LoveFeast Table

There’s a lot of plates of this and that serving up on LoveFeast Table right now.  First off we have a necklace winner, then some reminders AND most importantly a head’s up to our GETAWAY with ONE OF OUR READERS!!  So, check out the current “table talk”…

We are happy to announce that the winner of our LoveFeast Table Mother’s Tree of Life Necklace Giveaway is Anna from Girl With Blog.  She was chosen out of 8 bloggers who wrote about the latest BlogLove event, Spark & Style event sponsored by Therapon Skin.  Anna was the first blogger to buy a ticket for Spark & Style   She has been so supportive of our LoveFeast endeavors ~ we were happy that Random.org randomly chose her to win our necklace!  Anna is a lovely and beautiful blogger who is currently mama to one puppy.

No matter, this necklace is beautiful just as she is!

We are going to have the Mother’s Tree of Life necklace in our LoveFeast boutique (hopefully by the end of this week!) ~just in time for Mother’s Day.   Check back and see!

Also~ there’s been a little talk on Twitter among Minnesota bloggers about the Savvy MN event Savvy In The City.  Savvy MN gave LoveFeast Table readers a special discount code: Savvy_lovefeast to get $10 off the ticket price.  You can get tickets for the Savvy In The City event here.

And, let’s talk about this!!  LoveFeast girls are going to be meeting up again (someplace other than a dark alley in Baltimore)!!  This time in Louisville, Kentucky!!  We’re heading to the GE Momsperience!  But, here’s the scoop!!  We get to bring ONE OF OUR READERS with us!!!  That could be you!  Check back tomorrow to find out more!!  And, check your calendars for May 15-17!

And, finally Fancy Friday this Friday is all about “Spring Sprucing”!  Have a tip, project or inspiration you would like to share?  Come back Friday when we get inspired around sprucing for spring!!  (That just may be a fancy way to say spring cleaning! LOL)

That’s what’s on our table?  What’s on yours?

Devon and I and our kids, four at the time, spent almost a year traveling the world.  We visited Nanning and Hong Kong, in China…

Manila and Bagiuo in the Philippines and Hawaii.

Then I visited South Africa

and our family took a trip to Ireland.

Before our year excursion, we had sold our coffee shop, our house and all of our belongings.  We were open to whatever adventure lay ahead!

We weren’t sure where we’d land after we were done…but, when our travel time was up, we found ourselves in a fixer upper in Baltimore City. The house was old and had tons of personality, but work needed to be done from roof to basement.
We have spent the past 5 years replacing the roof, laying a driveway, re-doing the kitchen and three bathrooms, water proofing the entire basement and refinishing it and the list goes on.
Now, before our travels, my husband was in the restaurant industry…not the home renovation business. But, after working on our home, he switched careers.
About three years ago, he decided to take the leap from restaurant management to home remodeling. He now guts complete houses and renovates them.
As I look back at the journey we’ve been on, it amazes me how the choices we make can prepare us for the future. It prepared us for a major career change.
But…it didn’t prepare us for this.

About a week ago, I woke up to the dog barking. I got up to take her out. I opened my bedroom door to walk into a sauna with a hissing sound coming from my kitchen. As I glanced in the kitchen, I saw water…major water.
I called my husband’s name, in that tone of voice that signals an emergency, he bounded out of bed and I proceeded to put the leash on the dog and go for a walk. I knew it was bad.

This bad.
This is our basement…our already remodeled, french drained basement. We didn’t think to “french drain” the ceiling.
This is what came in when we called water abatement.

Our home will go through another major remodel.   It will end up being a blessing and an even greater improvement…but a bit stressful. My kitchen is getting gutted (the sub floors are ruined), my basement redone and while we are at it…we will finish what renovations we were already working on…laying hardwood on my entire first floor, taking down a ceiling and removing a gas fireplace.
Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted. I’m ready for a new chapter.  I’m ready for my lemon to be turned to lemonade.  Just understand if my excitement is tempered with a bit of angst.  It’s gonna be a long couple of months.

