handcraftedadventure 
This is not a perfect road trip packing list. This is the stuff that is actually in our car because we got tired of almost being ready. The things that used to live in a bag or a closet until the morning of a trip — and sometimes got forgotten, or were in the wash, … Read more
Three weeks in. Module 1, Phase 3 — Structure. Days 19–20. Three weeks ago Tom and I sat down at the kitchen table and started the Fully Lived Framework on ourselves. To test it. I’ve been sitting with this material for months — writing it, living adjacent to it, believing in it. But believing in … Read more
I keep choosing movement. Because four years in clinical environments showed me specifically what happens when the choosing stops and it scared me. But the habit of choosing started long before the facilities did. It started with Tom’s hips, a cul de sac, and a dog with the zoomies. How It Actually Started For years … Read more
I had days off and a list. Real plans — things I actually wanted to do. I finally had the time. And I still couldn’t start. Why can’t I start when everything is lined up? That’s the question this long weekend answered for me. The list was there. I was there. And somehow the distance … Read more
The May Record — Handcrafted Adventure Volume 05 · The May Record The May Record:The Month Direction Got Specific May was the month direction got specific. May wasn’t a month about starting over. It was a month about finally getting honest. Honest about the gap between what the calendar shows and what actually matters. Honest … Read more
Three weeks in. Module 1, Phase 3 — Structure. Almost done with week 3. Three weeks ago Tom and I sat down at the kitchen table and started the Fully Lived Framework on ourselves. Not to test it. Not to generate content. Because it was time. We’re three weeks in — we’ll finish week 3 … Read more
We found it the way we find most things now — by googling “hiking near St. Louis” on a Saturday morning when we didn’t quite want to waste the day. Don Robinson State Park came up. Thirty minutes away, free to visit. Neither of us had ever heard of it. By 9:30 we were on … Read more
There’s a version of your life you keep meaning to get to. The life you’re postponing isn’t a dramatic one. Not a fantasy. Just the version where you actually do the things you say matter — where you’re present at dinner instead of half-thinking about the week ahead, where Saturday morning doesn’t disappear into logistics, … Read more
I want to tell you something about the heading exercise that I didn’t expect. I thought it would feel clarifying. Like the moment you finally name something that’s been circling, and suddenly the room gets clearer. That’s the version I had in my head going in — a small revelation, a sentence I’d write down … Read more
For a long time, I treated actual living like something scheduled for later. Later when the schedule eased up. Later when there was more room. Later when the kids were settled and the mortgage smaller and life became slightly less demanding than it currently was. Then Tom had both hips replaced in 2020, and we … Read more