I hope you think of me.

While most songs from the Debut album take me back to the teenage angst and feelings of longing that are unique to the high school experience, Tim McGraw withstands the test of time and seems just as relevant to Mallory at age 33 as it was to Mallory at age 16. I relate to the themes of Tim McGraw now as much as I ever did. For me it really captures the human need to mean something to the people that come in and out of our lives. Each phase of life brings in new people and the transitions between phases can mean people who meant a lot to us at one point are gone. A childhood best friend, a first love, a college roommate, these are the people we share BFF bracelets with, risk everything to hold hands with, stay up til midnight sharing stories and secrets and laughter with. Because of time and space these relationships can fade until one day you realize they are so far in the past, and potentially gone forever. All these people who were so important to a developmental stage of your life become people you realize you may never see or talk to again. Even if you did connect now, could it be in the same way as it was before? The relationships that we had were so specific to where we were, and as time marches on we cannot return to what was. Sometimes that makes me feel so sad.

It's nice to believe that my existence in someone else's life was meaningful. I hope that our connection transcends the time and space that has since separated us.

I have two daughters, so many of these books tend to lean more girly, but some of them are just right for boys and girls alike. I read these books aloud to my daughter some starting when she was almost three. Now she reads them all by herself. I'd say these books are great from age 3-8. I'll share them in order of when I would introduce them from easiest or lowest grade level to more advanced. I hope you love these books as much as I do.

Mercy Watson | I love the Mercy Watson books. There are six of them and they are delightful stories about a pet pig and his adventures living in a subdivision with Mr. and Mrs. Watson. I have read these books so many times with my daughter. We have laughed together at the silliness. I remember the summer we got these books my daughter was almost three and we were driving across the country for a family reunion. We read these books over and over again in the car during those 72 hours. It kept us both quite entertained. Highly recommend this book when you want to read something in between picture books and chapter books. The chapters are short and colorfully illustrated.

The Adventures of Sophie Mouse Books 1-4 | Books 5-8 | These books I read aloud to my daughter just before she turned three as well. The main character Sophie Mouse has lots of adventures in Pine Needle Grove with her best friends Hattie and Owen. The characters are kind and always seem to be able to solve their problems and overcome their challenges. I love this series and am always looking forward to the next book since the author is continuing to write for this series.

Anne Arrives & Anne's Kindred Spirits | Since Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite books, I knew this adaptation of the book for young readers would be something I would love to share with my daughter. It is lovely. These books share the first part of the story of Anne of Green Gables in a child friendly way. Other books are sure to come.

Wellie Wishers | I have been very impressed with the American Girl Wellie Wishers books. These books are about a group of friends that work together to create lovely experiences in Aunt Mirandas garden. I love that these girls support one another and do their best to be good friends to each other. I was thankful for this recommendation to add to our home library.

Violet Mackerel | I especially love Violet Mackerel's Natural Habitat, but the whole series is good. I love this little girl because she thinks deeply about the world around her. I think it is a great example to share with my girls, to show them to think a little deeper, to discover more, to understand more. 

Zoey and Sassafras | Zoey is a young scientist with the ability to see magical creatures. Along with her sidekick cat Sassafras she is able to help magical animals in need. I love how this book teaches my daughter about scientific principles while being fun. I also love how Zoey has to try multiple things before she gets it right. It is a great example of perseverance as well as not needing to get everything right the first time.

Mouse Scouts | I love these books about a little mouse scout troop. There are six mice with very different personalities and I love being able to see how they each individually react and overcome when faced with the same challenges and experiences.

Heartwood Hotel | This adorable story about Mona Mouse who finds herself working at the amazing Heartwood hotel in the middle of the forest is probably one of my favorite books to read aloud. I dream of being able to stay in the Heartwood Hotel someday, it is that magical. This place really comes to life. I love each of these four books and all of the characters inside of them.

The Magical Animal Adoption Agency | Another great series book about a little girl named Clover who volunteers to help at the Magical Animal Adoption Agency. I love this book because it highlights a girl who feels quite ordinary but actually has a special skill of being able to work with these magical animals. It is lovely to watch her come to understand that about herself.

