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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

Reading Recap // December 2017 + January 2018

This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!

Reading Recap // via Stephanie Howell

Hi friends and Happy Monday!

It’s been a  L  O  N  G  time since I blogged about reading. Well, I did my Favorite Reads of 2017 post but other than that I haven’t been doing my monthly posts!

As y’all know, I read a LOT.  So instead of telling you every single book I read in the past 2 months, I’ll link you to my Goodreads Read Bookshelf and just highlight my favorites here. Sound good?

 

Best Books of December and January

Reading Recap // via Stephanie Howell

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie

It’s going to take my heart awhile to recover from this book. I spent some time telling Jimmy all about it this morning and i cried the entire time. I won’t ever forget it. It made me spend a good long time examining my heart and my tendency to judge and condemn without knowing the full story. Absolutely shattering. My measure of a good book is how it makes me FEEL and whether i think about it often after i finish.

5 stars

[Read more…]

Getting Creative in Your Planner: A Primer

 

Getting Creative in Your #Planner // via StephanieHowell.com

 

 

Happy Wednesday y’all!

Today I’m blogging about planners. I answer most basic planner questions  HERE , HERE, and HERE, although I do need to do a revised list.

I see so much negative talk about pretty planners on social media. And I used to contribute to it. I’d judge photos and even leave snarky comments. Yikes. Hard to admit, but true. Why? I have no idea. I just remember feeling so judgy about it.

[Read more…]

Finding the Perfect Unique Men’s Watch for the World’s Pickiest Man

Jord Wood Watch // via Stephanie Howell

 

The Problem

SPOILER ALERT: Read all the way to the end. There’s a really great giveaway there! 

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Jord Watches. All opinions are 100% mine, and I wouldn’t type these words if I didn’t mean them. 

I am married to the world’s pickiest man who pays attention to every single detail, no matter how small it might seem. And I mean this in the best possible way. It serves him well and helps him succeed.

But.

Sigh.

Sometimes it can be slightly infuriating.

He has been looking for a unique men’s watch for years. YEARS. Ever since we first met, which was in 2000. Yikes.

[Read more…]

My One Little Word® for 2018 – Embrace

my #onelittleword for 2018 // via stephanie howell

notebook by May Designs for Blue Sky , word charm by Make a Pretty Life, necklace by Ali Edwards 

 

I have always loved the concept of One Little WordⓇ. I think it is enlightening, encouraging, and empowering. It holds me accountable and keeps me on track. Do I always talk about the word year round? No. Have I always shared it with you guys? Probably not. ffBut I totally believe in this idea and I have loved it since Ali came up with it.

I went back and forth on what I wanted my word to be this year. I thought about bloom. You know, like the name of this blog…Bloom Where You’re Planted. It’s always been my mantra. No matter where we go, no matter what the mission is, no matter how foreign and tough the soil may be, we grow roots and bloom.

But I have another mantra. It’s the less classy, more real version of bloom where you’re planted.

Embrace the suck. 

If you know anything about me at all, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that I’m totally a glass half full kind of gal. I choose happiness when there is a choice. I don’t like to complain, whine, or be negative.

But let’s be real.

The life of a military family (or the life of ANY family, y’all. I’m just speaking about what I know personally) isn’t all perfect, all great, all happy, or easy all of the time. There are challenges. And struggles.

During our time in VA we’ve had unlimited family time. We see J every morning and night. He helps me bathe Cora and get through bedtime in one piece (which with 5 littles is no laughing matter). We have endless “date nights” where we order Indian food and watch our favorite Netflix show of the moment. He answers his phone and he responds to texts. We have long, lazy weekends and he sees every single game, recital, and class play. We have gotten used to seeing his handsome face.

This summer that will all change. New state, new home, new school, new friends, new job, new expecations.

Don’t get me wrong. I KNOW Alaska is going to be an amazing, beautiful adventure. I know we will bloom. I know God always has bigger plans than any we could ever imagine and I know that we end up starting over and loving every new place we go.

However.

I will also be embracing the suck. Watching my girls leave their friends. Leaving a dear friend I love and a gym that has become home to me. Leaving a school we love and leaving the idea of having family within a driving distance.

Leaving behind guaranteed family time and a two year break where we were out of a traditional military life. No FRG, no mandatory fun, no goodbyes, no going on post, no fishhbowl environment. On the flip side, I’ve so missed the support system and a community of women that just…”get it”.

J will assume battalion command this June and he is so ready for it. He is going to ROCK it. In my eyes, there’s no better leader than J. I can’t wait to see him shine. But man….I’ll miss that face.

Here’s to 2018.

Embracing the suck.

Embracing change.

Embracing the unknown.

Embracing Alaska.

Embracing goodbye, hello, and see you later.

Embracing growth for our family and adventure.

xoxo

S

 

 

A. Ham – Taking Harper to the Room Where it Happens.

Soooo if you follow me on IG or if you are part of my blog FB page the chances are that you already know this story BUT I want to record it here so I can remember it forever.

Miss Harper is a HUGE musical theatre fan. She has been singing since she could talk and she hasn’t stopped since. The moment she heard the Hamilton soundrack she absolutely fell in love. I have never seen her so obsessed/passionate about something. Before long she had EVERY.SINGLE.lyric/note/beat/breath memorized. She has watched every clip on YouTube and she follows Hamilton on IG as well all of the original cast. Sidenote- LIN PLEASE GET IG!

