Welcome to Time Spent Home

Our First Home

The first “home” my husband and I ever had was a room at Homewood Suites in northern San Antonio. We were young, newly married, and he was going through his first active duty training as a newly commissioned officer. We had left our hometown in upstate New York to start our new life together.

We brought our own bedding and quilts to make it feel more like home, and for my birthday, Andy spent time picking out small fall decorations he knew would help make our hotel life a little cozier. Those tiny gifts, a pumpkin, a candle, and a pretty wax melter, became the foundation of what “home” has meant to us ever since.

After a few months, his training ended, and we finally moved into our first real house. Nineteen years, several states, and many homes later, I still unwrap those first decorations every fall. Each one brings me back to our 22- and 23-year-old selves, doing our best to create comfort, beauty, and belonging wherever we landed.

Looking back, I realize it wasn’t the space that mattered, it was how we made it ours. That simple act of creating home, no matter where we were, has guided me ever since.

Why Home Matters

Home has always been my anchor. It’s the place where life slows down enough for me to notice what truly matters. Over the years, I’ve learned that home isn’t defined by the location or the four walls around you, it’s built through the small rituals that ground us: Sunday dinners, coffee on the porch, the routines and flow that make your home uniquely yours.

Every move, every season, every home we’ve lived in has taught me something new. I’ve learned how to adapt, how to rebuild, how to make space for joy even in chaos. Creating a home has always been my way of creating stability and peace.

What “Time Spent Home” Really Means

For me, Time Spent Home is both literal and the core of who I am. It’s the quiet acknowledgment that the time we spend within our own walls shapes us. It’s where we practice who we are becoming, as parents, partners, individuals.

It’s the meals, the messes, and the laughter. The sight of a clean kitchen after a delicious dinner, the hum of the dishwasher, the candle you light just because it feels right. These ordinary moments rarely make it to social media, but they’re the ones that hold our lives together.

Time Spent Home is about rediscovering the beauty in those small, overlooked things and learning to see home not as something to escape, but as something to celebrate.

What You’ll Find Here

This space is a blend of reflection and practicality. Part journal, part guidebook for the everyday.

You’ll find:

• Routines that make life smoother and more intentional

• Recipes that invite gathering and connection

• Reflections on motherhood, purpose, and presence

• Home ideas that bring warmth and order without perfectionism

My hope is that this becomes a gentle corner of the internet that reminds you that creating a meaningful home life isn’t about doing more, it’s about being present for what’s already here.

Stay Connected

That young couple in San Antonio couldn’t have known how much that small act of creating a home would shape the rest of their lives. But now, nearly two decades later, I see that “home” has always been the starting point for everything good that’s come since.

If you believe home is more than a place, that it’s a reflection of who you’re becoming, I’d love for you to stay awhile.
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