May 2019 Life Update

Just wanted to jump on and give you a life update, as well as share pictures of the furniture we were blessed with, and our yard sale and thrift store finds.

Weekend Adventures

On the weekend, we’ve been exploring Sonora, Jamestown, Columbia, and Coulterville. Some of our favorite places to visit are:

Sonora

• Heaven for Kids Park – The playground is all wooden and it even has a part like a pirate ship!
• The Sonora Library – This library is like Barnes and Noble. I could live in there.
• Downtown Sonora – So many cool restaurants and antique shops.
• Legends Bookstore – This library has a creek running through the downstairs. It has the most inviting little nooks to stop and read.

Columbia

• The Columbia Farmory and Mountain People Organics – An awesome indoor farmer’s market,
• Columbia State Park – I love the big rocks to climb on, people dressed in period clothing, fresh baked bread from the market, and chocolate at the candy shop.

Coulterville

• The Cakewalk – Enchanting organic bakery in Coulterville run by the most brilliant lady. A must-see.

Jamestown

• Railtown – So much fun to take the kids to see all the old steam engines and people dressed in period clothing.

Roberts Ferry

• Roberts Ferry Nut Company – Wonderful place to stop and grab a gift and they have delicious shakes! I recommend their Almond shake.

Current Highlights

Here are the highlights of what I’ve been up to!

Adventures

• I am proud to say I have conquered my fear of driving on Highway 49 between Sonora and Coulterville. There are 4 miles of cliffs and I did it without having a panic attack.
• I met with some awesome friends and had a mini blogging conference.

Style

• I am working on my Spring/Summer capsule wardrobe. (Trying to stick to 10-items!)
• I experimented wearing the same dress for 5 days but mixing and matching it. It was fun and freeing.

Shopping

• We went to our community yard sale and bought a room divider, some pillows, a blouse, and an old sifter. Also, I found a cool print in downtown Sonora.

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• Hiking boots from Amazon.
• Adorable mug at TJ Maxx.

• Walmart shoes. I love these shoes! I have been looking for a pair of ethical shoes, in my budget or at least some used ones. Thredup didn’t have the ones I was looking for. At Walmart, I found these and apparently the company who makes them supports planting trees, and donates shoes to the poor. I couldn’t link to the exact pair I bought, they are nowhere to be found online! I really lucked out. They are exactly what I wanted. Both stylish and comfortable.
• Art from the Habitat for Humanity in Sonora:

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• Necklace that reminds me of the Little Mermaid.

• Some of the furniture I talked about here

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Books

• I have started reading “How to Blog for Profit without Selling Your Soul” and it has inspired me to treat blogging more like my job.
• I checked out a ton of books at the library. When I came in the librarian said “oh you are the one who got all of these!” Ummm, yes. That was me. I’m especially enjoying Leo Buscaglia’s “Loving Each Other”.

Music/Podcasts

• I’ve been listening to the “Jen Said What?!” podcast. I enjoyed the most recent episode when she talked about Ariana Grande and her depression, saying that depressed means you need deep rest and that we all need a break from the role we play. I so agree with this. It’s a lot of pressure to put the same mask on for hours on end day after day. We all need time to exhibit all parts of our being.

Cooking/Baking

• I’ve been trying a new cookbook, The One-Pot Ketogenic Diet Book. I’ve loved every recipe.

Humor

A ridiculous video I watched recently and some random memes that I found silly.

Current Struggles

For the sake of being real and to let you know you are not alone, here are some things I am struggling with:

• Loneliness. I am so grateful for our home but we live in a very rural area so I can get lonely sometimes.
• Making time to write and letting the house fall down around me while I do it
• Practicing self-control in my marriage – not trying to control my husband
• Pride, feeling good about myself when things are under control instead of having gratitude and feeling terrible about myself when things are out of control instead of handing it over to God.
• Adjusting to being so close to nature and overcoming being overstimulated by it. Seriously. When you have been mainly indoors for the last 15 years, being in nature can be overwhelming with all of the sounds and possibilities of getting attacked and bitten. I know I’m not the only one.

What have you been up to? I’d love to hear in the comments below!