We knew that it wasn’t likely that we’d ever get to see the show. Well, at least anytime soon. We had heard a rumor that they recorded the original cast to do an eventual movie adaptation so we were holding out for that. And even though Hamilton was coming to DC, it is right after we move to Alaska. I would enter the lottery every day on the Hamilton app and just pray that I could somehow give her her dream one day.

Fast forward to a few months ago. A dear friend of mine told me that she had a connection to the show and that she could get me super reasonably priced GOOD seats. I chose a three day window (January 9,10,11) and gave her all of my billing info, etc. From that point there was nothing to do but wait.

I didn’t hear anything and I honestly figured that I wasn’t chosen. On January 8 my fairy godmother contacted me and told me that we were chosen BUT we didn’t know WHICH SHOW we were chosen for.

Now, luckily NYC is an easy train ride away but I’d be lying if I said the anxiety didn’t almost do me in. I was like a headless chicken with floppy limbs, running in a circle. For 2 whole days.

It could have been:

January 9 7 pm

January 10 2 pm

January 10 8 pm

January 11 7 pm

I was obsessively charting train times and researching hotels and trying to plan childcare and meal plan and get everything ready and it was NUTS. Meanwhile I had to act completely nonchalant and normal around Harper which was not easy for me. AT ALL. So many secret excited tears! So many hushed conversations with Jimmy!

January 8 passed and then January 9 and then it was the morning of January 10. Jimmy and I honestly figured that for whatever reason the tickets hadn’t worked out and my friend hadn’t heard anything and she was just as panicked as I was. HA!

Wednesday morning I was at Target with Cora when I received a text from my friend. It said: “Good morning. Feel like running on up to Manhattan this evening? 8pm show. Hamilton. I hear it’s pretty good.”

HOLY SH*!

Yep. That was my response. I basically started crying in the middle of Target because I was so excited to be able to make Harper’s number one wish come true. I drove home and started packing like a crazy person. I booked Amtrak tickets and a hotel and found someone who could take Cora. I had 2 hours until I had to leave. It was total chaos. HA!

I jumped in the car and went to school to get Harper. I had a big maniacal grin on my face and I was waving like a deranged person because I didn’t want her to think anything was wrong. A military kid thinks certain things automatically when someone gets her from school.

Sidenote: MY FREAKING PHONE DIED (thanks apple, yes i’ll take your $20 battery but i sure wish i would have known about it before this little trip!) before I told her but another teacher recorded me surprising her. Still waiting for him to email it to me!

Her response was incredible. Automatic tears and so many hugs.

Here she is in the car right after I told her:

 

I mean, is that not the SWEETEST thing you’ve ever seen? She kept saying THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!

We booked it to the train station and got on the 2:00 train to Penn Station.

 

On the train she was just so freaking happy. She listened to Hamilton all the way:

 

Once we got there we grabbed an Uber and checked into the hotel. I chose Hampton Inn Times Square North. The location is outstanding and the military family rate can’t be beat. $90 a night! We didn’t have a ton of time so we walked through Times Square and grabbed a slice of pizza.

 

Then we ran to Duane Reade to get a Sharpie for post-show autographs and went to Richard Rodgers Theatre to pick up our tickets at the box office.

 

Then we went to stand in the line to get in. Everyone was so excited and happy in the line and I ended up chatting with the lady behind us in line. She’s from Houston (where I was raised) and has FIVE DAUGHTERS. How crazy is that? Such a small world.

At this point Harper just kept saying “This feels like a dream. Mommy, does this feel like a dream to you?”

 

Once we got inside we LOST OUR MINDS at how good our seats were.

Then the show started an I cannot even tell you how amazing the entire experience was. My girl sat next to me silently mouthing every single word. I’m not exaggerating. She kept grabbing my arm and each time I looked at her I could see tears in her eyes and goosebumps on her arms. It was such a moving experience. And the show? MAGIC. As I knew it would be. Just something I will never ever forget. We definitely went through all of the tissues in my purse.

When the show was over we saw that it was 11 and that it might be best to just head back to the hotel vs. waiting outside of the stage door for autographs.

But when we walked out of the theatre we realized that we’d somehow beat almost everyone out of the show and that there wasn’t really anyone standing at the stage door. So of course we bellied up to the crowd divider. Literally straight across from the exit.

At this point my phone was dead AGAIN- can you tell this was a last minute trip and that I didn’t have much time to prepare? And I thought that I’d just have to not have photos but these sweet girls behind me (again from TX!!) had Harper get in their cast selfies and then they texted me the pics. How awesome is that?

This is Jevon McFerrin. He’s a standby for A.Ham and he was INCREDIBLE. Random factoid: His dad is Bobby McFerrin of Don’t Worry Be Happy fame. Kid was so charismatic and kind and genuine. He stopped and talked to Harper about her first Broadway show…and well I think her face says it all. I’ve never seen her smile like that.

This is James Monroe Iglehart. He played Lafayette/Jefferson. I can’t even tell y’all how amazing he was. He totally added his own flair and he was an absolute joy to watch. He’s best known for his Tony winning turn as the genie in Aladdin!

 

We realized as we fell asleep that the next morning was Alexander Hamilton’s birthday. Is that not the most serendipitous thing you’ve ever heard? I had no idea when I chose those three dates randomly!

I can’t put into words or even begin to describe how special it was to be able to orchestrate this moment for Harper . It was the most moving experience and neither one of us will ever forget it.

I feel like parenting (especially tweens/teens) can be so scary and confusing and messy and all over the place. I have no idea what I’m doing half the time and I just hope I’m doing more good than harm. To be able to experience this with her and connect with her in this way as possibly the best thing I’ll ever be able to do for her.

xoxo

Stephanie