Remember at the beginning of the year when I said we would decorate a room a month in our new home? Welp. Here we are. Month nine. And we've just now completed our second room. 

It's not for lack of trying! We've started some small projects in the boys's rooms, but we've not seen those through yet. And we've done some work in the family room and laundry, but again, life. 

So, in order to feel slightly more accomplished, we decided to tackle the half bath. Let's take care of the smallest room first to feel like we're getting somewhere! 

Our style definitely tends toward traditional, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't love a good farmhouse accent. We can't use it throughout the whole house - we have a lot of oak and dark counters in the kitchen, and it would feel out of place. But for places like the foyer and bathroom, we thought we could bring in a few pieces. 

Before - plain walls. The biggest obstacle to overcome here is the light above the toilet (which, honestly, is just kind of a weird spot to have a light fixture in my humble opinion). I loved the dark mirror in there, so we knew we needed to pull in at least some black in the accents. And I knew I wanted a little bit of decorative and functional shelving. So to Pinterest I went! 

I found a TON of cute bathroom signs that I totally plan to use for our upstairs bathrooms, but none of them seemed appropriate for this one. So we opted for decorative wall hangings instead. These guys were only $20.99 on Amazon, and they had rave reviews! I wasn't even intending to add the little strand of lights to them, but when my husband hung them, he put them in, and I really do LOVE them! 

For shelves, we wanted something neat and simple that tied our mason jars into the dark mirror, so we opted for these two.  Again, at $23.99, they certainly didn't break the bank, and they'd be easy enough to change later if we decided to do something different over the toilet and light fixture. These two changes seem small, but I feel like they made our bathroom a little cozier and added some depth to an otherwise static space. 

I also just really love a good before and after picture. :) What are you updating right now in your home? 

Everybody has a story (and why we need to value that more)

When I was teaching high school English and journalism, my favorite assignment was based around the notion that everybody has a story. The idea was inspired by CBS reporter Steve Hartman who used to pick a random city (via dart and map). He'd fly to the city, find the first payphone and phone book he could, choose a random name, and interview whoever answered the phone. Because the whole point was everybody has a story. Whether it was a retiree or a four-year-old, he always found the most heartfelt stories to share, and I found them endearing. 

For my students, we modernized it (because who could locate a payphone and phone book these days?!) and made it slightly safer - choose someone you know - but not well - and interview him or her. Sometimes my students listened and would find someone random - their mail person, the kid who sat behind them in a different class, a bus driver. Most of the time, they chose someone closer to them - a cousin, friend, coworker. But even when they went in with a preconceived idea of what they would write about, they often came out with a totally different story. THAT was my favorite - when they dug a little deeper and got a better story than they originally intended to tell. 

Because everybody has a story. And a really good one at that. 

My love of storytelling started when I was really young. In fourth grade, I started a newsletter about our family. I found one recently, and the stories in it were about my uncles cat and dog, my new haircut (breaking news: I GOT BANGS!), and what we were doing in my class at school. It wasn't groundbreaking, earth shattering reporting, but it was fun, and I liked finding stories (even when, super selfishly, they were about me). 

But that love of storytelling never went away. In high school, I took creative writing. I LOVED it, but I never thrived there. And I couldn't figure out why, because I LOVED stories. 

And then in college, I started writing for The Observer, the conjoined Saint Mary's and Notre Dame student newspaper. I went on to become the Saint Mary's editor in my junior and senior year, and the obsession magnified 15-fold. I'd found my niche. I was a storyteller, just of the non-fiction variety. 

As a teacher, I loved reading the work of my students. Whether we were editing newspaper articles, putting together research papers, or working on personal narratives, I LOVED what my kids wrote. I MISSED those stories when I started staying home, and although I began to document the stories of my children, I knew what was missing was hearing other people's stories. 

Gratefully, I still get to help people tell their stories - this time through jewelry, and selfishly, I love hearing those stories. It's my passion and part of my purpose. But I digress, and I appreciate you sticking to this diatribe this long. 

But it all comes down to this: valuing other people and their stories is what I truly believe is going to change the world. 

Yep, I said it. And I'm sure some of you out there are giving me big eye rolls right about now. But it's so darn true. 

When we listen to each other's stories and learn more about the people in our lives, we grow to understand them. We gain empathy. We gain perspective through their experiences. We might even gain an appreciation for someone and what she's been through. This still doesn't mean you have to want to spend time with every single person you come into contact with (Lord knows there are some personalities that just don't jive!). BUT, it does mean that we might try harder to be a little kinder or extend a polite hello or just give a damn about someone other than ourselves for a minute. 

Every single one of us has a story. We're not ranking them. We're not in competition for the best or worst or most triumphant or saddest. They. All. Matter. Every person. Every story. And if we would take the time, really take the time, to listen to one another, I really think this world has a shot at being a better place.