Sunday, April 30

Weekend Wrap-up

THIS WEEK: was the first whole week spent at home in a long while it seems. We've had so many little family outings and work thingies that I've always had something on the horizon that I was mentally and sometimes emotionally preparing for, so it was a nice little break. Richard took my laptop to get fixed by a good friend of his after it crashed mid-youtube upload, and it came back as good as new! So I'm writing from it now, and I have high hopes of progression in every aspect moving forward. 
     April was really a tough month, but I feel like it was also very needed and very important. There was wonderful time spent with family, and lots of happy days, but I also dwealt on pain more than usual. I felt more failure, more helplessness, more fear, and more burdening sorrow than I've had weigh on me in a while, so going into May and a new Monday at the same times seems like just the blessing I needed to reset myself a bit and move forward. Soaking all of that darkness into myself and using it to propel me onward and upward, letting it give me more depth of spirit and empathy in my soul. 
     I had some really good realizations about myself this past month, lots of parenting inspiration to further help each child with their current struggles, lots of strengthening talks with Richard, many mental notes of how I can be better. I accomplished a bunch of projects that have needed done for over a year some of them, so all in all, right now at least.haha I'm feeling good, breathing deep, and breathing in the last bits of April air while they last.


- write up a new little health and fitness plan for May
- organize my blogging schedule for May
- set a new YouTUbe posting goal
- sort the office once and for all
- work at finishing the gallery wall
- start teaching the girls piano weekly
-start trying yoga again
- work on my friendships
- set up the girl's chore charts
- set work hours for myself
- keep up with water drinking (I've been awful)
- try to get more sleep
- make more smoothies
- take each kiddie out on a date
- plan a family trip for after school ends
- keep up the good deed days with the kiddos
- give myself more grace 
- write a letter, on paper
- cook more
- spend as much time in the sun as I can


  • Did you know that I can't snap my fingers? yeah, no. I've tried and tried for years. So many people have tried to teach me, but to no avail.haha I don't know anyone else who struggles with this on the planet, so please tell me if you do too! We can start a support group.haha
  • I have a big thing for documentaries and especially ones related to nature and wildlife like Planet Earth. Oddly enough (or not surprising at all depending on how you look at it.haha) Richard loves it too! 
  • My parents taught us growing up that chocolate was bad for you, so we weren't allowed to eat it. I didn't end up having a single chocolate thing until I was about 12. A friend gave me an oreo and I just couldn't withstand the peer-pressure! haha So really though, I'm not kidding.haha

"Strength doesn't come from what you can do easily, 
it comes from accomplishing the thing that you once thought you couldn't."
- Rikki Rogers

Cheers for the new week ahead my friends:)
So long April! 



  1. Wishing a wonderful week! Thanks for being such a great inspiration x

  2. I can't snap either! I've tried, even gotten blisters, but I just can't seem to get it!! You are not alone.

  3. I can snap my fingers but can't cross my eyes - the same thing, so many people have tried but it's just not meant to be!

  4. Hoping May gives you all the positives in your life!

  5. This is such an insightful, beautiful post. I was also very excited to see that the first day of May was on a Monday - it just seems right and like a fresh start. I love this month for lots of reasons, one of them being that my boyfriend and I's one-year anniversary is on the 4th. I love your goal/to-do list, especially working on your friendships. That has been an ongoing goal of mine for the last few months and it is sometimes surprisingly way more difficult than I thought it would be. I hope you have a great day and month ahead! <3

  6. I can snap my left hand fingers, but not my right. And I'm right handed! I can also wink with my left eye but not my right. My sister-in-law told me my mom must have dropped me on my head when I was little, causing mild brain damage. Yay.

  7. I can't snap either! Everyone always trys to teach me when they hear that but it just doesn't work. My husband thinks I'm faking it, but I seriously cant.
    Love your posts!

  8. I love that you put "work on my friendships." I love it!

  9. My mum can't snap her fingers! We've spent ages in the past trying to teach her. :)

  10. You are not alone. I can't snap, nor can I whistle!

  11. Funny thing is, we didn't have chocolate in the house growing up either. My mom said the negative effect of sugar in the chocolate outweighs the good in it (true, it inhibits calcium absorption), it's addictive (true), and there are better sources of any benefits chocolate has (also true). I still don't care for it, even now. Haha

  12. I can neither snap my fingers nor whistle, so count me in for that support group :D I hope you have the most wonderful week!

  13. I can't neither snap nor whistle, so count me in for that support group :D I hope you have the most wonderful week ahead of you!

  14. I couldn't snap my fingers until a friend taught me almost a year ago! To this day it's still hard! Love those goals too! Group fitness at Gold's has been my lifesaver over the last 3 months.

  15. Hi Emily! I think this might actually be the first time I'm commenting on your blog, although I've been following you for a while and am so inspired by your strength and perseverance. Really enjoy watching the live vids that I can catch, and I'm so happy for you that things seem to be going so well lately (though understandable that you would experience tough times as well).

    ALSO I love your new fitness account! Any chance you might share the May health & fitness plan you're working on? I'd love some ideas. I try to do spin regularly for cardio and little things here and there for strength training, but I really want to grow more muscle and know I need to do more, but not sure where to start!

    Also LOVE Planet Earth too! I saw the Planet Earth 2 series on a plane recently and it's even better :)

  16. My daughter 13 can't snap in the traditional sense either she uses her thumb to pop out instead of pressing fingers together. Lol hard to explain but I love that she taught herself her own special way.

  17. I can snap, so I'm not with you there, but I love documentaries too! So much so that I have a "Documentary" profile on our Netflix account.

  18. Help. It says my subscription was cancelled?

  19. So beautiful. Everything you write is so genuine and meaningful. Thank you.
    Also, I'm still trying to figure out where you got your shirt? I've seen it a few times and am still trying to track it down!

  20. I know this was forever ago, but maybe this overly-analyzed snapping explanation will help you..? I couldn't snap when I was a kid until I figured out that the noise doesn't come from my finger and thumb swiping each other, it comes from my finger hitting the nail of my other finger at the end of the snap. The thumb is only involved to get the momentum going. I had been trying to snap with all of my other fingers curled up in a ball, so my nail wasn't being hit. If you keep your ring finger on your palm (mine rests on the mound at the base of my thumb), so that the middle finger can smack it, it might work for you. :)