Somehow I packed the second half of our summer with more travel and visitors than I realized. It’s been fun, but a little crazy. Last week my parents came to town all week, and my brother and his wife came up from Charlottesville for one last visit before the move to Sweden. Henry was in heaven all week, doted on by family members and escorted to Chick-Fil-A, the park, and the splash pad by his grandparents while his mom cranked out more dissertation pages. I was crushed when they left… but we promptly hopped a flight to the Midwest for a couple days with James’ family. You know I will inflict all those photos on you soon, but for the moment, here are some snaps from a week with my family, followed by some good reading and material fluff that you can probably live without, but maybe don’t want to.

I basically share almost every post that these two ladies write, but I had to share posts from Ashley and Mary. Ashley said what I so often think when we talk about Christ’s thoughts on death. I’ve thought over her words so much over the past weeks, thinking about death of innocent and good people and feeling angry that God is “ok” with it. What a good reminder that he is not. 

Mary spoke about the pain and joy of raising sons (and other things) beautifully.

How to meal prep: “You are a Carrot Queen in a quinoa cloud.”

This pulled pork is impossibly easy, Whole30 approved, etc.

Apparently I am not the only person in DC to hate the idea of soulmates.

I’ve been rolling over these words lately, the weighty responsibility of narrating the world for our children.

And now for some pure materialism….

If you follow on Instagram, you know I berated the terrible trends in the Nordstrom anniversary sale in my stories. The unspoken tagline for the sale must be “so many ruffles, not enough shoulders,” because my goodness were they forcing the peplums, bell-sleeves, and cold shoulder options on us. But even if I disliked a lot of the stuff on there, I am pretty excited to finally have a pair of these leggings, that everyone swears by. OK fine: maybe I also snagged a pair of Spankx jeggins. Don’t judge. Childbirth has made me hardcore team spandex blends. I also grabbed a couple tops with ruffles… and they went right back in the mail as returns because they were every but as unflattering  as I imagined. In the list of Clothing That Is Not A Good Idea, I’m placing excessive ruffles up there with cropped flairs and tightly knotted neck scarves, a look that, should be reserved for flight attendants and French women over the age of 50 (in which case the scarves would be Hermès).

Of course, I could have just asked Alexa, since she can now compare outfits and tell you what is more flattering.

I’ve been filling out my one-piece momsuit wardrobe this summer, as we hit the splash pad or pool almost every day. I snagged this one for 18$ and was pleasantly surprised by the quality.

This face cream is my favorite these days (and it is cheap!).

And this leave-in conditioner has totally changed my hair game.

Happy mid-week friends!