Life – The Salty Exchange

The Life of a… Shari – Update

October 1, 2025by thesaltyexchangeLeave a Comment

Another year since my last blog post (slash) “annual update”, AND BONUS the Salty Exchange is officially restarting! Double bonus… it’s THE LIFE OF A SHOWGIRL release week!!!

As per normal, life has been pretty sweet with moments of salt. Our blog title couldn’t be more accurate – The Salty Exchange! I won’t sugar coat my update and I don’t want to give you a novel about my last year recap… the highlights: homeownership, toddler life, and a promotion.

Ultimately a lot has stayed the same with a few notable changes. Another year of homeownership which has resulted in a new furnace, multiple social gatherings, smart toilets, and an updated backyard. The list of things to do around the house really never ends and I’m still not mad at all about it! The house was a literal dream come true, even if it sounds a bit cheesy. I enjoyed figuring out tiny space living but having a larger place to make our own isn’t lost on me. I have had so many “pinch me” moments laced with gratitude and pride, a roof over our heads and I can’t wait to tell you more about our home and ways we’ve made it our own.

Next, is the toddler life update which is best described as simply a never ending test of our patience and simultaneously a constant string of heart melting moments. The sweet “I love you” and cute ways of saying things like “squad watch” instead of Sasquatch and the list goes on. Koralyn even planned her 3rd birthday with a unicorn themed celebration at the beach, more on that later. Every age brings a new set of challenges and blessings. We love this little “big” girl and she loves us all so well, even if listening is not her strongest trait at the moment.

Besides my toddler keeping me busy, hanging with the big kids, or planning our next trip… I’m working. Working a lot. My responsibilities and title changed in May and I’m managing meetings on a larger scale. It will mean a bit more travel for me which we all know I love even if it means more time away from family (which is the only downside). My promotion has set me on a pretty busy course but I can’t imagine not restarting the blog in the midst of the chaos, there is so much to say and so many more blogs to write.

There you go, the annual update. We are BACK!

Shari’s Ramblings & Question for YOU

July 9, 2024by thesaltyexchangeLeave a Comment

Hello dearest reader… can you tell I am up-to-date on my Bridgerton episodes. Not sure I should be proud of that but oh well.

This isn’t my first time in the past year popping on the blog to type out my thoughts, ramblings, etc. However, this is the first time publishing in awhile. You should see all the “drafts” we have (or have had) in the past year.

Although nothing is new, there are so many things that are happening. My little one is almost TWO. How? How does time go so fast but yet so slowly. I can honestly say I have enjoyed this past year so much. The new words, sentences, mobility, laughter, emotions, interests, obsession’s, and love that have surfaced from my toddler in the past months are amazing to experience and witness. She is an absolute sweetheart and I am honored to be her mama. TWO was always my favorite age with my nieces and nephews and now that my little girl is entering that age… I am SO EXCITED to see what this year brings and cannot wait to capture more memories as a family.

I am still processing that we are in the THICK of SUMMER! Like, what? Summer is such a sneaky thief in the Pacific Northwest. The mid-west/east coast has been on summer break since May, the west coast it’s only been since mid-June which was about 3 weeks ago. But the mid-west and east coast will start their back to school groaning in a week or two so NOW, now is the universal (really National) time for us all to just be on SUMMER MODE. I am HERE for it! With a heatwave cruising through town this week we have pulled out the water toys, and adorned our swimsuits several times since the fourth of July. For us, summer will fly by as August hits with a backpacking trip, visits with family, my travel for work, and then our family cruise to Alaska. I am not focusing on August though. I want to enjoy July. Celebrating K’s second birthday next week, my company summer picnic, and a few weekends of summertime peace. Ahh bliss.

