LADDventure

The Very Inspiring Blogger Award

I am thrilled to share that LADDventure has been nominated for The Very Inspiring Blogger Award by my new friend Angela, from Popsiculture! Thank you so much Angela. I'm honored and happy to inspire! Once you've been nominated, here are the rules:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. List the rules and display the award.
3. Share seven facts about yourself.
4. Nominate other amazing blogs and comment on their blog to let them know you nominated them.

Seven facts about me and LADDventure:

I originally started LADDventure as a way of documenting our (pretty spontaneous) move to Arizona. We were up for an adventure, and it was also a great way to keep family and friends updated.

The blog's first name was Destination Desert, until it became about more than just the move. Then I changed it to Ladd Adventure briefly until my friend's husband brilliantly suggested combining the two words into LADDventure.

I have become immensely more "outdoorsy" since moving to Arizona. Love getting up into the mountains in our Jeep.

I am married to my high school sweetheart and first love, the adorable Mr. Ladd. We've been together for 18 years, married for 9 and I couldn't be more grateful for that guy.

We are adopting two siblings between the ages of Birth-6 soon! We're finishing up the process to become certified to adopt from the state foster care system, and will go from a family of 2 to 4 real quickly.

In 2012, I decided to take a break from teaching to pursue writing full time. I dedicated more time to blogging and eventually started another website, The Candid Teacher all about teaching and parenting.

I wrote a book! Candid Classroom: What Parents Want to Know & Teachers Want to Tell Them released last month, and I'm still pinching myself.

Now for the really fun part - introducing you to some other bloggers who I nominate for the award! I nominate:

My good friend and neighbor, Kelsey from Rising*Shining, who's been inspiring me to purge and organize lately.

Sarah from Positively Dreaming with great thoughts on creativity and design

Sarah R. Bagley, a recovering perfectionists guide to a B+ life

Jacquie from The Sweeter Side of Mommyhood, whose recipe for Chicken Tikka Missala I've made twice in two weeks

Thanks again to Angela for the honor, and go check out these lovely ladies who are truly making the blogosphere a beautiful, inspiring place.

Liking Your Spouse

Sunday, Mr. Ladd and I went to the Cardinal's game. He'd never been to an NFL game and has become a Cardinal's fan since moving to Arizona, so I surprised him with tickets for his birthday. We both love football, and although I'm a die hard Packer fan, I brought myself to cheer for the Cardinals for three hours, especially since they were taking on the 49ers who I love to hate. We had so much fun together, and it was a great reminder of how much we like each other and enjoy spending time together.

Call me crazy, but I'm a firm believer that you should actually like the person you've chosen to spend the rest of your life with. Otherwise, why bother? My brother David, and his wife Emily are a great example of this. They are truly each other's favorite person, and it's obvious. They'd rather be together than with anyone else, and it's been that way since they were in middle school. I don't think this is accidental or only for the lucky few, however. I also see them intentionally finding things they like to do together and participating in causes they both believe in. They are considerate of each other and still do little things to take care of and encourage the other person. I say Mr. Ladd is my best friend, and he really is, but sometimes I forget to be a good friend. I say things to him with a tone of voice I would never use with a friend. I think it's very easy to criticize, keep score, or even flat out ignore your spouse in ways you never would with a good friend. Friends take time to do fun stuff together, tell their friend what they like about them, and overlook little quirks.

In our marriage, when we're making time to have fun together, working as a team on a project, or intentionally noticing things we like about the other and then remembering to say them out loud, liking each other becomes a lot easier. We are really trying to enjoy time as a couple before we have kids and know this connection and friendship will become even more important to maintain when we do.

P.S. Recently ran across this from Seth Rogen, talking about actually liking his wife and the problem with how marriage is often portrayed in movies.

Creating a Flexible, Fun Kid Bedroom

As you may know, this mama-to-be is in full on nesting mode, but it can be tricky with adoption from foster care. There are so many unknowns when it comes to setting up a room for our kids. We don't know what gender they will be, when exactly we'll have a placement, what their likes and dislikes will be, or even what exact age they will be when we meet them. Many of those things are just like giving birth to a newborn, but there are definitely some extra unknowns in our situation. When thinking about their bedrooms, here are some things I do know:

• We are adopting two siblings between the ages of Birth-6 years old.
• They could be here anytime after we're certified in a couple months.
• We need a flexible arrangement. For now we're keeping the queen bed in the room. Depending on our needs, we'll either keep it for an older child, put on a bed rail or swap it out for a crib if we get a little one, or even replace it with two twins or bunk beds if our kids can share.
• They might be able to share a room if they're the same gender/close enough in age. If so, we get to keep an extra bedroom for guests. We have a full-sized bed in the other room already, and it's closer to being ready for kids if we need it. I will do a few minor things in there to make sure it's welcoming, but we've cleared it out of any unnecessary things, and it's ready to go otherwise.
• Things will get infinitely more crazy when kids get here, so having a gender-neutral and flexible, but ready and welcoming space is a priority.

This week I'm tackling this project, so the room is empty, the paint is purchased, and I'm off! I created the mood board above to put all my inspiration in one place, organize my thoughts, and see how it looked together. Here's what I'm thinking:

1. A deep gray on the walls. I chose Sherwin Williams Peppercorn .The room gets a lot of natural light, so I think balanced with white and pops of color, this will be perfectly cozy without being too dark.

2. Some sort of white textured quilt as a base layer for the bed. I know, I know, but it can be bleached.

3. We already have this gray quilt to layer, and I just love it.

4. My mom is crocheting blankets for each of the kids, so they'll have their own special blankets waiting on their beds. This yellow chevron one is finished, and she's working on a very similar one in red for the other kiddo.

