Inside My Intentional Kitchen Design

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Kitchen Before
Kitchen After

If you follow me online at all then you likely saw my kitchen remodel reveal. We took out an entire wall, so of course the before and after pictures are impressive. But there are alot of other intentional details that went into the design that I want to share with you.

First, a little background on how we ended up in this house. Between the properties we looked at in Texas and the properties we looked at here in Kansas, we looked at about 50 homes. One day before our final go around Wichita my husband sent me a link to a house and said, “this is a good example of a bad house on good land that we could fix up.” Even though it was just supposed to be an example, we lined up a showing. It was our very last showing before heading back on down the highway to Texas. The land itself was beautiful, but the house actually made me cry. It was so much worse than the photos made it look. I think I cried all the way through Oklahoma. However, something about it I just couldn’t leave alone. The opening sequence to one of my favorite shows ends with the phrase, “do you have what it takes to take on a fixer upper?” Well, as it turns out, I do have exactly what it takes to take on a fixer upper.

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Derby Adventures: Summer Edition

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The weather has officially turned cooler, my leggings, boots, and scarves have all come out to play, and the calendar is pending dates at the pumpkin patch and other Fall festivals. With Fall already here, I would be remiss if I did not take some time to share about our fun filled Summer in Derby. Derby is a beautiful exburb of Wichita that is the closest town to our farm. This Summer I got to put my marketing hat back on for a bit and help the Derby Recreation Commission part time. My kids were ecstatic that Mom was going to be working because that meant no Summer homeschool! Since it’s only our second Summer here in Derby, we felt like we had the ultimate insider’s guide to some really exciting Summer activities.

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How To: Family Budgeting Tips

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If you are connected with me on social media (or read last month’s post) then you know that I had a hard time choosing a topic. I took a poll and a handful of people asked to hear my tips on family budgeting. In all honesty, this was the last thing I wanted to write about. It was on the list because my husband and I had just revamped how we do our monthly finances. At that same time, a close friend of mine also reached out needing a tool to help her and her husband plan each month. Once I knew that so many of you wanted advice in this area, I started asking my close friends and family how they run the finances in their households. I’ve compiled the best advice and have linked to our favorite tools below!

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The Enneagram 6ness Of Me!

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I keep a running list of possible blog topics on my phone. When it’s time to pick there is typically one shouting out at me. This month however I could not decide between a handful of topics. I decided to ask my social media followers to vote on a topic. It came down to a close race between family budgeting tips and the enneagram. I am not quite ready to give budgeting advice so I am going to share with you my enneagram journey so far.

You may be wondering, the enna-what-now? Simply put, the enneagram is a personality test. But in truth, it is so much more than that!

I know what you are thinking. I thought the same thing when I first heard about the enneagram. I was a communications major and I spent time working in corporate America, the last thing I needed or wanted was another personality test. I had already taken them all (the letters, the animals, the colors) and this test wasn’t going to tell me anything new.

But, I was wrong.

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How To: Get 4 Meals From 1 Chicken!

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As some of you know, a big passion for my family and I is food freedom. What I mean by that is connecting what you eat with what you believe. We believe in God’s perfect design for our world. We believe in the right to grow and consume your own food, free of man’s interference. About a year and half ago we moved onto 20 acres. So far we have raised our own veggies, fruits, chickens, and even a pig. One of my greatest joys is creating a meal with items from our farm.

We know that not everyone can pack up and move to a farm just to get pure food. We are at a point where we want to share our food with others. A question we commonly get is about pricing. We sell chickens for $5/pound. Yes, that is probably more than you would pay at the grocery store. I won’t bother you about why a grass fed chicken is worth more than a factory raised chicken… at least not in this post… but I do want to share why you should probably be buying whole chickens versus buying chicken by the breast or leg. Price per pound, it is simply a better deal!

I am always surprised when I meet someone who does not know how to cook with a whole chicken or how to get more than one meal out of a whole chicken. My family eats one chicken per week and it is not uncommon for us to get a few meals out of each.  Today I am sharing a week’s worth of chicken recipes straight from my kitchen. (Note: I practiced for months with whole chickens from the store before we started raising our own. So, if you are not close enough to purchase one of our chickens you can still totally make these meals).

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Navigating Adult Friendships

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Guys, making new friends as an adult is hard. Making new friends as a wife and mother is even harder. I have stayed in toxic friendships for years because it honestly felt easier than cultivating new friendships. In the past, my husband and I struggled to find even just one couple we could both connect with and that was in the same life stage as us. And what about once you’ve made a new friend? Once the “honeymoon stage” has worn off and you’re dealing with real life issues, how do you navigate the complexities of keeping a friendship? It should be easy, but the truth of the matter is that a lot of times – it is messy. I have found that nothing kills a friendship faster than insecurity and a competition mentality. If you choose to be friends with someone, you have to make a conscious effort to love and trust them. No friendship can thrive under paranoia and constant criticism. This week I asked my social media followers for the best friendship advice they’ve been given and the first one I got went like this: “celebrate their wins even when you feel like you’re not winning! It is not a competition but a relationship.” Amen, Brooke!

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Why (Still) Homeschool?

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Do you ever have so much in your head that you’re not even sure in what order things will come out? Well that is me today, so bear with me!

A couple days ago Instagram reminded me about a blog post I wrote exactly one year ago called, “Why Homeschool?” In that blog post I wrote about why we decided to homeschool our oldest, our first homeschool convention experience, and explained how we use Monarch online curriculum. Since then, we’ve decided to homeschool our youngest and I have attended another Teaching Parents Association (TPA) Convention.

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Best & Worst: My Former Clients & Employees

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Photo Credit: Sean Hayse

Have you ever done the “rose and thorn” activity? It is sometimes called “peak and pit” or “high and low.” It’s one of my favorites to do around the dining room table. The activity goes like this: each person gets a turn sharing the best part of their day and the worst part of their day. My favorite thing to happen during this activity is the realization that you didn’t have a “worst part” of your day. This is also a good activity to do after milestone events like at New Year’s, the end of the school year, or the end of a vacation. Today, I am going to share the best and worst moments with my former clients and employees. I learned many things along my entrepreneurial journey and I am finally ready to share more about what transpired behind the scenes. Let me be clear, my hope today is not to rile anyone up, but rather to encourage other entrepreneurs who may be experiencing “thorns” at this time.

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How To: Use Canva & LinkedIn

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Recently I have started volunteering with a new non-profit in Wichita called Work 4 A Living. They are currently located inside City Life Church downtown and they work to “empower people with the job skills and entrepreneurial skills to support themselves and their families.” I came in a couple times to take headshots for the class and I thought it was really awesome that the program thought to offer that. I have written before about the importance of social media and your personal brand – and my #1 tip is to have a good photo of yourself in place!

Last month I came in to teach a workshop on two powerful tools: Canva and Linkedin. Today I am sharing those tips and tricks with you!

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Dear Entrepreneur, Protect Your Heart

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I want to share with you some about my journey as an entrepreneur, which can best be categorized into three major stages:

My first stage of entrepreneurship can only be described as an intensely focused drive. It was a balancing act that ultimately resulted in growth for our business. I was able to enlist support both in work and at home. In the moment, all I could see was the business success and I saw the fact that our family was holding it all together as a success as well. Looking back now, I can’t help but wonder what I missed out on during the time I was burning the candle at both ends…

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