- Watching: House of Cards on Netflix #teamclaire
- Crafting: paper sun printing and experimenting with fabrics
- Baking: less and less as it warms up – but I do have a new bread recipe to try
- Reading: No Drama Discipline
- Craving: grilled fish tacos and garden salsa
- Organizing: various drawers all over the house – the clutter drives me nuts!
- Sipping: blackberry water from Trader Joe’s with a slice of lemon
- Loving: Yoga With Adriene – especially the stress and anxiety ones & Aldi
- Dreaming: about exciting collaborations with my father in law, Jim – he painted this botanical lilac for me!
- Chopping: so many greens for smoothies, malts, quiches, and pesto
- Laughing: when Alfie pretends all his toys are leaf blowers
- Picking: bachelor buttons and other wildflowers from the garden
- Humming: Come Thou Fount by Sufjan
- Wearing: Birks and short overalls
- Scrubbing: the floors – summer dirt has found it’s way in
- Teaching: the boys how to help us gals pick up toys
- Diffusing: all the citrus + citronella to keep flying bugs away
- Learning: about zero-waste practices and how to better implement them at home
- Remembering: the importance of writing ‘thank you’s’
- Praying: for my four grandparents up in Iowa
Zero waste, hooray! Lots of simple ideas on my blog if you need some more inspiration. XOXO.
Celia, thank you SO much for sharing this! Off to read once the babes go down for naps. x Amanda
I saw your picture and instantly was hoping there was a source link so I could buy that lilac piece! It’s beautiful and lilacs are one of my very favorite flowers! If that becomes available via a collaboration, I’d definitely grab one! Beautiful!
Allison, they are mine too! So soft and fragrant and beautiful – a lovely reminder of home. We are working on seasonal botanical prints that will be available on Homesong this summer! I CANNOT wait to share them with you all.. His talent is incredible. x Amanda
I just can’t get over that print, Amanda! I love lilacs. They hold a special place now that my husband’s grandpa passed away last June. He used to pick me buckets of them from his bushes every summer.
Also, I am looking up that yoga link! I’ve missed being able to go to a studio and I really would like to incorporate it back into my routine. Especially for stress! 😉 Yay summer!
Ashton, he did such a beautiful job…I love it so much too and can’t wait to get prints made. Lilacs are also a reminder of home for me and I love that they are for you too. The smell takes me right back. And girl you will LOVE Adriene – I have been doing her Yoga videos online for a few years now and I still love them. She’s a hoot. x Amanda
I love that you are learning about zero waste practices. I tackled the subject over a number of years (in small steps I was able to make big changes), and I feel that it has been powerful and life-changing as I examined the many ways to reduce our family’s footprint. My family of four produces almost no trash, and it makes my heart so happy when I see my children practicing independently what I have shared with them! My daughter has carried the lessons to school with her and has tried to make positive change, even in the kindergarten classroom! 🙂 Someone once told me that it was impossible to live waste-free with kids, but I can offer encouragement that it is completely doable!
Jennie, thank you so much for sharing this, your words give me so much hope! Both Andrew and I are learning so much about how to reduce how much waste our family produces, which right now feels like so much 🙁 – do you have any good books or other resources that have helped you? Thank you in advance! x Amanda
I do have a few suggestions! When I was first learning about zero waste, one of the only things I found out there was Bea Johnson’s “Zero Waste Home” – her site and book were very helpful, especially the “5 R’s” she discusses: Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot (and only in that order). I also completely changed the way I shopped for food, which not only made us healthier, but took our trash production way down very quickly. It takes some vigilance, even at a place like the farmer’s market, because everyone wants to give you a bag, but I just make sure I always have my own basket or bag, and that problem is solved. I also like the Zero Waste Chef blog for kitchen / food ideas – she has a number of tutorials for homemade items. I found that most of our trash was a direct result of HOW we consumed, and once I changed our shopping habits, things improved! I made it part of our dialogue in a positive way and my children followed. I am 100% positive you will find some easy changes to make that will make a difference 🙂
Just love your blog ! Discover you in instagram and we are such in commun ! Passionate about nature home and travelling <3 thanks Marine
Marine, thank you lovely! Welcome 🙂 x Amanda
come thou fount…..speaks to my soul every time. I didn’t know he sang it too….Off to find it as I love his style of singing.
“…prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.”
♥
Norma, you shared my absolute favorite lines from this song!! xx Amnda
I just adore your blog and I look forward to reading it before leaving for work. You are so inspiring and motivating ;-). Thanks so much for sharing your amazing life with us all!
Be blessed
[…] mentioned in this post a little while back that I was learning more about less waste practices this summer. More and more […]