2024

Oh, hey there 2024! Did that just kind of sneak up on anyone else, or was that just me?

I’m excited for a new year. A new year, to me, always feels like that fresh new page of your planner. A whole new week full of possibilities; except this is a whole new year of possibilities!

This is my second year in a row now not doing resolutions. I’ve learned over time that was a pressure for myself that was actually pretty unnecessary in hindsight. I just try every day to do my best, be a good person, serve people around me and make good choices. I have some goals of course, but nothing massive (or unobtainable). It’s really working for me. I like this. It was kind of hard to let go of resolutions, but here in year two, I am pretty proud of it.

I do have a word for the new year though! I do really like the whole word thing. This years word is:

This means a lot to me for many different reasons. I want to be better at following my heart this year. Listening to it, trusting it, giving it credit and validating how it feels.

I want to be good on other peoples hearts, too. I want to lighten hearts, help them, lift them.

I want to strengthen the hearts in my family. I want to help my kids trust in their own. I want to lift their hearts and show them how our hearts, our intuition, are powerful!

That’s the short list. There is a lot more that goes into this word for me. But I’m feeling really good and excited about this word!

Happy New Year, friends! I hope your year is a good one. I hope you reach some of your goals and that you find some good people to share memories with!

Love ya!

New Nursery!

It was finally time to move our sweet little W into his own room! His crib has been in our room for the whole first year of his life, and while that was honestly totally fine but at some point its real nice to have them get used to their own room, and I forgot how nice it is to have my own space too (well, with Craig)! W has pleasantly surprised us and is actually taking to his new room really, really well. He’s even, for the first time in his life, slept all night long a few times, which is freaking amazing!!

With moving him into his own room, I also wanted him to have a personalized, fun and cozy space that was his. I assign my kids animals when they’re born (I don’t know – I’m weird I guess) and his is a bear, so I really leaned into the bear/forest theme and am super pleased with how it turned out.

The wallpaper was what pulled it all together for me. On the opposite wall, I have a big canvas that says his full name on it (which is why I’m not sharing it here) and a really pretty picture of a sleeping bear underneath it and thats all above his dresser. There’s also two shelves with some fun little knick knacks that I’ll keep adding to.

His room was a rally fun one to work on and I’m so happy with how it turned out and am happy it was a quick project without any hiccups, too!

Room Re-do!

I love my bedroom. Like a lot. The size is great, I love the light that comes in through the windows. I love how we’ve put in our furniture. I just love the whole vibe. But lately we decided we wanted to change it up a little. So we settled on new paint and an updated bedspread and pillow situation.

i. am. obsessed.

Here is the before picture.

Honestly, to me there is not a thing wrong with this room (ok, the paint swatches on the wall and the messy bookshelf aren’t my favorite in this, but you get it), but I just wanted a change!!

Soooo… here is the after!

Its exactly what I wanted. Cozy and warm and just different feeling. It’s one of my favorite spaces in my whole house now (and I love a lot about my house, so thats saying something). The color is called Red Potato from Behr.

Also, back there in the far right corner – thats a dog, not a pile of clothes haha!

Happy OCTOBER!

It’s here! The last 3 months of the year are hands down the best part of any year. I love October, November and December and am SO glad we have now entered into this glorious part of the year. It’s like the reward for living the rest of the year, right? Not that the earlier parts of the year are bad – this just feels like a really shiny good-job sticker for making it! I love it all.

I’m so excited for cooler weather.

For the treats (pumpkin chocolate chip anything – yum)!

The colors and the smells.

The endless cozy sweatshirts and hoodies to be warn.

The clothing in general.

Halloween.

Pumpkin patches.

Fun class field trips.

Guilt-free candy splurging.

Oh, October, how I love you and how I’ve needed you.

What are you most excited for?!

GHOSTIES

Ahhhhh!!

Me and my sisters business, Main Street Club Co is starting a new launch! We have decided to space this one out a bit, but today our first (and favorite) item dropped and I’m so excited to show it off!! We are really hoping this one gets the love and goo-goo eyes it deserves.

It’s called, GHOSTIES and how cute is it?! So very happy. We decided to do it on a sweatshirt this time (it can also be put on a black T-shirt) and the sweatshirt is 100% the coziest clothing item in my closet now. That alone should make you want it, folks.

I’m just happy. It feels good to chase these dreams and see our creations come to life and have people be excited about them with us!

Sage DREAMS

I’m not sure what’s got into me over the last few weeks, but all of the sudden I am just dying to change up my home. All of the sudden I’m looking at my house and I’m like, why haven’t I made this beautiful home mine?! Let’s get this straight. I love my house. The state it’s been in for the last few years of us living here has been really great. I’ve felt comfortable and happy here. But some shift has happened in me over the last month or so and now I just want lots of change.

Here is the biggest thing thats caused this change: I don’t need to decorate like everyone else right now if its not bringing me joy.

Right now neutrals are so in, you know? I feel like it’s so common to see whites, creams, blacks, grays and woods. Now let me be clear, I love this. I walk into a neutral home and I’m in awe. It feels so right and beautiful, crisp and clean. I adore it. In fact, many of my most near and dear people in my life have fully embraced this trend and they are rocking it in their homes. I tried it too. Heck, for a while I had quite a neutral and trendy home!

But then I realized, while I love it and think its so pretty.. It’s not me. It’s not my style right now. Maybe thats why I haven’t felt fully satisfied with the way my home has been for some time. I’ve been trying too hard to do what everyone else is doing.

I really like color. Not bright, in-your-face neons or anything, but color. I want more of that!

After lots of thinking and Pinterest-ing, I decided, hey, guess what? This is my house! Shouldn’t I make it look the way I want it to look? Shouldn’t it be decorated and painted in a way I enjoy?!

