Guys, I’m practically a morning person today. So what if it’s accidental?! I went to bed before midnight last night (something that rarely happens) and Clara woke up at 5am today so I woke up then, too! Of course, Clara promptly fell back asleep in her crib but I can’t go back to sleep once I’m awake so here I am, hanging out on the internet until our day officially begins.

I see a Starbucks chai latte in my near future.

This Last Week In Photos:

• You can tell me that there are prettier or better cities than Chicago, but we’d have to agree to disagree. There is simply no better place than Chicago in the summertime, and I love being on the lakefront path to take in the best views!

• A play-date at the beach while her daddy played volleyball? Clara was in heaven.

• We took Clara on her first bike ride around the city earlier this week, and she had a lot of fun! Although, in this picture she’s thinking, “what do you mean we still need to ride 4 miles back home?!”

• We were blessed to celebrate Fathers Day with three generations of dads. It’s no wonder Tim is such a great father, he has awesome role models to look up to in that department.

Worth Reading:

“When we switched from tipping to a service charge, our food improved, probably because our cooks were being paid more and didn’t feel taken for granted. In turn, business improved, and within a couple of months, our server team was making more money than it had under the tipped system. The quality of our service also improved. In my observation, however, that wasn’t mainly because the servers were making more money (although that helped, too). Instead, our service improved principally because eliminating tips makes it easier to provide good service.” (here)

“Be an experience collector.
Life is about growth and expanding your range of experience. Treat life as an experiment. Test your assumptions about what you like, and don’t like. When making decisions, ask yourself ‘What would 80 year old me want me to do?’. Do that.” (here)

“Often, our loved ones only receive a fraction of the love, joy, support, humor, or friendship we have to offer because we are distracted. Busy. Stretched too thin.” (here)

“That’s the thing: Our schedules and strategies, pragmatic as they may be, can keep us from actually living presently in community. We’re so thirsty for authenticity and understanding, but our own ideals and agendas quench the life out of what community really is: the people already around us and the places we’re already in.” (here)

“The merger of the Internet of Things with baby gear — or the Internet of Babies — is not a positive development. The mind-set of a first-time parent can be summed up as: terror. When you leave the hospital with a fragile newborn, all the horrible ‘what if?’ scenarios suddenly seem very likely, and parenting books either don’t go far enough in calming those fears or they exacerbate them, naming hundreds of ailments your baby will almost certainly never suffer from. So you worry. In the first few weeks of our daughter’s life, her father and I fretted about whether her room was too cold or too hot, whether she was getting enough to eat, whether she had jaundice, whether she was wetting enough diapers (a lack of urine is a sign of jaundice!), whether she was pooping enough, whether the color and consistency of the poop was good or bad, whether she was breathing oddly. When she slept loudly, we worried that she wasn’t sleeping well; when she slept silently, we wondered if she had died.” (here)

Check Out:

My sweet friend, Erin, has launched a website design & consulting business, Primavera Studio, which she describes as “a space for your story to thrive, offering creative design services, blog content, and one on one pep talks to cheer you on to live fully in your current season.” How amazing is that? Erin is a wonderful person and I can’t think of a more encouraging and thoughtful woman to discuss blogs and business with. Definitely check out her services if you have a business and/or blog and need inspiration, support, or a new site design!

She also has an Etsy shop with beautiful and encouraging canvases and more!

I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend!