Carrie Talbott Carrie Talbott

Jesus Follower | Word Stringer | Avocado Eater

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  • Attitude,  Christmas,  Humility,  Pride

    Christmas Eve Chaos: The One Where We Went to Church Dirty and Avoided Our Friends

    December 3, 2021 / 12 Comments

    The morning of Christmas Eve 2019 in NorCal started like any other: frosty, sparkly, and bulging with practical anticipation. But the way it ended messed with my mind pride in ways I didn’t think possible. Without fail, every Christmas Eve of my whole life consisted of the same things: nice clothes, hair-sprayed hair, and a calmness about the impending church service.  Cramming into as few cars as possible with aunts, uncles and grandparents, we drove the rainy or snowy roads to a large church and settled in. I was always happy to see people we knew, especially since we smelled great and looked put together.  We chose seats toward the…

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    Carrie Talbott

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    Dealing with Disappointment: 5 Things I Learned from a Rough Family Vacation Last Week

    August 5, 2022

    The Circus Next Door

    March 5, 2016

    Lord of the Flaws

    October 6, 2018
  • Cooking,  Gratitude,  Thanksgiving

    Hosting or Being Hosted: Helpful Ideas to Get Your Heart & Home Thanksgiving Ready

    November 19, 2021 / 19 Comments

    We interrupt our regularly scheduled program to bring you… your relatives.  Raise your hand if you’re prepped and organized for Thanksgiving. It’s okay… most people aren’t. You’ve got this though. You’re stronger than you think, you can juggle more than you realize, and I have some tips. Depending on your hosting situation, I’ve crafted three possible scenarios. And within each of those, I’m giving you different levels of being ready. Pick and choose according to your home, drunk uncles, and level of crazy that’s on its way. 1. They’re Only Coming for Dinner If you were raised in a casa where your parents regularly hosted Thanksgiving, good news! Having people…

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    Carrie Talbott

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    Thanksgiving Hacks to Keep You Grateful. And Sane.

    November 16, 2019

    Cooking Tips & Tricks from My Classically-Trained Le Cordon Bleu Neighbor Chef

    September 15, 2018

    It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Chaos: 4 Ways I Fight the Christmas Crazy

    December 14, 2019
  • Cooking,  Gifts,  Thanksgiving

    Starting the Fall Season with Non-Annoying Orange Autumn Items for All You Undercover Pumpkin Spice Fans

    October 22, 2021 / 6 Comments

    If you live in my area of SoCal, you know it doesn’t exactly feel like fall yet. With temps still bouncing into the 80s this week, I can barely wear shoes much less think about sipping hot cider. But autumn’s comin’! I gathered these items with my faithful readers in mind. (That’s you!) Most of us aren’t hard-core pumpkin spice fans, but most people love pumpkin something. Are you a low-key, undercover pumpkin spice fan? I get it. Do you occasionally dabble with pumpkin spice in the kitchen? Same here. Maybe you cringe at shirts that say  “Live, Laugh, Love Pumpkin Spice” or “My Blood Type is Pumpkin Spice” or…

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    Carrie Talbott

    You May Also Like

    Thanksgiving Hacks to Keep You Grateful. And Sane.

    November 16, 2019

    Cooking Tips & Tricks from My Classically-Trained Le Cordon Bleu Neighbor Chef

    September 15, 2018

    It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like Chaos: 4 Ways I Fight the Christmas Crazy

    December 14, 2019
  • Faith,  Grief,  Neighbors

    A Neighborhood Divided: Years of Friends, Months of Loss, Weeks of Grief

    September 24, 2021 / 44 Comments

    When we moved out of Baja and back to Cali, I wasn’t what you’d call… excited. Besides the whole experience feeling anti-climactic (we already lived in SoCal once), track houses aren’t really my jam. Apparently, the neighborhood cookie-cutter fairy put all of our floor plans on a blueprint and the creativity stopped after five. Five similar shapes, five coordinating paint schemes, and that was it.  Match-y match-y ain’t my style. Plus, I didn’t see a whole lot of ministry taking place between getting the mail and pulling in trashcans. I don’t mean to sound like a whiner. I’m truly grateful for Model #3 to call home and know millions around…

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    Carrie Talbott

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    Mexican Manna: Do You Know What You Need?

    April 11, 2020

    September Fire, Welcome Rain: The Disaster in SoCal This Week and How Your Family Can Help

    September 9, 2022

    In the Eye of the Swarm: Learning Patience While Waiting for Everything to Change

    October 15, 2016
  • Entertainment,  Humility,  Music

    Yellow Lights, Red Flags: Warning Signs That Help Keep Our Noisy Lives in Check

    August 20, 2021 / 12 Comments

    I ran a big fat yellow light this week. Actually, if you must know, it looked a tad orange. How a human brain can go back and forth that many times in a matter of 1.8 seconds is beyond me, but there I was: Slow down. Punch it.  I’m good. This isn’t good.  Cops? No cops.  I got this. I don’t got this.  Gahhh! Don’t judge. I’m guessing you’ve been in an orange light situation at some point, yes?  Those split-second decisions don’t exactly give me time to wrangle my best drawl, sing Jesus Take the Wheel and then wait for Him to move. Most of the time I’m relying…

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    Carrie Talbott

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    All I Want for Christmas This Year is a Book. And Star Wars Baby Yoda.

