Category: Life

One month ago almost exactly, my sweet little family and I packed up and headed across the pond to Ribeauville, France! My husband has family in this quaint little town and has been wanting to visit with me since we first met. Unfortunately, COVID caused the trip to be postponed in both 2020 and 2021, but we finally made it – and let me tell you, the wait was well worth it. Obviously two years ago we didn’t have little Wesley with us when we planned our initial trip, but bringing him along made the whole thing that much more special. He was happy as a clam the entire time, eating french baguettes and smiling at everyone he came in contact with. Honestly, I feel so blessed to have a little one who is so well adapted in different environments.

We left for our long journey around 3PM on Thursday, 7/09, and headed to the airport. I was sooo stressed about flying with Wes. Luckily, it wasn’t our first rodeo and he had already been on a few flights. I was still nervous though because none had been this long and none of them had been red-eyes. We boarded our flight at 9PM, said our prayers, and we were off! Wesley slept almost the whole entire time. I couldn’t believe it. I’m going to do a post soon on flying with an infant… I’m certainly not an expert but every little tip helps when you’re that mama.

It was 10AM in France when we landed and then the fun really began! We settled into the hotel we were staying in for night one and then ventured into town. We were absolutely exhausted but were committed to making it through to dinner time in order to combat the jet lag.

My first impression of Ribeauville was that it was absolutely beautiful and that it felt like a Disney scene. It was amazing to see that the people there truly live that way. Everything was clean. Most of the women wore dresses or skirts with fashionable shoes, even just while running errands around the town. Flower boxes were on every window overflowing with vibrant colors and fragrant blooms. It was really just perfect and lovely.

My photos absolutely did not capture the beauty of this little town at all.

My happy guy venturing out on Day 1! A side note – I absolutely LOVE my colugo compact travel stroller. I will do a review of it soon, but hands down it has been one of our very best purchases for traveling with Wes.

After this photo things did start to go downhill a bit. We were all so exhausted and the time change was difficult on Wes. We managed to make it to a wonderful dinner hosted by one of Tim’s cousins before heading back to the hotel for bed. Night one was tough on Wes with the time change, but luckily every night after was completely fine. He slept through the night on 6 of the 8 nights we were traveling – which was even better than the norm at home!

The next morning, we moved from the hotel to an AirBnB down the street as the rentals in Ribeauville typically run Saturday – Saturday. After a quick run to the marche, we were off to visit family. During our time in Ribeauville, we spent most of our time visiting with Tim’s family in their homes. It was a really great way to see the true Alsacean culture.

There were the most beautiful sunflower fields along the way scattered between huge farms. We couldn’t resist stopping for a quick photo while Wesley napped in the car.

I unfortunately didn’t take many photos during the meals inside of their homes, but it was absolutely lovely. They were so kind and welcoming. We loved our visits!

At the end of our first full day, we finished out with a meal at what became one of our favorite restaurants. We ended up staying there for almost 4 hours having wine, cheese, and dessert in true French fashion.

The next day started off in my absolute favorite way – with a cappuccino, pain au chocolate, and this little blue eyed lovebug.

I honestly wish that I could start every day like this!

After breakfast we headed out for an hour-long ride to meet some more family at a Ferme Auburge on the mountainside. It was basically a big farm to table meal that leans mirrors the traditional Alsacean culture. I wish that I had taken a photo of the food, but there was a lot going on! It was very meat heavy (which is not typically my favorite) but the wine was delicious and so was the bread. It was lovely to meet Tim’s extended family. They were so excited and greeted us so warmly, complete with tons of both American and French Flags!

They also surprised us by bringing a little Alsacean outfit to dress Wesley up in! LOL. They had one for his little cousin Charlie as well – so we had a lot of fun having a photo shoot of these two little cuties. I can see these pictures coming back to haunt them someday in the future! haha! They were so adorable.

Once we returned to town we went for an evening stroll and popped in some of the little gift shops. My sister-in-law, Jen, was taking a picture of the town and happened to capture the perfect moment between Tim & I. She didn’t even know that was us until we went through the photos later!

The next day was my favorite. It started off, once again, with a capuccino and pain au chocolate. I have been craving these since we returned home!

After strolling around for a bit, we headed to the marche to grab some food for a vineyard picnic.

