This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Soul and Glow are officially sharing a room! Yippee!!!

Anyone know the maker of the hanging light fixture in this picture?

I love this top from the GAP. Did you know that’s where Ben and I met?

“Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Word Crimes” video is hilarious! Ben is the grammar police (he’s the one that shared the video with me). I proofread before I post here, but sometimes things slip through, but I fix them as soon as I notice. When I speak, I often get the use of either and too mixed up, Ben always corrects me!

My sister is an amazing girl. This post of hers made me cry, and I love seeing all the instagram pictures of her adventures.

Thankful True and Brave are growing to be such responsible girls. They are pretty good at keeping up with their simple chores around the house.

I’m thankful I got to escape to the thrift store yesterday by myself. I haven’t been able to do that in awhile.

We only have a few weeks left of summer vacation, how can that be?! This weekend is Brave’s birthday weekend, so fun and relaxation is what is on the agenda.

Between Singapore, DC, and Williamsburg, we’ve had quite the summer of traveling. We have a couple weeks to settle, and we’re off again for another mini trip for Brave’s birthday request of a hotel birthday.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I can pack for a family of six in one carry-on suitcase. High-five! This made going from shuttle, to taxi, to hotel, to train, to plane, and back again much easier.

Virginia summers make me sweat in places I never knew I could. HA! It was grand though.

I want the chandelier in this room.

I want this funfetti cake asap!

Thankful for my girls who did a really good job walking everywhere all week long. We just brought one small umbrella stroller, and these girls are such troopers.

The Mitsitam Cafe in in the National Museum of the American Indian is bomb dot com. Thank you to a couple of you for suggesting it! If you’re in the area, go there to eat. We wish we had time to eat there a second time and try other dishes.

My feet hurt from all the walking and they will happily live in sneakers and birks to recover for the next few weeks.

Thankful for this space and the random opportunities that come from blogging, and really I’m thankful for all of you who keep peeking in here from time to time.

Love this vintage dress.

Such gorgeous things shared by Bloesem.

We had so much fun on this trip with the girls, but it feels good to be home! I’m behind in commenting back on blog posts, but I will get caught up next week. Enjoy your weekend friends!

My mother-in-law (hi mama!) bought the girls the book Unplugged Play last summer when we were on our family vacation in New Mexico. We all love this book (as you can tell by the worn edges)! It has so many good activities for families to do and things that children can do on their own. My girls are often going through this book and finding project ideas, games to play, and prompts for pretend play. With summer in full swing, the girls have been using this book to guide their play. I think it’s a good resource book for parents to have and give to their kids, so I’m sharing it with you! I love the idea of unplugged play so much. I’m sure us adults can definitely use a book like this, unplugging is good for the soul and families.

Thought it be fun to share some confessions…

I bring out the play dough when I need a babysitter for the girls so I can get things done. See here.

The birkenstock thing is way overdone, but I still love it. I loved it in elementary school, early college, and still now. I’ve never been onboard with adult salt-water sandals (for me), but the birkenstock, I love. Plus, it feels really good for my one bad foot.

I’m a potty mouth. Bad words easily spew from my mouth in times of frustration.

When my BFF and I visited Amsterdam when we were in college, I wanted to try a “brownie.” She didn’t let me.

I’ve worn crocs (in the garden, proof here) and my little ones have worn them too (I think they’re cuter on wee feet). They’re easy and convenient for play and getting dirty.

I totally hit on Ben first.

I never got into the chevron thing. Does that make me a bad blogger?

When Ben asks me the price of something, I always round down.

I get road rage and have thrown up the bird a few times. I’m so bad!!! Totally not proud of it and it’s something I keep trying to work on. It’s so dumb!

The first time I had way too much to drink was at a dinner I made at my parents house. I cooked dinner for the family, and I paired with a drink called “lust in the dust,” which was vodka with tabasco sauce. What was I thinking?! To this day, I still can’t have tabasco sauce. Ben was there to take care of the aftermath.

We all put our best foot forward on the internets, so here’s some silly things about me, and some not so proud moments/choices that I have learned from or still trying to learn. One of my biggest struggles is being more gracious with my words when I’m frustrated. I’m a work in progress, but aren’t we all?!

After a week away, we spent a lazy week at home getting adjusted back, but we will be leaving again soon (this time with the whole family) for the east coast.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

We are so thankful to be back home with the girls.

I started reading Divergent on our way to Singapore. I like futuristic sci-fi stuff; it’s been interesting so far.

Ben and I have been craving certain dishes we ate in Singapore, so I’m excited to start trying out some new recipes to recreate those delicious dishes here, but maybe with a much healthier slant.

I want to make this peanut ball soup.

Soul learned bangs aren’t for her.

Jessica emailed me to share her shop, Oh Miroir Miroir, and I can totally imagine my children having so much fun pretending in front of these mirrors. Adorable!

Love this cute dress and it seems to be reasonably priced too.

We’re so excited and thankful to be invited by Colonial Williamsburg to check out that wonderful historic city, and since we will be there, we planned to spend a couple days touring Washington D.C. too. I get super geeky about historical things, so the girls and I are gearing up by reading lots of books to learn as much as we can before we go. Ben lived there for a few years before moving to California, so he’s still somewhat familiar with certain things, but it’s been over a decade since he lived there. I’ve been a couple times, one of the times was with Ben while we were dating. We will be staying downtown near the National Mall, so if any of you have any suggestions of places to eat, we’d love to hear them! I have a list from my research on yelp, but I find you guys always have wonderful suggestions.

Our time here in Singapore is coming to an end soon. We miss the girls and can’t wait to see them, but we will definitely miss this unique country. I think a lot of people (other countries) could learn a thing or two from this place.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I’m very thankful and so honored for this opportunity to be here in Singapore, meet Singaporeans, and get to work with the Bloesem team! It’s really been such an awesome visit!

Um, s’mores cake?! Yes, please!

I want to make these plant hangers!

My favorite dessert I’ve had this week is ondeh ondeh and I wish I could bring a whole bunch back with me. I may have to try my hand at this recipe.

I’ve been sharing snaps of my trip on instagram here (#sevendaysinsingapore). We’ve been so in awe of everything, and once I get home, I will have massive photo filled posts to share from everything we saw and ate (oh the food!) in Singapore. Get ready…