The Good Life

There are less than 50 days left in this year. In this decade. 10 years (almost) gone by. I spent the past 1.5 years doing a lot of soul work. Digging in to who I really am. So many factors play in to who we are. There are so many layers to work through to get down to the real and raw of it. The journey of the past year has motivated me to be more present, while also moving forward with intention.  During the month of November, I have been challenging myself to look for (and give recognition to) things that I am thankful for. Complaining is natural and easy. It takes no forethought to complain. Gratitude is the opposite. It takes being intentional. It means training my mind to look for the good in all things and being content with what I have. This isn't always easy and I do not have this perfected. But, what I am realizing is that contentment is a choice that I can choose every single day.   This gratitude challenge was sparked by my desire to be more joyful. I spent...

It's been over a year since I visited this place. A place where I used to come daily and spill my thoughts. It's funny how different seasons bring different needs. Several years ago, I was deep in the trenches of new motherhood and this little blog was a place that I needed, a way to express what was on my mind (and heart). Some seasons we need to let it out. Then, I found myself in a season where I needed to process, self reflect, seek guidance and keep it all in. Learning to lean in to and respect each season has been good, although challenging, for me. So why am I hear today? Because I'm back to a place where writing out my thoughts brings comfort (and some joy). Maybe it's because my kids are getting bigger and I have more free time. Maybe it's because my birthday is next week and I'm inching closer to 40. Maybe it's because I don't have a journal so these are my pages where I can come back to re-read, remember and reflect. Whatever the reason, I...

I am notorious for having a messy bedroom. When I was a little girl/teenager, it looked like my room threw up clothes (and all other kinds of odds and ends) everywhere. In fact, it was so bad that when anything was missing in the house, my parents would say "look in Renee's room" and sure enough, it was (more times than not) in my room. I can keep my entire house clean...except my bedroom. As I've gotten older, I have come to realize that it's really not as much my bedroom, as the closet area. Until we built the house we live in now, I have never had a walk-in-closet (WIC). Not only have I not had a WIC, but Matt and I have never had a "master suite" with our own bathroom. SO, when we designed our house, we wanted to have both a WIC and a big master bathroom. Our master suite is designed where you walk into our bedroom and then turn into a little hallway that has my WIC on the left and Matt's on the right. and then you walk into the actual bathro...

The other day I saw a quote that said "working hard for something we don't care about is called stress but working hard for something we love is called passion." and it made me really think about my passion(s). I know I am passionate about my husband and kids and I work hard at being a homemaker. I am passionate about my Rodan+Fields business and I work hard at helping those on my team achieve their goals. But I also find myself thinking (a lot) about writing and coming back to this blog. Today, I sat down and read back through some of my posts. My journey over the past 5+ years has had ups and downs. We have added kids and new jobs and moves to the mix. I have grown in so many ways and I can look back on these entries and see the growth that has taken (and continues to take) place. I had high expectations of blogging every day, building something with it, sharing it and maybe exploring what this would look like for me. That vision has changed. I now know that this i...

Back in May, I created a new blog called 'Calico Road Confessions'. My hope was that this space provide a place for me to document our journey, as we transitioned to our new home on Calico Road. What better place to start a story than from the very beginning, right? Well, with no internet connection and the entire process being a little more overwhelming than I bargained for...I wasn't able to document a single entry on the journey. This journal entry was written on May 9th. I am sharing it here and picking up where I left off. I'm so happy to be back... Matt and I bought our house in October 2013. We knew it would not be our forever home but we also knew that God was calling us here for a season. Our home has provided everything we could have needed for our family in the past 3.5 years. Colton was 9 months old when we moved in and we got to witness his first steps here, his transition to a big boy bed, potty training and so many more "firsts". This home is...

Matt and I have been dating since 2008. In that time, we've talked about so many of our life ambitions and our dreams and our goals. We have talked about our struggles, our failures, our weaknesses and our losses. In this (seemingly short) amount of time, we have experienced some dig down and face it 'lows' and some incredible, I don't want this to end 'highs' and it's all added up to a beautiful journey that we call our life. In 2012, Matt and I moved (back) to Tennessee on a hope and a prayer. We were jobless, homeless (well, not totally thanks to Mom and Dad) and full of the desire to make it work. When we found our house in 2013, we knew that it would be a great transition house. The house needed work (that we could do) and we saw it as an good investment. It has been perfect for what we have needed over the past (almost) 4 years. One of the goals/dreams that Matt and I have had for ourselves, is to purchase a piece of land that we love and build a h...

I attended If:local this past weekend and it was so amazing. It was challenging and inspiring all at the same time. I have not allowed myself to ever be challenged in that way, so I left with my head spinning and feeling extremely hopeful. This particular post is not to go into the details of what If:Gathering is, but please follow the link to the website and take a look (especially if you're a woman). I am not speaking towards any agenda - at all. I'm speaking as a woman, who believes we have a very special and important role to play. Is it different than a man's role? Absolutely. Is it less important? Absolutely NOT.  I believe that we, as women, need to get back to the basics. We need to be solid partners for our significant others, we need to mother our children, we need to lift and encourage the other women around us, we need to stop pursuing attention from people of the world and start pursuing God and most importantly, we need to no...