Hi everyone! Welcome to 2025!

How were your holidays? My time off ended up being rather exhausting for a variety of reasons which was hard to sit with, since I was *hoping* it would feel more rejuvenating, especially after an exhausting year in general. That being said, I feel like God is telling me that I need to learn to better rest during my regular days and weeks, and not overly look to any breaks or holidays as my hope for feeling better rested.

I read the book Sacred Rest over the past two weeks and am considering Matthew 11:28-30 to be my verses for the year… “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (emphasis added)

I need to first and foremost go to Jesus for rest… not overly looking to the perfect schedule, holiday break, or outdoor adventure to solve my chronic rest deprivation and nervous system overactivation!

Sources of fatigue / overwhelm I am looking to eliminate or reduce in the coming months: saying yes (to people, plans, responsibilities) when I really mean no (aka not people pleasing), the constant feeling of needing to do things (aka being a slave to tasks — they will never be finished, there is ALWAYS more to do), and stimulation in general (less noise, less phone, more silence, etc.).

Sources of rest / revitalization I am looking to add or increase in the coming months: time outdoors connecting with Alec or friends (NECESSARY for me to feel inspired / rested), staying organized with my organization systems so life doesn’t feel as chaotic and so my thoughts and ideas “have a place” (other than overly occupying space in my head), and continuing to work on my health so that my sleep improves. (It is still bad for normal standards but has significantly improved over the past month which is huge!)

How are you feeling as we head into the new year? Were your holidays restful or do you feel like you need a vacation from your so-called vacation???

Even with the discouragement and tiredness from the past couple of weeks, I still of course managed to enjoy some tasty eats throughout the holidays! Note that my eating might look a bit different than it used to, as I’ve been addressing my health issues. More on that at some point in the coming weeks or months!

Eating, no matter what, in my opinion should be rooted in ENJOYMENT. “When the JOY goes out eating, NUTRITION SUFFERS!” It is when we have a healthy relationship with food as a necessary foundation that we are able to incorporate things like nutrition science and functional nutrition principles in truly healthy and healing ways.

Recapping some Christmas / New Years’ / holiday eats:

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Happy almost-Thanksgiving! How are you spending your holiday??

It’s hard to believe we are already at the end of November. Personally I don’t love having Thanksgiving so late in the month, as it then feels like there is hardly any time before Christmas!

For tomorrow, we are hanging out at home in the morning — I’ll go on some sort of run or walk to get outside. We will then head to my parents’ to watch the Lions game and afterwards will have Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt and uncle’s house. I’m bringing a big fall salad w/ mixed greens, roasted delicata squash, toasted pecans, pomegranate, goat cheese, and a maple cinnamon balsamic vinaigrette.

What is your favorite part of a traditional Thanksgiving meal? I absolutely love homemade cranberry sauce!

We’ve had such cloudy weather here in Michigan the past couple of weeks… gray skies upon gray skies, with little to no sign of that changing any time soon! We also had our first snow of the season at the end of last week!

On to some recent November eats! 

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Hello & Happy Wednesday!

This month is / has been a bit unusual for me with more travel during October than is typical for me… two weekends ago Alec and I were on Mackinac Island for our annual fall color trip which was fabulous!! The colors weren’t actually *that peak* on most of the island, but it was still a phenomenal weekend nevertheless.

This week I am out of town in Florida with family for my mom’s (delayed) 60th birthday trip. For the past several years most of my vacation time has been either long weekends or trips with more of an itinerary, so this time I am really looking forward to a lot of relaxing with mostly no plans for an entire week!!

Beach, reading, walking/running, unstructured time, eating out for dinners… will (likely) report more next week with a food recap!

Posting may be a little less frequent in the coming months, as I am in the middle of some work transitions & projects, including a website revamp that is coming in mid/late January! Be on the lookout for a new look!! I’m aiming to continue w/ monthly food recaps and whatever else I have time for as far as usual Wednesday posting goes, at least for a few months here.

This was our favorite spot on the island that we ended up returning to 4 different times. We went on a morning walk/loop that we really liked the first morning (that included going to this overlook) and did the same route the next two mornings. We also went back one evening as it was a perfect spot to watch the sunset! The above spot is right by where the Somewhere in Time gazebo is.

More life updates, Mackinac eats, & October food favorites:

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I hope your Wednesday is going well so far! 🙂 I’m loving the start to fall and the leaves starting to change… I always enjoy this time of year!

One annoying thing lately is that we have this insane construction project going on right outside our townhouse, and it is now officially impossible for me to cross the road and get to my favorite everyday running/walking path. UGGHHH. (It also adds ten mins to ANYWHERE we go with having to go around it all). I’m so bummed to miss out on the fall colors and scenery on my usual path while we *eagerly await* the construction to wrap up! (They seem in no hurry…). So, I’ve had to adjust my route and make do for the time being. It is not very scenic and not nearly as exciting but that is okay. I will appreciate my old route all the more when I can get back to it!

Diving right in with some end-of-summer / beginning-of-fall recent eats! What is the best thing you’ve eaten lately??

I loved this tasty fall salad! Mixed greens w/ black rice, roasted sweet potatoes, feta, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, and green onion. Based off of this salad recipe from Cookie & Kate. I did make the ginger dressing she includes in the recipe, but didn’t love it with this salad combination, so I ended up using my usual balsamic vinaigrette when I ate it the next few times throughout the week. However, a lot of people in the recipe comments say they love it with the ginger dressing!

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