The Nurtured Home

I finally did it.  I had come up with every excuse in the book not to launch my new site but one day last week, it just felt right. And I hit publish.  The Nurtured Home is a site where I will write all about marriage, parenting, nesting, style and anything else that has to do with creating a nurturing home environment.

All of you who read 3 Peanuts everyday have given me the courage over the years to make this leap.  You have been so supportive. I would love if you would hop on over and give me a shout out.  This new site is truly a labor of love.  I am passionate about these topics.  Please follow The Nurtured Home.  Share about it on facebook.  Pin it.  And most of all, let me now how you like it and what topics you'd like to see there.

So excited!

I LOVE the Oscars y'all!  LOVE them!  Love seeing the fashion and all of it!  For many years I hosted a party but I have not done that in a few years.  Tonight I am going to my friend's chic new pool house to sip champagne, eat chocolate and have some fun girl time. I simply cannot wait to see the red carpet fashions!

{an "Oscar" my friends gave me for the best Oscar party hostess}

I know I have been the lamest blogger lately. I have a BIG update post coming tomorrow.  I just need to upload some photos for it!  

But tonight I am popping in to tell you that I am really close to getting ready to launch the Nurtured Home.  It won't be long now.  I would love to hear from you though.  I have prepared several posts already but am curious to hear what you the readers want to see/learn more about.  The Nurtured Home will be about marriage, parenting, food, style and spirit. Obviously I am not an expert on all those topics but will have guest posters and lots of interviews. The Nurtured Home is about creating a home filled with beauty and grace. One of the regular features will be an advice column about relationships, family, parenting and marriage. So please leave me some questions in the comments to submit for the column.  You can also e-mail me them or leave them anonymously.  I usually do not allow anonymous comments but am lifting that just for this post.

More soon...

leap

I cannot believe that it is January 17th  and I still never posted Harry's birthday (December 8th!)  And I have not posted anything about Christmas Day or the New Year.

Thank you for the kind words of encouragement regarding my new office space.  I cannot tell you how much that means to me.  I have had my Ph.D for 20 years now!!!!  Yes, I did get it at a ridiculously young age (not kidding--I went straight through from BA to MA to PhD-- even summers).  I have been a college professor and a speaker and a counselor/marriage and parenting coach for a long time. However, I never had the guts to rent my own space. I intentionally chose to really be there raising my kids at home and do other things and the timing never felt right.  The one time I almost signed a lease (about 9 years ago) we  decided to move to Virginia.  So, off and on over the years, I saw clients in a home office or I sublet from someone part time.

I have always wanted to do this.  Always.  But I have always been afraid.  What if I don't have enough clients to pay the rent?  What if I fail?  What if I cannot manage being a good Mom with being a good business woman?  Being a good and present Mom always came first for me (and it still does). It was easy to work from home and do my public speaking when invited.  There wasn't a whole lot of risk involved.  I could always say no  to a new client or a speaking engagement if I felt overwhelmed.

 I know I am good at what I do. I know these are the gifts God has given me to share with others.  I know that deep inside. Other people give me that feedback constantly as well.  People refer clients to  me by word of mouth all the time.  But I don't market myself or advertise and sometimes business is slow.  I was okay with that as I have always had lots of other things to do.

There is a really cool small office building on my street about 3 blocks away. The location is ideal as I can be there in mere moments.  Lots of small business owners in our neighborhood office there.  It has stained concrete halls and seagrass carpet.  It has exposed brick.  It is exactly where I would want to office.  I have even sublet there before.  But all the offices were occupied and there has been a waiting list for years.  Plus, I was not sure my current client load could pay the rent.  I put my name on the list a few years ago just in case something opened up.  And it did in November.  They called me and I hesitated a little bit and lost the office.  I expressed my regret about taking a day to think about it to the leasing woman and I think she really felt for me.  Days later she called to tell me she thought someone else might be leaving in January.  This time, I did not hesitate.  I just leapt at the opportunity.

And you know what?  Since I took the leap, I have not had one bit of worry or doubt.  Over the Christmas break, I spent a lot of time trying to pull together furniture and art for the office.  It was so much fun.  We had these old tables in our attic and I decided to paint them with Annie Sloan chalk Paint (another post coming on that).  We had a lot of old artwork crated up in the garage that we hung.

At one point Dave teased me asking if I was starting a furniture refinishing business or getting an office set up!

After a few weeks of work, I saw my first clients in the new office last week.  Then, the night before last, a few of my very close friends came to my office on our way out to dinner to have a champagne toast and see the new space.  It was so fun.  Our plan was to have a glass of champagne, some cheese and crackers, say a prayer and move onto dinner to celebrate a friend's birthday.  But honestly we talked and laughed for almost 2 hours there. In fact, my girlfriends want to have a weekly happy hour or Bible study there! My sweet friend, Bagel sent flowers which was SO sweet and thoughtful!  It was a very special night for me.  And as promised here is a look at my small, new office space...






On my first day seeing clients, my sweet hubby sent me these gorgeous flowers.

{instagram}

I bought the desk at a local charity guild resale shop.  It was in AWFUL shape but I painted it.

