Honoring the Season You are In
If you've been with me for awhile, you know that I often talk about seasons.
Not just the seasons outside my window… but the seasons of life.
And I wanted to share a little life update with you because I value bringing you along for the real journey — not just the polished parts.
Last fall, my husband and I purchased a small lot in Helena, Montana.
For years we’ve wrestled with the question of whether or not we should move someday. We truly love our life here in Louisville. We love our home, our routines, the familiarity, and we have family here too.
But we also have family in the Northwest… including grandchildren who are growing up far too quickly.
And eventually we realized that there may never be a “perfect” answer.
So we decided to move.
Not immediately, but we've set the wheels in motion and are moving toward this goal with intentional by setting little mini milestones for ourselves.
To begin with, we are making a more concerted effort to prepare our current home for that transition.
We’ve lived here for over ten years, and during that time we’ve slowly renovated much of it ourselves.
This summer, though, I decided to fully lean into it.
Right now we’re in the middle of a massive backyard overhaul.
We’ve removed invasive honeysuckles and endless periwinkle vines. We intend to build raised garden beds and carve out a small fire pit area. I've planted a woodland garden and we are working on stabilizing the hillsides we cut back to expand the usable space before erosion takes over. Slowly we are transforming the space into something that I hope will be beautiful, deeply usable and low maintenance. It's been a ton of work.
And honestly?
I’m loving it.
Every morning I wake up excited to work on it again.
There’s something deeply satisfying about the creativity of it all… the vision, the transformation, the physical work, watching beauty slowly emerge where there was once overwhelm.
But I’ll also be honest — it has pulled me away from work at JMB Living more than I expected.
I’ve made fewer videos.
I’ve stepped back from social media.
I've left these emails as the primary way I’ve continued sharing thoughts and inspiration with you.
For months, I felt this quiet internal tug telling me I need a different rhythm for the summer.
A little more space.
A little more slowness.
A little more permission to fully immerse myself in this season of creating, preparing, gardening, building, and simply living.
I'm so glad I leaned into my intuition and allowed myself to do this.
This wasn’t a light decision for me.
But in many ways, it feels like practicing exactly what I so often encourage others to do:
To honor the season you’re in.
To listen when your life is asking for a different pace.
To stop trying to do everything at once.
To make room for what matters most.
JMB Living isn’t going anywhere.
If anything, I think this season is deepening it.
Because the ideas I share here aren't theories to me. They’ve always come from actively trying to create a meaningful, intentional, beautiful life in the middle of the reality of a real life.
And right now, that looks like dirt under my fingernails, tired muscles, garden sketches, slower mornings, long project days, and a heart that feels excited about building a future that brings us closer to our grandchildren.
Thank you for being here through all of it.
Truly.
I’m incredibly grateful for this community and I look forward to continuing to share what I’m learning and living along the way — just in a slightly gentler rhythm for now.
And I hope that in sharing this it might cause you to assess where you are spending your time these days and if it makes sense to give yourself permission to honor your own season too.
💕 Julie
P.S. If you enjoy these emails, it's likely you may have a friend or two that would find them uplifting and encouraging as well. If so, I'll bet they would appreciate you forwarding one and letting them know what you like most about the type of things I share with you here.
P.P.S Speaking of sharing, my sister introduced me to the app Cook Shelf this weekend and I think it is going to be a big help in finding recipes from my favorite cookbooks based on what I have in my refrigerator and what I feel like whipping up in the kitchen during the week. It's definitely worth checking out - I wish I'd have found it year's ago.
I create a life that reflects my values, not someone else's timeline.
What We Loved This Week
www.jmbliving.com