My Daily Commute

For me, the daily drive into work has always been a time for just me. Me with my thoughts, me with my mental to-do list, me with dealing with my feelings. Ever since college, when I was commuting to Indianapolis 3 days a week for my internship, those hour and 10 minute drives were my time. Back then, I thought a lot about the future – graduating, finally making my dream of working in advertising come true, getting married, worrying about whatever paper or test I needed to study for that was still 2 weeks away. That was my time. Then, when I entered the work force, the daily 30 minute drives to downtown Indy were much of the same – thinking about what I needed to do at work that day, talking with my family on the phone (not the safest I know), and many times worrying about what I needed to do, what I should be doing, or if I was good enough at what I was doing. It almost came to a point where I dreaded those drives. While it was time for me, it was also time where I found me working against myself.

So, what do I think about these days? As a parent, my daily commute has mixed feelings – sadness at leaving my smiling, happy, drooly little boy. There's the familiar feeling of the pre-baby days when I have my regular morning conversation with Mike. And, my thoughts range from what appointments I have that day to how many more loads of laundry that need to be done to how very badly our floors need swept to all of the things I really wish I had time for (making cards, planning ahead for the holidays, knitting, the list could go on and on). I know I need to think about these things when I’m in my car because once I step into the office, it’s all of this fades away. And, that’s been a source of frustration – that I have all of these seemingly incredibly important things that I need to remember to-do (call our builder, call the doctor, make a hair appointment) and once I get to work, I never remember it. It’s a very unique thing being a mom that works outside the home – there’s two lives that I feel don’t intersect much. Sure, I make lists (for work and for home), but those get re-written every day. Or, I forget where they are. :)

For now, I’m going to keep trying to do my best thinking in the car and not let frustration take that away from me. That’s always been my time and I think I’d like to keep it. Because even though I think about way too many things (in both facets of my life - work and home), it’s kind of my time to sort things out, get things in order and some days, clear out the cobwebs.

Here's to the time you set aside to think...

Much love,
Ash

The Great Pumpkin Day

What a ride it’s been. It’s finally fall – my favorite time of year. Since moving to Illinois, I haven’t been able to enjoy it as much as usual. Here it feels like we go from Indian Summer straight to winter, which doesn’t let me acclimate too well to the incredibly windy, cold and sometimes downright miserable winters we have here. But, for the last week or so, fall as set in, so we decided to reach out and grab the chance to introduce Noah to fall. To pumpkins and pumpkin patches. To hayrides and cooler temps. To sweaters and jackets and hats.

This has always been my favorite time of year. Maybe it’s because I always loved fall nights at high school football games. Or the smell of burning leaves. Or that after months of heat and humidity, I could pull out my jeans and sweaters and be bundled up. And, I wanted to be able to share this with our new family. Check out the pics below!

Next weekend, we’re headed to Iowa so Noah can meet his great-grandparents for the first time. It will be sure to be another great fall weekend with family!

Much love to all,
Mike, Ash, Noah & E!