Here We Go & Happy Friday!!

Happy Friday!

How was your week?

I feel like a broken record, but ours was nothing short of…interesting. We had Riah’s sleep study (thank you SO much for all of the love and support!!) and the boys’ first basketball game, and last night I got dressed up and was my mom’s date to her company Christmas party at our favorite Italian restaurant in town. It was so fun! We even got to dance to our favorite Christmas song at the end of the night after everyone had already left. Anytime there’s dancing it’s a good night in her book.

This week, the boys had their Christmas luncheon and we all went and had lunch with them! They’re in different grades, but their lunches overlapped long enough for us to be able to eat with both of them. Riah’s teacher was also Allan’s Pre-K teacher and dug up this old photo from TWO years ago when we came to his Christmas luncheon:

I can’t believe that photo was taken two years ago. At that point, our kids had only been with us for about five months. We really did lose an entire year (time-wise) didn’t we?

Meanwhile, we finished all of our work early before the holidays (!) and now we can focus on cleaning up the house and the farm. I can’t tell you how excited I am to just clean. I never thought I would get to that point in my life, but I think that’s what happens when you become an adult. It’s the other stuff that excites you. We’ve been talking so much lately about what horrible shape our house is in that I absolutely can’t wait to devote hours and hours to folding clothes and cleaning the house and putting everything in its place. Pure bliss.

In other news, we have a new vlog premiering this Sunday, and we’re also going to try out doing our bi-weekly live chat Vino & Vent every week now! That’s right, we’re going to be live chatting every Sunday night instead of every other Sunday. It’s truly a highlight of the week for us, getting to talk to everyone and catch up, so we’re excited to start spending every Sunday night with you and expanding our conversation topic a bit. We’ll explain everything this Sunday, so hope to see you there.

Here we go! Hope you have a lovely weekend, dear reader. xoxo

Holiday Cards Are Sent & Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

How was your week?

This morning I put the stamps on all of the outgoing holiday cards and placed them in the mailbox to be delivered. They’re sent! It feels so good to cross that off our seemingly never-ending to-do list. Finally. Our first ever holiday cards are in the mail and on their way out. Most likely those who will be receiving one will not be reading this blog, so it should hopefully be a surprise to them, haha.

In other news, it’s a dreary, cold day here in Tennessee, which just so happens to be our idea of a perfect fall day. We’re out at the farm and PJ is on the tractor while Anna plays with her motorized car and I’m writing and listening to smooth jazz, trying my best to stay warm. Even though I’m slightly colder than I’d like to be, I’m thinking it doesn’t get better than this.

We’re going to PJ’s cousin Lauren’s tonight for her birthday party, and I can’t wait to watch the kids (ours plus her two girls) play together. We’ve been spending more and more time with them lately and it’s always a nice little break for all the kids to get together while we get some much-needed adult time. They all run around and play the same way PJ and his sister did with Lauren and her sister growing up, so needless to say we’re both so excited for our kids to have the same kind of relationship with their girls.

Hope you have a lovely weekend, dear reader, and happy holidays!!!

PS: The Weekender, our newsletter, is going out tonight! Click here to subscribe if you haven’t already!!

Winter Sunrise

It’s a cold morning here in Tennessee.

As I was drinking my coffee this morning, the same way I always do first thing, before the house wakes up and the clock on our day starts ticking, I looked out the window and may or may not have made an audible gasp.

The sunrise! It was this incredible cotton candy sky that usually makes appearances during the summer, so I was surprised (and elated) to see it so close to winter. It illuminated the entire morning, shining bits of orange and yellow across different walls in our home.

As I was waking our oldest up, I opened his blinds like I do every morning, and the first words out of his mouth were, “Oh wow!!”.

Beautiful indeed.

A Big, Huge, Giant, Heartfelt Thank You

Dear reader,

I want to take a moment to thank you for being here with us. We started The Property Lovers six years ago (!) as a way to document the renovation of the first house we ever bought together, right before we got married, not knowing what would ever become of it and definitely not thinking that it would turn into anything more than it was. But it has, and it’s completely changed our life in ways we never could have imagined.

One of the biggest ways is getting to know YOU. Yes, you!!! You teach us so many things about life, about the world, about how to be better people to ourselves and each other and our children. You show us love and support and acceptance. You give us your honest opinion when you don’t like something we do and when we mess up. You give us feedback when things don’t work and cheer us on when something good happens.

