You can imagine how crazy our days are (I’ve shared our schedule here), so it’s natural that I need some “me” time somewhere. On the weekends, if there’s time to sneak away by myself, I’ll go to my craft room to sew. This weekend, things were a bit crazy with Ben being sick, so when there was a quiet moment, I disappeared for a little to play with some fabric and my sewing machine. That’s when I sewed the trapeze dress above (inspired by this dress). I don’t sew just because I want a new outfit (the result is nice perk though!); it is just relaxing for me to do something like that for myself… my own form of “self-care” you could say. It’s partially why I don’t ever do a step-by-step tutorial on the clothes I make because once I start, I just go, and don’t want to stop and take pictures. It’s my time in peace, just me and the sewing machine. I’m thankful I’ve been able to sneak in a few moments like these lately.

On a more regular basis, I try to carve out some “me” time after dinner. If Ben works a regular schedule (he’s been doing more late nights lately and those days are long for me), he’s home and he will finish up cleaning dinner and getting the kids to bed. I take that time as an opportunity to take care of things I need to (e.g. emails, blog, or projects). I try to be done with that around 8:30-ish so that I can chillax a little before bed. Chillaxing usually involves some Netflix, or catching up on one of my shows on Hulu, or I’ll just read. I’ve been pouring over my latest book on antique jewelry (I haven’t even shared with you how much I love learning about antique jewelry… it’s a dangerous hobby I tell you!).

Once I’m relaxing, and if I’m feeling a little hungry, I’ll have a little bit of ice cream. Thus, when Skinny Cow reached out and asked if I wanted to try out Skinny Cow’s Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream Bars (which are delicious by the way), it was easy to say yes. Their ice cream bar was the perfect indulgent treat during my “me” time. Ben will occasionally join me in the ice cream indulging from time to time too. Of course, his serving is probably a lot less than mine. HA!

I know for my mom, her “me” time is journaling and having some chocolate (I’m sure she would like Skinny Cow’s Blissful Truffle Candy Bar). She has stashes of chocolate bars she keeps for herself all over the house, so no one will find them (my baby sister knows where they are though!). My middle sister is a coffee person (Skinny Cow’s creamy iced coffee would be her thing), so that’s her idea of “me” time and binge watching Gilmore Girls. My baby sister’s “me” time would be closing the door to her room and dancing wildly. Ben’s “me” time is out in the garden, though he likes to do that with me, so maybe it’s not quite “me” time. I think he’s such an introvert when he’s at work, so when he gets home he doesn’t need “me” time, and he likes doing everything together (if possible).

One thing I miss doing from college days is eating out alone. I enjoyed the freedom in that, but it’s been many, many years since that’s happened. Maybe I should make it a goal to eat out by myself for some “me” time in the near future. Lives are busy for all of us, so making “me” time is important, for yourself, your sanity, and everyone who has to be around you all the time. Don’t you think?! What’s your ideal “me” time look like?

This post is sponsored by Skinny Cow, and as always, all opinions are my own. Thank you so much for supporting this space and the companies I choose to partner with.

Denim & Wool Felt Ball Hair Clips

Supplies:
Scraps of denim fabric (these were scraps from a thrifted denim dress I altered)
2″ snap clips
1 3/4″ wool felt balls
Scissors
Coordinating thread
Hand-sewing needle
Sewing machine
Directions:
From your denim fabric, cut out the back and front pieces for your hair clip (you can use this rough drawn image as a template for cutting out the pieces). Sew around the entire perimeter of the hair clip about 1/8″ in from the edge. Hand-sew the ball on to the widest end of the denim front piece, then insert the snap clip into the back. Secure the snap clip in place, by sewing through the hole on the top of the snap clip, and attaching it to front denim piece. Don’t forget to snip any excess threads!

If you don’t have a sewing machine (or don’t know how to use one), the two denim pieces can be sewn together with either a blanket or running stitch all the way around, and I think that would be just as cute. I think next time, we will attach the pieces together with a blanket stitch.

With four girls, we are always scrambling for hair clips in this house. They are constantly losing and misplacing them, so when there’s a need… we make it! We have a couple other styles we want to make, so we will share those once they’re done. For other hair clips tutorials, check out my sweetheart felt clip and my rosy posy felt clip. If you want other quick (and some take more time) sewing projects, my book, Let’s Sew Together, features about 30 projects. Almost all are unique to the book and are not projects that have been reused from the blog.

on glow: circus romper, c/o pigs & roses. high-tops, c/o old navy. denim jacket, old navy. We bought this jacket when True was a baby and it’s 3-6 months, but Glow still wears it even though she’s way past that, and it’s just a 3/4 sleeves denim jacket on her.

