Guilt-Free Dining.

I'd love to pretend that Tyler & I live in perfect harmony. While we do function well with very full lives, we also can feel really burdened by it after a while. It typically takes a few tears (from me), a babysitter and a dinner out to help us get back on the same page. We get there, but it's not always without some tension.

As embarrassed as I am to admit it, but I'm totally a scorekeeper in this area. Obnoxious phrases like "You got to do (fill in the blank), and I haven't gotten to do (fill in the blank)." or "I've been at home for X amount of days, it's your turn" unfortunately come out of my mouth far too often.

Tyler, knowing that I was feeling some stress, hired our nanny for the entire day today so that I could catch up on the loose ends that were driving me nuts. (He's so nice, guys.) Before I headed to the office, I had a meeting scheduled.... but it fell through at the last minute. I was left across town with an hour hole in my schedule. I started to scurry to try to fill it to maximize the day, and then I decided to just enjoy it.

Instead of clawing my way into some free time, here it fell on my lap. Rather than making it into a bit of hurried time, I'm just chilling with a bowl of porridge at Bill's and mindlessly clearing my camera roll with the awesome new app KEEPERS. (This app is changing my life- you have to try it if you're like me and have 15 versions of every photo eating up your memory.)

It may be the least exotic way to spend some time alone... but it feels good. After all, feeling a little less crazy may be the biggest accomplishment that I could achieve today.

And just as I got the end of writing all of that, an email dropped in my inbox. Official word that I was awarded my masters... with merit. Totally bragging, but man..... adding a masters to our lives last year wasn't without a bunch of hustle. How awesome that we survived it. Phew! Tyler and I should both walk across the stage, because I could not have earned it without him. What a perfect moment of validation for the quiet hours of work that can often feel like they are meaningless.

Happy Friday! I hope yours is as good as mine!

xo - Lauren