READ | Looking for Lovely by Annie F. Downs

Thank you B&H Publishing for providing this book for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own.

Remember my reading goal for the year? I've been super slow at reading this year but I'm still excited to read my 36 books this year. A couple weeks ago I finished this book while on a quick trip to Vegas.

I've never read any of Annie F. Downs books but I wanted excited to get this book in the mail and start reading and now I want to read all her books. This book goes through her journey of her life after she finished her book 'Let's All Be Brave" and the "break down" as she calls it that she had after writing that book.

I really loved her introspective thoughts on herself and her life during that season. She talks about how she started going to counseling and explores themes in her life like; why does she want to quit or run away when things get hard?

This season forced her to "look for the lovely" in her life. Or look for the good. This theme really resonates with me since the theme of my blog here is all about celebrating the everyday. And finding something in your daily life worth celebrating. Life is made up of lots of tiny little moments that matter.

Look for them. Cherish them.

Her writing speaks to my soul, she's witty and is full of great stories to tell. But it's her authenticity in her writing and her honesty that pulls you in and makes you want to be her best friend. She's got a whole lot of truth and a big dose of wisdom packed in these pages.

Grab your copy below.

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Family Evening Walks.

We've been trying to get out more as a family, one of our goals this year was to be more active as a family. Remember our hike a couple weeks back? We started taking evening family walks. It gets us outside and active. Sometimes the kids ride their bikes or scooters and we walk. I thought I'd take you along for one of those family walks;

What are some ways that you get out and get active as a family? I'd love to hear them in the comments below.

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Beach Day at Carlsbad State Beach

We love spending time at the beach. We're for sure beach people. Give us salty water and sand in our toes and we are happy campers. Since Legoland is in Carlsbad we decided to stay close to our hotel and visit Carlsbad State Beach. This is a new beach to us, but we completely fell in love with the city of Carlsbad.

The day we went to the beach it was quiet, and not many people at our particular spot which was really nice. Carlsbad Village is really close to the beach with tons of restaurant and shopping.

We had the best day at the beach. The kids built sand castles, and collected shells. We all jumped waves together. I love sharing these experiences with my family, and visiting the beach. It's such a happy place for our family.

After a few hours we headed to get lunch, and on the way back to the car I found my future beach house! We ate at Dini's Bistro- they had some of the best fish and chips and crab cakes I've ever had! A must go if you're in Carlsbad for lunch or dinner.

Dini's Bistro 3290 Carlsbad Blvd, Carlsbad, CA 92008

Lots of fun happening at Tower 36! We had so much fun at the beach and always look forward to when we go back! I'm wanting to put together a visitor's guide to Carlsbad of all the local places we found to eat and shop. Look for the sometime in the next couple months.

Day 4 we when whale and dolphin watching at Dana Wharf, you can read about our experience here. A quick little mash up of our vacation video!! We had so much fun on our family vacation this year, enjoy!

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Our First Trip to Legoland California!

Happy Monday friends!! I just realized a couple days ago that school officially starts again in 1 month!! That's crazy, it seems like Summer just started. Before Summer is over I wanted to re-cap and share with you our adventures on vacation this Summer.

You already heard about our experience whale and dolphin watching at Dana Point, CA. The first day of our vacation we checked into the hotel, went swimming and just got settled in before heading to Legoland the next day.

We arrived around 10:30 am to explore the park. We bought park hopper passes to the water park but weren't able to use them since it was to cold and breezy the day we went. So we stayed in the Legoland park and explored all day.

The kids had so much fun. The sheer amount of work and detail that goes into making Legoland and everything out of legos is amazing and fascinating! We loved mini land and looking at the the different scenes and cities they made out of legos.

This boat tour was a fun afternoon break, we sat in a boat and toured the entire park. While our guide told us exactly how many legos were used to make each piece she was telling us about. So cool!

Zane loves Lego Ninjago, so it was really fun for him to get to see it all in real life and he loved seeing his name all over the park!

Day 1 in the books! No vacation for us would be complete without a beach day! Come back Wednesday for a re-cap of our beach day!

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Organizing Under the Kitchen Sink Cabinet

We've been in our home a year now. Now that everything pretty much is in its place I've been organizing everything in sight. It started a last week with our pantry (can't wait to show you that) and then next it was time to organize the area under our kitchen sink!

This are tends to get neglected I think. Stuff gets thrown in there and forgotten about till it's time to clean and you're frustrated that things are falling every where and you can't find or access what you need. I was over it. So I took everything out, cleaned the cabinet and got some organizing tools and got it work! Here's the before of this space:

Crazy right!! So much crap and random things under there. I purged and got rid of the ratty cloths I was using in exchange for some nice micro fiber ones (linked below) moved the play dough and paint to the kids spaces. Got rid of all the bulky bins that didn't move in and out well. Ready for the after?