The answer is yes.

And so I am.

We started with our kitchen. We painted it a sage green over the weekend and already I am obsessed. So obsessed. My kitchen is bringing me so much joy! This feels like our spot now.

This is only the beginning. You should see the list I’ve got going for rooms and decorations to change! Stay tuned – it’s going to be fun! And colorful!!

Excited Devastation

Tomorrow morning this sweet boy starts kindergarten. Time flies.

He is my sidekick. We are attached at the hip, him and I. If I go somewhere, whether it be to a store, or just a different room in the house, he comes. He tells me everything on his mind, all of his thoughts, goals and every single fact he learns. He loves me and is my friend.

But tomorrow morning as I drive him to his first day of kindergarten, we are closing the chapter where we are inseparable. Yes, he left for preschool, but that was a few hours a few times a week. This one feels different and a lot bigger.

I am so excited for him! He’s going to do amazing things. He’s going to learn so much, he’s ready. He’s going to be a valuable person in his classroom, as he’s one of the kindest souls in the world. This is the beginning of his educational journey that I have no doubt will take him amazing places.

But I am devastated for me. I’m going to miss him. My hearts already aching as I think about all the hours without him next to me, telling me about how fast hummingbirds wings flap or about how a cougar hunts. I’m going to miss him in every way.

This sounds dramatic. I know. But those who get it, get it.

Already counting down the seconds until school pickup!!

The Main Street Club Co

This has been the dream for years. Maybe even a decade, now that I think about it. I am just so, so excited. I’m also a little nervous, but I’m also so hopeful.

My sister and I have wanted to start a t-shirt business for a while now, but the timing just never worked out. Then a few years ago we started but mostly only did custom orders. Then she got married and I had a baby and the shop got lost in the back of our minds.

Until lately.

The Main Street Club Co (@themainstreetclubco) is doing its first official launch with our first official collection this Thursday!! We are thrilled. My sisters and I have put a lot of time and thought into this. We are proud of our work. And we have so many more ideas and so much more coming! I’m proud of us! I’m excited for us!!

Chase those dreams guys! They just might work out!

Romanticized

Hello, my name is Chelsea, and I romanticize my life.

What is that exactly? Here, let the internet explain.

Doesn’t it sound amazing?

I have been intentionally trying to romanticize my life now since last Sunday. A number of things made me take the leap, but ultimately, it was because I’ve been reminded quite frequently lately, that this is my only life here that I’m living – and as stressed and as anxious as admitting this makes me, I don’t know how long it will be or how long those around me have either. So why not make each day extraordinary?!

Why not do my best to celebrate the heck out of this beautiful life I have? Why not glorify the mundane and ordinary? Why not find joy in the simplicity and normalcy of life? Why not make each day feel magical and special? Why not celebrate the little things and find beauty in it all?

Why not?!

My space on the internet could be getting a lot cheesier now. It’ll probably seem childish and maybe silly. But just know I’m happy – I’m busy making every day magical and sharing it in hopes to inspire you to do (and share) the same!

Love you guys! You matter and I hope you feel happy today!

SPARTANS

Last weekend Craig and our two older boys participated in the Spartan races. Craig did the trifecta, which is three races over two days. It’s a total of 26-ish miles with over 75 grueling obstacles, all while running up and down mountains (some peoples ideas of ‘fun’ baffle me haha!) and he lives for it! He did this last year too and instantly fell in love. It’s been really neat and inspiring to see him be so disciplined and driven as he trained and prepare for these big races. And, as a surprise to no one, he killed it. He finished fast, placed really well and had a good time doing so. He is too humble to ever flat out just say how proud he is of himself, but you can just see it in him – he’s proud. And I’m proud and definitely not shy about bragging about him!

The boys decided to join in on it this year, too! H has literally been training daily since last year. Any chance to do an obstacle, sprint through a playground or go on a run – he takes it. I feel like this kind of thing could really be a big part of his future. He ran the one mile race (definitely bumping him up to the 2 mile next time) and he crushed it. He is fast! I got to be up around the trails with him to take pictures and video and cheer, and holy smokes – I couldn’t keep up!! He flew through the trail running and really tackled the obstacles with a lot of determination. He was committed to not skipping any, and he didn’t! He had the time of his life. He’s still riding the high from it. I’m so proud of him. He’s amazing.

Our E is definitely our timid athlete. He’s just as powerful and naturally gifted at this kind of stuff as his brother and dad are, he’s just a lot more cautious, nervous and anxious about these things. He ran the half mile race and all throughout his training over the last month, he’d been known to threaten, “I’m not doing the Spartan!” He was nervous about it and shutting down the idea was usually easier for him. But when it came to race day, my boy blew us away!! He got right up to the starting line and he DID IT! You would have hardly even known he was so worried leading up to it! I was able to run along side him during his race which definitely was beneficial for him, but really, it was all him! He pushed himself and he overcame big fear and became a little Spartan! So very proud of his accomplishment.

I just felt so pumped and proud all weekend long. My guys did that! Their hard work, their training and preparation paid off and they did their races and made it look easy. I’m always so impressed watching Craig do these physical things because they truly do just come so naturally to him, but watching our sons follow in his impressive footsteps this year was…wow! This will be an impactful core memory for all of us. This will be an accomplishment my kids will be able to be proud of and find confidence in forever! They proved to themselves just how strong and capable they are when they put their minds to something – and you better bet I’m going to remind them of that for the rest of their lives!

I’m proud of my Spartans! They taught me so much this weekend! Gosh, I’m just one lucky wife and mama to have them and to be continually learning from them! Forever inspired!