• I know that change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and lots of little steps to make a big impact! I’m excited to see what the future holds. Today on the blog I’m sharing all of the ways I’m aiming to be a better ally and an example of when I acted racist without even realizing! But now I have learned and I’m going to be more watchful of my actions!
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    I know that change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time and lots of little steps to make a big impact! I’m excited to see what the future holds. Today on the blog I’m sharing all of the ways I’m aiming to be a better ally and an example of when I acted racist without even realizing! But now I have learned and I’m going to be more watchful of my actions!
  • This past week has had my head spinning and has bought up so many feelings. At first it bought up hope that so many other people were upset about George Floyd’s death. People’s feeds were filled with petitions to sign and places to donate. . Then it turned into confusion when a couple of businesses that I have supported and been inspired by have had their racism come out to light and it’s been shocking to see their nastiness come out and then have them they say they didn’t even realize they were doing anything wrong. . Then I did a little scroll down history and remembered that back in 2014 Eric Garner died at the hands of police officers and screamed, I can’t breathe. How has nothing changed since then? That is crazy to me. . Then my feed turned into a massive blending of people for Black Lives Matters and people wanting All Lives Matter and support for the police. This is when I tapped out for a bit. I can’t explain to someone again that Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean you don’t matter. If they don’t get it by now they aren’t going to get it. Also no one is saying all police officers are bad but clearly there is a problem and things need to change. . After reading more I understood why people were calling for police depts to be de-funded and I was hopeful that protests would lead to some change. I was hoping more influencers would continue to share articles about this. However that’s when a lot of people tapped out and started promoting Black owned small businesses and Black owned influencers. Don’t get me wrong I fully support sharing Black owned small businesses and influencers. But I think that’s a small piece of the pie when it comes to getting change to happen and I’m afraid people have gone off course a little bit. . Add to all the fact that I’m Latina and don’t really know where my place is. Technically I’m white, because Latina/Hispanic is an ethnicity not a race. But should I also be considered a person of color? I know people like me that consider themselves POC. I have also learned about conflict between the Latina and Black community and it makes me feel so disheartened. . Cont in comments
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    This past week has had my head spinning and has bought up so many feelings. At first it bought up hope that so many other people were upset about George Floyd’s death. People’s feeds were filled with petitions to sign and places to donate. . Then it turned into confusion when a couple of businesses that I have supported and been inspired by have had their racism come out to light and it’s been shocking to see their nastiness come out and then have them they say they didn’t even realize they were doing anything wrong. . Then I did a little scroll down history and remembered that back in 2014 Eric Garner died at the hands of police officers and screamed, I can’t breathe. How has nothing changed since then? That is crazy to me. . Then my feed turned into a massive blending of people for Black Lives Matters and people wanting All Lives Matter and support for the police. This is when I tapped out for a bit. I can’t explain to someone again that Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean you don’t matter. If they don’t get it by now they aren’t going to get it. Also no one is saying all police officers are bad but clearly there is a problem and things need to change. . After reading more I understood why people were calling for police depts to be de-funded and I was hopeful that protests would lead to some change. I was hoping more influencers would continue to share articles about this. However that’s when a lot of people tapped out and started promoting Black owned small businesses and Black owned influencers. Don’t get me wrong I fully support sharing Black owned small businesses and influencers. But I think that’s a small piece of the pie when it comes to getting change to happen and I’m afraid people have gone off course a little bit. . Add to all the fact that I’m Latina and don’t really know where my place is. Technically I’m white, because Latina/Hispanic is an ethnicity not a race. But should I also be considered a person of color? I know people like me that consider themselves POC. I have also learned about conflict between the Latina and Black community and it makes me feel so disheartened. . Cont in comments
  • Enough is enough. My head has been so heavy these last couple of days. My heart aches with everything that is going on. I know I’m not always going to say the right things. I will probably put my foot in my mouth, but that’s not going to stop me from learning more, sharing more and helping more! I vow to be a better ally!
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    Enough is enough. My head has been so heavy these last couple of days. My heart aches with everything that is going on. I know I’m not always going to say the right things. I will probably put my foot in my mouth, but that’s not going to stop me from learning more, sharing more and helping more! I vow to be a better ally!