Today is the first day of the rest of my life.  Well, I guess any day really is.  But today is the first day that all four of my children are in full day school all day.  My last chick has left the nest…for the day anyway.  It is the end of an era.

I have one in high school.

And, one in middle school. (Picture was taken in the wee hours of the morning and my flash is broken.)

And, two in elementary.  One is in 4th grade.

And, my youngest is starting 1st grade and this morning rode the public school bus for the first time.

For 14 years I have been primarily a stay at home mom.  Before I was a mom and even a wife, I was a “design consultant” at a high-end furniture store.  And after that I shifted into the career of an art teacher at a private prep school in Maryland, after some on-the-side substitute teaching.  They were all jobs I enjoyed.  But honestly nothing I was hugely passionate about.  I was and always have been passionate about being a stay at home mom.  At the time I made my “leap of faith” to stay home my husband and I did not have really even enough money to make that decision.  In fact, we figured out that me staying home was going to bring us a significant monthly deficit.  If I was going to stay home…we were going to go into debt.  I remember clearly the feeling of making that decision on the eve of the night before I had to sign my teaching contract for the next year.  With a pit of, I will admit it, angst and fear of the unknown, I decided to stay at home with my son and soon-to-be daughter, because that is what I truly wanted for me and my family.  As we made that decision together, my husband was committed to helping me follow my dreams knowing together we’d figure out a way to make it work.   And, honestly the math didn’t add up.  However, by the end of the year my husband had a new job and we had bought our first house.

Now, of course I don’t advocate necessarily going into debt.  But pursuing one’s passions is something I strongly believe in.  I do believe there are at time real risks to making life decisions one believes in.  Sometimes, they are imagined.  Will I be good enough?  Can I do it?  Sometimes they are real.  As in, can I pay the rent and buy food?  I also believe that when you do (take those risks)…things will work out in the end.  Sometimes that takes a little denial of those risks and a little faith!

If you really believe in something, have a dream, or want to peruse something…then you should go for it.  Because, that is where you will find your adventure and passion in life.  Kristin and I have always felt strongly about pursuing one’s passions.  To us, this blog is an undercurrent of that theme.  On that hot summer day at the Golden West Cafe, when we had our “light-bulb moment” we knew that we wanted a little something creative to pursue for ourselves.  And, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy…what with our full-time-job-of-mom’s-of-9-kids career.  But we’re glad we started out on this adventure, even though at time it stretches us a little bit thin.

And, hopefully and maybe, it is even setting for “them” an example…

So, that sometime “they” will walk into their life and passions and take a risk for their dreams with out even looking back!

Pursuing your passion, has been a hot topic around here lately.  You know that thing that gets you excited…so excited your brain won’t shut off at night, because there are so many ideas about that passion?!  You are constantly talking about it, or thinking about it.  Your heart even starts beating quicker when you talk about it!  Chris Ann and I believe wholeheartedly that everyone should pursue their passion.  We shared with the ladies (and man) at BlogLove Minnesota our belief.   We even teach our kids this life motto!

For sixteen years, Chris Ann and I have been stay at home moms.  We have cooked countless meals, potty trained too many people, folded enough clothes to cover China and used enough cleaning supplies to start our own landfill.  Anyone who is raising kids knows there’s very little time in the day for “pursuing your passion”.  In fact, most mamas fall into serious crisis identity.  Who am I?  Who will I be when my kids are grown?  Do I even have time to take care of myself?  For fourteen years we road that roller coaster.  There were times we’d peek through the cloud of motherhood to make a homemade card for someone, or cut some fresh flowers from the garden and take care to arrange them.  Every now and then, there would be time and inspiration to re-paint a room and decorate!  Honestly, those were the little creative moments we held onto that kept us in touch with our passions.

(Quick disclaimer…I fully believe that raising children can be creative in and of itself!  That it is also part of pursuing passion…but, for just a moment, I’m speaking from a very internal, personal place.)

So, two years ago, we found ourselves at a place of total inspiration…and with reality bearing down on us that we were only a few years from putting 9 kids into college!  Chris Ann and I set out on pursuing our passions…the passion to create, make things beautiful and gather people.