I REALLY need a good desk chair.  This one is temporary.  I am thinking about this one from Overstock but am open to suggestions.  I want it to be chic and comfortable as I plan to do some writing there with my laptop.  Anyone have one like this that they like?

I painted this old table and LOVE how it turned out (I will post before and afters this week)





I painted this one too.  Like my gold peanut?

And here are some phone shots of my friends stopping by...

I am so blessed.  My friends have been so supportive and encouraging.  We gathered in a circle and prayed that God would bless this space and use me and it for His good.

When hands reach out in friendship, hearts are touched by joy.


My heart was so touched by joy!

Please e-mail me if you would like to schedule a session or know of anyone needing my services.
 I see clients by phone or skype too.

I will post details about the furniture that I painted etc. in the next post.

Exciting Changes {The Nurtured Home}

There have been some changes here both in our house and on 3 peanuts.  You might have noticed that the blog looks different.  A few people were sad to see the illustration of the peanuts go.  While I loved that graphic and it did reflect my kids perfectly at one point in time...it started to feel dated to me.  Will is a full fledged teenager now with the social life to prove it.  And Harry is right behind him.  I wanted something super clean, modern and simple and I am very happy with the design.

I also added my e-mail address to the blog.  For 5 and 1/2 years I never had my email on the blog.  I just did not want it out there.  Well, when I put it there the other day offering to pray for people, I was so honored with the responses.  Several people e-mailed me personal and heartfelt stories and prayer requests.  I feel so connected to those readers now.  I thank you for trusting me with your stories and your prayers. I am writing them all in a prayer journal and will pray for each of you who asked.

We also added social media buttons on the sidebar. I have a love/hate relationship with social media. Honestly, I love blogging but I could do without facebook, twitter, instagram and the rest.  I think they steal time away from living (for me anyway). However, I know that this is the world we live in and I need to use the social media for what is coming next...

So, a big project I have been working on is FINALLY about to happen. About 3 years ago, I got the idea to start a website for people looking for advice, research and posts on relationships and family. I envisioned articles on everything from potty training to bullying and eating disorders to toddler tantrums and teenage texting. I wanted the site to talk about how to maintain healthy marriages and relationships over the long haul.  I really wanted to help people create a Nurtured Home.

I worked for months on a name for the site. I finally bought the domain and I reserved the blogspot address. And then FEAR overcame me and I never acted on it. I wrote articles for the site. I kept ideas and journaled about it.  But my own fear of failure kept me from taking action.  I let the fear just marinate my soul and I really regret that now.  What if it fails?  What if no one reads it?  What if I cannot get experts to help me with interviews?  What if I cannot keep the pace and do the actual WORK (because my family does come first)?  I am really busy already. I was not sure I could do it.

I doubted myself for 3 years. All the while I had the biggest cheerleader in my dear friend, Shana.  She would ask me constantly how it was coming and what I did today to work on it. She helped me with every single idea.  We spent hours and hours talking about it each week.  She was relentless in her enthusiasm and her belief in me.  Other friends and Dave also encouraged me from time to time.  Truly, they did. But Shana NEVER gave up. She spent so much time trying to get me to believe I could do it.  I don't think one week has gone by in the last 3 years where she did not try to help me with this project. Her unwavering support means the world to me. I am not sure I could ever thank her enough.  She believed in me when I did not believe in myself.  That is some kind of friend.

The final push though came in the last few weeks.  I have been working a lot more and some great opportunities have come my way in the form of speaking engagements.  One of those is the fabulous radio opportunity that Sibi provided me.  In one of our phone conversations, Sibi said something to me that completely unlocked my fear.  It is pretty personal and I am not ready to share it all but basically she told me that I need to do this as I need to use and share the gifts the Lord has given me.  And while I knew that (and tried to remind myself of it daily), the way she told me it was as if the Holy Spirit were telling it to me directly. Something clicked.

So, the long journey is about to get more interesting.  I will be launching a new website called the Nurtured Home within the next few months!  The site is being designed and I am getting articles written.  There might a blog radio show to address all topics of parenting, nutrition, home, style, family traditions, inspiration, faith and relationships.  (Thank you Sibi and listeners for that encouragement!)  People will be able to call in or email questions on the week's topic.  I am not an expert on all those topics but I will be finding people who are.  We will talk about anything and everything that goes into creating 

The Nurtured Home.

I share this story with you all for a few reasons.  First, if any of you is letting fear hold you back, I want to inspire you.  I am generally a very confident person.  But I am also a perfectionist and that was holding me back.  My new site won't be perfect. Nothing is perfect in life. I make typos in almost every post I write;)  I AM the worst typist ever. I might make mistakes but I am jumping in. People might not follow it.  But at least I can try, right?  And I am going to try my hardest!

Also, if anyone has topics they'd like to see on The Nurtured Home, please email me or leave them in the comments.

Finally, if anyone is interested in contributing as a guest poster, radio guest or expert and they have an area of expertise to share, please let me know.

The Nurtured Home will have advertiser space and I will be reviewing books and products related to parenting, relationships and home life. So if you are interested, please email me too.

I will be sure to let you all know when the site is ready to launch.  Thank you for your long and loyal support of 3 Peanuts.  I will still continue it as my family blog but I hope you will all read The Nurtured Home too.

In the meantime, you can like The Nurtured Home on Facebook here.