  • Be Kind. For years now the last thing I tell my boys when they leave the house is to be kind. As a minority myself I know what it’s liked to be judged by my background and I would never want my boys to do that to someone else. Jon and I have tried very hard to make sure we are raising our boys to be open, kind, and a leader. Not a follower. We have always tried to be gender neutral at home, taught them about LGBT and introduced them to race relations. It was actually only recently that they even realized that people came in different colors. They didn’t see it before. We try and explain that the world is full of many different people that look many different ways but on the inside we are all the same. We should treat everyone how we want to be treated. For the most part they get it and don’t understand why anyone would want to be mean to someone that looks different. I know it will get harder as they get older, but I’m hoping that we have given them a good enough background so they have that little voice in their head that makes them do the right thing. But after this past week, I know I need to do more to help. . I have the privilege of looking white. Actually even the US census considers me to be white. My Hispanic background in their eyes is an ethnicity not a race. That has not stopped the constant jokes in school that my family must be in the drug business since we are Colombian or assumptions that my parents came from hut villages. I have heard it all and for the most part I have stood up to people when things have been said to me. What I have felt is only a fraction of what a black person must feel. I can’t imagine being black and having to tell my kids how to behave if a cop approaches them or feeling nervous to walk around a neighborhood by myself. I can’t get the words, “I CAN’T BREATH” out of my head. I’m sad, I’m angry, and honestly I can’t believe we are still dealing with things like this. It feels like we went back in time. . It took me a while to process my feelings and decide if I was going to say something on my feed. This is suppose to be a happy place where people can go for a dose of pretty, but enough is enough and I can’t stay silent.
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    Be Kind. For years now the last thing I tell my boys when they leave the house is to be kind. As a minority myself I know what it’s liked to be judged by my background and I would never want my boys to do that to someone else. Jon and I have tried very hard to make sure we are raising our boys to be open, kind, and a leader. Not a follower. We have always tried to be gender neutral at home, taught them about LGBT and introduced them to race relations. It was actually only recently that they even realized that people came in different colors. They didn’t see it before. We try and explain that the world is full of many different people that look many different ways but on the inside we are all the same. We should treat everyone how we want to be treated. For the most part they get it and don’t understand why anyone would want to be mean to someone that looks different. I know it will get harder as they get older, but I’m hoping that we have given them a good enough background so they have that little voice in their head that makes them do the right thing. But after this past week, I know I need to do more to help. . I have the privilege of looking white. Actually even the US census considers me to be white. My Hispanic background in their eyes is an ethnicity not a race. That has not stopped the constant jokes in school that my family must be in the drug business since we are Colombian or assumptions that my parents came from hut villages. I have heard it all and for the most part I have stood up to people when things have been said to me. What I have felt is only a fraction of what a black person must feel. I can’t imagine being black and having to tell my kids how to behave if a cop approaches them or feeling nervous to walk around a neighborhood by myself. I can’t get the words, “I CAN’T BREATH” out of my head. I’m sad, I’m angry, and honestly I can’t believe we are still dealing with things like this. It feels like we went back in time. . It took me a while to process my feelings and decide if I was going to say something on my feed. This is suppose to be a happy place where people can go for a dose of pretty, but enough is enough and I can’t stay silent.
  • It’s Saturday and we have another beautiful #chinoiseriechicstyle feature to brighten your day 💗 this week we are excited to have Ashley from @ashlanedesign as our #chinoiseriechicstyle guest host 💗 Ashley is a talented interior designer with a talent for sophisticated spaces with touches of chinoiserie 💗 be sure to check out Ashley’s work over at @ashlanedesign and give her a follow! . Thank you so much to Mary Ellen @murpheybeckerart for being last weeks guest host! . If you want a chance to be featured, please tag your photos with #chinoiseriechicstyle and follow all of the hosts: @craftingculture @camilapavone @paigeminear @dianarosespier @mimosalaneblog @katesmithinteriors @pmaristch @ohsolovingly @ashlanedesign . Enter Saturday through Thursday and each Saturday we'll share our favorite chinoiserie inspired space!
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    It’s Saturday and we have another beautiful #chinoiseriechicstyle feature to brighten your day 💗 this week we are excited to have Ashley from @ashlanedesign as our #chinoiseriechicstyle guest host 💗 Ashley is a talented interior designer with a talent for sophisticated spaces with touches of chinoiserie 💗 be sure to check out Ashley’s work over at @ashlanedesign and give her a follow! . Thank you so much to Mary Ellen @murpheybeckerart for being last weeks guest host! . If you want a chance to be featured, please tag your photos with #chinoiseriechicstyle and follow all of the hosts: @craftingculture @camilapavone @paigeminear @dianarosespier @mimosalaneblog @katesmithinteriors @pmaristch @ohsolovingly @ashlanedesign . Enter Saturday through Thursday and each Saturday we'll share our favorite chinoiserie inspired space!
