Happy Friday friends! I hope that you have had a lovely and wonderful week! We received our first snow on Wednesday night and everytime we do I remember back to this lovely morning in Lake Placid and seeing snowshoe cottage at this time of the year. *smiles*
This week was...so so precious and yet... held some challenging moments. I am grateful for this sweet space to spend time with you each day and pray that whatever your week has looked like that you have a wonderful weekend full of rest and joy.
Here are some of my favorite things from this past week! First of all....
WOW. WOW. Just WOW. I am honestly speechless y'all.
Friends, when I posted this on Wednesday I was hopeful it would help some people during this really difficult financial times and provide some fun, encouraging, sweet, and inspirational gifts. The response has been OVERWHELMING. If you haven't read the post yet click HERE!
As a small business owner I made the decision years ago that I would start my Annual "Black Friday" Sale early and start it the second week of November. Wednesday the sale went live and I want to say how grateful I am for ALL of the support of the shop.
Creating art and heirloom products that stay with you and your families for generations is something that my mom and I are so grateful for the opportunity to do. These beautiful key chain junk journals will also make the most precious ornaments on your tree that you can view, celebrate and treasure year after year.
If you want to go directly to the shop to purchase Christmas junk journals and view all the different options click HERE! We are grateful for all of your small business support!
3. Moving In/Room Organization
So I almost feel like this should come with a disclaimer. *gentle smiles*
If you have been around this space for any length of time then you know that the last five years have seen my mom and I face a lot of intense and extreme grief. In May of 2019, 2 weeks after my mom had heart surgery and 5 days after receiving amazing blood work for me after fighting for my health and my life for nearly a decade my father unexpectedly and traumatically died. Less then a year later the pandemic hit and my work of being a travel blogger came to a sudden halt as the world shut down. 6 Months later in July 2020 my mom and I made a cross country move to Knoxville where I started my first teaching job (a dream come true) in 10 years. 2 months in my precious grandmother passed away. 6 months later we made another cross country move to upstate NY to Albany where we planned to settle only for it to become extremely clear that the school I was teaching at had HUGE issues and for my health I needed to follow what many other teachers chose to do and leave and we moved again- back to my grandmothers house. This was in November 2021. During this time it became extremely clear that my mom was going to need to have knee surgery that was going to be complicated for numerous reasons and we spent the next 10 months preparing for this and then she had surgery in October 2022. After staying almost a month in NYC as she began to recover we returned back home for her to start a very long recovery process. It was during this summer where we both were able to really take a breath, rest, and truly begin the process of unpacking and moving into my grandmothers home (now our home).
We have lots of items to go through and going through things while you are in grief is hard. We moved my mom from her home of 30 years that was 3 times the size into this home where my grandmother's items still were and combined that with some of my items from pre-sickness (that weren't lost in the mold). And it is just a lot. But we are at a point of being able to start this process of cleaning out, moving in and simplifying things. It is going to be a process but we are grateful for the time to do so. So we have started in our middle room which we are turning into a work space/craft room. Currently this space has become a "storage room/junk room" of a ton of just items we didn't know what to do with. So here is a before...
And here is where we are after working on this intensely this week...
It is slowly coming along. This will be a process and any of you going through similar things... my heart is with you. We definitely appreciate all of the prayers.
Have y'all seen these all over social media? Again, we live in a small home and so we are ALL about finding ways to clean out and be organized and when I saw these sheet organizers by another blogger being used I was immediately like- YES. These are fantastic y'all. They are worth every single penny and seriously. You will love them. You can find it on Amazon HERE!
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In this very difficult financial times I can't stop talking about Passive Income because of how much it has changed my life. The knowledge from a $7 course (YES, it is ONLY $7!!!) that you learn (click HERE) and the opportunity to learn and earn while you receive AMAZING education through the Digital Marketing Course (that you can resell!!- click HERE) has been LIFE CHANGING. Y'all. Take the step today.
I used to pray for just one sale a day and now I have multiple sales coming in through multiple streams of income every single day. This is happening while I sleep, while I work, and while I spend time with my loved ones- even during the time of cleaning out rooms and getting organized.
What could passive income do for your life?? Start your journey today with my FREE guide or take the leap and purchase the $7 course (click HERE) or the Digital Marketing Course (click HERE). You are NOT going to regret this. What you will regret is not starting sooner.
If you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out. This can be done from ANYWHERE in the world!!!
As this Christmas season approaches, I am well aware that it can be a very difficult & painful season to face while fighting a serious illness like Lyme Disease. This devotional is the first & only Lyme patient specific book for the Advent & Christmas season & contains a daily reflection & song for each day of the Christmas holiday (from the last week of November through the first week of January). It can be used as a simple encouragement to the weary heart or as a guided devotional study.
If are not a Lyme patient, but know a Lymie this would be a great gift to give them! If you don't know a Lymie & would still like to help I have a list of Lyme patients who want to purchase this book but due to treatment costs can't afford to do so. If you would like to bless them anonymously please contact me or leave a comment & I will message instructions!! You can also purchase a book and donate it to your doctors office, local hospital, local library, etc.
You can purchase the book HERE!
If you are looking for a more general book with ideas for chronic illness patients for the holiday season you can check out my book, 12 Things to Do.
For less than $5 this book is the perfect gift for yourself or a loved one. If you are looking to support a friend the 12 Things to Do book is extremely helpful! You can find the series HERE!
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With Caravan Sonnet turning ten years old I thought it would be fun on Fridays to share some older posts from the blog! One of the things that Caravan Sonnet developed into was a a resource for those looking into cruising around the United States and World.
One of my favorite trips we ever took was my collaboration with Viking Cruises along the Rhine River. We left the day after Christmas in 2017 and were on the cruise through the holiday season and welcomed in the new year in 2018 and y'all... it was absolutely amazing. We still talk about this trip and all of the precious memories that we made. You can read all about the cruise HERE.
One of the most popular posts is one that I wrote back in 2018 was about our time in Colmar. You can read a couple of the posts HERE and HERE!
Interested in other Cruise Experiences/ Itineraries on the blog? Check out these links below:
Viking Cruises (Rhine River- Germany, France, The Netherlands-2017/2018)
Holland America Cruises (Canada and New England-2019)
Disney Cruise (Disney Dream to the Bahamas-2016)
Royal Caribbean Cruise (Bahamas- 2014 and 2016)
and more that can be found on my restorative travel page!
I hope that you have a wonderful Friday friends! Thank you for making this such an incredible space to come to and connect with every single day. I am so blessed!!
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