Okay, Sweetpea. Darling. Angel of mine. I've made us a plan. Last Thursday, I asked you to think about the things that make the holidays harder than they need to be. The overflowing freezer. The guest room that's become a holding zone. The weeknight dinners that completely fall apart in December. The Thanksgiving dishes we KNOW could have been made ahead. The gifts with nowhere to hide. The seventeen things we suddenly remember need doing at the exact same time. And I told you I've been...
4 days agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
I have a question for you: What could you do now that would make November You want to reach back through time and kiss you on the mouth? π I'm serious. Because somewhere around the middle of September, I start noticing something. The calendar isn't exactly busy yet. But I can see it coming. October will arrive. Then somehow we'll blink, and it's November. Then there are approximately seventeen things happening every weekend, someone needs you to bring an appetizer, the grocery store is out of...
8 days agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
I would like to officially declare something: Game Day counts as dinner. There. I said it. You do not need to make a βreal mealβ after everyone has spent the afternoon standing around the kitchen island eating chicken wings, chips and dip, little sandwiches, and approximately 47 bites of something cheesy. That WAS dinner. π And frankly? Some of my favorite meals look exactly like that. A table full of little things. Everybody reaching for something. Someone standing in the kitchen eating...
11 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
I have a September assignment for all of us: Make your house the place to be. Not the fanciest place to be. Not the cleanest. Not the place with the biggest kitchen or the prettiest dining room or the most impressive menu. The place where people walk in and immediately think, Oh, good. I'm here. THAT place. Because I think sometimes we make gathering at home so much bigger than it needs to be. We wait until we have the right table. The right dishes. A free Saturday to clean every baseboard. A...
15 days agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
I have a question for you this Monday: What can you do today that Thursday You will be ridiculously grateful for? Not December You. Not someday-when-you-finally-get-your-life-together You. Thursday You. She's close enough that we actually know what she might need. Maybe she'll be tired. Maybe the week will have gone sideways. Maybe she'll open the refrigerator at 5:30 PM and desperately hope someone in there has a plan. And this is where one of my favorite parts of my Holistic Hosting System...
18 days agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
September is here, and I am so ready for her. (But, y'all... this 90Λ weather can leave!) Not in a rush-the-season kind of way. More in a fresh notebook, tidy kitchen, dinner simmering, let's get our rhythms back kind of way. This month at Chez Sweetpea, we're leaning into enjoying our homes, gathering people around the table, getting back into routines that support us, and quietly preparing ourselves for the busier months ahead. Think: π Apple Countryπ‘ enjoying homeπ₯ cozy-but-not-too-cozy...
21 days agoΒ β’Β 4 min read
Tomorrow is September 1st. And I don't know about you, but I am ready. Not ready for pumpkins everywhere. Not ready to put on a sweater when it's still 80 degrees outside. And certainly not ready to skip straight past this beautiful little stretch of late summer. But I am ready for September. There's something about this month that has always felt like a second January to me. Maybe it's all that back-to-school energy we've been talking about. Maybe it's the fresh notebooks. Maybe it's...
24 days agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
I'm declaring it: The fall semester at Chez Sweetpea is officially in session. π There will be no exams. Attendance is extremely flexible. Snacks are encouraged. And the syllabus mostly consists of making our homes feel good, feeding ourselves well, and creating enough margin that we're not losing our ever-loving minds by the time the holidays arrive. Seems reasonable, yes? All this back-to-school energy has me craving rhythm again. I also start feeling this way when you can tell the seasons...
29 days agoΒ β’Β 2 min read
There is something about back-to-school season that makes me want to buy a fresh notebook and completely reorganize my life. (Heck! I bought a whole new planner system that I've started to *think* about using!) And I don't even have children going back to school. π But every year, when I see the school supplies lining the aisles and hear my friends talking about first days, new teachers, lunchboxes, and earlier bedtimes, I get the itch to refresh my own routines. Not reinvent my entire life....
about 1 month agoΒ β’Β 2 min read