Donut miss out..... (hehe)

Happy National Donut Day!
Donuts are one of my serious comfort foods. They are are delicious as well as adorable and thats why we made an ode to donuts in the shop today.
you can get any of these super cute donut prints for just FIVE dollars because I'm pretty sure everyone neeeds a print this happy hanging in their house.

You can get these prints here, here, and here.
Happy Friday!!
xo jess

The weary drearies.

This week I have had a seriouusssss case of the "blahs".
I tried everything I could to get out of it, all my normal stand bys:
More exercise.
More fresh food.
Less Coffee.
Less screens.
More music.
ect, ect.
Usually if I push myself to stay in my regular routine instead of just curling up into my hole I feel better. Not this week, no this week seemed to get worse each day and then came the literal rain. Days and days of rain.
No matter what I couldn't seem to shake it, constantly huffing lavender off my wrists as if it were a hard drug.
You know the weeks? Where nothing is wrong but nothing feels right?
Depression is a funny thing.
Its a slow suffocating kind of overtaking.
I guess I am just telling you all of this to let you know, if you feel this way you're okay, normal even.
I am not saying I am a master at dealing with my issues, I will probably never truly grab hold of it all. But being able to get in front of it (even just a little) has helped more than I could ever express. Knowing it will eventually pass and calling it for what it is.
So here's my little unsolicited advice about getting out of funks. Its not instant and its not perfect but it is what helps me press on and I hope if nothing else you can figure out what helps you.

Be honest about what you need. I try to tell Greg right away when I'm starting to feel off. Not to excuse any bad behavior but because I want to fight with him and not against him. So I will say "I need you to take the baby for 20 minutes so I can run" or "can you please just put the laundry away" or even "I JUST NEED SOME SPACE". Being honest about my needs instead of just sulking in silence because Greg did not magically read my mind has drastically changed how we battle my depression and life in general.

Exercise. I know you do not feel like it. I NEVER feel like it. I especially do not feel like it at 6am which is usually the only time I have to do it. But it will change your mood, I promise. And I am not telling you this as a person who LOVES exercise and feels some sort of high from it. You basically have to drag me kicking and screaming to work out.
If you want to run for 2 hours and take a deathly spin class, more power to you. But I'm not asking you to be a slave to the gym, I just want to wake up your mind and your body. 15-20 minutes of something active will seriously change your day.

Tell people you're struggling. I have said it before and I will say it again: bring in the Light. If you are in the dark place and you are not emotionally capable of pulling yourself out and you do not tell anyone how the heck is it going to get better? I know its scary to be vulnerable. Every fiber of my being wants to run away from vulnerability. But having people is a precious treasure. I mean you don't have to write a blog about it or anything (haha) but have some accountability. Have your 'person' that you can talk about the icky parts of life with.

Cling to your happy things.
art. essentials oils. miles smiling. hugs from Greg. flowers. Truth. and cake (or donuts or both).
I am not saying mine are better than yours, or you need my things to be happy. But you need to figure out what is going to pull you through. On Sunday, I was deep into the pit and I brought Greg with me. We we being very short with each other, exchanged some not so nice words and went to run our separate errands. He came back with chocolate cake and a kiss on the forehead and I knew it was his peace offering. We ate that freaking cake guilt free (I even had a piece for breakfast). Cling to your happy things, your real happy things. Not the things that will make you happy for five minutes. The things that inspire and encourage you, the things that make you a better you.

I'm no expert.. on anything haha. I am just a person trying to navigate, if you're a highly emotional being like me you will understand. Life is messy and hard and beautiful and sometimes tiresome to feel so deeply about it all.


Keep breathing.
xo jess

DIY: Sea Spray

 I have been wanting to try a bunch of homemade beauty and cleaning things for awhile now. Partly because we live on a tight budget, partly because I am a DIYer for life, and partly just for fun.  I figured why not give it a go and share the results. I actually loved this so much I'm kind of mad I ever paid twenty-five dollars for the same kind of thing at the store.

 Get your water as warm as possible or the coconut oil wont break down. You could heat the coconut oil first so it becomes a liquid but I am far too lazy for that. This method worked just fine!

Put your mixture in spray bottles and enjoy! I give it a good shake before each use. It has literally become my go to on lazy hair days. I got these little sprayers in the travel section of Target so I could give them away for people to try but next time I would just put the whole mixture in one big spray bottle.

I make tons of concoctions around our house, (or as Greg calls them "potions"),  so I've become a little bit of a label freak because I always forget what is in each spray bottle (haha) So in case you need labels Greg made some for you! Now go get them beach waves girlllll.

xo jess

To Nashville with love

I need to play catch up a little here.
In March we took our first family vacation to Tennessee. It was a bowl full of emotions we were meeting our perfect niece Harper but also saying our goodbyes to my brother before his next deployment. The great part about family who are your best friends is how easy it is to feel at home.
Some days we did lots of things and some days we were absolute vegetables and either way we were all together and I pretty much never wanted it to end.
So many months have passed so the kids look entirely different now but I need to try and keep up. Blogs are like little time capsules, digital journals and scrapbooks to recall some of these adventures.

 

 

We love Nashville and would honestly consider moving if we weren't in fear of melting. Far too hot for us northerners. So this girl with a southern spirit will just continue living vicariously through tv shows and my sweet sister in law, ya'll. So excited and thankful for this next adventure of raising babies together, even if its long distance. Thank goodness for FaceTime!

 xo