There you have it. These first chapter books and series books are all so good. We have almost all of them in our personal library and read them time and time again. I have loved sharing them all with my first daughter and look forward to the day I get to do it again with my second. 

What books do you love to share with your children? I am always looking for good books with good stories and good morals to share, so I'd love it if you left your recommendations below!

Mallory

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I love reading affirmations. I love taking affirmations into my meditation. I love the feeling a good affirmations gives me. Today I want to share some of my favorite affirmations. These affirmations feel good to me when I say them. I think that is the most important part of choosing affirmations, do they feel good, do they feel like something you want to be true or can in some way (even a small way) believe to be true. If so they are going to be so much more effective in your life. I hope some of these affirmations will resonate with you and you can use them to elevate your own life.

Health & Wellness

I accept health as the natural state of my being.

Each cell in my body has divine intelligence. I recognize my body as a wondrous and magnificent machine, and I feel privileged to live in it.

Changes can begin in this moment.

I rejoice in who I am. I am a beautiful expression of life, flowing perfectly at all times. I am both powerful and desirable. It is wonderful to be a woman. I love myself and I am fulfilled.

I choose to love life. I am filled with life, energy, and the joy of living!

I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, happy, and unlimited.

I choose to be healthy and free.

I am loved. I am safe. I love my life.

I declare peace and harmony within my and all around me. All is well.

I allow my mind to relax and be at peace.

I easily release that which I no longer need. The past is over and I am free.

Success | Work | Prosperity

My unique creative talents and abilities flow through me and are express in deeply satisfying ways. There are people out there who are always looking for what I have to offer. They find me with ease.

I share what and who I am for I know we are all one in spirit.

Divine intelligence gives me all the ideas I can use. I move forward right now.

Whatever I am guided to do will be a success. I am blessed beyond my fondest dreams.

I am totally open to the abundant flow of prosperity that the universe has to offer. Abundance flows into my life with ease.

My good comes from everywhere and everyone. The world is a safe place. Love is everywhere, people are so friendly, and I always have what I need.

Family

Harmony, joy, beauty, and safety surround me and my family.

Spirituality

I am one with the power that created me, and this power has given me the power to create my own circumstances. The universe totally supports me.

I accept divine guidance and am always safe.

Personal

I welcome miracles into my life. God works miracles everyday.

I trust that something wonderful will happen to me today.

I am expecting to have an amazing year. I expect the miraculous.

In the infinity of life where I am all is perfect, whole and complete.

(Insert your name), I love and accept you exactly as you are.

Mallory

While affirmations are so good on their own, taking affirmations into meditation makes them even more powerful in your life. When you meditate you give yourself the time to truly focus and live in the good feelings that positive affirmations can create. If you want to learn how to make your own amazing meditation practice, I invite you to take my Introduction to Meditation course on youtube. Here you will learn how to take affirmations you love and create a positive and powerful meditation practice perfect for you.

I've shared my favorite Halloween Books, and Thanksgiving Books, so now it is time to share my very favorite Christmas books. One part of Christmas I so look forward to is pulling all of our Christmas books off the shelf and finding a cozy spot to read them together. They are some of my favorite books to read with my little ones.

And there you have it. Each of these books completes Christmas for us. Am I missing any? I know there are some many out there and new ones each year. Let me know if there are any others that are a must have! 

Just like in October where I shared a few of my very favorite Halloween children's books, I wanted to take a moment in November to share my favorite Thanksgiving children's books!

I love these Thanksgiving books. There are not as many Thanksgiving children's books as other holidays, but they are so good. I have loved finding new ones and love sharing the ones I remember reading as a kid. So here we go!

I love reading Halloween books (and really all holiday books) with my girls. It is so fun to pull out a stack of books and read them all month in preparation for the upcoming holiday. When we lived in Maryland I use to sit down in mid September and reserve all the Halloween books I could find. When they came through I would come home with a huge stack of books to read. Occasionally there was one we had to add to our library. So I thought I would share my very favorite Halloween books today.

