You know that old adage “The days are long, but the years are short”? I could not agree more. This feels like it’s been the theme for my life lately. As exciting and amazing as the past month has been (and the few months before this), the days have been long and hard and exhausting. But suddenly, we’re almost halfway through the year, and I have to look around and take a deep breath and reflect once again.

Cultivating Gratitude

True story: I just typed “grititude” instead of “gratitude.” I’m so glad that gratitude isn’t easy and smooth, but gritty instead. It’s so much more precious when we have to fight for it. More on this in the “In Case You Missed It” section below.

Baby Bergman! This has been at the top of my gratitude list for 3 months now, but I’m so thankful that I can finally share it with the world and not have to keep it a secret anymore.

Moving into our new home and all the difficult, fun, worthwhile work that comes along with it.

A community of loved ones who graciously and sacrificially helped us paint hundreds of feet of trim. Many hands really do make light work.

My mom was just one of our many helpers, but she literally put about 20 hours of work into our house during Memorial Day weekend. The woman is tireless, and I admire how much she loves to be around and help her kids.

SUMMER. I am dying to break out the maxi dresses and flowy skirts. Adios, jeans. I don’t want to see you again until September.

Sharing Love

Travel: You’re going to have serious wanderlust after you see Daisy’s stunning pictures of Milford Sound in New Zealand.

Simple Living: Rich living is not about material wealth. I loved the simplicity of Anna’s ways to live rich (especially the one about ordering dessert—yep, always worth it).

Finances: Financial lessons are some of the toughest ones to learn. Here are 10 lessons you don’t need to learn the hard way.

Food: Brownies + cream cheese + Biscoff. These brownies lack for nothing.

Relationships: Joy’s husband is a total junk-food-gorging enabler, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her post because my husband is 100% the same way.

Blogging: Kate shared 10 things that are in her blogging toolkit. What’s an essential tool in yours?

Wild Card: I know summer is a time to be outside, but we all know there’s no bad time for a good Netflix binge. I can’t wait to check out some of these little Netflix gems.