When I wrote 35 for 35: Things I have learned in my 35 years last August, I was just beginning a new chapter in my life. Gone was the insecurity of my twenties (thank goodness), and I was coming out of an obsessive workaholic first half of my thirties that left me exhausted, it was time to take a breath and start a new chapter.

I feared that I would one day look back on my life and see the trappings of modern success and regret that I hadn’t embraced more adventure and lived with more meaning. Could life  really be best spent worried about the latest Social Media tool, playground politics and what’s coming on TV? I was running through the days, going through the motions, and that busyness was beginning to lead to an overwhelmingly depressing feeling of emptiness. It was time to wean myself from my steady diet of distractions.

Change is always just a little painful.  I was determined to give the idea living differently a shot. I needed to clear my head and breathe deeply. I revisited my lifelist and realized I was on a journey…

Less Twitter, more books with pages. Less TV, more gardening. Less senseless drama, more meaningful conversations. Less need to impress, more whimsy and adventure.

At the same time, I was building my next start up- Picha Global. I began reading stories of need. Stories of individuals who lack food, clean water and access to living saving medication. I thought I knew what struggling was, but my mind could not comprehend what conditions millions suffer with daily.

The heart wrenching fact is that the only difference between orphans around the world and my children is only where they were born. The injustice of it all wrecked me. Again, I was on a journey…

The thing about journeys is they are never quite done, until *poof* they are, and then you look back and see the turning points and say, “Aha! That was a great part of the journey. It all makes sense now.” To grow, you have to be open and change things, right? Change surroundings, circumstances, perspectives and so forth.

As luck would have it, I made room in my life and change landed in my lap.

In the middle of my really-early-onset-mid-life-crisis I was invited to travel to Ethiopia to see first hand the work that Food for the Hungry is doing for the poor and most vulnerable. Food for the Hungry does work in many continents from disaster relief to micro-enterprise. If I went to Ethiopia I would be spending time learning exactly how this Nonprofit group works with individuals in Ethiopia and how small (Small in terms of our Western budgets) donations completely transform lives across the world.

My cynicism about the emptiness of modern western life and my wrecked heart for orphans were, at once, answered by the invitation to go.

I said yes to the new journey

I said yes to telling the stories I see, to helping orphans and the most vulnerable children in Ethiopia be sponsored. It’s such a small amount of money that is needed to provide food, healthcare, education and more… a breathtakingly small amount.

I’m on a journey.

A journey to find more purpose.

A journey to share the overflowing grace I’ve been shown.

A journey to make the world just a little better.

I hope you will join me on this journey. I’ll share my thoughts, pictures and experiences here with you from the other side of the world in less than two months. I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m honored and I’m excited to embark on a project with real, and lasting, significance.

The secret to dressing well is keeping it simple. OK, actually that is just the secret to my style, but hey, let’s overgeneralize for effect. During the cold months my uniform is a black turtleneck sweater and jeans. I’ll wear the occasional skirt or dress for speaking engagements, meetings or Church. But most days I’m channeling the simple (boring) style that Steve Jobs was so fond of.

When Spring comes I toss aside my jeans and black turtlenecks and fall in love with dresses all over again. I think classic dresses are so wearable for everyday life and am asked often, “Alli, why are you so dressed up?” Dresses can be perfectly casual and easy to wear everyday and today is a perfect day to debunk two common myths about dresses. Ready? Let’s do it!

1) Dresses are expensive. I can’t just go buy a closet full of dresses!

Beautiful dresses can be super pricey and I’m learning to save up for a new well tailored dress and treat myself each Summer. As long as I can keep the boys’ sticky ice cream covered fingers from using the skirt as a napkin, they will last forever. But buying dresses doesn’t have to break the budget.

I first fell in love with dresses when I lived in Narragansett, RI. Across the bridge on Newport Island was where I learned that thrift stores were treasure boxes. I found everything from Yves Saint Laurent to the Gap. When we lived outside Miami I was obsessed with finding Lily Pulitzer dresses at my local Goodwill. Even here in Nashville, I can almost always find cute dresses that someone bought and decided to give away. Sure, I smell like mothballs after I shop, but I leave with an armload of dresses and never pay more than 5$ each. I keep planning on getting some of my favorite dresses made in multiple fabrics, but life keeps getting in the way. One day…

2) I’m too active to wear dresses. I would ruin them with stains or flash people all day long. And who would have them dry cleaned all the time?

Ok, I may get raked over the coals for this one, but I never dry clean. I wash everything in those mesh lingerie bags in my washer. I never ever ever ever put any dresses in the dryer, I’m not that crazy. So far, I’ve never ruined a dress by washing it.

I understand being worried about ruining dresses. That is where the joy of thrifting comes in. When you buy your dress for $3, you never worry about it. I wear expensive dresses that I picked up for a few dollars everywhere. It’s way fun.

You know how little girls wear bloomers under their dresses? That inspired me to wear dresses in a more functional way. I almost never wear a dress without some bike shorts or shorts I bought when I was shopping for the workouts I was going to start doing. (yeah, let’s not talk about that…) If I need to do a cartwheel, climb a tree or change a tire- I won’t flash anyone because I’m wearing shorts. Now sure, I don’t do any of those things, but if I needed to, I’m prepared.

