned two potential perks of rainy weekends yesterday: sleeping in and naps. I'm notoriously bad with both of those, but I made significant progress today with a third category -- extreme OCD organization. 

A wise woman today told me that trying to clean or organize with a child present is like cleaning your teeth while eating Oreos. Yes! This picture below is worth a thousand words. William tries his darnedest to be helpful, even when it involves a diaper palooza. I think he already understands that one of the greatest feelings in the world is getting rid of unneeded junk and donating other items to charity. We certainly got A LOT of that accomplished today! Our little version of LaBanca fall cleaning 2015, version 1.0.

I'm hoping Will picks up some of my organization tricks, as I tend to be an instigator and influence people...occasionally. Hehe. Apparently, I inspired one of my friends from college to get her first tattoo today...at the same studio I got one of mine in Chicago! She chose an awesome phrase: "fear is paper tigers." It's from an Amelia Earhart quote, and I love it!

Grateful!

It's been a few days, and I wish I had an excuse. I don't. I'm tired and chose to go to bed earlier. My brain hurt. Life is crazy insane....and in the BEST possible way.

As I often do, it's fun to reflect on things I'm grateful for since Thursday:

1. Fellow Mommy friends and play dates where Will can be himself and have his true happy, social self shine through. He's still quite the bookworm too, which warms my heart.

2. We didn't get anywhere near what the worst case scenario could have been with Hurricane Joaquin. Windy, rainy weekend days = perfect nap and sleeping in weather. I got to do the former after Will went to bed tonight. #mommywin

3. More good news this week. I look forward to being able to share more about it soon. Sorry to be so vague in the meantime!

4. My Ragnar Relay DC team kicked some serious a** over the last 24 hours in some very challenging, rainy, and cold conditions. While I was certainly bummed I could not run with them, I was there in spirit and loved seeing their happy, inspiring FB posts throughout the weekend. What true grit and determination!

5. My hubby rocks! #duh #lovehim

Make it a FANTASTIC end to your weekend! #gotrainnoproblem #gratitude