I’m surprised at myself even as write this – associating with minimalism? me? and maybe some would think I’m off-base but if you saw my YouTube watch history, my garage sale efforts, my past giveaway boxes and trash bags, I believe you’d see the intention if nothing else. No I’m not perfect about it, but I don’t think there is really a perfection to it, as Joshua Becker a famous minimalist says in paraphrase – he’s always working to becoming minimalist. I don’t remember how I first heard about minimalism which is both not particularly important as the action but for me personally, it would be nice to know how…

I really enjoy chicken of most all kinds, like a lot, so over time I’ve tried to do some comparing of different options. I put together a list of my thoughts on which places get it right. Chick-fil-A. Great service matched with great chicken, not to mention great fries, and the stellar Chick-fil-A sauce. The sauce has no contest to me, though I will say it one of a couple memorable sandwiches, though it always seems just a tad spendy, but you get what you pay for, plus curbside pickup for the win, that said my local one makes you go through the drive through instead and I admittedly avoid…

I love my church, I’ve been attending there since 2009, and it’s a place I love dearly. I love going to church with family, and friends, and a leadership team I respect. I love that the church sticks to the Bible as a whole. If you’ve ever looked for a church these are some attributes I’d consider. I would also consider the types of ministries available at a church, whether it’s for the age group you’re in or for one you want to volunteer for, or maybe it’s a church without this and you want to build a new ministry. Consider also denominations, I realize some care about this more…

Woah. Shocking intel. I know. I’ll be the first to admit it’s not fun, but I think it’s a huge sign of maturity and wisdom to consider you might be wrong about something yourself. Everyone wants to believe that they’re right about what they’ve learned over the years. We don’t want to believe we were led to believe something false, it’s just not encouraging, and it makes us feel less intelligent in the moment. Though it’s important, and I think knowing when to acknowledge you’re wrong or that someone else could be right is a huge sign of maturity as I alluded to. It doesn’t make it easier to accept…

It can be hard sometimes, but there’s always something to be thankful for. It doesn’t mean there’s not difficult things, but the bad things don’t cancel out the good. So despite the tough moments, I’m thankful for another year! We kicked off the new year with church friends, along with my (Katherine’s) family enjoying fellowship, games, and movies. March brought our engagement! I had no idea it was coming! We got engaged at Como park and quickly started planning there after. Nicholas proposed at the sunken garden at Como Conservatory. Nicholas and I enjoyed performing together in the choir at Easter along with my day playing in the brass ensemble,…

I love marketing (branding, advertising, writing, you get the point) but I’ve realized that as far as a side job goes I’d love to be doing organized, edited, interior design. I’ve lived in my home for almost a year and discovered even more of my design, and frugal purchasing chops along the way.  I would love to be a part of my friends, families’ chances to have homes they love, for a frugal price, and have beautiful, practical spaces.  Homes are spaces where those who live there should feel at home in while also being spaces where anyone else welcomed into the home can also feel comfortable too. I know…

I was just at a Shake Shack – correction: I wrote this post at a Shake Shack – It’s my second trip to the chain. I thought I might as well sit down and share my thoughts and compare them to past experiences at similar restaurants. I’ll first go through my experience with Shake Shack since it’s a more recent experience overall. First, I’ll acknowledge that on this second trip, I had a coupon for a free burger and then just threw an order of fries in to complete the meal. I ordered online (through a browser as a guest since I hate making new accounts). This had a hiccup…

Hi Family & Friends, Merry Christmas everyone I kicked off January with my biggest purchase ever – my home! On January 14th I closed and on January 15th I moved in! It’s been wonderful reaching this goal, living in my home, and having some friends and family over! Febuary was rather uneventful outside of getting more settled in my home and Nicholas cooking me a wonderful Valentine’s day meal in my home for me to come home to on Febuary 14th. He made me my favorite hotdish <3 🙂 March brought my 8th trip to snowcamp with senior high ministries at GracePoint. And as you might’ve guessed – another successful…

Growing up I remember going to parades and seeing the princesses on the floats, I always thought it looked cool, but for a while, I was way too scared to be in front of so many people. I remember New Brighton Royalty coming to my marketing class as a junior in high school to recruit. At that point, I was probably too busy to work it into my schedule. But the thought of trying out for royalty stayed with me. So this spring when I noticed that the current Rice Street Royalty (RSR) were looking for women 20+ and I admittedly had some time this summer, wanted to finally try…

Keep improving. And then go try something new. I got my motorcycle permit recently(!), on the first try. I’m proud of myself – now I can practice this summer and hopefully get my license soon. I studied up, went over a couple of practice tests, and then drove over to the testing center, paid the fee, and took the test. I walked out with my permit. Feeling rewarded for studying for the first time since college really. So where’s the lesson you might ask? For me, at this stage of this process, I’m now realizing I can more easily learn better at the level where I can actually handle a…