Meet Julie – In her own words… “Most of the time, I’m referred to as…
Posts published in “mom musings”
Meet Jackie (aka my Mom): It’s Mother’s Day week, and I can think of no…
“The key to realizing a dream is to focus not on success but on significance — and then even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.”
― Oprah Winfrey
Meet Tabitha:
In her own words
“I’d always dreamed of two kids and that white picket fenced home. Little did I know what life would bring me in just my 35 years on this earth. A new kind of dream, and a little more than just two kids.
“It’ll be an adventure,” I promised. It was a move that transformed the shape of our home, literally.
Just a month after the birth of my fourth, we moved into our downtown loft. It was a space that we’d converted for our studio… a space where we could shoot and film recipes I’d create with the brands I was working with. It was a place to host workshops and events… and now? It was becoming a space my family of SIX would live until we found our home.
In a turn of events the home we put an offer on fell through and we were so grateful we had a place to go.
The small storage room in the back became a shared kid’s room and the loft upstairs held a crib next to our bed for the master bedroom.
Something that year taught me, as we huddled as a big family in our small studio loft, is that home truly is what you make it… and dreams? They take on a completely different significance when you look through that lens.
That year, we grew so much closer as a family. It became the base for a big film and magazine project we did with Folgers and brought us so many new opportunities.
Isn’t it a bit like life as well? We don’t always know the twists and turns that will come our way, but even the small steps and little victories along your path will take on greater meaning.
What began with saying “YES” to the opportunity of downtown living with my family, taught me how to say “YES” to more… like being invited to the White House, cruising with Oprah and creating our own business (with more launching soon, shhh!).
Through it all, we’ve learned that we can live in just about any landscape, and sometimes what may seem the most terrifying can actually deliver some of the most beautiful moments. Those things that may be intimidating can be just the things that catapult us into our dreams… sometimes the ones we didn’t even know we had.”
#Ad Oprah Magazine November 2018 with JC Penney photo of Amy Boyle by Kristen Smith…
Meet Meaghan:
One year, for my birthday, I experimented with saying “yes” to everything. It started as one of those wishes you make only to yourself as you blow out the candles. Commit to having a little more fun, doing a little more good, loving a little more. I found that I had a lot more “yes” in me when the next birthday rolled around, so I kept going. Truth be told, I was filling my buckets long before then, pouring myself into family, philanthropy, friends, work, working out, going out, and just…going. I live a very full life. More is more. More living, more loving, more giving.
I might not be able to say “why” if you ask, but I might say “why not?” I’ll have a story to tell you when I say “Yes!” to your invitation and we chat over cocktails. The next morning, my kids will give me more giggles when they say “Yes!” to sharing the dad joke you told me. Those happy kids will cheer me on in a regatta with my alumni crew team (row a half marathon on the Chicago River with the #NDames? Yes!) while my Superdad of a husband rewards their team spirit with a “Yes!” to ice cream. More sprinkles? Yes!
On the subject of sprinkles, yes, I apply the “more is more” philosophy there, too. Extra icing on the birthday cake my neighbor’s sweet boy asked me to bake for him. Extra mini M&Ms tumbling down the mountains of whipped cream on the Saturday pancakes.
I wish I had even more time to bake, to read, and to garden, but until that time magically squeezes itself into my days, I’ll enjoy every moment of my busy life, full of recipes to try, books to read, and seeds to plant.
I love this life of “Yes!” Is there even time for more baking, more making, more….”Yes!”…? You know the answer is “Yes!”
If you could do anything now, what would you do? Why?
I’d be a pastry chef. Taking time to craft something beautiful that brings others joy, encouraging people to stop and savor the moment…my life could use more of that. Couldn’t yours? – Meaghan