  • We did it! Another work/school week down in the books! Luckily Jon has been feeling better and is even talking about going out fishing this weekend! He is still quarantining in our bedroom just in case his negative test was a false negative so, I don’t see fishing in his immediate future but he can dream about it. I’m exhausted and would just love all of the coffee at the moment. Currently hiding under the covers in the guest room awaiting someone to bring me breakfast in bed! It’s not happening I have just many little visitors telling me their brother is touching me, looking at me, etc. This mama must get up! Happy Friday!
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    We did it! Another work/school week down in the books! Luckily Jon has been feeling better and is even talking about going out fishing this weekend! He is still quarantining in our bedroom just in case his negative test was a false negative so, I don’t see fishing in his immediate future but he can dream about it. I’m exhausted and would just love all of the coffee at the moment. Currently hiding under the covers in the guest room awaiting someone to bring me breakfast in bed! It’s not happening I have just many little visitors telling me their brother is touching me, looking at me, etc. This mama must get up! Happy Friday!
  • It’s been a crazy couple of days around here! The central air unit in my parents house started leaking causing the ceiling to leak which was quite the excitement! Then poor Jon started feeling sick and had to go in for a covid test! He has been quarantined in our bedroom since! He said the test was super uncomfortable and it felt like they touched his brain! We have been waiting on his results and luckily they just came in today and he is negative! We are hoping it’s a true negative. He will have to get re-tested in a couple of days. So, he continues to stay quarantined. We are missing him like crazy even though he is just in the bedroom. Send good thoughts our way that he recovers quickly. Symptoms wise he has add a fever (100-101), some body aches but they are gone now, and a bad ear ache/sore throat. His ear ache is his main pain point so I’m hoping it’s an ear infection. Talk about a crazy start to the week! On a positive note I was able to breeze through Sweet Magnolia’s on Netflix all by myself and watched Love Birds as well. They are totally different but I loved both of them!
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    It’s been a crazy couple of days around here! The central air unit in my parents house started leaking causing the ceiling to leak which was quite the excitement! Then poor Jon started feeling sick and had to go in for a covid test! He has been quarantined in our bedroom since! He said the test was super uncomfortable and it felt like they touched his brain! We have been waiting on his results and luckily they just came in today and he is negative! We are hoping it’s a true negative. He will have to get re-tested in a couple of days. So, he continues to stay quarantined. We are missing him like crazy even though he is just in the bedroom. Send good thoughts our way that he recovers quickly. Symptoms wise he has add a fever (100-101), some body aches but they are gone now, and a bad ear ache/sore throat. His ear ache is his main pain point so I’m hoping it’s an ear infection. Talk about a crazy start to the week! On a positive note I was able to breeze through Sweet Magnolia’s on Netflix all by myself and watched Love Birds as well. They are totally different but I loved both of them!
  • Let’s get our work week on! Except we must swap fabric memo’s with zoom meetings for my kids and tackling long and short vowels in Kindergarten and poetry in 2nd grade! What are you learning/teaching this week? 📷 @erinkestenbaum
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    Let’s get our work week on! Except we must swap fabric memo’s with zoom meetings for my kids and tackling long and short vowels in Kindergarten and poetry in 2nd grade! What are you learning/teaching this week? 📷 @erinkestenbaum
  • Anyone else insanely jealous over the states that have already opened back up? Yesterday my stories were filled with people prepping for BBQs and guests. We are so not there yet in NY and it’s exhausting. We are all over it but we must charge on! So, today I’m going to try and enjoy being stuck at home and spent the day on the back patio with a good book, yummy snacks and games for the kids to play on the lawn.
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    Anyone else insanely jealous over the states that have already opened back up? Yesterday my stories were filled with people prepping for BBQs and guests. We are so not there yet in NY and it’s exhausting. We are all over it but we must charge on! So, today I’m going to try and enjoy being stuck at home and spent the day on the back patio with a good book, yummy snacks and games for the kids to play on the lawn.
  • Friday calls for a color pick me to get you thru that last day of the work week!!!! We can do this! I can’t believe Memorial Day weekend is here! So crazy! Things will look a whole lot different than they typically do our plans are alternating between the front porch and the back porch. I know! Wild! 📷 @erinkestenbaum
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    Friday calls for a color pick me to get you thru that last day of the work week!!!! We can do this! I can’t believe Memorial Day weekend is here! So crazy! Things will look a whole lot different than they typically do our plans are alternating between the front porch and the back porch. I know! Wild! 📷 @erinkestenbaum