2020: The Year of the Book-Buying Ban

At the beginning of this year, I set two very specific goals for myself. And actually met them. Both setting and meeting goals are very unlike me, so please don’t think I’m boasting. 1. Read at least 20 books before January 1st, 2021.2. Do not buy any books for myself before January 1st, 2021. Thanks […]

Book Review: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

Ultimately, nothing in this life, apart from God, can satisfy our desires. Tragically, we continue to chase after our desires ad infinitum. The result? A chronic state of restlessness or, worse, angst, anger, anxiety, disillusionment, depression – all of which lead to a life of hurry, a life of busyness, overload, shopping, materialism, careerism, a […]

ornaments: a minimalist story

I don’t know about your family, but it seems that as far back as I can remember, my family has been exceedingly sentimental about Christmas ornaments. Every year when we pulled the Christmas decorations out at the Wilson house – after bringing home a freshly cut tree from Cherry Grove Tree Farm – the adorning […]

growth

I’ve been learning two things that may sound like opposite concepts but can both be applied simultaneously. It’s OK to do things that feel a little crazy, that seem too hard, too big, too complicated. & Living an ordinary, unbusy, unhurried life is OK too. It is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life. […]

You Never Know What You Had ‘Til It’s Gone

Since blogging about the social media epidemic, I re-downloaded Instagram. I was only on it for a week before recognizing (ok, my husband noticed it first) how much time it had started to take up. It wasn’t that much – comparatively. It wasn’t as much as it had been before I deleted the app back in […]

Root: Organic, Vegan Make-up You Can Actually Afford

I was not paid by Root to promote their business or products. If you choose to use my link to make a purchase, you get a discount and I get “Pretty Points” which, when accumulated, translate into credit to spend on the website. You are welcome to not use my link. This blog post is […]

GO OUTSIDE AND DO THINGS

About a month ago, Josh and I got to spend a few days in the beautiful Great Smoky Mountains. While we were there, we got matching stickers that say: GO OUTSIDE AND DO THINGS. The irony is that we put them on our laptops. But they serve as a two-fold reminder to us. First of […]

5 (Partly Silly) Things We Do to Save Money

Everyone wants more money. But I believe the money we need is already ours; we just don’t make the best use of it.Yes, I said “we.” We started our minimalism journey over six months ago, but old habits die hard. My desires still tend to lean toward shopping. Minimalism is a mindset and a process. […]

Meal Prep: Worth the Hype?

a step toward mindfulness: part four My eyes have been opened, y’all. Two words for you: MEAL. PREP. I finally get why this fills my Pinterest feed and everyone talks about it! Meal prep has made our lives so much simpler. We decided back in January that we wanted to attempt meal prep and see […]

The Time-Eater

a step toward mindfulness: part three There are countless things endlessly vying for our attention. I’ve blogged about a big one here but that is just one distraction. Today I want to share with you how going without something we used almost every day impacted our lives, and how it continues to. We went without Netflix for […]

The “Unmentionables”

a step toward mindfulness: part two Just being honest here: I struggled to start writing this because I couldn’t decide the format. The original plan was to have several “steps toward mindfulness” in one blog post; but that ended up being way too long for anyone to sit down and read in one sitting. Then […]

How a Dining Room Table Changed Our Life

a step toward mindfulness: part one mind·ful·ness noun the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. “their mindfulness of the wider cinematic tradition” a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. (Google […]

Do Just One Thing

I was taking a walk with the little guy I watch every day, and pulled my phone out to call my sister. She didn’t answer, so I tried to think of who else I could call. Then I thought, “Well, maybe I’ll listen to some music.” I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to listen […]

Impressed.

This past Sunday, Joshua and I stopped at Starbucks around 2:30 to treat ourselves to an iced mocha and iced chai latte. The plan was to get our drinks and chill inside, reading or journaling until choir practice. After I got my drink and sipped the spicy almond milk deliciousness, I mentally wrinkled my nose […]

minimalism and the Christian

Minimalism is such a buzzword now. I’m pretty sure if you asked any millennial right now, they would probably tell you they are trying to lead a minimalist lifestyle or be a minimalist. I’ve been saying it for a while, but it hasn’t really been a reality. Let’s be honest. We all have more than […]