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You may hate me after I say this.  You may call me PollyAnna or the craziest lady you’ve ever met. But I love January. It’s in the top three of my favorite months of the year. As a matter of fact, two years ago, I wrote this about January and fresh starts,

I am a complete sucker for a fresh start.  The new year is like manna from heaven.  I’m overwhelmed with list-making and dream-seeking and soul-searching .   Hope swells and washes the memory of past failures clean.  I couldn’t care less that I’ve made this list 20 times before and didn’t follow through with it.  As a matter of fact, this tendency toward renewal and resolution  wasn’t even our idea.  We borrowed it from our Father who promised new mercies every morning and fresh starts ‘seventy times seven’ times.  I completely believe deep down in my heart that this year will be different.   You couldn’t convince me otherwise if your life depended on it.

But this January has been so different for me.  I fell into a new passion, which is turning into a crazy wonderful business venture. That led me to teaching 7 classes in January.  That led me to starting a new Facebook Group.   AND OF COURSE, during all this,  I decided to totally revamp my blog and take down more than half the ads. I made plans to revamp the school room and worked on a Lenten study on the prodigal son.  Which means that so many January things fell by the wayside, like reading and knitting and writing and reorganizing my closet.  I didn’t sit down much in January.  It felt like September all over again. It was wonderful but I hope not to repeat it anytime soon.

So, in the interest of do overs and fresh starts and sunny outlooks, I’m falling hard for the new year by remembering that January 1st isn’t the only time to begin.  Sometimes January 27th or March 15 makes more sense.  I’m starting over (again) February 2nd and I’m telling you in case you want a January do-over.  Here are my modest  ( and perhaps not so modest) daily goals:

• 5 day cleanse
• daily Ningxia Red (this drink is the reason I don’t buy gallon drums of Motrin)
• start everyday with a short devotional from my PrayNow app
• write/edit for 2 hours everyday
• read for 1 hour everyday
• run or cross train 5 days/week
• cut my coffee intake in half
• daily journaling
• one person per day to pray for/contact/send love note to (it is February after all)

Why the daily goals?  Because your days become your weeks and your weeks become your years.  And I do better when I have a rhythm to my days. January was a month of big things/projects and I want February to be about the dailies.

I even started a new Instagram account for all things wellness & goals so that you can follow along in the crazy and perhaps be inspired to make the most of the days.  I’ll be posting there about my rhythms and routines and the tools I’m using to find healing for my body and soul and mind.

To celebrate the newness, I’m giving away the farm! Well, not literally the farm but almost.  If you follow my new IG acct called Lifeingrace & Wellness (lifeingraceessentials) and leave a comment on the maiden post (the first and only one so far!) I will pick a winner on January 30th and here’s what said winner will get:

• A Young Living premium starter kit, complete with the 11 everyday oils, a diffuser, and some samples of our magic drink, Ningxia Red ($180 value)
• $100 Amazon gift card so that you can purchase something special to help you with your dailies
• A cute bag to carry your goodies in ($25 value)

Have you ever started over in February? Or September?

It’s my favorite thing ever!

In blogging years, I’ve been at it since almost the beginning of time. This year is my 7th year.  There are only a few people I know who’ve been doing it longer and one of them is my good friend Sophie Hudson, from the blog BooMama.  We’ve been blog friends for quite a long time but just this past year met for the the first time in real life and let me just say, it was one of the highlights of 2014 for me.  I have never laughed so hard or been so entertained in my life.  She’s my people, that’s one thing for sure.  She’s just released her 2nd book called Home is Where My People Are, a memoir of growing up to find that home is a collection of people that love us and give us a place of belonging.

(I’m super jealous of her book title but since it’s already taken, I may have to write a sequel called Home is Where My Books Are or Home is Where My Karaoke Machine Is or Home is Where My Cowboy Boots Are.  Would you buy said books, if I wrote them?)  Sorry, I digress.

But, you’re in for a treat because she grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and went to college in the 90’s so the way she weaves a story about the plethora of bad hair and clothing decisions from that era will have you collapsed on the floor.  We also come from an era when teenagers still had clunker cars and boy could I relate to all her car woes.  We’ve decided that teenagers need bad cars so they’ll at least have some good stories to tell when they’re 45.

I interviewed her on the podcast so I hope you’ll be able to cipher the collective southern twang!

Mostly, she and I laugh for 30 minutes because that’s what you do when you talk to Sophie.  She’s as funny and Southern as they come and has been one of my favorite bloggers for the past 7 years.  Her book is almost as wonderful as spending a few hours with her on the front porch with some sweet tea—you’ll laugh just as much and be sad when your visit is over.  I love her like a sister and know you’ll love her too.

She also has some awesome preorder specials if you get the book before January 30th.

