Where did these two years go?! We’re almost packing boxes again. This is crazy!!
Several months ago I shared with you my big decision to say YES to a large Interior Styling project and since then, life has looked a bit different. This blog has stayed stagnant (despite the promise of a revival). My floors are a little messier. I am cooking bigger meals, less often. & there has been a shift. A shift of my focus, my heart and my hands. & it hasn’t included much of the internet. I have taken to my new Instagram to share tidbits of my life, but in an ever decreasing “face time” world, I have found myself seeking these real life interactions more than ever. Face to face work, not behind the computer work. & My work is steady, and it has nothing to do with the computer. To say this website is a few steps behind my real life work is an understatement, but one I am strangely proud of. Face to face work is what is filling my soul right now.
As we are ending the hardest chapter of our medical training life in a mere 84 days, life is going to change yet again. We still have no official orders back to Texas, but that is where we’ve been verbally confirmed for my husband’s next assignment. Despite all logical thought, I keep taking on projects that I know will make me smile–and they do. They are squeezed, squished and snuck in my three days a week without kiddos running around and I truly feel like I have found my life’s work, beyond mothering. I have so many color stories to tell. So much inspiration that needs to come out of my head and into a home. I love making homes beautiful. I love the challenge and the puzzle that each space is–and I love helping families create functional, beautiful spaces. Pretty & Practical is always my motto. & making spaces pretty & practical is what I LOVE to do. So that is what I am doing. & even though it is quiet around this internet space of mine, there is nothing quiet about my life. (Except my daily 5am yoga practice. THAT is quiet that is non-negotiable!)
So thank you for popping back in! Thank you for still cheering me on. Thank you for continuing to share my ever evolving message that finds its way from me to you on this blog, or most likely, Instagram. May you be ever-evolving & sharing your talents, too!
Much of my blogging & internet time has been replaced with books. Real books from the library. & a few inspirational magazines that I love. I have read a few books that I HIGHLY recommend–& you might enjoy them, too! 
- The Fringe Hours (an excellent nudge toward making time for you, despite busy mama life.)
- The Four Agreements (a good reminder of how to “be a better person.”)
- Flow Magazine (an inspiring, creative haven)
- How to Raise an Adult (the BEST, BEST book I have read in a long time. This qualifies as one of the very few books that I want to own. It has changed me, how I parent, and how I look toward the future education of my children. If you read one book this year, let this be it! The second half is the best.)
How can you argue with THAT?!
As we wrap up our time here in St. Louis, I am a very mixed bag of emotions. This season has given us some pretty spectacular relationship lows (as most resident/fellow wives can relate, especially as you weather the eighth year of solo life + parenting). But our stay here has also been rich with programs and museums and nature to enjoy with young children. Have I mentioned how GREEN it is here?! It is really a very beautiful city, with a lot of complicated social issues that permeate the culture. I will look back on this time grateful to be in a place where we had so much to do, but very excited for what comes next for our family. I’m not sad to leave. I am elated/relieved/nervous about the end of 6 yrs of a surgical residency and two years of fellowship. It is time to be done. We must move on. I will most certainly be doing a Mom’s Guide to STL, much like I did for San Antonio before we left. We have done SO much here! & I can’t wait to update the SA one, now that we are in big kid land & all we need to be happy is grass and maybe some sticks, wildflowers to pick and trees to climb. Big kid life is pretty freaking awesome.
Bit-o-housekeeping:
- The stylebabyLOG is still available! You can purchase here. I will be disabling purchasing as it gets close to our move & during our transition, likely through summer 2016. So if you need it before next Fall, now’s the time!
- My passion for child literacy is keeping my Usborne Book Group hopping! I feature a book a week & share what we love about it. You can join the group here–it is zero pressure. My only goal is to help you get awesome books into the hands of curious kids. If you’d rather skip the group and go straight to shopping, you can shop here.
- I am not booking any more Interior Styling projects in STL, but plan to open my calendar in San Antonio starting Fall of 2016. I have several projects lined up already, but you can email me if you’d like more information (or to get on my client list) anytime at shawna at styleberrycreative dot com.
Happy Spring!!
Xoxo.