    December 12, 2020

    Fun Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

    May 1, 2020

    Thanksgiving Hacks to Keep You Grateful. And Sane.

    November 16, 2019
  • Insider Scoop,  Writing

    New News – Welcome to the Inside Scoop!

    June 18, 2021 / 30 Comments

    Since most lists have at least three points, here are mine: Uno, thank you for opening this new post. Whether you’re stretching your way to getting out of bed, busy making breakfast, lounging with your café, hustlin’ on a treadmill, waiting in a line, watching TV you’re not really into, or winding down before you zonk out, I am grateful you clicked here.  B, a writer friend reminded me that my email list has only been used for alerting you about new blog posts and that you might want to hear about other insider things going on with me. I’m not sure I’m that interesting, but I’m ready to change…

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    Carrie Talbott
  • Family-friendly Movies flicks films
    Entertainment,  Movies,  Parenting

    15 Favorite Family-Friendly Flicks to Watch at Home With the Kids This Weekend

    May 28, 2021 / 16 Comments

    There are tons of great animated movies that we adults can love right alongside the littles, but this is a list of our family’s favorite real-life flicks when our kids were in elementary and middle school. Depending on your strict meter, most of these are for ages 8/10 and up, and they’re all rated G or PG. Even when I got a movie recommendation from a friend, I still jumped on a review site to double-check how appropriate it was for our kids. My favorite is pluggedin.com from Focus on the Family, but crosswalk.com, movieguide.org and kids-in-mind.com are also great. In alphabetical order, so no one gets their feelings hurt……

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    Carrie Talbott

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    Simple Family Thanksgiving Ideas: Goodies & Gifts to Keep it Basic This Year

    November 14, 2020

    Fun Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

    May 1, 2020

    Yellow Lights, Red Flags: Warning Signs That Help Keep Our Noisy Lives in Check

    August 20, 2021
  • Clutter,  Humility,  Organizing,  Photos

    Quickly Saving Drowning Memories, One Wet Photo at a Time

    April 30, 2021 / 16 Comments

    Last November my teenagers bought me AirPods for my birthday. Spending so much of their own money to get me pieces of fancy technology made me feel loved. But I’m not a fancy girl. I have an old phone, our TV feels ridiculously large, I don’t own a watch (much less a smart one), and if it were up to me, Alexa would be kicked to the curb.  But I have a husband who loves that stuff and two teens who work and volunteer in tech. So of course they all want me to jump on the bandwagon, and AirPods were one way to get me there. On a sunny…

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    Carrie Talbott

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    8 Simple Things We Can All Declutter and Donate Before Spring Cleaning Our Homes This Year

    February 24, 2023

    Spring Decluttering with an Organizing Pro: 20 Items You Can Quickly Donate or Toss This Weekend

    May 13, 2022

    I Decluttered and Broke Up With 500 Things. You Can Do It Too!

    April 29, 2017
  • Perfect Piano Practice Perfection
    Courage,  Music,  Parenting

    When Daily Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect

    March 19, 2021 / 28 Comments

    Lesson #1 Around ten years old I got ushered to a piano bench by a concert pianist. She seemed kind, I was cluelessly optimistic, and my parents paid good money for the woman to deal with me for two years. If you don’t know my family, my father also earned the title of a concert pianist. So it would seem logical for the two of us to meet weekly in the formal living room for 30 minutes so he could enlighten me with everything he knew on our own piano. But my parents were well aware that teaching his [athletic, stubborn, distractable] daughter himself wouldn’t be the best idea. Instead,…

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    Carrie Talbott

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    Dear Stay-At-Home Mom: I Figured Out Your Problem

    October 1, 2016

    Two Cops & a Black Eye: Our Up Close & Personal Encounter with Physical Abuse

    February 4, 2022

    Carols In The Closet

    February 20, 2016
  • Courage,  Faith,  Humility

    When it’s Finally Time to Launch Your Business Idea. Small Starts are Better Than No Starts, Right?

    February 27, 2021 / 22 Comments

    Well? Are they? If you answered with a resounding, “Heck yeah! Go for it!” then you might not deal with issues of insecurity, perfectionism or strong aversions to failure. I always looked in awe at our neighbors in Baja who thought up an idea for a business, gathered a few supplies, and opened the following month. Or week! It made no sense to my cautious brain how you could be prepared that fast with a game plan toward success and a plan B to pivot if needed. But that’s coming from someone who cringes at the thought of failure, or being completely wrong, or launching something that isn’t ready. And…

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    Carrie Talbott

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    Two Cops & a Black Eye: Our Up Close & Personal Encounter with Physical Abuse

    February 4, 2022

    When You Stand to Teach & Sit Back Down Taught: Unexpected Lessons in the Trees

    April 1, 2022

    Baby Steps, Bob: How to Replace the Overwhelming Thing with the Next Thing

    September 23, 2022
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Welcome!

You’re here! And I’m Carrie. From full-time camp kid to unconventional missionary for 12 años in a 3rd-world country, I’m now a profesh organizer and writer who loves plants and guac. Life is short, so I’m smiling while I have all my teeth, but I still have issues. Always remember… when life hands you lemons, give them back. You deserve avocados.

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