Home Sweet Home

I've lived a variety of places over the past ten years.

I spent four years living in Boone, North Carolina.

Two in Oxford, Ohio.

And the past four years at my current location in Virginia.

But even though I've been away for almost 10 years now, I still find it hard not to refer to my little brick house in Lawndale NC as home.

Home Sweet Home.

And that's where I've been for the past 10 days.


Lawndale, NC isn't a very large town. And there isn't exactly a lot of recreational opportunities that world travelers might find interesting - but for me it's the perfect escape.

And a great way to reconnect to what is important.

Let me share with you a little of my Home Sweet Home.

First, there are the people who live there. A house is not a home without the warm bodies that inhabit it - something Home Sweet Home does not lack!

There is my dad Tim and my step mom Ronda, and my four brothers Justin, Chalmers, Josh and Micah. (It's especially exciting around the holidays - when including Mike, Owen, me, Grandma Margie and the occasional visiting friend/girlfriend - the number of people sleeping in our house can reach 10 or more!)

Oh, and there is our big, goofy, turtle-chewing, baby-bunny-eating lab - Max (or Maxwell, Maxwellison, Welly, Wellson, Mr. Sass, Paco-Paco, etc...) who might as well be my 5th (and favorite!) brother. He thinks he owns the big couch in the family room.
















There are lots of things to do around the property. And lots of little nooks in which to spend the day relaxing. My personal favorite is by the pool:

















Or in the hammock in the front yard:
















There are four porches around our house - and all of them have little spots that are great for hanging out with my Macbook or a knitting project:






















My visit this year including taking care of Owen and finding things that he enjoyed doing. One of which turned out to be swinging in his new baby swing that Dad bought for him:
















My dad keeps a garden in the summer, so I enjoyed fresh peas, corn, squash, tomatoes and okra with almost every meal:
















In the afternoons, Dad, Ronda, Owen, Mike, Max and I enjoyed hikes on the property behind our house. My Dad has spent countless hours carving various trails that cris-cross little streams and "waterfalls".

In the evenings, the whole family tends to gather in front of the TV for a movie.
















**We used to play Scrabble, but Dad, Micah and I are such sore losers we had to agree not to play games unless it was one where everyone could win.


I typically finished each day with a relaxing bath in my step mom's jacuzzi tub (and take a moment to appreciate how HUGE this bathroom is!)
















Now you can see why I was too busy to blog last week.

Sadly, Home Sweet Home isn't open to the public (although my step mom might disagree with that) but we always welcome visitors.

And I bet that once you visit, you might just begin referring to it as Home too.