Have A Little Faith in We

Happy Tuesday friends! Is everyone enjoying the sum sum summertime?? We are LOVING it – especially since it feels a little cooler than normal for Northern VA in June, like an extedned spring…ahhhh PERFECTION! Today I am sharing a little life lately and how we are soaking up the season.

We really started thinking about summer when we attended our summer movie fantasy league draft! Some of our closest friends have been hosting this fun summer game for a few years and somehow we kept missing out! But not this year….with a summer season goal of fun and friends – we jumped in!

Ya’ll it was a blast! Truth be told, I love bidding at an auction, but shockingly we don’t really get a chance to do it that often (ya know with all that extra cash we have 🙄) . But this event allowed us to bid with abandon- until your points ran out. We had a blast and having two of my best gal pals in my conference, Annie and Libby, brought a lot of comic relief to the group. Now let’s all say pretty please to my friend and the league commissioner, Sean to do a guest post all about it?!?!?

Later that week, I wrapped a very busy work week- the last day in the office before our annual conference- and met my family at Anita’s to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!!

Ganmommy was a fan of the band and I was a fan of the cocktails!!

The following week I was off to Phoenix, Arizona for work. This is a large and busy week that is full of stress and long hours…. but ya now what- I love it!! My real life job is in membership of a trade association. What the what? My business all comes down to this: people. So a week to see the folks I email and chat on the phone with all year is one of my favorite parts of my job!

And it doesn’t hurt that I work with some awesome people!! The to do list for out first day onsite was getting pretty long…. so Paige and I decided to pump up the team with some sweatbands and tunes while we prepared for the day.

Another plus for work travel – no matter how crazy the days and exhausting the trip – a hotel room with room service and a fluffy robe is hard to top! So I enjoyed a few nights of down time for me while out west.

But best of all was seeing my brother in law who calls Phoenix home! I know it sounds so cliche, but it is true: we don’t get out that way nearly as much as we would like and it has been YEARS since I was there. So taking a night to go see his new house and love on the pups was perfect. Plus he and his roommate make a mean batch of guacamole!

Before I knew it – back home again for the weekend and to celebrate Mother’s Day with a few of my favorite moms: my mom, Ganmommy, my sister Katy, and my Aunt Tama. It was pretty low key this year with a cookout and some back deck hang out time, but for the end of busy work season, it was just perfect!

This year’s Mother’s Day gift that I handed out to a few was this new book ‘The Lucky Few”. It is an incredible story of unlikely motherhood – that ends up teaching you about the power in going off the path to seek God’s plan, even in the mud. Ya’ll, it inspired me, spoke to my heart, and gave me a renewed sense of hope. If you are looking for a quick read that stands to touch a variety of places in your life, get your copy (just not at my Target – I bought the last one!).

As I mentioned before, this summer Danny and I really want to get out and enjoy our life. Time the people we love, exploring new things, and living purposely are priorities for us now that health is appearing to cooperate. So this Memorial Day we did something a little different – had our friends over for a BBQ and then took the kiddos fishing.

Everyone had a great time and I felt this was a wonderful kick off to our new seasonal efforts. Cheers to many more memories made this summer and the many to come!

We laugh a little bit about living so far out in suburbia and how the “going out” way of life is pretty different. But this past Friday a little happy hour crew gathered at mom and dad’s for a few cold ones and snacks and I was pretty sure this was way better than any bar I was missing from Arlington.

There are a few updates from our world! And Lola says stay tuned for more Life Lately updates…. and a Weddings 2017 post… hint: She liked a wedding!

Thanks so much of reading and remember to make a great day!
Jackie