Around the Table | Club BMG

Meet Me at the Table

The food doesn’t have to be homemade for the moment to matter.

The food brings us to the table. The people are what make us want to stay. ♥

🍂 The Fall Five

Choose five easy ideas from our September family bucket list and make a few memories before the season ends.

Pick your five →

Club BMG Member Spotlight

Meet the people who make this community feel like home. September’s spotlight is coming soon.

Save their seat →

Something to Do Together

Easy, inexpensive ideas that encourage people to actually interact—without requiring a Pinterest production.

Take the $5 Adventure →

Something to Do Together

Take the $5 Adventure

You don’t need reservations, matching outfits, a complicated craft, or a three-hour itinerary to make a memory together. Sometimes you just need five dollars and a ridiculous assignment.

This weekend, take the family on a $5 Adventure.

Give everyone a $5 budget and head somewhere you can wander around together—a dollar store, thrift shop, farmers market, convenience store, or anywhere else that fits your crew. Then give everyone the same mission.

Try one of these:

Find something that reminds you of another family member.
Find the funniest thing you can buy for $5.
Choose a snack nobody in the family has ever tried.
Find something you think another person would LOVE.
Find the weirdest thing you can possibly find.

Or let everyone secretly choose something for another person.

Set a time limit, split up if the kids are old enough, and meet back at the register.

Then comes the best part: Everybody has to explain their choice. That’s where the stories—and probably the teasing—begin. Take your treasures home, put some snacks on the table, and keep the fun going.

The Club BMG Rule

This isn’t about buying stuff. It’s about having a reason to wander around together, be silly, talk, and pay attention to each other.

And if spending $5 per person isn’t in the budget this weekend? Don’t spend anything.

Go to a thrift store and photograph your finds instead. Take a walk and find the strangest mailbox. Go to the library and each choose a book for someone else. Walk through your own neighborhood and have everyone find something they’ve never noticed before.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to make a really good memory.
Sometimes you just need to decide to go make one. 💗

Happy Friday and happy weekend!

🌸 This Month’s Challenge

Welcome Someone Home

This month, invite someone to your table.

A neighbor.

A friend.

Someone who’s been having a hard time.

Someone new at church.

Someone who simply needs to know they belong.

Hospitality doesn’t have to be fancy.

Sometimes it begins with… “Come on in.”

And have the coffee (or tea) ready! ☕💗

Easier Living

🎒 Back-to-School Shortcut: Make a “Launch Pad”

Even if you don’t have little ones at home anymore, this one works!

Choose ONE spot near the door for everything that needs to leave the house tomorrow—backpacks, work bags, returns, library books, packages, keys, whatever.

Before bed, ask:

“What needs to leave this house with me tomorrow?”

Put it there.

Morning You will be ridiculously grateful to Evening You. 😂

☀️ Don’t Pack Summer Away Yet!

We’re already seeing back-to-school everything, but summer isn’t over!

Pick one summer thing you haven’t done enough of and put it on the calendar before August disappears.

Ice cream after dinner.
Dinner outside.
A sunset drive.
Bare feet in the grass.
A trip to the farmers market.

It doesn’t need to be a vacation to count as summer. ❤️

A Little Care for the Caregiver

Protect Your Peace. Set the Pace. 💗

Moms—well, any parent or caregiver responsible for the morning routines—are really good at making sure everyone else has what they need.

Lunch packed? Check.

Backpack ready? Check.

Water bottle filled? Check.

Homework/Permission slip signed? Check.

But there’s one person who has a funny way of disappearing from that list.

You.

Protecting your peace doesn’t require a perfect morning routine or an extra hour you don’t have. Maybe it’s ten quiet minutes with your coffee before everyone wakes up. Maybe it’s music while you’re getting ready, a few minutes outside, a hot shower without someone yelling through the door, or simply deciding that everything does not have to be perfect before you leave the house.

Whatever helps you feel grounded, give yourself permission to protect a little of it. Not because everyone else needs you to be calm.

Because you need you, too.

And when you start the day from a place of peace instead of panic, something else often happens: the whole morning begins to feel a little different.

Protect your peace. Set the pace. 💗

A Permanent Club BMG Feature

Porch Light Moment

A little reminder to notice the ordinary moments while we’re living them.

Lissa sitting on the porch with a heart mug

Here’s what I’d share this week:

Please don’t wait for a special occasion
to make an ordinary day feel special.

Use the pretty dishes.

Light the candle on a Wednesday.

Call the person you’ve been thinking about.

Eat dinner on the porch.

Buy yourself the grocery-store flowers.

Take the picture.

Some of the memories we’ll treasure most aren’t going to announce themselves while they’re happening.

They’ll just look like Wednesday. ❤️

Family Fun

🍦 The $10 Memory Challenge

Give yourself a $10 budget and see how much fun you can create with someone you love.

Grab ice cream cones.
Buy sidewalk chalk and become five years old again.
Make a big batch of popcorn and have a backyard movie night.
Grab a deck of cards and somebody’s favorite snack.

The rule?

The memory matters more than what you spend.

🔁 Make an Old Memory NEW Again

Think of something your family used to do that quietly disappeared as everybody got older.

Friday pizza night? Sunday drives? Board games? Running through the sprinkler? Breakfast for dinner?

Pick ONE and bring it back—with the people who are part of your life now.

Traditions don’t have to stay frozen in time.
We get to make new versions of old memories. ❤️