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There is comfort food and then there is comfort food. Mashed potatoes are way up there on my list!

It has been a hard time since the loss of our sweet boy, Port. He gave cancer a valiant fight all while continuing to shower us with love and happiness. He took a huge part of our hearts when we said goodbye but he never suffered and for that I am grateful. When he was diagnosed, we cleared our schedules so that we could spend time with him nearly 24/7. We didn’t even go out to dinner during those few months. Our world gladly revolved him and there is such a huge void with him gone. A few days after he passed, I still couldn’t sleep and I was lying in bed dwelling on my broken heart. My devotional that day had focused on the promise of God’s presence so I simply prayed for God to give me some kind of sign or comfort for my hurting heart. The next day, I made myself go out on my daily walk. I needed some fresh air and exercise. While on my walk, a fawn came out of the woods. I stopped as soon as I saw him because I didn’t want to scare him. We stood there, about 50 feet apart, just staring at each other. I slowly took my phone out of my pocket to take a picture and he still just continued to stare at me. I began taking a video of him and then started walking backwards towards my house while filming him. Much to my surprise, he began following me. He followed me all the way to my house and stopped about 10 feet from the front porch and about 5 feet from me. If only I’d had something to feed him, I think he would have eaten out of my hand. The entire encounter lasted about 15 minutes before something startled him and he ran back to the woods. I was so dumbfounded and excited about the experience that I called my husband and began sharing the pictures and video with him. After we talked, I paused for a moment and realized this was the first smile and dose of happy I’d had in days. Was this my sign? Was this my comfort? I shared some of the pictures I had taken in my stories on social media. A friend soon sent me a message about the symbolism of the deer and it warmed my heart so much. Her message said “If you see a baby deer, it is a sign that you are in front of an important change in your life. The fawn is a symbol of beauty, grace, and illumination. If you see it, it is a sign that you are opening a new chapter in your life.” Of course, I had to do a little digging on this subject after I received that message. I uncovered a good bit of symbolism about a deer. It ranged from gentleness, innocence, and kindness to meaning your “spirit guides are watching over you.” As I continued reading, I came across a piece about what it means when a deer approaches you and that was symbolic of unconditional love and heart centered energy. Goodness gracious did that describe my sweet boy or what? He was 100 pounds of unconditional love. He was so full of happy energy, all flowing from his loving heart. My heart is still broken but I have begun to find comfort. I learned a lot about love from our big, silly boy. I learned in those three months that when you shut out the noise of the world and focus on what matters, your heart becomes more full. You focus on the love; receiving it and spreading it. And I am grateful knowing that the reason my heart hurts so much right now is because it experienced such great love. Love like that never ends, it’s just waiting to be continued.

A healthier version of chicken wings. They are crispy and the meat just falls off the bone but they are not fried!

Super easy recipe using packaged crescent rolls creates a yummy snack, dessert, or even breakfast!

What does it mean to be genuine? If you look up the actual definition you will see words like authentic, sincere, honest, and truthful. I think we all want genuine relationships, full of these qualities. The qualities that lead to and create trust. Without trust, relationships are destroyed. People we don't think are genuine are the ones we keep as mere acquaintances or completely shut out of our lives. It doesn't matter if it is a spouse, a friend, or a parent. Genuineness is the backbone of strong relationships. We have all heard the saying "actions are stronger than words" and I think that is so relevant when it comes to genuine relationships. If the actions and behavior in the relationship don't support the dialogue then there is nothing genuine and if there was trust in the relationship it will quickly wane. You can speak empty words directly to someone and even to an audience but if your acts contradict the words then there is not a genuine relationship. In a genuine relationship, one party doesn't commit malicious acts against another. They don't hunt out ways to get the other into some kind of trouble or hurt. They don't lie to the other or make up lies about them. After all, that would completely contradict the definition of genuine. Who would want to be in a relationship that isn't genuine? Often times, people will leave a relationship when the genuineness or trust is gone (or they realize it never existed). And often times, the disingenuine party of that relationship will give lip service that creates them as a victim. The truth is we never know what goes on behind closed doors or within another relationship. You may hear the words but you don't see the actions. Before you judge someone for leaving a relationship, consider the actions that you know nothing about regardless of the words you have heard. Fill your life with genuine relationships and move on from the rest. If you can't trust someone, don't let them into your circle.

