• Coffee Dates,  Life

    Let’s Have Coffee | December 2023

    December 6, 2023

    Hey friends! I can’t believe it’s the last month of 2023 already. How did we get here?? I’m really thankful that you’re joining me for another coffee date. This one I’m writing by the light of the Christmas tree and it’s just the best. Today I’m linking up with Bella from Over the Teacups so don’t forget to go and check out her post as well. 🙂

    If we met for coffee, I would ask how your holiday season is going so far? Are you able to cherish the advent of what is to come or are you feeling more heaviness this year? It’s interesting how these seasons where we are meant to really feel God’s presence can sometimes feel like the opposite. We can feel further from God. If you are feeling this way I am praying that you are able to go to God with those feelings and that he meets you there.

    If we met for coffee, I’d share that this year has been such an interesting one for our family. We unexpectedly switched churches in the middle of the year and I can feel God stretching and growing my faith in such a different way than he ever has before. It feels both exciting and scary as I am digging deep into wha the Bible says about different topics, such as salvation and women. Have you ever done deep studies on these topics? If you have, let’s chat. I’d love to have someone to talk to about what I am learning.

    If we met for coffee, I would share that I’ve been thinking about other things that have changed this year as we are nearing the end. I’m both so thankful and still surprised that we actually have grown a lot in community this year. We joined a playgroup for homeschooling and have grown closer to the moms and kids in the group and I’m still thanking God for it. It has been a long process of finding a community where I have felt like I fit in. I know because of how hard of a journey it has been that there’s no way it’s not from God.

    If we met for coffee, I might as well continue our theme of things that have changed over this past year. The last thing that comes to mind that has changed is my vision for how and what I want to spend my time on when it comes to work. If you’ve been around for a while then you know that I have struggled for years to figure out what to pursue as far as working from home. I’m so thankful to finally have found something that I’m excited about but also that seems to be working. My homeschooling Youtube channel and Etsy shop has been really fun to work on throughout the year. I also have felt so much less pressure this year to finally “succeed” in work because I know that it is a long game and I’m happy to be sacrificing my job to stay home with my kids.

    If we met for coffee, I would say thank you so much for being here and for making it this far into my ramblings as to what I’m thankful for this year. While my blog is not something that I’ve spent a whole lot of time on this past year, I’m always thankful to have this home to come back to and I’m thankful for you for being here.

    You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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  • Coffee Dates,  Life

    Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 20

    December 7, 2020

    Hey friends! Loooong time, no talk. Sometimes when I’ve been gone this long without blogging, I just keep putting off writing a post for even longer because I feel like there’s too much to write about and I just don’t know where to start!

    But I’ve really missed this space so I’ve decided to just jump back in with a coffee date so we can catch up with each other. 🙂

    If we were having coffee, I would first want to know how you are?! We haven’t met for a coffee date since March (!), so I’d want to know all of the things that are going on with you now.

    If we were having coffee, I would share that Riley will be 5 months old in three days and Shane will be three years old in a month! They grow up way too fast! I am really enjoying this season with them so much though. I can’t believe how much Shane can understand and do now. I can’t wait to bake Christmas cookies with him soon. It’s going to be so much fun. We are also really enjoying having a baby in the house again. This time around has gone so much smoother, which means that we can fully enjoy the season of having a baby.

    If we were having coffee, I’d share that our Etsy shop has been doing really well lately and it’s been really fun to have that as a little side business to help with finances. Actually, speaking of finances I would also share that I started following Marissa’s Youtube channel this year and she has really inspired me take more control of our finances. I’m thinking about sharing more about this on the blog because it’s been really awesome and I’d love to share what I’ve learned.

    If we were having coffee, I would share that I’m feeling really excited to start blogging more often and have made an Instagram account specific to my blog. If you want to follow me over there you can click here or my name there is ashleyzinblog. I’m hoping to share more about our days over there soon.

    If we were having coffee, I would ask how you are feeling about Christmas this year. This year has been so odd and especially hard but I’m super excited for our first Christmas as a family of four. I’m just about done Christmas shopping too and I can’t wait to get everything in the mail and start wrapping presents!

    Thanks for spending some time with me and catching up!

