Sound Of Music & Stylish Solutions

This week we made one of our favorite fall treats for brunch – pumpkin monkey bread. When I say treat I mean decadent and delicious.

If I’m being honest it is almost too much for me with the cream cheese icing, but the fam loves it. You could also just make the pumpkin monkey bread and the icing separate and dip the bread pieces.

Last week we supported my sister’s volleyball team as they played our alma mater. It’s still funny sometimes that my sis is now the head volleyball coach for the school district that used to be our top rival.

Between adopting, building a home, and the upcoming launch of my new business, Early Morning Habit, we have taken a microscopic look at our finances over the last year or so. I don’t know that any book has revolutionized our financial understanding more than Profit First. It is about finances for business, but the principles have overhauled our approach to personal finances as well. I cannot recommend it enough.

Speaking of overhauling finances, believe it or not, one of those overhauls in our pursuit of “yes to less” living includes going through our wardrobes. My friend Alison, owner and founder of the incredible wardrobe styling program, Outfit Formulas, was one of the very first guests on my podcast to share all about the book you see above. Outfit Formulas is also an official partner of Early Morning Habit and is contributing exclusive styling content to help our community beautify on the fly like the pros!

Bottom line I spent several days putting together outfit formulas according to my style, shopping my closet first and adding a couple staple pieces courtesy of Amazon. All of my fall/winter clothes that did not get included in an outfit formula (I took photos of every outfit and then printed it out as a document) got bagged and donated. Including shoes. I haven’t gotten to spring/summer yet.

This takes a lot of time and your bedroom will look like the clearance section of Nordstrm Rack for a hot minute, but 6 pairs of shoes and a ton of unnecessary clothes later I feel more confidence in my style and what to wear because now I am free from anaylsis paralysis and the “tons of clothes but nothing to wear” conundrum. The crazy thing is that all of the outfits I created (my style is a mix of French chic and Kate Middleton in street clothes) came from my current closet. Oh yeah that looks really good together. Why didn’t I think of that before? Anyway, highly recommend Alison’s book here. My next project is to overhaul Zach’s closet and style him. He can’t wait.

Last week we spent an afternoon playing in our future backyard at our new homesite.

Excited to have a community pond and woods and trails galore.

Watching my kids run barefoot at our forever home made my heart smile.

Give the boy some dirt to throw and he is content. We have our first home design draft meeting next week. I can’t wait!!

This cutie had her most competitive audition to date – Brigitta in Sound of Music, and guess what? She got the role. This girl. They double cast the kids, so she is cast B for the 8 show run at CAVOD this Dec 1-3 and 8-10. But want to know the craziest thing of all?

I am also in it! What?! Gracie has been asking me to try out for a musical with her ever since her first show, A Tale Of Two Cities. She has 3 lead roles in musicals under her belt now, and before she gets way ahead of my capabilities I decided to give it a shot and auditioned for the role of the Baroness in CAVOD’s Sound Of Music. Wouldn’t you know . . . I got the part. Yes that was my jaw hitting the floor. Gracie was so excited for me she started crying, and every doubt I had about this being the right time to do something like this was gone. I am going to soak in all of these moments, and if you are local and want to support the show we would love to see you there! Tickets are selling VERY fast, but you can get them here. Due to double casting for the kids and one show featuring the understudies, the 3 shows Gracie and I are in together are Dec 2 at 2p, Dec 3 at 4p, and Dec 9 at 7p. I will be hitting notes and dancing choreography I haven’t since college so prayers appreciated. Ha.

Have a glorious weekend friends. You are LOVED.