Our house is being remodeled right now. My gorgeous dark hardwood floors that I love walking barefoot on are crisscrossed with dusty white footprints (yaaaaaaay drywall dust) from where myself, the dogs, and the contractors have been up and down the stairs and then around the house.  There is laundry all over the main floor family room, from my frenetic “quick get the laundry done while you can” marathon this weekend before the contractors came back on Monday morning and got started again. Scruffy doesn’t begin to describe the clutter and mess and general chaos that is our house right now.

Life is Scruffy. And Chaotic. And Pretty Damn Great.

Theres a big ass pile of cardboard boxes in the dining room that I threw in there while I was putting together the storage racks that amazon delivered this weekend, but didn’t want to take all the way out to recycling while I was working on assembling them, power drill in one hand, glass of red wine in the other. (By the way, let’s have a conversation on how to feel like a bad ass)

My “office” so to speak today was spread out over the kitchen island. My bag from being at the pool yesterday is still by the foot of the stairs, and the grass is about three days past needing a mow.

This is life at it’s most real. Rather than stress out about the mess, (and I mean dirty, gritty, dusty, construction zone level mess), I’m embracing it.

I’m doing my best to ignore the chaos and embrace this crazy chapter of my life.

Will I stop having people over because of the chaos? Hell no. I have a shoot here on Friday, and a long time friend from Portland is coming to visit this weekend.

To boot, our house was broken into last night, which we discovered at 10:45 after coming home from a wonderful and unexpected evening with a friend. (lookin’ at you here Charlie)

This is life at it’s most real. Rather than stress out about the mess, (and I mean dirty, gritty, dusty, construction zone level mess), I’m embracing it.

I’m actually celebrating it

I’m still getting blog posts done (hi, it’s me, waving from the couch while Big Bang rerun’s play in the background at 11 pm on a Tuesday night), I’m juggling the never ending list of house hold to-do’s, orchestrating the changing of all the locks and adding of new to the doors (thank you, a$$hole that broke in last night (and somehow forgot to steal anything) for prompting that change)

But for reals, who breaks into a house and doesn’t take anything? Y’all ever seen the Dane Cook sketch? If not, watch this… . As soon as I realized that nothing was missing, it immediately started playing in my head. Because that’s how my brain works after a couple of Kentucky’s finest apple pie cocktails work.

This is my life at the scruffiest.

Am I going to not invite friends over because of it?  That’s a whole lotta NOPE.  Of course I am.  Are we still going to BBQ, and have people over while the construction has what feels like my whole damn house torn apart? YUP.  Do I care that my house isn’t clean? Kinda. Is there anything that I can do to change it right now? Not without feeling like I’m repeatedly smashing my thumb with a hammer.

This afternoon, as I was taking a break from dealing with unhappy clients, a general contractor who apparently delights in keeping his head firmly up his, well, you get the picture, and still meet the deadlines I have in my own business, I saw this post from Robin Shreeves. In Praise of Scruffy Hospitality .

The title intrigued me.

[bctt tweet=”Life is messy. Don’t miss out in the wonderful, focusing on the scruff. #columbusohio #cookeatexplore” username=”cookeatexplore”]

I read that, which you can read by clicking on the link above, which also lead me to the blog post that she referenced. (A blog post written by Jack King, the voice behind knoxpriest.com, which you can read by clicking right HERE)

Both resonated deeply with me. It’s so easy, especially in a new city where most people who come over are coming for the first time, to get stuck in the loop of we-have-to-clean-like-crazy-becuase-people-are-coming-over loop.

But here’s the thing. Who doesn’t have a pile of laundry SOMEWHERE in thier home? Who doesn’t have a coffee cup sitting with the last dregs of that days (or three days ago’s, whatever) coffee in it?  Or tooth paste splatters on a mirror?

This is life. And it’s messy. And it’s wonderful. And it’s real.

So let’s do it. Let’s throw an impromptu Wednesday night dinner party. Come as you are. Come be yourself, and let’s kick up our feet, pass a bottle of wine, laugh, cry, and watch the fire flies twinkle and flash at us, but most of all, come just be.

What is scruffy hospitality?

On his blog, Father Jack defines scruffy hospitality this way:

Scruffy hospitality means you’re not waiting for everything in your house to be in order before you host and serve friends in your home. Scruffy hospitality means you hunger more for good conversation and serving a simple meal of what you have, not what you don’t have. Scruffy hospitality means you’re more interested in quality conversation than the impression your home or lawn makes. If we only share meals with friends when we’re excellent, we aren’t truly sharing life together.

He encourages people not to allow an unfinished to-do list to stop us from opening our homes to friends and family.

I agree, but here’s the problem. It’s hard to let go of the belief that our homes need to be picture-perfect — or maybe I should say “Pinterest-perfect” — before we can welcome guests. But the idea that we must make our home look un-lived in before having people over stops so many of us from sharing life together. –Robin Shreeves. In Praise of Scruffy Hospitality .

Want to work with me? Hello@cookeatexplore.com