We packed up some cheese, jam, baguettes, and fruit and drove a few miles down the road where we found a spot with the most breathtaking views to set up. It was so simple and spur of the moment, but it was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip.

Our final day in France was also Tim’s birthday! We celebrated in the morning with croissants and pastries before packing up and heading to our next destination…. Edinburgh, Scotland!

Our visit to Alsace was wonderful. I wish that this post did it justice, but it just does not at all. I already can’t wait to return someday.

Keep an eye out for part two of our trip!

xo,

Jaclyn

 After a five year blogger break – I am back and I am rejuvenated. I have always felt called to write and share my journey, but five years ago I was 22 years old and completely lost. I was going through a difficult time and instead of leaning into the community that I had created, I leaned way way out. I jumped ship and shut down my first blog and passion project, Always My Sunshine. I felt like nobody wanted to hear what I had to say, I felt like it didn’t matter, I felt like I couldn’t compare to the “successful” blogs that I always read on the internet. 

*sigh* how I wish I could go back and tell that girl that just because things weren’t perfect didn’t mean they weren’t successful.

Fastforward five years and I am happily married with the sweetest little boy that I could have ever imagined. I work full-time as a Fire Protection Engineer and am trying to navigate the whole working mom thing while being the very best mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend that I can be. 

This space will follow my journey through motherhood and life – the good, the bad, and the crazy. I want to create the happiest & healthiest possible life for me and my family – while maybe inspiring some of you along the way. Currently – things feel messy and overwhelming — so I thought maybe documenting my journey would encourage me and motivate me to find the balance that I crave. I know I can’t be the only mama that feels this way. 

Say hi! 

With love, 

Jaclyn 

Before I graduated college, I spent a lot of time researching and reading anything that I could get my hands on regarding my transition to the “real world.” I read some horror stories, some too good to be true stories, and everything in between. Now that I’ve been working full-time for one month, I thought it might be fun to share some of the things that I’ve learned, things that I’ve struggled with, and things that I love about being a young professional.

1. I think the best part of no longer being in college is that once you leave work for the day or week, you are done. There is no homework to do, no meetings, no clubs, etc. You can use your time exactly as you want to without feeling guilty that you’re slacking on some other commitment. This isn’t quite the case for me yet as I have spent the past month studying for an upcoming test, but I imagine that it will be great.

2. Sometimes you will feel like you have no idea what you are doing and that’s okay. I struggle with this on a daily basis. Sometimes at work I feel like a 5th grader would be more helpful than I am. I ask as many questions as I can and try to educate myself when I have downtime, but I still feel like I am behind. I constantly have to remind myself that most of my colleagues have been working the same type of job for years and years – so obviously they are more knowledgeable than I am! It’s easy to start feeling flustered and get in your own head about this type of thing. I’m hoping this resolves itself in time.

3. I have already lost touch with 95% of my college friends. Not completely, but we don’t catch up nearly as much as we used to. It’s very easy to get caught up in your day-to-day work routine and let relationships fall to the side. This can make you feel extremely lonely (especially if you are living in a new area). I think in the long run this will be a good thing though. It helps you determine who you are willing to put in the work to maintain a friendship with, and who is willing to do the same for you. As I get older, I would much rather have a few very close friends than tons of just okay friends.

4. This life is exactly what you make of it. That seems really deep, but I find myself thinking about it more and more lately. There is nobody else to blame if I am unhappy with my job, myself, or my life in general. You have to put in the effort to create the type of lifestyle that you want. It’s very easy to get stuck into a routine of going through the motions – getting up early, working all day, coming home to have dinner, laying on the couch until bed. Of course, sometimes this type of day is exactly what you need, but for me at least,  this doesn’t seem like living intentionally (one of my New Year Resolutions). I want to create healthy and fun lifestyle habits that I can carry over to my future family someday. I want to create a habit of doing at least one active thing each day and cooking dinner every night. These are two things that I have chosen to focus on for now, but I’m hoping to add more in the future once these things become the normal for me.

Overall this is probably the hardest adjustment I have ever gone through, and I would bet that is true for 99% of college graduates. It’s important to remember that everyone goes through it at some point and things will get better. I’m hoping to create a mini-series on this topic, so look out for more of my thoughts on the post-grad transition coming next month. 🙂

xo,

Jaclyn