Happy July! I just love this time of the year, the middle of summer— lots of time spent outdoors, trips up north, exploring Madison, and taking a little extra time to kick back + relax. Lately, I have been thinking to myself how I actually can’t believe this is my life. That I’m married to my favorite person, have the coziest home in a neighborhood that I love, that I get to wake up each day + do creative work that I’m genuinely so excited about, and my health + the health of my loved ones are overall in a good place. Grateful is an understatement. And while there are moments of anxiety, fear, doubt, and sadness (like all human beings experience), I can always choose to focus on gratitude + contentment.

My highlight from the past month was our second wedding anniversary. David and I got together with our wedding photographers for an anniversary shoot at the most beautiful spot in a nature preserve near Madison. Then, on our actual anniversary we went camping at Perrot State Park + renewed our vows in kayaks out on the water. We did lots of hiking, kayaking, and exploring + tried out our truck tent for the first time! It was truly a magical anniversary + so incredibly special for both of us.

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Our Anniversary Shoot

Here are a few favorites from the amazing time we had with Wanderlynn Photography <3

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Bringing Me Joy Lately—

Some other things that have been bringing me joy recently include weekly date nights, my first harvest from my vegetable + herb garden (!!!), planting flowers, sunset walks, seeing lots of deer on the trails behind our home, baking + cooking fun new things, and snuggle time with Ella.

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Some of our more recent weekly date nights have included watching the sunset on Lake Mendota, fish fry, trying a new sushi restaurant, and getting Chocolate Shoppe ice cream.

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My garden is growing like crazy! We just had our first cherry tomatoes yesterday (no pic to show for it because there were only two that were ripe + we ate them immediately!) It’s amazing how much everything grows even just from one day to the next. I’ve been cooking with all the fresh herbs + they’re helping make the most incredible salads.

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Few things in life are more peaceful to me than solo sunset walks in the park. I’ve seen so many deer in the last several weeks— I think they are just the sweetest animals!

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Ella has been melting my heart per usual.

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Many of these recipes are not up on the blog yet (except my Strawberry Cheesecake Bars!)— but I’ve been working on Lemon Blueberry Bread, Strawberry Oat Muffins, Chicken Kebabs, Thai Cashew Salad, and Grilled Buffalo Chicken Wings to name a few!

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In Other News—

I deactivated my Facebook and personal Instagram account (I still have my design account) – I know this may seem counterintuitive for a blogger, but when have I done things the traditional way?? 🙂 This simple change has opened up so much space in my life + freed me of an underlying sense of anxiety.

Since starting this journey of sharing more intimate details of my life + starting a blog, I have changed… a lot. And some things in my life have changed dramatically. For the last year and a half, I’ve been placing a lot of pressure on myself to share consistently, and I decided that I don’t want that pressure anymore. When I write + create for my blog, I don’t feel that pressure. When I write + create for social media, I do. So the simple solution was to remove that unnecessary pressure from my life. And I truly feel so much better.

Is this a permanent change? I don’t know. But right now, I’m listening to my intuition + doing what feels aligned. And for now, that means continuing to create new recipes/write for Nourish with Nik + run my design business: things I absolutely love!

So if you’re reading this and feeling a sense of obligation/pressure/anxiety/persistent stress about something, just remember that this is your one wild, precious life. And you are the only person who decides what is an obligation 99.9% of the time. If something is creating more distress than joy, you are allowed to move in a different direction.

Sending lots of love + light to you. As always, I’m so grateful you’re here. xoxo