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  • Coffee Dates,  Pregnancy

    Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 19

    March 10, 2020

    If we were having coffee, I would most likely share with you why I’ve been MIA last week. Our house got hit with some nasty colds. On Thursday I was completely out of commission and had a fever all day. I decided to go to an urgent care and make sure it wasn’t the flu (which it wasn’t thankfully). I started to feel better on Friday and then woke up on Saturday with another fever and started feeling more and more sick as the day went on. Shane had also started a fever either Friday or Saturday (it’s really all a blur now) and was super sick with me all day Saturday and Sunday. I think the fact that the coronavirus is going around at the same time as all of this really didn’t help with moral and I was really scared with how sick we were. Fortunately our fevers finally broke on Monday and we are on the mend now and feeling much better!

    If we were having coffee, I’d probably mention how scary it is to be sick while pregnant. I would feel bad about talking about being sick for so long, but would really want to process everything I felt with someone. I know that Tylenol is “technically” safe for pregnant women to take but I had to take it basically around the clock for three days to keep my fever down (plus when I was sick around 14 weeks for a day) and it does scare me a little bit. In the grand scheme of things I do realize though that everything will be okay and I am just so thankful that we are healthy now and not needing medicine anymore! 😅

    If we were having coffee, I would likely want to change the subject to something much more positive! I’d share that another reason I’ve been a little less active on the blog is because our Etsy shop is doing so well right now! We are so excited and thankful because it really came at a time where the extra money is very helpful. It has been so fun and satisfying working on Etsy lately.

    If we were having coffee, I would share about how I will be 22 weeks pregnant on Thursday and how I can’t believe how fast this pregnancy is going! It’s so true how they say it’s so different than your first. There is just so much less time to think about being pregnant because of taking care of your first baby and everything else in your life. I would share about how we are thinking about having Shane and the new baby share a room when the new baby is around 6-8 months old. Shane will have just turned 3 at that point. I would ask if you have any advice on room sharing with a baby and a toddler. I am hopeful but also a little nervous about it because Shane is a very light sleeper. We do have a third bedroom, but it is upstairs so we could move Shane up there if all else fails.

    If we were having coffee, I would share that I am starting to feel a little bit overwhelmed with all the things I want to get done in the house before the baby arrives. I’m trying to remind myself that things don’t need to be perfect but it’s so difficult to really believe that!

    If we were having coffee, I would ask how you’ve been this past month and apologize about how I’m sort of all over the place right now. That’s just how my brain is at the moment. I’d love to hear what is new with you though!

    Linking up with Lecy. Join us every second Tuesday for a coffee date!

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  • Coffee Dates

    Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 18

    February 11, 2020

    If we were having coffee, I would ask what your regular go to breakfast is. Over the past month or so Tommy and I have gotten really serious about our budget. One way we have committed to saving money was to stop buying so many options for breakfast, especially to stop buying cereal. Now we usually have either eggs or oatmeal and it’s helped our budget a ton but it also makes us feel a lot better to have a complete breakfast rather than some sugary cereal. I love hearing the mundane details of other people’s lives so I’m curious to hear what you eat for breakfast.

    If we were having coffee, I would probably end up talking about how it’s been so cloudy and rainy lately. I have been trying to make the best of this winter and honestly it has been a good winter especially since it has been such a warm winter here. But it’s so hard to stay motivated on days where it’s so cloudy or rainy. All I want to do is nap, haha! I’m so excited for warmer weather and being able to spend time outside again!

    If we were having coffee, I would mention that we find out in two weeks if baby is a boy or girl! I honestly can’t believe it’s so soon already! This pregnancy is flying by!! We’re going to have a baby in this house again before we know it! We have so much to do to get ready. Oh and since we were already talking about babies, I would likely mention that my sister-in-law is pregnant too! She’s due just one month after me! So much excitement!

    If we were having coffee, I would share that I have been having so much fun blogging more regularly. I’m not sure I have ever blogged this regularly before. Once I stopped putting pressure on myself to grow more quickly and stopped comparing myself to other bloggers it really became fun. Have you ever struggled with any of that? It’s paralyzed me for far too long and I’m so glad I was able to come to a place of just writing for me (and to connect with you too!).

    If we were having coffee, I would ask if you have any fun plans for Valentine’s Day or for the rest of the month. We don’t really do anything for Valentine’s Day but I’d love to hear what you have planned.

