Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

We are heading into the final week of this first month of 2025 – can you believe it? It’s been a whirlwind around here, but in a good way. I’m looking forward to a few moments this weekend to read, scrapbook, and dream for the year ahead! I hope you can enjoy some rest too…and I have a little bit of inspiration for you. Enjoy!

We are coming up on the 2-year anniversary of moving into our home, and as I reflect on this house and the things we’ve done to try to make it beautiful and sustainable for the years to come, I’m excited to think about how far we’ve come. I read a lot of posts about decorating homes, but not often do I see posts about how to really invest in the longevity of a home. This creative piece, written by Yvonne at StoneGable focuses on the things your home might want to say to you if it could talk. I loved her ideas and thought I’d share them with you! (BONUS: If you want to channel your inner designer and create a whole new feel as you invest in your home, Suzy has an amazingly thorough post on how you can become your own interior designer…for free! This piece guides you through the entire process from beginning to end, so you can make your home exactly what you want it to be.)

I know we have just a few days left in January, but let me tell you about this fun idea from Karli’s blog! I discovered Karli and her cookie blog last summer – and I participated in her summer baking bingo challenge. I didn’t get to finish the whole card, but I made several new-to-me things and had fun doing it! This year she’s doing a cookie-of-the-month club, where she shares a cookie recipe, a movie to watch while you bake, and a fun activity to go along with the experience. This cookie recipe sounds amazing, but what I’d love to focus on is the fact that I have actually seen the movie she suggests. I’ve seen so few movies that I hardly ever get to say that! Not only did I see this one – I saw it in the theater! Rare moment! Anyway, check back every month, because she plans to have new ideas throughout the year! (BONUS: I have made this cookie recipe from her blog multiple times, and it’s never failed. I did make my cookies on the smaller side, by the way.)

One of my Facebook friends shared a link to this article earlier this month, and I found it fascinating. It explains the snow melt system in Holland, Michigan, and how the city doesn’t need to plow streets or clear sidewalks because of this underground water-generated system. I’ve always been impressed by Michigan’s resilience to snow when the same snowfall paralyzes other places. I found the entire explanation intriguing. Maybe you will, too! (BONUS: If you don’t live on a main road in Holland, Michigan, and you need some ideas for dealing with snow at your own house, there are a TON of great pieces of advice in Wendi’s post. Note: some of her links no longer work, but even if you can’t click on the product she mentions, you can still learn from her wisdom!)

Ryan is in a role that suits him so perfectly, and I celebrate that, but if he were job hunting right now, I think I’d encourage him to be the Planters NUTmobile driver. It’s a real thing – and you can apply from now through Valentine’s Day if you’re looking for a travel job for a year. After the last few days of driving a regular vehicle on icy roads, I don’t know that this would ever be a suitable career for me, but can you even imagine the memoir you could write after a year of this job??

I know many people who have been walking a hard road of grief over the past few weeks. Grief holds no formulas and is often clumsy and frustrating in its waves. I thought Holley Gerth’s words about grief here were beautiful and comforting (as are all the words Holley writes…) so I wanted to share them with you. Maybe today is not a season of grief for you, but you know someone who is walking through that season, and if so, feel free to share it with them. Or tuck the words away for yourself, because each of us will have a new season of it coming, sometimes unexpectedly.

When I recapped the things I learned from my 2024 capsule wardrobe adventure, I shared that I learned a lot about how to mix and match outfits, and one of the things I hope to do a better job of in 2025 is polishing those outfits. Adding a belt…wearing jewelry…even putting on lipstick. Audrey over at Putting Me Together has started sharing posts on how to style outfits so they are just a little bit more polished. If that’s a skill you’re trying to learn this year, too, check out her tutorial here! (BONUS: And whether or not you care about how to style and polish your outfits, if you’re just over this long, cold winter, here’s a sweatshirt just for you.)  

·         This one falls more under organization, I suppose, but it has made my heart quite happy. I have a list on Amazon to keep track of all the books I want to buy. Sometimes, when I’m at a thrift store or garage sale, I want to reference my wish list, but I don’t always have a great signal to sign in to see it. So this month I made a Word Document of my wish list, I printed it, and now it lives in my wallet. When I go to a thrift store, second-hand bookstore, or garage sale, now I can easily access my list even if my phone isn’t handy or my internet signal is weak. (A few weeks ago, while at a thrift store, I actually found two brand new copies of a book on my list. I think I paid a dollar each. And now I have one to give away!)

·         When we moved to the lake, I did a heavy purge on all my kitchen towels and washcloths and moved the less-life-filled ones to the garage towel bin for Ryan to use in projects. I store all our towels and washcloths in the kitchen island, but the drawers are shallow and sometimes hard to open and close. I went through last week and changed my storage method so everything in the drawer is rolled. It’s amazing how much better the same number of pieces fit when rolled! If you haven’t done a good kitchen linen purge lately, this is a great time to do it. And if you want to switch up your storage, try rolling! You might be surprised!