Why come on the blog now? I don’t know. Because I felt like it. Because I want the blog to be a place I enjoy writing. I enjoy connecting with a few of you. Trust me, I know what to do. I know how to engage you. I know how to post and be authentic and charming in stories on Instagram. I know what topics you might be interested in. I know what my “favorite things” are that you might be intrigued by. I know what meals you might enjoy me sharing with you or my latest workout routine (ps. I own a treadmill now). But do you really want to see that? Do you really care about what I am doing when you have so much going on in your own life? That is my internal struggle. Because half the time I don’t want to know what other people are doing, I just want to focus on my job, my family, my life. I don’t want to get bogged down with tips and tricks from others or some unrealistic ideal that the latest influencer is trying to make relatable when there is NO WAY you’ll ever have the house, the family, the situation that they have. Comparison is unavoidable when we are glimpsing so accessibly into tiny sections of other people’s lives.

I say all that, yet, I am a hypocrite because I do enjoy scrolling on social media. I do enjoy the occasional recommendation on a good book, healthy recipe, or workout routine. Which is why I know you probably do too. Or maybe you struggle with it in the same way I do. Wanting to consume but also feeling like life is too short to live vicariously through others. I digress. I guess the point I am trying to make is that… I haven’t been avoiding The Salty Exchange Blog or Instagram for any particular reason other than feeling like you don’t need ANOTHER thing to digest. Or maybe it’s because I want you to enjoy coming here, to our little slice of the internet, as much as I do.

With that said, dear reader, friend, acquaintance… what do you want? Inquiring minds would like to know how you feel on this topic? How do you enjoy consuming blogs or Instagram posts/stories? What would you like to see here? Let me remind you, Kendall and I are normal mamas, wives, friends, sisters, and daughters just tryin’ to get a parking spot at Costco, not feel so overwhelmed with weekly meal planning, and mostly… love on our families in such a fleeting season.

Shari’s Thoughts on the Viral Video “Let’s Skip to the Good Part”

November 5, 2021by thesaltyexchangeLeave a Comment

There is a song clip I keep hearing a lot in Instagram reels and TikTok videos. It has some catchy music that plays and then the lyrics say, “let’s skip to the good part” and the melody keeps going. It’s a fun audio and for a while I thought it was clever and cute. I liked how at the crescendo of the music, it stops when the lyrics say, “let’s skip to the good part,” which would then always wrap up with an image of something epic. Whether it was a hike with an amazing picturesque view at the end or a mother’s baby bump then showing the actual adorable smiling baby. I enjoyed watching them but for some reason it didn’t sit well with me.

After thinking about it for a little while, I realized that my issue isn’t with the catchy tune and “good part” images. My issue is that this simple audio allows you to skip over the process it took to get to that epic moment. In life, we don’t just get to “skip to the good part” and why would we? We would miss all the milestones and experiences that shaped us along the way. For example when I am hiking, I often have to remind myself mid-hill climb when I am out-of-breath and wheezing that I am not just doing this for the view. I am also doing this to prove to myself that I am capable, fit, and willing to work hard. I remind myself I can do challenging things and I will be better for it. There will be a reward at the top and regardless of the view, the reward is the accomplishment of just simply getting there!

I feel very similar about life. There are so many hard experiences that end up with a good result in the end. Everything in life is about perspective but skipping to the good part isn’t what I want to see. I want to see the journey. Even on social media, I tend to follow the accounts of people who are real and show all aspects of the process, good, bad, and in-between. I want to see the late nights studying for that doctorate degree, I want to see the sweaty gym selfie before the health magazine photoshoot, and I want to see a messy house before seeing the clean and perfect one.

We can’t skip to the good part without acknowledging what all it took to get us there. That is a disservice to ourselves and the process. It’s a reminder that the process isn’t glamorous or fun all the time. The process is usually kind of boring… it may suck and we may wish we were doing anything else, but guess what the payoff is? The payoff is THE GOOD PART… the degree, the physical health, the clean house… they all had a ‘not-sexy’ process to get there, but man, did the process make it worth it in the end!

So let’s not skip to the good part, let’s see the process, celebrate the monotony along the way, and then appreciate the end result even more for it.