5. This AKERGYLLEN pillow from IKEA would make for a great pop of color on the bed. Yes?

6. The blinds in this room are broken, so we're replacing them with white wood blinds I think, and framing the window with these red velvety light blocking curtains from Target.

7. We purchased this HEMNES dresser from IKEA. It's waiting to be put together after the room is painted. We already have the smaller version with just three drawers, and love it. So this is going to the bigger room, and we moved the smaller one to the smaller room.

8. There will definitely be a book spot in the room using these RIBBA picture ledges from IKEA.

9. A bright LACK table makes a great addition to any kid space. Great for playing cars, cooking fake food feasts, or art projects. The possibilities are endless for $12.99

10. Already purchased this set of three bicycle canvases from Target for under the three mini windows in the room. They let great light through, and we've decided to just keep the blinds off of them all together.

11. Loved how this geometric mountain art (also from Target) brought in so many colors in a modern way, so it jumped in my cart along with the bike art.

12. A colorful lamp, or a fun nightlight like this one is a must in a kids' room.

13. Flexible storage solutions in the form of a few baskets to toss stuff in are essential in my book. Why not make them bold and beautiful, like these striped ones?

14. I fell in love with the sentiment of this sign, and need to have something that says this in that room! It's such a sweet reminder and promise.

15. Obsessed with these whimsical chihuahua hooks designed by fellow bloggers from Young House Love for Target! I want two to hang at kid level, for easy hanging up of their own things.

16. This sweet turtle will be waiting for one of our little ones. It was a gift from my aunt. When we told her we were adopting she sent a special stuffed animal for each child. It's her tradition to give all her nieces/nephews, and great nieces/nephews a stuffed animal to correspond to a nickname. It was such a supportive, thoughtful thing to send and our kids are already so loved.

17. I must make some pom pom garland, cause I think it's the happiest of all the garlands and adds some necessary whimsy!

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading to tackle some painting and start getting an actual space ready for actual kids. Eeek! So excited to share some before and after photos in a post next week hopefully. Stay tuned!

**Thank you so much for all your love and support. We need it, and are looking so forward to meeting our kids! I'll be keeping everyone updated via the blog since I'm sure I will run out of time along the way to individually share details with everyone.  If you'd like to follow along for what's sure to be an interesting story, make sure to sign up for all the latest posts by just entering your email address and hitting subscribe in the upper right corner of the blog.**

Five Minute Friday - Whisper

I just finished The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt last night. It was strange and a bit depressing at times, but captivating somehow, and I couldn't help reading it for hours everynight. The last chapter was so profound and beautiful. The characters were talking about a painting which the whole story centered around, and this just struck me...

"if a painting really works down in your heart and changes the way you see, and think, and feel, you don't think, 'oh, I love this picture because it's universal'. 'I love this painting because it speaks to all mankind. That's not the reason anyone loves a piece of art. It's a secret whisper from an alleyway. Psst, you. Hey kid. Yes you....An individual heart-shock."

I think that's what all good art does, it whispers to each individual something different, something uniquely meaningful to you. It grabs you and makes you feel like it was created for you and about you at the same time. It tells your story, explains your thoughts, changes your mind. That is the kind of art, books, music worth creating.

 

**This post is linked up over at Five Minute Friday, where the internet gets together, writes for five minutes without thinking too hard about it, and presses publish. Join us?**

Next in September

My theme word for the year is "next," both a reminder to take one step at a time, and to keep going when things get tough. To do the next right thing to move me toward the big goals and happenings of this year. So, each month I'm looking ahead to what's next.

I realized I hadn't done a "Next" post in July or August, which was both a cause and direct result of the chaos we've felt around here this summer. It was a summer of paperwork and PS-MAPP classes for our adoption, reorganizing our house, my book launching, and it was crazy. We are definitely feeling the effects of an emotionally charged, exhausting couple of months, and more than ready to refocus and turn the page to a new season.

It's September - the beginning of my favorite time of year! It may be 108 degrees today in the Phoenix area, but I am burning my autum candle and waving my fall freak flag. I'm beginning this season with a blank slate, some new goals, and perhaps a pumpkin beer of two. So I'm raising my glass and looking foward to what's next in September.

Next in travel... We were up north this past weekend, and were reminded once again how good the mountains are for the soul. The Jeep loved being on some gravel and under pine trees. We need more mountains in our life this time of year, when the summer has stayed long past its welcome. So we're planning a weekend getaway to the mountains soon, and a day trip to do some leaf hunting when the colors start to change up there.

Next in adoption... Our agency is finishing up our home study in the next couple of months, and we are getting kids' rooms ready. I'm purchasing paint this week, and will be sharing a mood board and room reveal soon! I also need to put together a family photo book to be included in our profile. So many pictures to choose from! Check out this adoption update for more details.

Next in writing... I now understand what authors are talking about when they describe the post book release slump. Since Candid Classroom came out last month I've felt tired, empty, a bit at a loss for words. But September has brought with it some new inspiration and renewed energy, so I'll be back to a consistent blogging schedule here and at The Candid Teacher, have been added as a contributor to East Valley Mom Guide, and am working on a few other projects I can't wait to share with you soon!

Next in food... This time of year always inspires me to get in the kitchen, try new recipes, and entertain. So look for more posts about what I'm cooking up, and who I'm feeding.

Next in life... Maybe it's the teacher in me, but September is like my second New Year. It's a time to start over and reevaluate goals and priorities. I am making my own well-being, personal growth, and health a priority, and being very intentional about enjoying time as a family of four (yes the dogs count) before life changes pretty dramatically.

**Check out the new episode of The Girl Next Door Podcast, where Kelsey and I are talking about Back-to-School Season, fresh starts, and a very creepy chair**