It’s hard to believe it’s been a little over 3 years since the world shut down. Three entire years since the global pandemic hit and has been steadily hanging on with clenched teeth. As I look back at those first few months in 2020, as we ease into year four of this thing, it’s crazy to think about all the ways the world has changed. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a pandemic sending the world into a frenzy, and a lockdown ..read more

This was the first year the Birmingham Museum had this event, and we’re hoping it’s a new staple in Birmingham! A NYE experience for the sophisticated – a night out to celebrate the new year in a new way. An evening of the unimaginable. A night of celebration at the Birmingham Museum of Art for the 2022 New Year’s Eve party. Reflect on the year while immersing yourself in the culture, excitement, and surprises that accompany a never-before-seen countdown to a new year ..read more

Today I’m sharing 8 common phrases in the workforce that you need to stop saying and what to say instead. Do this for increased success when talking to families/other professionals because you should never belittle your thoughts/ideas/self. Women especially fall to these phrases as a way to shrink themselves in an effort to be accepted in the corporate or professional worlds. Try these simple switches and see if you don’t feel more confident! Of course some of these examples are specific to behavior analysis, but think about examples from your own field and it will be easily replaced as the p ..read more

I don’t always do a “Word of the Year” but this year I felt compelled to do so. In planning and preparing goals for 2023, one word kept popping up: BALANCE. Words like nurture, confidence, and courage kept cropping up as well, but it always came back to balance. Balance (both noun and verb) is defined as follows: Noun: an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady; a condition in which different elements are equal or in the correct proportions ..read more

I absolutely love sending little notes in Emma’s lunchbox, after all, words of affirmation are my primary love language and I adore getting little notes myself. So when I found these Simplified lunchbox notes, I knew they were perfect to add a little “love mommy” on the back and pop in her lunch box. As she didn’t bring her lunch much in Kindergarten due to the free school lunches, they were few and far between ..read more

I read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World, by John Mark Comer, because after seeing it on Instagram, I was thoroughly intrigued. I’ve read several books in this concept and idea of slowing down and creating space for what matters most. I’ve done several studies on the spiritual disciplines, and one thing that tends to come back around often is the idea of hurriedness ..read more

My 2022 book list is here! Every year this is one of my favorite posts to put together. I love cataloguing what I’ve read, and this year Emma wanted me to create her a bookshelf too. She asked why I wasn’t adding the chapter books I was reading to her to my list, and you know what? I didn’t have a good answer, just that I usually don’t add kids books since I read at least one or two a day (sometimes the same ones) so I never thought to count them, but we added those too ..read more

Such exciting news! You can now purchase the Simplified Behavioral Health Care Binder & the digital download of each of the sections as well. This was a fun collaboration to create a product for families with kids who have special needs, and lots of documents to keep track of. We created each section to capture the needs of families moving from one appointment to another to be able to access everything they need, while maintaining their focus on what matters most – their child ..read more

Rounding out our podcast series, it seemed most appropriate to end with the best of the best podcasts that are faith based. I typically read physical copies of books as it pertains to faith, but there are some really great podcasts out there that approach things from a practical standpoint or are good companions to scripture or other books. These are my general go tos. The Bible Recap (with Tara Leigh Cobble) In the height of the pandemic, I had started the TBR podcast and it was a dream to go through during that time ..read more

Just like I tend to gravitate towards psychological thriller novels, podcasts are no exception. True crime – missing persons and serial kills particularly rather than excess gore – is fascinating to me. Part of the interest stems form a desire to understand the behavior of such individuals. So here are the best thriller & crime podcasts. UP AND VANISHED Season 1 of Up and Vanished explored the 2005 disappearance of beauty queen and high school teacher Tara Grinstead from her home in Ocilla, Georgia ..read more