Ever since I watched a documentary on Netflix about the Salton Sea last year, I’ve been itching to go. Luckily, we pass it on the way to Salvation Mountain, so we made a quick stop there after we did our scavenger hunt. It’s such an interesting place… the smell, the feel of the ground, and just the sight of it. It’s breathtaking, but its vastness is so out of place in the middle of the desert. And I suppose that makes sense, considering it was manmade.

There were so many birds there and True and Brave took off running toward a whole lot of them sitting by the shore to get them flying. Glow didn’t like walking on the rocky, shell-like sand, so I carried her to the shore. On the way back to the car, I told her she needed to walk, but she didn’t want to, so Brave picked her up to carry her the rest of the way. It was so cute! Brave’s such a sweetheart. All the girls are, but Brave has an extra sensitive soul.

If you plan to go to Salvation Mountain, you must stop by Salton Sea (or vice-versa), and then on your way back towards Los Angeles, grab some date shakes at Shields Date Garden. If you have extra time, grab dinner at Native Foods Cafe in Palm Springs and stop by the Ace Hotel to use their photo booth. The photo strip will be a fun souvenir to remember that day. Since we made our trip on Valentine’s Day, after our date shake we picked up sushi and headed home. We still had some surprises to give each other and the kids, so we ran out of time, preventing both Native Foods Cafe and Ace Hotel photo booth stops.

I told Ben he could buy himself a tree for Valentine’s Day. Really though, he would have bought it anyway, silly holiday or not. Well, he wanted a Wax Jambu (water apple), and he found a seller out in Orange County, so we had to make a trip out there to pick it up. By the way, this fruit was one of the many we tried when we were in Singapore, and we loved it so much, we wanted to grow it.

Back to the story… This is on a Sunday afternoon, and usually, we don’t really do much except go to church and finish other house things at home on Sundays, but when the gentleman who had the tree called to confirm he had it, we all quickly loaded in the car and left. This was as spontaneous as we get! Of course, Ben knew that Snow Monster (we first tried it on my birthday) was really close by, so he said earlier in the day, “Wanna go pick up my tree and get ice cream?” Of course, I said yes. I’ll always say yes to ice cream.

We picked up his tree and then we got ice cream. The girls were very happy to get a large taro and mango shaved ice, and I was especially delighted to get a pistachio macaron and Thai tea ice cream all to myself. We all came home quite elated with our Sunday evening adventure.

Soy Sauce Pan Fried Noodles. The girls devoured this dish. Next time, I want to add shrimp and more vegetables, but even without those things, this really was so yummy. Another plus, it’s easy to make too!

Week of 2/23 – 2/27
Monday: Soba Sesame Noodles
Tuesday: Dumpling Soup
Wednesday: White Bean Chili
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Tilapia Ceviche (we have this every Friday night)

We have new friends coming over this week, so I think the chili is a safe dish to make. Do you have a go-to dish when you have first time guests coming over to your house?

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Glow is such an observant and clever girl. She has a certain wit that keeps coming out more and more.

Peanut Butter Cookie Brownies?! Get in my tummy!

Ben’s been feeling under the weather these past couple days and I’m trying to be extra caring. I’m not usually caring when he’s sick because I tend to think boys need to learn how to suck it up. It’s one area of our marriage where I need to learn to be more understanding.

The girls and I watched Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the first time and loved it! The evil kidnapper is a little freaky though.

Love this turquoise and moonstone ring.

I like these sandals. I’ve been looking for a perfect pair for spring/summer, and while pricey, I’ve been hoarding a 30% off coupon code and a gift card (and it’ll cover almost all of it), so I’m thinking about it. I tend to hold onto gift cards for years (I have a Madewell one I’ve had for at least 3 years!) because it takes me a long time to figure out if that’s what I really want to spend it on. LOL

This vintage kid shirt is so cool.

Thankful for friends with whom I can share the messy (and ugly) parts of my heart. This makes me especially thankful for forgiveness and redemption found through Jesus alone.

I like how Justina Blakely changed up this West Elm light. I think it would look fun in a bright pink too!

Heather Von St. James is a 9 year cancer survivor and she does something called “Lung Leavin’ Day.” February 2nd is the day she had her lung removed, which her sister declared LungLeavin’ Day. They celebrate it every year by writing their biggest fears on a plate, and smashing them into a fire. I think that’s a special tradition, and if you want to learn more about it, check it out here. I think it would be an especially tribute if those smashed pieces were turned into some beautiful mosaic. Hard things can sometimes bring about the most beautiful.

I got caught up on emails this week, but I’m behind in responding to blog comments, but I’m hoping to get to it this weekend. This whole social media and internet thing is a lot of fun, but I have to admit, I’m bad at keeping up with all of it. I try to get to my emails and blog comments, but I’m not always so good at responding to instagram and twitter. Please know that though I may not get to respond to all of you, I’m very thankful for the time you take to read and/or comment on whatever it is I put out on social media.