Last Saturday, I woke up in a funk. I could feel my hormones shifting and the dark cloud hovering over me. For the last 7 months, I’ve been doing the 5 Minute Journal almost daily. Each morning it asks you to scribble down three things that would make the day great. That morning felt like a good day not to skip. I grabbed my favorite pen and jotted down the first three things that came to mind: a trip to the farmers market to creatively gather dinner ingredients, a burger on a patio & replenishing the fresh flowers in my kitchen. Funks in houses spread like wildfires. I wasn't about to let mine catch.

We stopped at the first stand at the farmer’s market to grab some veggies and immediately a sign behind the cashier caught my eye. I started up a conversation with the young cashier about the dreamy picture of the farm at sunset. She went on to tell me all the about the farm. Then I heard her say “flower picking on Sunday” and I was locked in. Totally worth skipping the Trader Joes’s stop on the way home!

Sunday afternoon, we made the 15 minute drive to the farm. A homegrown farm stand. Live music. Picnic tables and yard games. Fresh blackberry lemonade. Fields of flowers. Need I say more? The shift in my mood was instant! Amidst the sunshine on my skin (and in my soul), the dark cloud that hovered only one day prior had vanished. We grabbed fresh sourdough, homemade blackberry syrup snow cones for the kids and snipped away row by row in the flower fields –the “edible” row, the “dries well” row and the multiple rows of endless summer blooms. 

Walking back to the car, jar of fresh flowers in hand, my mind was still catching up from soaking it all in. I looked down at my freshly picked flower jar and caught myself smiling. Here’s what I was reminded of that day:

#1 Do something different. Show up. Try the class. Experiment with something new. Getting out and going to the farmer’s market alone was a spark of joy but had no idea it’d unlock joy door #2: learning about a fresh flower farm 15 minutes away. 

#2 Beautiful things in life go through hard things. I came across this flower jar tag that said, “Every flower must grow through dirt,” and couldn’t help but sit with that phrase for minute. The reminder that something so beautiful had to go through hard things first –growth spurts, rain and storms, messy tangled roots. Despite their circumstances, flowers push through literal dirt in order to bloom into something beautiful.

#3 You must be present to win. A wooden welcome sign at Conundrum Farm’s entrance had a simple line at the bottom: “Must be present to win.” At first, it felt out of place—I wasn’t at a school raffle; I was at a farm. Then, it hit me. Don’t miss this moment. What a great analogy to life! We must be present to win. In this life. Right here. Right now. 

As I write this, I can hear my kids fighting in the background and can see a messy-ish, lived-in and well loved house from where I’m sitting. But I'm here. Fully present. In the middle of it all. Maybe this is what winning looks like.

And yes — I did get my burger on the patio, too :)

in my kitchen

I came across this recipe on the back of my hemp seed bag a few weeks ago and knew I needed to try it. I didn’t follow it exactly as I was running short on seeds and wanted a little more tang and pepper kick, but it was so good. Make sure you use freshly squeezed lemon juice and adding a little extra garlic is chef’s kiss!

Add this extra protein pesto to pasta, gnocchi, sweet potatoes or chicken - it’s a yummy addition to literally anything!

Summer reset, anyone? If you missed our episode with decluttering expert Katy Joy Wells, it's worth the revisit. Her big idea: clutter isn't the problem — it's the symptom. Underneath it is scarcity, sentimentality, identity — and until you deal with those, you're one step forward, three steps back.

My favorite takeaway: keeping something you don't use is actually the waste. Donating it extends its life for someone who will. That reframe alone made letting go so much easier.

One small change worth stealing from this conversation: add a visible donation bin somewhere high-traffic — laundry room, closet, mudroom. When something stops fitting or serving you, it goes straight in. No more "I should donate this” or “I’ll deal with it later."

One last thing…

What 3 things will you do today to make your day a “good” one?

Here are some ideas:

Read a book.

Order a new book.

Play a board game.

Try a new recipe.

Finally unpack the suitcase.

Drop off the donation bin.

Take a nap.

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