Sobremesa Stories

Letting stories unfold around the table

5 Ways To Follow Your Favorite Blogs

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Before I became a blogger (you can read about the story behind my blog here), I had a handful of bloggers that I followed regularly. I had maybe 10-12 blogs bookmarked on Google Chrome, and every day during lunch would sit down and click through each of the blogs to see if they had anything new that day.

This system wasn’t horrible, and feel like I really grew to love the voices and stories of those bloggers I was following regularly.  But as I’ve jumped more into the blogging world, I’m starting to feel like just about everyone has a blog and it starts to feel overwhelming to follow them.  I want to follow along with all of my friends’ and family members’ blogs, but don’t have the time to click around each day and figure out if anyone’s posted something new.

How To Follow Your Favorite Blogs Sobremesa Stories

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The Difference Between A Vacation And An Adventure

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I have always loved to travel.  Whether it was visiting family on the East Coast, road tripping across the Mexican border with all of our neighbors for our annual Tijuana trip (something we could NOT do nowadays), or spending random summer weeks in Hawaii, Northern California, New Hampshire, or a million other places, many of my favorite childhood memories are from our family vacations.

La Jolla de Mismaloya

Rocking the cornrows and rainbow Speedo in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

If I had to choose one memory of my mom that stands out from those trips, it’s how calmly and joyfully she would respond to the delays, issues, and interruptions that inevitably come up when you’re traveling.  When our quick dinner turned into a three hour affair because the restaurant service was terrible, she would laugh and say, “Just remember…this is an adventure, not a vacation.” 

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Five On Friday: A Full House & A Puppy Birthday

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Happy Friday, friends! This was our official first week of summer.  Even though some last minute family staying with us (see below) made the week look a little different than we had planned, it was a fun weekend/week and we couldn’t be happier to have a break from work.

This last weekend, Jordan and I headed to good ol’ Carthage, MO for Jordan’s annual family reunion.  Jordan’s grandpa is one of 11 siblings, and the descendants of each family gather in Missouri each year to catch up and celebrate all the ways God has grown their family in the last 100 years.  The descendants of those 11 siblings add up to over 400 people, which is CRAZY! I’m grateful to be a part of this big, crazy family.  Anyway…on to a few favorites and updates from this week!

1) A Full House

After we went to Jordan’s family reunion, Jordan’s cousin, her husband, and their three little girls came to stay with us for a few days before heading to Colorado for another family reunion.  Their girls are 5, 3, and 8 months, and are about as sweet as can be.  We had a lot of fun hosting them, and our house was a much cuter, snugglier, and louder place to be this week.  It was definitely a glimpse of what having a couple kiddos will look like, and it made me very, very grateful that you usually just start off with one tiny baby who can’t move all that much for a few months.

Friday Five Baby Pic

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How To Use Packing Cubes To Pack Like A Pro

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When Jordan and I planned our 5 week trip to Europe last summer, we knew we wanted to travel light.  Not only were we traveling with several budget airlines that have strict luggage restrictions (like Ryanair and Easyjet), we also knew we’d be doing a lot of walking around in our backpacks and didn’t want to be carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders.   I started doing research on general packing tips for a trip like ours and found lots of great tips (like how to use packing cubes to rock your tiny backpack).

How to Plan Your Dream Europe Trip Backpack. jpg

Everything I packed fit in this one small backpack!

Using all the tips I describe below, we were able to fit everything we needed for five weeks of traveling through countries with very different climates in two small backpacks.  I’m not kidding, folks, we had everything we needed to travel well, stay clean, AND look cute (in my totally unbiased opinion).

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Anxiety

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday Guest Post! Today’s post is by my friend Jenny Hall.  I met Jenny (a fellow California girl!) before we started our freshman year at Davidson College, and have learned so much from the brave ways she has reached out to other people and to God to wrestle with deep questions of who she is and what it looks like to live her faith and her life well.  She is an incredibly passionate person who loves deeply, feels deeply, and runs after the things she loves with everything she has.   I am so grateful to have her vulnerable, funny, and beautiful words on the blog today.  

Womanly Wednesday Anxiety Oxford Jenny

There was a time in my life when I thought a lot about my armpits. I planned my outfits carefully. Sleeveless tops were best, obviously, but if I had to wear sleeves then I most definitely needed a sweatshirt on hand – even in 100 degree Southern California summers. It takes a lot to sweat through a sweatshirt.

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How To Break Your Marriage Conflict Cycle

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If you are dating someone, married, or have been either of those things at some point, you know that arguments with your significant other happen.  Any time we share our hearts, bodies, and souls with another person, it’s inevitable that some sort of friction will rise up.  Even the best happily ever after’s have a solid argument every once in a while, and anyone who tells you differently is either lying or hasn’t been married long enough to get down to the nitty-gritty (it only took us maybe…hmm….3 days into marriage to get to this point.  We’re over-achievers, you know?)

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Five On Friday: Patriotic Projects and SUMMERTIME

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If you’re reading this post, it means my four weeks of summer school are officially done and it is summertime! PRAAAAAAAISE! Even though I’d say fall is my favorite season, as a teacher, there are few things better than those sweet weeks of break from the ups and downs of working with middle schoolers.  I can’t wait for six weeks of sleeping in, jumping more fully into blogging, snuggling my puppy and hubby, pool time, watermelon, iced coffee, and a million other things.  Seriously…summer is the best.

I’m linking up with A. Liz Adventures, Fitting It All In, Life in Leggings, Grace and Love Blog, Momfessionals Friday Favorites, Friday Letters, and Running 4 Cupcakes to share some of my Friday favorites and random updates from this week! Enjoy!

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Womanly Wednesday: A Guest Post On Weakness And Worth

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Thanks for stopping by for this week’s Womanly Wednesday Guest Post! Today’s post is by the lovely Kelsie of Currently, Kelsie.  I met Kelsie through Young Life here in KC, and it’s crazy how many things we have in common.  She’s a teacher and Young Life leader who loves and leads her students well, she got married around the same time my hubby and I did, she recently jumped into the blogging world too, and she is wise, funny, and a wonderful writer.  I hope you’ll check out her blog to read more of her thoughts or her Facebook page for more blog updates! 

Womanly Wednesday Kelsie 1

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How To Make A Patriotic Burlap Wreath

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There’s something so pretty and cozy about a front door with a wreath on it.  I’ve always admired women who can whip up beautiful, colorful wreaths but felt a little nervous to try something that seemed so complex and “advanced” for a beginning crafter like me.

Last fall, I finally got brave enough to try my hand at a burlap bubble wreath, following some tutorials I found online (which I’ve since gotten a new computer and lost the links to!).  I tied on some burlap autumn leaves from World Market using pipe cleaners and hung the whole thing on our apartment door.  Every time I came home it made me smile a little to see my own handiwork looking so cute on our door!

How To Make A Patriotic Burlap Wreath Final

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