Currently (vol 1)

Thinking about// My parents will be moving to Europe in less than a week and will be gone for 2 years. On one hand I am really happy for them and am totally hoping for a family trip there in the future, but on the other hand I am thinking about how their absence will affect my daughters. Penny is very close with my mom and I know she will miss her terribly. What is almost worse is that Ruby really won't know what she's missing out on, and I wonder how this two year assignment will affect her relationship with them when they return.

Reading// Dark Hope: Book One of the Archangel Prophecies. This is the first book that I've read since finishing the Hunger Games series last summer and I have been really hungry (wow, no pun intended) for a good book. The first 100 pages were slow, but in the span of 2 pages I knew that I'd be hooked for the rest of the series!

Thankful for// my backyard. On super hot days, I'll cook dinner and we take it outside. We don't have a picnic table yet, so most evenings dinner is served on a blanket in the grass. A cool breeze, the scent of my peach tree wafting over, the curious clucks of the chickens and laying while eating dinner (a la Ancient Roman style).

Photographing// who else? These cuties!

Loving// experimenting with my lavender and lemon oil essential oils. I recently started using essential oils for wellness, and have really started to love the intense flavors that these two oils bring to my cooking and baking. I've used lemon oil in several recipes that normally call for lemon juice (try Blueberry Yogurt Popsicles) and I also tried lavender lemonade!