    If we were having coffee, if you are a stay-at-home mom I would ask if you were involved in any type of playgroup or MOPS or anything like that. I feel like I really should get involved with other moms and have more of a community, but I am very shy and it feels very intimidating to join something like that. Please tell me it’ll be worth it, lol!

    If we were having coffee, I would ask for prayers for discernment for my husband and I. We both have dreams of working from home but it takes a lot of work and time to build something like that. I’m excited for our future though. But we could use all the prayers we could get in this area. I’d also ask how I can be praying for you. I want to start a prayer journal and really focus more on praying for others.

    Linking up with Lecy. Join us every second Tuesday for a coffee date!

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  • Coffee Dates,  Faith,  Self Care

    Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 16

    May 15, 2019

    Long time, no talk friends! Welcome to my new (old) blog! I changed the name of it officially woohoo! This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time but was intimidated by it to be honest. I finally bit the bullet and decided to do it and I’m so glad I did!

    All of my content will basically be the same, I just wanted a name that I felt better suited what I was writing about. I plan to continue writing about motherhood, faith, and lifestyle. So let’s jump into today’s post shall we? Let’s have some coffee (or tea) and chat about how things have been going! It’s been too long!

    If we were having coffee, I would share with you that I’ve been deciding whether or not I even want to continue blogging. I’ve definitely decided to keep it around and just share when I feel like it instead of pressuring myself to blog because that makes it not so fun for me and then I just don’t do it. I’m hoping with a different attitude maybe I’ll want to show up more often but if not I decided that’s okay too.

    If we were having coffee, I’d tell you that Shane has been learning so much since his first birthday! He’s started walking and talking since then. It’s been so exciting! I really want to share a post soon about him and how much things have changed since his last update. He just turned 16 months old!

    If we were having coffee, I’d share with you how God has really been teaching me how important it is to have a thankful heart even when things are hard. Or not how you want them to be. For me it’s so easy to think about how I want things to be and get impatient that they aren’t like that yet. And then soon my attitude is not one of thanksgiving, it’s one of impatience and frustration. God has really been helping me to find the joy in this season. Even when things are hard. Or not the way that I would want them to be.

    If we were having coffee, I’d also share how I’m trying to find hobbies! Sounds random and funny almost. I realized the other day that I don’t really know what I like to do for fun. So I’ve been trying to think and try new things. I bought a book on how to make soap and am going to try that. It sounds super fun so I’m excited. I’m genuinely curious though, what do you like to do for fun??

    If we were having coffee, I’d want to know how you are really doing? What are you celebrating lately? How can I pray for you? Please share in the comments! 🙂

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  • Coffee Dates,  Etsy,  Life

    Let’s Have Coffee | Vol. 15

    February 26, 2019

    If we were having coffee, I’d probably be drinking this kind because I’ve been obsessed with Starbucks lately. I used to really like the Veranda blend but I find that it’s not strong enough for me anymore.

    If we were having coffee, I’d share that working on my Etsy shop with my husband has been so much fun and super rewarding. We are slowly adding products and even have a few collabs set up with other bloggers, which I am super excited about!

    If we were having coffee, I’d let you know that I am still waking up before my son (on most days) and it is still really awesome. I’ve been going through the She Reads Truth bible studies ever since their advent study last year and I’ve been really enjoying them. Have you ever done a She Reads Truth study?

    If we were having coffee, I’d give you an update on how some of my goals are coming along. This past month I’ve been doing a 30 day social media detox and it has been super life-giving. I will probably try to get a post up about that after it ends on March 6th. I’d also share that I have been slowly purging and organizing our house. I went through all of our clothes and gave away SO many. I now have next to nothing, which I actually really enjoy. It makes getting dressed much easier!

    If we were having coffee, I’d share that I am contemplating continuing on with Shane’s monthly updates. I know I want to continue taking his picture every month until he’s two. They are so fun to look back on and see how much he’s grown. I just also never really want to write those posts (although I would love to have them to look back on too) because it’s so hard for me to remember haha. What do you think? Keep going or maybe change to every three months?

    If we were having coffee, I’d ask what you were reading lately. I’ve been reading a bit more than normal but I have a hard time getting into a book. It’s always a lot easier when someone tells me it’s a great book before I start. 😉 I recently read All the Little Lights. I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars.

    And lastly, if we were having coffee, I’d of course want to know what is going on with you. What have you been up to??

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