Bedtime chats

Are we the only people who talk like this?

Me: Bri, I was reading about the female brain today. Did you know that the prefrontal cortex doesn't typically develop completely until the age of 22 in women?

Bri: Really? What's the prefrontal cortex?

Me: It's the part of the brain primarily responsible for executive functioning and making sure that a person's behavior or actions sync up with their internal sense of self.

Bri: huh.

Me: So...I'm thinking that you kind of took advantage of my under-developed brain when you asked me to marry you. Heck, we were married and had 2 kids by the time I was 22. You just wanted me barefoot and pregnant before my brain was fully developed...didn't you?

Bri: Whew. It worked out for me. (Long Pause). Actually, I don't think I was that concerned with your brain.

Me: Oh. I'm guessing there were other body parts you were more concerned about when you proposed then?

Reminiscing

Life as I see it

A grief observed

I've been following this woman's blog since shortly after Christmas. Her husband died suddenly just before the holiday and now she is trying to pick up the pieces of her life with their two young sons. Her words are tragically beautiful and captivating. I wonder about my faithfulness to reading her blog - a stranger to me (I was introduced to her blog by a dear friend who thought I'd appreciate her writing style). I feel voyeuristic each time I click on my bookmark to her blog, yet as soon as I arrive on her page I am reminded that it's not voyeurism for the sake of voyeurism. Rather, she enters into her own pain in away that my heart resonates with. She grieves deeply, honestly...all the while grasping onto hope and trusting that even if she can't hold onto it, that "it" won't let her go.

Building a home...

The past two weeks has been filled with making plans for our new home. We signed a contract to build a new track home in a housing development right next to the elementary school the girls have been attending. Making this decision was a tedious process. Brian and I couldn't help but reflect on how much we have abandoned our former impulsive ways. We are living our lives with greater intention than ever before. So we have thoughtfully chosen where we will finally begin to truly make a home for ourselves. It is not a "forever home." I'm not sure we will ever ben "forever home" kind of folks. Instead we will call this a "seasonal home." It will be our home for an extended season of our lives. We hope that this season includes the advancement and development of both of our careers, an investment in our surrounding community and the establishment of a sense of rootedness for our girls (who have journeyed with us as we've been wanderers for the past several years).

So as the next few weeks of my life will be consumed with making initial design decisions, I will be attempting to hold on to the deeper meaning of this new chapter for our lives. But...it's no secret that I absolutely love interior design. It was a passion I didn't really discover until I took my first trip to Cost Plus World Market about a month after Brian and I got married. I came home with $300 worth of decor for our quaint 3rd floor condo. Poor Brian. My love for interior decorating and design (better categorized as a love for homemaking) created quite a bit of tension in our early years of marriage. I think he has since grown rather fond of my desire to make a space truly ours...or perhaps he just learned that no amount of disputing over how much money I chose to spend on homemaking would ever result in much change.

I'm sure I'll be posting plenty of pictures as we venture into this new season of our lives. But for now, here are a few of the things currently inspiring my design choices.