School day mornings can be a crazy time! Everyone is in a hurry to get out the door on time! There is breakfast to make and lunch boxes to pack! I used to find myself making multiple trips to the refrigerator to get something and then once I was finished making breakfast and packing lunches, the countertops were scattered with so many things that needed to make their way back to the fridge! So I decided to corral the morning time needs. I have two clear bins that are quick to grab and eliminate the multiple fridge trips. One contains the breakfast needs: eggs, OJ, bacon, yogurt, creamer, milk, etc. The second bin contains the lunch box packing needs: lunch meat and cheese, mayo and mustard, grapes, apples, etc. Not only does this process make mornings efficient, it also is an easy visual if something is running low. Plus it really cuts down on food waste because things don't get lost at the back of a drawer! A double win!

You may have read a recent blog post of mine, Change for a Purpose. Well, when I made that change I also embarked on my new journey of personal growth and creating the me and the life I want to live. It is a path that continues to lead to new paths and the growth journey just keeps going. I have found myself in stages along this journey and I believe they expand more and more as we continue to grow. Forgiveness When my world was turned upside down a few years ago and I realized that so much of life as I had known it had been a huge sham, I became very down and upset and even angry. I had wasted decades of my life fulfilling the expectations of others and not being the person I wanted to be. I had mistaken the control and manipulation for love, respect, and support. Regret began to overflow my thoughts. Regrets of a career that I had followed instead of the one I had wanted. Regret of the person I often was because I was constantly filled with frustration and unfulfillment. Along this journey I learned that the best way to let go of the hurt and betrayal was forgiveness. It is a conscious decision to forgive someone that has greatly hurt you. Forgiveness is the way to not letting them control your heart. Forgiveness isn’t saying that what they did is okay. And forgiveness isn’t re-establishing a relationship (especially if it is dangerous to do so). Forgiveness is saying you are letting go of the hurt consuming you. But even after I made it through this process, I was still constantly regretting all the years I had wasted. And that is when I figured out that you also have to forgive yourself. We can’t change the past and if we spend all our time dwelling on the past and what might have been, we aren't changing the future for ourselves. Forgiving oneself is not a free pass to continue regretful behavior; forgiveness is closing the door on regret and changing your behavior to become who you want to be. Will there still be mistakes? Of course; but they will come from a mind of intentionality that is always looking to better itself. 2. Full Responsibility Once forgiveness has taken place, it is time to take Full Responsibility. I spent so much time blaming the people that had betrayed and hurt me because they had ruined so much. But blaming wasn’t going to change the past either and it wasn't going to get me anywhere onto the path of becoming the person I wanted to be. Jack Canfield’s “The Success Principles” put into perspective taking Full Responsibility for the quality of your life. Early in the book on page 5, it states "If you want to create the life of your dreams, then you are going to have to take 100% responsibility for your life as well. That means giving up all your excuses, all your victim stories, all the reasons why you can't and why you haven't up until now, and all your blaming of outside circumstances." We can not control what others do to us but we can control our reaction. We can control the boundaries we put up to protect ourselves. I asked myself hard questions about how I could take responsibility for all the years I had regretted. I was responsible for being a people pleaser. I was responsible for not initiating hard conversations. I was responsible for maintaining the status quo to avoid conflict. I was responsible for not seeking personal growth sooner. It was time to change the behavior that was producing those same results. 3. Find Your Purpose Now that it was time to change my behavior in order to produce different results, I had to ask myself what I wanted the result to be. I had to ask myself what is my Why? What brings me the most joy to do? What qualities most define me? As I began listing out the answers to these questions, I quickly realized how wrong my old path was. I was nowhere near my purpose. I began to immerse myself into new activities that were aligned with these lists I had made. Even though I was completely out of my comfort zone, I experienced repeated WOW moments as I enjoyed what I was trying. As you begin to discover your true purpose and live it, you are only inspired to continue diving deeper into it. Living our purpose is what we are here for and how we help make the world a better place. 4. Focus Living our purpose is often easier said than done. There are distractions everywhere so staying focused is key! We define our goals once we know our purpose and we have to stay on track to achieve them. The world is a noisy place. Focus your relationships on people that support you and want to see you succeed. There are haters everywhere and to maintain focus you have to create boundaries to keep those people out. To stay focused, you have to learn to say NO to things that don't align with your purpose, even if you feel expected to do them. I have taken on a lot of new tasks on this journey but I have been mindful that they are the right ones for me. I have turned down several tasks as well. It wasn't meant negatively but I knew my purpose wasn't aligned for it so I wasn't the best person for the role. Your focus must remain clear. 5. Fulfillment As you start living your life of purpose and staying focused and accomplishing goals, the joy and happiness you have living each day creates the most fulfilling life! And it fuels you to do it more and deeper and again and again. I am excited every morning when I wake up. Little things don't bother me like they used to because they are just little things. I stay focused on my path for the day and truly focus on the joy of everything and how fulfilled I am by becoming a better me each and every day. If you are struggling with your purpose and being fulfilled, take your life back. I truly encourage you to forgive those that have hurt you and are hindering you, forgive yourself for your regrets, make a list of how you can take full responsibility for your life, make a list of what you enjoy most and a list of talents and qualities you have then align those to find your purpose, focus on your purpose and create goals, both short term and long term. It's the path to fulfillment!