You also shower our children with love and support, and you have for the last two and a half years, even though the first two years you never saw their faces. You send us emails and real mail! and comments and messages and packages for us and packages for our kids and sooooo many books that we get to read to them every night (we always them them who they’re from, of course). They feel the love, too, and even if they don’t understand that not every kid receives coloring books and markers from people in the U.K., they know you’re here with us, and that you have been here for the entire adoption journey. And it means a lot to them, too.

I can’t tell you what your support has meant to us these last few years as we’ve grown our business and our family; as we try new things and try to better ourselves. We all only have one life, and you’ve made ours so sweet just by…I don’t know, leaving a sweet comment, or emailing just to say hi. It’s the little things that, these days, don’t seem or feel so little to us. In fact, they feel big, meaningful, and kind. So very kind.

What I feel so deeply sad about, though, is our inability to respond to all of the letters and packages you’ve been sending lately. There was a time when I would write back every single letter we received in the mail. I loved it. It felt like a personal way of saying thank you from an era all but forgotten. We still have every letter you’ve ever sent us in boxes and on our bulletin board in the upstairs landing, and we cherish them all greatly.

I hope you will understand and forgive the silence on our end when you don’t receive a response after sending us something in the mail. I promise you it’s not on purpose, it’s just I am finding it hard to find the time to devote to little else outside of work and family lately. And this is no pity party: it’s not breaking news that jobs and kids and relationships take up a big portion of your time. I think I’m just still trying to figure out how to fit everything in. I know I can speak for both of us when I say we’re stretched thin right now, but I don’t think it’ll always be like this.

So to wrap up this already long post, I want to say one more time, a simple thank you, thank you, thank you, for all you have given us. I only hope we can return the favor somehow.

xoxo

Our 2021 Holiday Gift Guide

The best time of the year is in full swing!!

Happy Friday, y’all. I thought I would kick off the weekend by sharing some of our favorite items in clothes, books and home for our 2021 Holiday Gift Guide. Happy shopping, and happy holidays everybody!

A cozy turtleneck sweater to keep him warm all winter long. $109. Here’s a cheaper option that still looks just as great, and lastly, a classic fisherman’s sweater that goes with everything.

Ralph's Club Eau de Parfum: Our favorite cologne of the year, and his new favorite, too. It smells like a department store at Christmas time and feels elegant and sophisticated. $85

Casual boots, for date night or lunch with friends. $180

Quite possibly the most perfect pair of jeans ever. $69.50

Our favorite bag, the Rincon Backpack, from Parker Clay, a company who hire at-risk Ethiopian women, pay them living wages and benefits, and provide many opportunities to succeed. $148.50

The most delicious whipped body butter, from Happy Dance, Kristen Bell’s CBD-infused skincare company. It smells absolutely amazing and feels so luxurious. $30 Their hand cream is also wonderful and has saved my dry, cracked hands this winter! $20

An electric toothbrush from Bruush. We have two of these and swear by them. $95

A wireless home security system from SimpliSafe, to keep them safe all year and for added peace of mind.

A cozy candle for long winter nights (one of our favorite scents!). $31

A beautiful (and affordable) piece of art. $12

Pottery-inspired mugs, because sipping coffee from beautiful mugs makes it taste better. It’s just a fact. Set of 4 for $48

Tom Daley’s beautiful, honest new book. $25

Plus, a few more great reads:

Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York

Beautiful World, Where Are You?

The Push

All Her Little Secrets

And lastly, OK Boomer, a fun game where different generations ask each other trivia questions to determine which one truly is the best generation. $35

Good Morning! Just Checking In

It’s been a slow week on the blog, but that’s because it’s been a crazy week in real life.

It feels like we have little time to breathe lately, let alone write. Between school schedules (who knew they would be this crazy with 5 and 6 year olds?), basketball practice, work, the farm, and every day life, it’s left little time for writing and blogging.

But you know what? I’ve actually really missed it this past week. I enjoy writing and keeping track of our day to day life, and I’m looking forward to when (if?) things slow down and I can get back to that on a daily basis. It’s funny how quickly you can get into a rhythm, and when it’s thrown off, you start to crave the routine you set for yourself.

Hope you’re well, reader!! Just checking in to say good morning.