Visit her book page to see all the details!

You can listen here or from the player below!

As you probably know, my sister and Caiti and I recently flew to JamieKnoxville’s in South Jersey to help her move into a new place. It was a wonderful/exhausting trip that involved an eight hour stint in IKEA, dinner at Caesar’s Palace in Atlantic City, a canceled flight, a 50 yard sprint going the wrong way on a walking sidewalk (wish you coulda been there), 75,000 pieces of IKEA furniture parts and hardware that needed assembling, and a lot of buttercream & coffee.  JK is my first cousin but because of the years of childhood trauma memories we have together, she’s more like a sister to us.  After 48 hours of tugging and pulling and flat out laying on the floor laughing until we cried, we ended up with this photo and that’s when I repented to IKEA for all the things I said while I was hangry (hungry + angry) and tired.

Jamie or Sister as we call her is a very thin beautiful woman who may or may not be one of those people who “forgets to eat.”  Bless her skinny little heart.  All I can say is that I did not get that particular piece of genetic code.   When we got to her place, here’s what she had available in her kitchen—a bountiful supply of dog treats, 2 heads of lettuce, 18 boxes of coffee, & some low fat yogurt.  As June Bug (her dog) as my witness, that’s not a word of a lie.  I got excited when I saw a tin full of peppermint bark until I realized it was more dog treats for June.  I was immediately hungry and panicky.  In Sister’s defense, she had gone to a lot of trouble to order a birthday cake for me from this fancy bakery in Maryland and it was all kinds of wonderful.  Needless to say, we did not go hungry.  We ate a lot of buttercream, drank a lot of coffee, and ate out at a few amazing places. But we did tease her all weekend about her lack of ALL THINGS FOOD.  We laughed so hard about the sad state of her pantry and she even gave me permission to blog about it. I was in charge of decorating so when I suggested that we put a large glass container of peppermints on the Stockholm dresser, we all laughed because she knew what I was getting at—at least there will be some snacks around here!

 But knowing someone well enough to know what’s fair game to laugh about and what will cut them to the core is part of loving other people well.  Good humor comes from a place of love, sarcasm comes from a place of contempt and insecurity.  We are all very good at knowing the difference when it comes to how others treat us, but not as good at seeing it while we’re dishing it out.

This has been the subject of many a conversation in my house lately. Why? Because as lenient as I can be with my kids at times, I don’t tolerate snarky sarcasm very well.  And 8th grade is nothing if not the place where sarcasm seems to be part of the curriculum.  And we’re all guilty of it at some time or another, but so many people operate their whole lives from this place of biting criticism.   And since it’s been a topic of conversation in our house for the last few weeks and months, I’ve noticed something interesting.  If you are sarcastic to your kids, it will come back to bite you.

I was on the receiving end of this type of sarcasm not too long ago from one of my kids and it cut me to the quick.  Immediately, I got angry, then defensive, then sad.  I wondered if I had been that way to them lately? Is this coming from something they’re seeing or hearing at home? From friends?

Sometimes I marvel  at how kind my kids are to me most days, how tender they are to me so much of the time and when that turns to snarkiness, it’s a biting reminder that the world has enough cynicism and sarcasm and nastiness.  What the world doesn’t have enough of is kindness.  I hope their hearts (and my heart too) will remain open and tender and compassionate.  I hope they astonish the mean world with kindness.  

And I hope they find plenty of reasons to laugh until they cry without breaking someone else’s heart to do it.

Would you hate me if I told you that I’ve only left the house twice in six days?  I’m the homebody of all homebodies.  We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving and a perfect long, relaxing weekend.  I’ve got a huge pot of red beans and rice on the stove and only wish I had a fun knitting project started to give me an excuse not to get out of my comfy chair all day.  I suppose I could make a new pom-pom wreath to add to my Christmas decorating from last year but then I’d just be procrastinating what I should be working on, which is my FIRST EVER LIVE WEBINAR!

Y’all.

At 7pm it’s not at all impossible that I could blow up the internet.  I’m hosting my first live webinar and I’m shaking in my cowboy boots.  So if you’ve been wanting to learn more about how essential oils have changed our lives or would like to hang out with Darlene and me or would like to witness two 40 somethings bumble their way around the internets, then tune in tonight live!  If you’ve recently purchased a starter kit, this webinar will be SO HELPFUL as you get started using the oils everyday.

If you happen to tune in live and if you happen to watch the whole hour-ish and if you happen to decide to try out the oils via the Premium Starter Kit ($300 worth of oils and stuff for way less than that) you will get a free Essential Oils pocket reference book plus you will be entered into a drawing to win a 30 minute one-on-one chat with me about oils or whatever you want AND a free Golden Touch Kit (which contains some of my favorite oils and is worth $100+).