I would like to be able to end here and say it’s all been a bowl of bliss and we are like dancing fairies in a colorful meadow, but that would not be honest.

We found ourselves on the first night at BlogHer ’10, feeling like utter failures.  Why?  We’re not really sure.  But, somehow we both landed there at the same time (which usually never happens!)

You see, this “pursuing your passion” gig comes with hard work and sacrifice.  We are still raising our kids, making meals, doing laundry and playing taxi driver to all of them…but, there is a new strain and it’s called “mommy’s working”.  There was already no time in a day and now we are borrowing time from them.  So, there is a constant tension of trying to find that balance of  “pursuing our passion” and not missing a moment of our kids growing up.  Pressure!

Ok, so we found ourselves that night saying we could throw the towel in…go back to just keeping house and raising kids.  We could steal many moments snuggled up on the couch reading books.  We could.  We’re good at it!  We did it for 14 years.  But, then wouldn’t we be hypocrites?  We tell our kids to pursue their passions!  Heck, we even drive them countless hours a week to and from their pursuits!

This past couple of years have stretched us and our families.  It has been uncomfortable at times.  We’ve wanted to give up.  But, the thought of turning off the flow we’ve started, would be devastating.  There are years of creativity and ideas that we’ve unleashed.  Even our husbands say, “You two are too creative and motivated to just be stay at home moms.”

So, as we enter a new school year, with new schedules…we are trying to implement a few guidelines for ourselves to create balance.  The honest truth…we want it all!  Really it’s what a LoveFeast Lifestyle is all about.  Enjoying the precious moments with our kids, while devouring all that life has to offer.  It doesn’t come without sacrifice…be it investing in family or pursuing passions.  But we think  it’s worth it.

Recently when I sat on the blogger panel at Great Grapes Wine, Arts and Music Festival, a question came up that had me address finding inspiration for content creation.

We find inspiration all around us!  That is one of the reasons we have Fancy Fridays here at LoveFeast Table.  There are colors, or lack thereof, dishes, food, people, murals, flowers and even purses that inspire us!

Chris Ann and I also like to explore new places!  We will travel high and low for inspiration.  We’ve found it at skate-parks and in Italy or at museums and flea markets.  Recently we headed to Charm City Craft Mafia’s Craft Show.  It was in an old church in Baltimore.  There were t-shirt artists and letter press printers.  There were jewelers and luminary makers!

Every booth, each person we met, was  like putting an extra paint brush in our tool box!  We got new ideas for business cards…for swag bags and even for custom jewelry!

Just wanted to encourage you today, if you’re hitting an artistic or writer’s roadblock and you need new inspiration, head out to a local craft show or even your farmer’s market!! There are new ideas to be found everywhere!

OK my friends its time for a little “what’s going on behind the scenes” chat!!  Kristin & I are doing our “SuperMom” routines trying to get ourselves out the door for our New York City blog conference, BlogHer 10.  We’ve had meetings, soccer tryouts, laundry to do, swimming lessons, kids to bathe and schlep around, meals to make, and….on top of that, business cards to create, bios to write, orthodontist appointments to make, posts to keep up with, parties to plan (BlogLove!), suitcases to pack (BlogHer 10)….AND…did I mention we are both potty training our puppies?  Yep, that is more than a heap of stuff to do.

On top of all that we’ve been virtually shopping via are mobile phones with wardrobe updates for earrings and shoes for our NYC BlogHer conference.  So, in honor of all the right “heels” we’ve looked for this week.  We’ve decided that this Fancy Friday gets to be all about shoes!  Any bloggers who want to play along in our blog party…post your shoes for BlogHer 10 or your shoes~just because…and tell us your story!  Are you going to take some pain for fashion or are you going to relax back in your flip flops!!  Just grab our badge here and join the fun!

