thoughts// notes from 2020
highlights from our year//
OUR HOME RENOVATION, ANOTHER HOUSE PROJECT, FERTILITY
TREATMENT, CAREER CHANGES, AND THE JOURNEY OF LAUNCHING
THE CLEAN SWEEP
this year has been wildly surprising, filled with special memories along with the widest range of emotions, and packed with so much unknown. the time at home, the distance from people and the lack of overloaded schedules created space for processing, reassessing, increasing intentionality, and aligning with a refined focus on what is important. it has seemed to bring us back to simplicity and a slower pace. for those of you who have been following along, i wanted to thank you for being a part of our journey and fill you in on all that has happened this year in our personal life and lsk.
at the beginning of this year, i was fixated on ordering furniture for our house after an eight month renovation and just a week ago, our final piece arrived. this time of creating and waiting formed a newfound patience in me. in the delays and delivery shutdowns, it also gave me the sweetest appreciation that we are all in this together. there was such a feeling of unity in that way this year – the entire world was connected, the mail men were more appreciated, the neighbors were more acknowledged, and although personal difficulties may have surrounded us, our awareness of being there for others seemed to be greater.
i can’t wait to show you all our completed home in just a few weeks – my cousin and i are filming a home tour (stay tuned!). it is filled with sustainability, small business makings, neutral palettes around every corner, clean materials from candles and rugs to bedding and paint, and of course, a lot of love. i feel like this year felt as though i was back in college; i learned so much from others and i started to trust my instinct. i became educated in creating a home, from spacing and styling to measuring and sourcing. a new passion has definitely emerged, and the circumstances of this year truly aided in forming it.
while we are on the house topic, jase and i built a house with our close couple friends in idaho a year and a half ago. it has been a place filled with the most precious and fun memories, and we all decided to sell the home for investment purposes this past summer. jase and i are starting to rebuild just a street over, and it is going to be another creative outlet for me. with all of the frustrations and unreliability with our two initial designers in the renovation process of our california home, i was basically forced to do it all almost entirely by myself with zero experience. but the bright side is, it felt like an internship. i had to learn, and now i feel like i can take it on myself with much more ease and understanding. stay tuned for updates here! i am creating an outline with material choices as we speak.
on a different note, we don’t talk a lot about our journey to having kids with the goal to keep a sense of privacy, but jase and i have been trying for about four and a half years. we are so trusting that god’s timing is beyond perfect and he has a plan and time for the baby we pray for – this has brought us continual peace while simultaneously being productive with testing on our end. we have potentially been a bit too chill because we enjoy our life and each other so much. it is such a gift to know that a child will only create deeper joy, sacrifice, and connection. we went to an incredible fertility specialist in dallas this summer, where we were met with answers and a clear path for the first time. we felt so grateful! we are on the path to starting ivf, and even though that was our last resort, we are so excited to continue with this next step. .
updates in my career journey: my sweet assistant and dear friend, melissa, had to step down from working for lsk because of exciting things in her full time job, and god provided such an amazing person to fill the position. libby has used her impeccable design skill, vision, and overall talent to transform my businesses into one unified brand while encapsulating me in the look, feel, and voice. i am just overwhelmed and humbled by how god provides and seasons and shifts us even through business. we completely refined the lsk brand, relaunched my website, and refined and redesigned the clean sweep program. volume one: food is available for purchase for just a few more days, and i am so grateful to have you on the educational and empowering journey to clean eating. stay tuned for volumes two and three launching next year.
and my most prized venture that has been in process for quite some time took extensive pivots after quarantine began. as you may know, my best friend and i started creating a dry shampoo in our apartment about six years ago, and it turned into a business called stranded. my twin sister, her husband, and a few other crazy-talented people have joined our team, and we have been working on biodegradable bamboo, toxin free surface wipes that are naturally scented with a blend of essential oils and are safe for the hands too. we have two more corresponding products that will be launched alongside the wipes too. we initially started creating this after being so overwhelmed with the response jase and i received from posting about how i wipe off our plane seats when we travel. it turned into somewhat of a movement a few years ago when to us, it felt like a random ig video. it really showed us the desire you all have to travel safely, so i wanted to create a genuinely clean, yet productive wipe formula that isn’t currently available on the market. it has been such a journey in creating, coordinating, testing and sourcing, and it will be so special to make it available to you. it has been a long time coming! we were planning on manufacturing the wipes at the beginning of this year, and right as we were about to press the green light, the manufacturers had other legal responsibilities of what specific wipes they could make during the spread of the virus. many also had to be shut down and were as a result, incredibly backlogged when they re-opened. it was a true blessing in disguise because we shifted to a brilliant manufacturer in new zealand who specializes in biodegradable wipes and we pivoted to develop two other important products that we can’t wait to share with you.
we are looking forward to so many things in 2021.
it has been tough. it has been beautiful. it has been uncomfortable. but ultimately, it has made us stronger. we can’t wait to take all we have learned this year and start fresh in just a few days!
