It's officially summer, and things are moving fast here! So here's an update on the week, and what to look forward to coming up.

1

First off, wow, thanks for the love on "That's Beautiful, But It's Not for Me" post!

I did not anticipate that piece resonating with so many people, and it's been beautiful to see your responses!

2

I did manage to write a short follow up post to give some examples of where this phrase has made space in my own life. I've had some requests for deeper follow up posts, and I would love to but....

3

...We're about to leave on a 14 hour road trip! With three kids, including a baby!

So I'm going to be a little tied up for a bit.

I'll still be checking social media and email during our trip, and documenting it when I can (because *I* need to look back on these posts to remember!)

We're going to Texas, so if you're in the Dallas area, say hi!

4

Thanks to everyone who shared their road trip with kids/babies tips and tricks with me on Facebook and Instagram! I'll try them out over this two day trip (and the two days back), and let you know what the winners were for our family.

The kids and I are working on making busy bags out of things we already have around the house, and organizing the car, today. We cleaned out the car the other day and I think it's the travel equivalent of clean sheets.

So pretty!
And it's about to get so filled and messy!
But that's the point.

5

While I'm not going to be posting here while we're traveling (I think), I will be guest posting over on Not So Formulaic, and I have a piece on Everyday Ediths this week.

So if you ever wanted to read about my take on femininity for Catholic women, or why homeschooling is a gift to our family (goes live on Tuesday) , check those out!

6

This past week included Father's Day AND my husband's birthday.
That always means fun fancy cooking!

For his birthday I created a dinner out of what I had in the kitchen or from the farm box. The result was cheese grits topped with poached egg and prosciutto wrapped asparagus.

The kid's reactions:

John (6) - *takes a little bite* "Hmm, this is actually quite good."
Therese (3) - *mouth stuffed* "Um, it's DE-WISH-OUS!"

This encapsulates their eating styles well.

7

This week began a 54 week rosary novena! If you have any prayer intentions, the first 27 days is in petition and the remaining 27 are in thanksgiving, send them my way! I love to remember your intentions, I write them all down in my bullet journal, and it makes me so happy to hear about the fruits of prayer in your lives!

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes.

This is a "catch up" kind of post for me, so what is new in your life? What are your plans in the upcoming weeks? Is there something you are particularly proud of from the last few weeks? 

Bloglove - Blogs (and Bloggers) that Inspire Me

Linking up with This Ain't the Lyceum for 7 Quick Takes

I've been meaning to do a few technical blog stuff for a while. I'm approaching 150 posts and decided it was high time that I got around to making pages (and I DID! Way to go goals!) one of which was to be about blogs and bloggers that inspire me.

Well I happened to come up with a list of 7 so I decided to make it into a 7 Quick Takes first and spread some blog love around!

FYI, these are in no particular order.

1

Catholic All Year

While not very active as of late (for good reasons!) this was the blog that convinced me people like me might be out there. And on the internet!

Thanks for being you Kendra.

2

A Gentle Mother

A recent blog find for me and where I go if I want to feel inspired to better SAHM-it, revel in the beauty of how someone else does preschool homeschool, or just gaze at a gorgeous insta-feed. 

3

A Blog for my Mom

Host of the latest link up to show what we wear to church (My Sunday Best), I love Rosie's blog for feeling like chatting with the cool neighbor down the road. 

I dig how she views parenting and I like to live vicariously on her growing homestead. I dream of having a garden and chickens!

4

Fountains of Home

My favorite Canadian!

I learned about Christy's blog from the podcast she does with Haley at Carrots for Michaelmas - Fountains of Carrots. See what they did there?

She has convinced me that, while winters are hard, Canadian summers are gorgeous and well worth the winter. Maybe. I love that she writes about things like her love of cigars and G.K. Chesterton. Like a lot of G.K. Chesterton - you have 39 posts on Chesterton, Christy!

You're awesome.

5

Whole Parenting Family

My crunchy living Midwest inspiration! When I learned that moving to the Twin Cities for my husband's work was a possibility (more on that later!) I messaged Nell pretty much instantly with ALL THE QUESTIONS! Thanks for calming my nerves and convincing me that I don't have to lose everything I love about living in the Bay Area by moving to the midwest. 

I love her take on going to mass even though it can be a struggle with littles, talking nicely to your husband about parenting when you have littles, and pretty much everything in her super cute Etsy shop.

Oh yeah, she lives in an awesome turn-of-the-century house and #wholeparentinghouse is amazing.

6

Mothering Spirit

No one can make me cry more than Laura. I followed along during the heart-wrenching loss of her twin daughters, and her last post on miscarriage had me in tears.

She writes so beautifully, and powerfully, about hard and real trials of mothering.

She has a beautiful series of prayers for pregnancy and prayers for parenting that get at the heart of what I need to say when I can't find the words.

7

A Knotted Life

Bonnie has been blogging for a long time, and has so many great posts!

Catholic stuff they might not teach you in RCIA, her Sheenazing Blogging Awards (which is a great way to find awesome blogs you've never heard of... yet), and her son's (alleged) miracle through the intercession of Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

Her Pinterest Board, Bloggity Blog Blog, is where I go for blog inspiration and when I'm trying to learn all the behind the scenes technical blog stuff I never knew was a thing until starting my own blog. So much respect for all of y'all with pretty and functional blogs!

Who are your favorite inspirational bloggers? Note: these aren't all of mine, they're just the first 7 that came to mind. Don't be upset if you're not on here...yet!