Also, we are working behind the scenes to bring a great BlogLove gathering to Minnesota!  We are so very excited to have Aveda sending a team for hand massages to our event at Camille en Rouge.  There is going to be awesome shopping, an Aveda perfume bar to choose a signature scent from and of course many Minnesota bloggers we are waiting excitedly to meet or see again!!  We love to throw a party…and a party won’t be complete with out some party favors!  Just wait until you see our custom designed swag bags filled with beautiful things from places like Aveda, Houndstooth Boutique and The Vintage Pearl!!  Kristin is going to make another special road trip from Maryland…just to be there!

So that’s that’s the scoop!  If you would like to follow along on our up-to-the-minute adventures follow the tweet bar on our home page to read and link to what’s happening this week while we are at BlogHer 10 or follow us @lovefeast!

And when all is said and done we’re going to be ready for one of these!!

Something Kristin and I started a while back was something we like to call Fancy Friday.  It’s a chance to share at our table things that inspires us, things that are beautiful, colorful, soulful, and artistic…things that we like to call “fancy”.  You can click on some of of our Fancy Friday’s here.

Fancy Friday is also a “Blog Party”, which means if you are a blogger you can link up your “fancy” post with a linky button.   Fancy Friday gives our readers a chance to find some other blogs to love.
There’s lot of cool blogs out there and we’d like to invite them to join us at the table this Friday!  This coming Friday, June 25th, our Fancy Friday has a theme called BlogLove!

If you’re a blogger all you have to do is write a post about your favorite blog or blogs and tell us why you like them, why they inspire you and why they keep you coming back for more!!  Then, link your post on Friday.  You can read how to do that here.

If you’re a reader or didn’t write a post… you can still share your favorite blog or blogs by leaving a comment after the post this Friday.

Everyone can come back on Friday and get a chance discover a lot of really neat, blogger and reader recommended “fancy” blogs!!

So, think about it and come back next Friday and share your BlogLove™!!

My suitcase is packed and I’m ready to go!  Kristin and I are looking forward to 5 days of fun together.  We have a bunch of things to work on for our blog and of course we’ll share some time around the table… whether it’s Maryland crabs, pizza on the grill, fine dining or a favorite local restaurant.   We haven’t been together since October, when we created Fancy Friday and challenged Ryan of This Is Reverb, to a LoveFeast TakeOn!   We know we are looking forward to meeting up with some other east coast bloggers during my visit as well.  And, we’ll be toasting off the summer with our new pink cocktail, thanks to Greg, at Sippity Sup. If you want to know what we’re up to moment by moment read our “LoveFeast Tweets” on the right side of our blog or follow us on Twitter: @lovefeast

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there!  Believe us when we say, we know that your days are full of endless loads of laundry, piles of dirty dishes, driving bus loads of loud children, shopping for and preparing meals for the umpteenth time, wiping snotty noses on your T-shirt, managing EVERYONE’s hectic schedule…only to redo the same thing day after day.  But, we also know why we’re happy to do it!  Here are our reasons!

Kristin’s…

Teapot

Little Man

Zap

Drama Boy and Little Man

Teapot

Zap

Drummer

Drama Boy

Teapot and Little Man

Drummer

Drama Boy

Little Man, Drummer, Zap

Teapot and Little Man

Chris Ann’s…

My oldest

Big Sis

Little Bro

Fancy Little Sis

Big Sis

The Gang

Middle bro again

Sister love

Beach Baby

Birthday Boy

Rock Star

Fancy Girl & Fancy Roxy

The Teen

Bon Qui Qui & Cat Girl

Snow boy

Little Sis

Big Sis

The Eldest

The End!

We’re glad you stopped by!  Guess where we are today?  We’re visiting our friend, Susan, at She’s Becoming Doughmesstic.  We’re serving up Banana Chip Cake with Whipped Mocha Ganache.  It’s going to be a great visit!  Susan has a great sense of humor and a load of talent.  She’s also a baker extraordinaire!!  So pop on over there and join us at the table!  We’re swapping stories and having a slice of cake to go with it!

And, don’t forget to join us this Friday for Fancy Friday Cakes!  Add your post about cakes onto our blog party for a click-able and delicious cake walk!  Directions here for Fancy Friday.