August 2018 Family Update
I can hardly keep up with what day it is right now, much less what month. Life is just nonstop. Ok, August. Let’s see here.
Skylar is pretty much obsessed with horses right now. Luckily my Dad is well connected in the equine world and was able to get her hooked up with some riding lessons pretty quickly. Blake is a fantastic teacher and she did great for her first time! She’s super excited to go back this week.
Adventures in Betty Crocker Land this month included lots of banana bread, pickled okra, diced okra, pear crumble, pear preserves, salsa, and jalapeno poppers. That’s what’s coming out of the garden and keeping me busy these days. I’ve even been saving the seeds from the specialty breeds that Uncle Bennie brings me so I can plant them in my garden next year.
Early in the month I was getting pretty homesick but was encouraged by some beautiful flowers that Mike sent to me along with a surprise visit from my favorite Gaineys! It meant so much to me that they would drive down and back in the same day just to cheer me up. So, of course, I had to give them the grand tour of my old stomping grounds.
I managed to make it back to Nashville on my 13th anniversary and Mike and I flew out early the next morning to celebrate with a little getaway. My favorite parts of traveling are Uber, AirBnB, and yummy food. Rule #1: You cannot eat anywhere that you could go at home (thank you Wilsons for teaching us this years ago). Atlanta did not disappoint. I had my very first Pho and it was Ah.Maze.Ing. Mike refused to let me drink the broth with a straw but, y’all, it was THAT good! Our special splurge dinner at Kevin Rathbun was to die for. Our BnB was a precious 1 BR loft in a historical art deco building from 1930 and it was smack dab in the middle of everything. We checked out Olympic Park, downtown, the zoo, and biked to one of the top 10 cemeteries in the US. I know it sounds weird, but they are beautiful and peaceful. This one was, hands down, the prettiest we’ve ever been to. They keep it very garden-esque and it has gorgeous and ornate mausoleums. We even found the first headstone from 1850. That’s always a fun game. Overall it was the perfect little trip for us and I was on cloud 9 the entire time. Traveling is so fun!
Back in Nashville, we managed to squeeze in one of our favorite and final summer activities, the fair. I even found a photographer to do a fair photo shoot for us and they turned out fantastic – thank you Lenker Photography!
Saturday was Skylar’s first big concert experience. Me and Mike’s sisters all took our daughters to Taylor Swift. That woman really knows how to put on a show. It’s probably the best I’ve ever been to and it was at Nissan Stadium, which is huge. We all had a blast!
Skylar stayed an extra week with Mike while I headed back down to Bama which worked out well because this past week I’ve been transitioning a large bulk of my work clients to a new company. It’s really bittersweet. I’ve been with some of these clients for 3-4 years. Once I got to Alabama in July I realized pretty quickly that if I was going to help take care of mom, I was going to need some extra time. I’m pretty good at doing a LOT of things, but it’s hard to do TOO many things well. Between work, Skylar, homeschool, Hempworx, mom, and regular household management, I was stretched too thin and something needed to be streamlined. I realized I needed to let go of the thing that was keeping me grounded to my desk every day. I think I will feel relief from the demands of that work soon but, for now, it’s sad to let something go that I had worked so hard to build on my own. I was up to 25 regular clients with 2 assistants. Thank goodness for HempWorx. I’ll still be able to put my entrepreneurial skills to work for myself while helping others grow their businesses too. The best part is that I’m helping people find a natural health solution. I’ve always had a passion for that. Thankfully I can do this job mostly from my phone.
That about wraps up August. I think we are finally going to start school this week. Thank you, Jesus, for the flexibility of homeschooling!
