“It is spring again. The earth is like a child that knows poems by heart.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
Happy Spring! Except in Minnesota, it’s a little bit like we skipped straight to summer. The weather has been beautiful and warm. All my tulips are blooming and afternoons on my patio are glorious. I’m so glad May is here and here’s what I’m loving, learning, and looking forward to this month.
1. Books, Words & Sunshine
I’ve decided this is my mantra for the summer and since it looks like summer’s coming early, I’m kicking it off in this month! Each day this summer, I want to spend at least 30 minutes outside in the sunshine and 30 minutes either reading or writing. I’m going to try to go into work 30 minutes earlier to help make this happen- wish me luck!
2. House Projects
All winter we’ve been planning and plotting what we want to do to the outside of our house once the snow melts. The time has come! Here’s what we’re planning-
Adding shutters, new house numbers & a flower box
Painting the front door blue and jazzing it up with a wreath
Adding lights and flowers to the patio
Buying some patio furniture
Landscaping
3. Purpose Driven Life
I read this book when I was in high school and loved it! We’re stepping down from some responsibilities at our church this spring and I’ll have some free time this summer to think about how I should be spending my time moving forward and I think this book will provide some good guidance. The Best Yes has as well.
4. Six-Week Meal Plan
When we were in California last week, we did a LOT of driving. Which meant we binged the entire season of Up and Vanished, but also that I had a lot of Pinterest time. While on Pinterest, I read an article about creating and rotating a six-week meal plan. I often run out of ideas for what to make and thought this was a great idea. I made one for spring/summer and one for fall/winter. With six weeks, you just repeat it twice a season and I realized that we often repeat our favorite meals anyway and after six weeks it doesn’t seem like we just ate it.
I planned five meals a week plus a lunch idea, so there’s room to add other meals during the week. I kept some of the meal options open enough to try different recipes so it doesn’t feel too rigid. I think it will help me eat healthier since I often just eat frozen pizza or eat out when I don’t have an idea for dinner :/. I’m excited to try it out and let you all know what I think! Here’s what I cooked up for my six-week meal plans-
5. 1,000 Days of Marriage Date
I don’t know why I was there, but I stumbled upon our wedding website a few months ago and it was still counting how many days we’ve been married. We realized that sometime this year we’d hit 1,000 days of marriage and that day happens to be May 25th! We decided to make a date of it to celebrate. Do you have any ideas for us? We’re thinking of maybe going back to a Brazilian restaurant called Samba that we LOVED in Hopkins, but I’d love other ideas!
Happy Spring/Summer, people! Enjoy the sunshine.
GLIMPSES OF JOY 