Below are some of my favorite dresses I have my eye on. I’m already picturing them being worm while doing cartwheels and changing a tire. Enjoy!

What does my family need?

Adventure

A good book, a sunset, a delicious meal.  Our days are filled with magic moments that take us away from the everyday grind.

I’m learning that I need to make more room in my life for these moments.

Lately I’ve been scaling back and spending time daydreaming. For me, daydreaming is essential to creativity.

Recently I’ve been imagining packing up the family and going on a family adventure. Our family vacation would be  spending a year on a tropical island, in a home nestled in the trees. Now that is something to remember!

Can you tell I’m inspired by Swiss Family Robinson?

The boys could have a tree-wing dedicated to a various boy interests. Archery, epic jungle spit ball and lots of wild boy stuff.  That staircase? Would be the perfect place for one brother escape when the brothers get too loud up high.

What else does the Swiss Family Worthington tree house hold?

Lots and lots of awesome. Come browse my daydream and see what you’ll be inspired to dream about. Enjoy!

Treehouse library

A huge library! You can't be removed from civilization and not have stacks and stacks of books to snuggle up and read together.

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And of course, we’ll have baby sloths.

Photo of tree-house at dusk image courtesy NYT. Tree-house sphere image courtesy Mark Mahaney.

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Let Them Run

Things Moms Don’t Say

Family Gardens Teach More Than You Think They Do

I know they will fall. I know they will lose control. I know they are compelled to test every limit put on them.

Gravity. Inertia. Parent’s instructions. Common sense. All must be tested.

As a mother, I decided to stop flapping my arms and screaming, “WHY AREN’T YOU LISTENING TO ME?”

The answers all say the same thing, “Because I can’t help myself yet. I have to do this.”

So I watch.

I watch them run until they fall.

I watch them bypass instructions and mess up their plans until I step in and put the pieces back together.

I’m no different than those boys.

I bet you aren’t either.

Why do we let inertia take over until we collapse under the weight of it all?

Because sometimes we just can’t help ourselves.

I know sometimes I can’t.

And that’s OK.

It’s part of the journey.

It’s part of growth.

Here’s to all the people who patiently watch others run and stumble and love them enough to help them put the pieces back together.

Mother’s Day is coming up soon. Every year I hear stories of the glorious Mother’s Day celebrations in other ladies’ homes. Not that I’m jealous, but seriously, it seems like a lot of y’all moms get everything from breakfast in bed, to  parades and statues celebrating all the great things you have achieved over the last year. In my house Mother’s Day is a day where a guest would notice many versions of this directive (usually said in a loud voice) “Hey, leave Mom alone. It’s Mother’s Day. She is supposed to take the day off.”

My husband usually gives me a love letter and the boys scribble their names on cards. We have never placed a high value on big gifts in our house, mostly because big gifts break the budget. Instead of asking my husband to save up and buy a gift this year, why not make my own fantasy Mother’s Day Gift Guide?

Men have fantasy football leagues. Thanks to my addiction to Pinterest, I’m making my own fantasy gift guide.

When you live with small children, you quickly hear yourself say things that just. don’t. make. sense. Things like “You can’t take your ukulele in the bathtub.”

Every mom has her own repertoire of crazy quotes, but do we all have things we just don’t say?

Do you ever say this…?

What about this?

The more we share our lives as parents, the more we realize that our lives are so similar. Before the Internet, I would have seen my son watering my flowers and felt like I was the. only. mom. who had boys with a fondness for dropping trow. Now, I laugh while I strategically place the frame over any delicate parts.

I posted the picture on Instagram and so many parents, aunts and uncles are leaving notes that are hilarious. You can see them all here.

My favorite comment was from kellysahm “My son peed off the steps at church.”

Awesome!

Today I was lucky enough to hear Carlos speak at KillerTribes. He shared advice and lessons on how we (as individual people) are our platform. As a woman with a media company, it makes perfect sense.

As I drove home I kept thinking that the lessons actually scale well outside the business world and digital world.

I’m raising future men. I want them to be mindful, constantly examine their motives, work their butts off, and love their fellow man.

Whatever their work will be, whatever their platforms bring them, I want them to be thoughtful about how they go about life.

The part of his talk that wrecked me, and served as a reminder of how I need to raise my boys, was a video. Carlos shared a video that left me sitting in a room full of people doing my ugly cry. He was shooting some B-roll on a cold Atlanta day when a homeless man named Danny walked up and asked him to keep singing.

Before I was able to share this with my 13yr old, I had to be sure not to bust out the blubbering ugly cry. (The boys can’t handle it when I cry, even when it’s a happy cry. What’s with that?)

How do we raise our kids to be the best they can be? We surround them and remind them constantly of what really matters in life.

Danny reminded me today.

You may have have seen the “I don’t always” photos floating around the Internet. My favorite is here and I have a huge collection on Pinterest of silly jokes, memes and bad puns. Be warned, you will lose time you can never get back if you check it out. But, you will chuckle, so that’s a bonus. :)

Living with kids is the perfect inspiration to join the “I don’t always” game. From yesterday-

Who can relate? :)

The things I hear myself say…

What is the craziest thing you had to say lately?