A few years ago, I had the chance to write the weekly newsletter for Southern Weddings. It was a smattering of this and that: a combination of favorite wedding inspiration, happy thoughts and favorite things. I dug through old newsletters and found where I shared my favorite hot rollers (I’m nothing if not committed). Putting together this email each week was one of my favorite tasks, so l thought it might be fun to recreate with a KNW-spin over here on Fridays…
Welcome to the first edition of the Weekly Wins. The title of this regular feature is up for discussion. I welcome your suggestions below in the comments 😉
1. Pardon the quarantine-cliche, but you need to try this banana bread recipe. Pick up 3+ extra bananas with your next grocery order and ignore them for a few days. A few KNW-tweaks: wisk the bananas and sugar for 2-3 minutes before adding the remaining ingredients. I swear making ‘banana foam’ is the key to fluffy and smooth-tasting banana bread. I used Mel’s tips on halving the oil with unsweetened applesauce and cutting the sugar a bit because my bananas are ‘over-ripe’.
2. One of my best friends, Chandra, is a former teacher and lover of children’s literature. She is regularly shares book recommendations for things to add to our collection. She sent me this list of 20 children’s books to spark important discussions about race + tolerance and I promptly ordered five as we are actively working to diversify our home library. We also love this book (which helped push me to finally start this blog, but more on that next week).
3. Summer’s here, so I finally took the plunge and picked up this swimsuit that my best friend Emily swears is the best swimsuit she’s ever bought. I have tried it on and am happy to say she isn’t wrong. Full bottom coverage and thick (gingham) fabric with conveniently placed ruching – all important things when chasing toddlers in water-related environments.
4. I briefly mentioned the Enneagram quiz in my BFF Survey post and I can confirm that it won’t be the last time it comes up. As mentioned, I’m an 2w3 and Jen Hatmaker is doing a deep dive Enneagram podcast series; I’M. HERE. FOR. IT.
5. I’d be remiss if I didn’t wrap things up with a giant thank you to each and every person who helped make this corner of the internet go from wish to reality. It takes a village and bless all the people who are part of mine – Traci + Jessa helped bring this sweet little corner of the internet to life with their endless talents and creativity and willingness to make my crazy dreams a reality.
C, B, E, K, M, Kiwi and KPW – thank you for responding to the countless ‘what about this or that’ messages, for copy-editing, reviewing, testing and just generally being the best launch team in history.
And of course, deepest gratitudes to each and every one of you. Your excitement, encouragement, and support through this launch have meant the world. I’m just beside myself that this little corner of the internet is a real thing. See y’all next week.
xo,
KNW
PS: KPW frequently emails me links to articles that he thinks I need to read. He’s famous for sending me human-interest stories that may or may not make me to cry. I thought it’d be fun to give him a little corner within my corner to share something each week. Welcome to the first official “KPW PS”. Kicking things off with one of his most favorite pieces of all-time. Written by Wright Thompson. While our Wright is named after my grandfather, I can promise that sharing a name with one of our most favorite sports writers of all time isn’t a coincidence…
LOVE this!! AND I LOVE that you are a 2w3- ME TOO!!! (Should have figured with our mutual love for all things monogram and gingham… and well just all.the.things!) So Happy your first week was such a success!!
Ps: name idea- Favorite (Fave) Finds Friday? Still thinking of more ideas!! 😘
My mom’s banana bread recipe has always called for banana foam creation. It really is the best although her recipe involves some good old Crisco so I mix it up with a recipe that is lighter.
I love Matthew Paul Turner’s books and they are my current go-to’s for baby showers. When I Pray For You and When God Made The World have both made me cry and I don’t even have kids yet.
I’m an enneagram 6 and if you haven’t checked it out Annie F. Down’s podcast That Sounds Fun did an EnneaSummer series last year and she is going to do it again in July. Each episode focused on one of the numbers for example she would have a male 1 and a female 1 that often did not know each other and they would chat about their number.
Congrats on a good week and great launch! How about “Winchester Weekly”?
Love everything you share! I’ll be trying out the banana bread recipe this weekend. I have some ignored bananas begging to be used.
Happy Friday!
Love the Weekly Wins but going with the love of three letters, it should be Winchester’s Weekly Wins😁. Love the post and KPW PS! Such a good article!
Love the Weekly Wins but going with the love of three letters, it should be Winchester’s Weekly Wins😁. Love the post and KPW PS! Such a good article! I’m a 1w2
Thank you for sharing your heart with all of us and brightening our days! The article by Wright Thompson was excellent!!!!
Maybe Friday Favorites for a name. What I am loving this week. So glad you launched your blog!
So so glad you made a blog! I’ve been following you on instagram for a long time & love seeing your posts & front porch videos.
I’m so happy for your blog! I’ve enjoyed each post. Loved KPW’s story. It was definitely a tearjerker.
I’m obsessed with your blog!!! Also what enneagram test did you use?
I would love to hear about the test you used as well! Loving the blog!
I agree with Emily on the WWW post name. There is already a bunch of Mckinney bloggers with a Friday Favorites link up. x
ABSOLUTELY need this series to come to be magically delivered my inbox every week so I’m not late to the party again! And I have yet to take a single enneagram test (gasp)- I’d love for you to go into this further with a link for beginners! There are so many choices out there, I have analysis paralysis on where to start!
Love the blog and really love the PS article!! It made me cry but in a good way.
LOVE that we are the same Enneagram type – possibly one of the many reasons I was so drawn to you at The Cultivate Conference. Love the new blog x