Yesterday we had a very happy and very successful Whole-Food, Plant-Based Thanksgiving dinner. I wanted to document all of the recipes we used so we can find them in the future and share them with anyone else who might want to add more plant based dishes into their thanksgiving day meal. They were all a success, and although probably higher in fat than a normal day for us, they were mostly made of whole plant foods!


So our dinner menu consisted of the following dishes.

When we lived in Maryland my husband would leave for work in the very early hours of the morning, before I even woke up. He did this so he could come home earlier in the afternoon and spend time with us. Still he was gone for a long time, and because of the nature of his job he couldn't have his phone at work. So I went many hours a day without communication with him. It was just me and my baby turning into a toddler from the moment I woke up until his very joyful arrival home in the late afternoon.

It was a very difficult time of my life. I felt like I needed something for myself. I happened upon a course in adobe illustrator and thought it could be fun. I would not have said I was an artist, but I enjoyed learning this new skill and having a little time for myself to develop something I was interested in.

I also loved children's books. To say the time I spent at my local library with my daughter during our time in Maryland probably saved my sanity would not be an understatement. It was just around the corner from where we lived and we spent at least 2-3 days there each week enjoying the story time put on by the librarians and scouring the shelves of books for something new and fun. We would bring home bags of books and spend hours on the couch or in my daughters room reading together. My love for sharing books with my little girl at this time also saw me through some difficult and long days.

It also instilled in me a desire to write my own book. I had it in my mind. It was called glorious and it would be a way to share the wonder of this incredible world with my child. With my newfound adobe illustrator "skills" I set to work to illustrate the words I had written.

The first draft kind of felt like complete and total failure. When I "finished" the illustrations I realized I had to start completely over. Although it felt like total failure, it was a building block. It helped me learn how to use the program and I used the general illustrations as a foundation as I set to work in illustrating a new version. I used nap times and my wonderful husband gave me a few hours each night to go to work on this creative endeavor. In time I had something that I felt really good about.

Part of my desire was to not only sell books, but to give books to local organizations that could place them in homes where children might not have many books. I looked at our bookshelf filled with children's books we had collected over the years, and my heart felt heavy knowing that not every child had a full shelf or even one book to call their own.
So we started the Twin Kid Book Project. Each book purchased would have a twin that we would give to a local organization to distribute to a child in need. In my mind I thought of how lovely it would be, each time a person picked up Glorious to read to their child, to know that somewhere in the world a child had the opportunity to also pick up that same book and read it, because of their purchase. In an idealistic way I thought those two books just might always be connected.

So we created a website and and instagram account and sold to many lovely family and friends and friends of friends. Each purchase brought a surge of joy to my heart. I never really understood what it means to someone to purchase their offering or work until I put myself out their with my own creation. I still think about those purchases of people who put a little faith in me at that time and can't help but be filled, in a very real way, with gratitude. 

Our family eats a Whole-Food, Plant-Based diet. We have been doing this for almost two years. In the beginning, I loved looking up recipes all over the internet and trying new things. It was fun for me to prepare delicious and new dinners for my family, but often they were time intensive, had a long list of ingredients, or didn't feel very whole-food focused. I wanted to eat simpler.

During this year I have spent a lot of time creating our own family cookbook. I have filled it with recipes we have enjoyed as a family. These meals were created using simple ingredients and focus on eating whole foods that are not too processed. Creating this cookbook has been fun and had moments of great success and moments of great failure. The failures got set aside and the successes made the cut for the cookbook.


Now I am excited to share it with anyone that desires to eat more plant based meals.

The cookbook includes 44 recipes.


The breakfast section includes 15 recipes, including our favorite smoothies and acai bowls, three ways we love to eat oatmeal, 100% whole wheat pancakes and french toast, and a tofu scramble burrito.




The Lunch and Dinner section has 18 recipes including salads, sandwiches, soups, quinoa bowls, pizza, pasta, rice and bean bowls, and sushi.


The Side Dishes section has 8 recipes including ways to make potatoes, veggies, breadsticks, spring rolls and bruschetta.


Finally, the Desserts section has 3 recipes that are naturally sweetened and simple.