Need to pack the cooler for a day out on the boat? Do you dread the melted ice slushy water? Here is how I pack the cooler without ice!

Last weekend, we finally got to go to our happy place for the first time in almost 4 years! I sure have missed the Core Banks sandbars at Drum Inlet. They are gorgeous and never crowded and are just paradise. We bought our little house there in 2009 and spent as many days as we could out on the boat. The summer of 2017 my life was turned completely upside down and the peace of the boat days and sitting on the sandbar were my medicine. I vividly remember that September day, our last boat day for the season. The only things I was sure of that day were that our summer was over and my life was full of turmoil and uncertainty. We soaked that day in. We stayed out there until sunset. We slowly idled the whole way home. I sat on the bow and just admired God's beauty. I wasn't stressing about packing up to get back home for school. I wasn't thinking about the uncertainty and difficulties happening in my life. I was completely focused on the peace that I was feeling. I wanted to truly know that feeling and remember it so that I could find it again. Just a few weeks later, my dad took his own life. That peace became elusive and I kept trying to take myself back to that boat ride and feel it again. I knew what it felt like and I wanted to feel it again so badly. That Christmas, we took a family trip. We needed to get away. While we were gone, there was record cold. The neighbor at our little "down east" cottage called to tell us he was walking his dog and noticed water coming out of our front door. He went to check it out and looked through the window to see busted pipes in the ceiling and water pouring out everywhere. It was so bad already that the kitchen island had floated into the family room. Ultimately, with the amount of damage and the house needing a new roof anyways, the decision was made to tear it down. I was heartbroken. Was I ever going to get back to my peaceful place? The summer of 2018 went by. Then the summer of 2019. Then the summer of 2020 was a pandemic. And they all went by with my happy place just being a vacant lot. As the summer of 2020 was ending, we decided it was time to rebuild there! On Labor Day weekend, we drove there and took measurements so that we could start making a plan. The lot has gorgeous live oak trees and we didn't want to cut any down. I had always wanted to be an architect so I was finally getting my wish! I soon began drawing. By early 2021, our plans were engineered and ready for a building permit! The foundation began in March and as we watched it begin, we were full of excitement but also a little bummed that it would still be another summer before we were back. And that is when I had a crazy idea that was completely out of character for me. I said, "why don't we get a camper and park it in the yard for the summer?" My husband doesn't hear well anyways coupled with him being a man and tuning me out most of the time, I didn't get a response. When he realized he heard me correctly, he was so excited because he loved the idea! So, about a month later, during Easter break, our camping journey began! Baseball occupied most of May and we finally got back down there for Father's Day weekend! We had the best time! Grilling out on the camper patio. Watching the stars (there aren't any horizon lights there). And of course, going out on the boat to our beloved sandbars! We packed up the cooler and the boat grill and headed out for an amazing day. The only bad thing about the camper is we can't take all of our dogs, but we had our old girl with us. The one that grew up there as a puppy. And it was like having a puppy all over again. She chased the seagull shadows, swam, and napped in the sand. She was as happy to be there as we were. I honestly got teary eyed when we got out there. I had missed this place even more than I realized. I thought about all that I had been through since 2017 but I didn't let those thoughts bring me down. I focused on the peace. That feeling of peace I had felt that September day. What I discovered is that I am living that peace every day now. I had used it as my guide for so long that it now consumed me. And what a great feeling to be completely at peace! It doesn't mean things aren't hard sometimes. It just means your heart is consumed by joy and gratitude because that is what you choose to focus on. It is the simplicity in life that creates the magic. The simple moments that are full of the most love. A walk down a sandbar picking up shells. Watching your child splash in the waves. A hot dog in one hand and a cold beer in the other. Paw prints in the sand. Everything in the world that I need on a little sandbar. Now that is peaceful.

This simple, slow cooker recipe is a great way to get your Mexican fix and keep it lean at the same time! Perfect for an easy supper after a busy day!

The chocolate chip cookies that I always get asked to bring any time cookies are needed. These are quick and easy and are so so good!