Either way, it should be entertaining to watch.  I hope to post the live webinar onto my blog tonight but if that doesn’t work, we will send out the link via my FB page (you should like the page now so you’ll be able to see the link later!) about 15-20 minutes before the webinar starts (7PM EST) so you can just click the link and follow along.  That makes it all sound so easy but I guess we’ll see if it turns out to be.

I’m not much of a Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopper but I wanted to tell you about two things I love.

First, I just ordered my Day Designer from Whitney English for 2015.  I LOVE this planner so much I can’t even tell you.  And I think dalmation dots are gonna be my theme for the new year.  Her shop is only open in spurts so get yours while you can.

And second, my dear friend Ruth has opened up her blogging course for a few days.  This course will change your blogging life.  Everything I know about blogging I learned from her and if you are seeking to grow your blog or turn it into a business, you so need Ruth’s course.  It’s normally $399 but for the next few days is only $299.  It’s so comprehensive and so full of bonuses that she could charge $2,000 and people would still feel like they got a deal.  This is the BEST investment you will make in your blog/business.  She’s the master.

It’s called Elite Blog Academy and it is the BOMB DIGGITY.

I’ve watched her brilliance shine over the past few years as she has successfully built a thriving online business, where she now generates enough income from her blog and her products to more than support her family doing what she loves to do.  Watching her succeed has been such a joy.  And now she’s sharing ALL her secrets with us.   This course is unbelievable and I can’t imagine where I’d be if there had been something like this available when I was starting out.  There is nothing like this out there and this 12 module course will literally knock your socks off it’s so good.  What’s more?  She’s offering double your money back if you don’t see measurable results.  It’s that good!  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Registration for the course in a couple of days and won’t open back up until the Spring.  The course begins as soon as you sign up.

Click the graphic below to read more about the course and learn. how to build a blog into a sustainable business from someone who’s done it first hand.

Are you new around here?  Welcome!  And thank you for visiting my blog!  I’m honored you’re here and I hope you’ll find some encouragement (and some laughter!) for your days.  Join this community of grace lovers and get fun, free stuff every month delivered to your inbox, along with access to free printables, meal plans, and my 31 Days to A Heart of Hospitality ebook!

Happy Thanksgiving Dear Friends!

I’ll be on Instagram today giving tips and showing some videos of pie making so that you will know 100% for sure that homemade pies are within your grasp.  THEY ARE!!

Join me there and we shall make pies together!

Let me preface this by saying that I am NOT an expert pie maker.  But my mother in law is and I watch her like a hawk when she’s here.

I’ll be making a big batch of homemade dough and using that for all my pies today.  I’ll be making cherry, pecan, and pumpkin.  I also have an apple pie recipe here but we had it last month for Stevie’s birthday so I’m not making it today.  The cherry will be a double crust but the other two will be single crusts.

Invite your friends on IG to join us!

For the dough, you’ll need:

• 6 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 cup of lard  (this is no time to fight me on the Lard.  Just trust me.  Or trust my mother in law.  She’s a certified pie whisperer.)
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt

Mix those ingredients in a food processor or with a pastry blender and put them DRY in a ziplock bag in the fridge until you need them.  Pie ingredients need to be cold so make sure you put in the fridge at least for a little while!

For the single crust pies, take out 1 cup of dry ingredients and mix with ice water (about 1-2 T)  just until the dough comes together but isn’t too sticky.  The rest you’ll have to see on Instagram OR you can follow this post on how to make the perfect pie crust.  (Warning—I used butter and lard in that recipe and I must say that the all Lard crust is better, tastier, and easier to work with.  Don’t hate.)

Run to the store and get your Lard and meet me on Instagram in a little while!

Here’s the ingredients for the cherry pie!

Perfect Cherry Pie!

What you’ll need:

• 2 cans tart cherries, drained, but save the liquid (I use the Oregon brand, found with canned fruit)
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed in about 2 T. of the cherry juice
• 1/8 tablespoon almond extract (optional)(I use it, but just a drop or two!)
• Perfect pie crust, enough for double crust
• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, to dot
• Egg wash and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, to sprinkle on top
• Can add a little red food coloring, to get that beautiful red color

I will often mix the filling and then precook it in the microwave for a 2-3 minutes.

Bake at 375 for about 50-55 minutes, until top is slightly browned.

Pecan Chocolate Chip Pie

• 1 1/2 cups pecan pieces
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon flour, plus more for tossing chocolate chips
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
• 1/4 dark corn syrup (could use 1 cup of light corn syrup if you don’t have this)
• 3/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 stick melted butter

Place the pecans and the chocolate chips in an unbaked pie crust.  Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over the chips and pecans.  Bake at 375 and cook for about 55-60 minutes.  Cover the pie with tin foil to keep the crust from over browning.