Dear July, How are you almost over already? Here we are three weeks in and I'm not even sure how that happened. Dear Essie Nail Polish, I have you in pretty much every color available. I picked up "Play Date" at Publix yesterday afternoon and it did not disappoint. It's the most perfect purple for summer. Dear Summer, I can't believe we're thinking about goodbye already. When I was working so much back in June, I was wishing you away so that I could see my people, but now that my life is under control I'm wishing we had more days on the calendar between now and the first day of school. Gone are your lazy days -- the squares on my calendar are filling up fast! Dear Hudson, HOW ARE YOU A WHOLE YEAR OLD?! Your birthday party was so much fun. Your mom is pretty amazing and she did a great ...
Like Mother, Like Daughter
I got this Barbie pool for Christmas one year when I was 5 or 6. It was from Santa Claus. I remember that we spent the night with my grandparents that Christmas Eve and it was waiting for me in front of their big fireplace. I loved celebrating the holidays in that house. I think there was a Ken doll and a Barbie in a purple swimsuit, too. While my parents were building the house they live in now, we lived in a tiny trailer next door to some friends. I mean tiny like as small as our RV, tiny. My sister and I shared a room and my parents bed took up the entire room they lived in. Our television sat on top of a chest of drawers in the living room and we didn't have the space for a Christmas tree that year. On the upside, we had cable television for the first time in my life and I adored ...
Birthday Journals
My girls are four and seven and I've only just realized that I've never shared our birthday journals with you. When I first found out that I was pregnant with Ella, I was home alone for a few days and so overwhelmed with the news. Josh was traveling and it would be several days before I could share the excitement with him in person. I remember getting into my bed that night and writing my baby a letter on our wedding stationery, five weeks into our pregnancy. Throughout the next nine months, we both wrote her many letters that are now safely tucked away in her baby book. The more I thought about how neat it would be for her to read those later in life, I thought about how much better it would be if she could read letters from other special people in her life, too. The birthday journal ...
Rewind: Independence Day
This year's 4th of July celebration looked a LOT different that last year's. As much fun as New York was over a holiday weekend, after the last few months I was thrilled to be at home surrounded by my people. We pretty much spent the entire weekend around the pool together and had such a great time. The guys played cards and I don't think the kids even got out of the water! July 4th is one of my favorite days of the year. I consider myself a pretty patriotic person and when you add food and family, what's not to love? Kamin ordered the cutest bathing suit earlier in the summer and didn't love the bottoms. Fortunately for me, I was a huge fan and bought a cute black top to go with them. It's kind of vintage looking, too, so it worked well. The high-waisted bottoms took some getting used ...
Letters
Dear Gap Socks, When Josh told me not to buy him socks for Father's Day, I couldn't resist. Fortunately he recognizes a good joke when he sees one and actually loves the socks. How can you resist a man in red pants and funky socks?! Dear Weekend, You weren't nearly long enough. We filled you with fun things and enjoyed every second, but we could have used a few extra days. Dear Amazon Prime, This week we have ordered all the things. Thank you for making it worth our $75 and for getting us said things here in plenty of time. Dear Packing Cubes (that I purchased on Amazon Prime), How did I not know you existed? I cannot wait to use you when I pack for San Francisco. I'm hoping that I can get tons of extra clothes in my bag because of you. Please don't let me down. Dear Sophie, Thank you ...
Forever House Chronicles
I've alluded to the fact that we want to move, but I haven't really gone into much detail on the blog. I keep thinking that once things are actually moving along a little more that I'll start some sort of weekly series about what we're doing and where we're going and what our timeline is. But the fact is, it's a slow process and who knows when we'll actually start making progress and in the meantime details are piling up that I don't want to forget. I'm always interested to read blogs where they share the process of building or decorating and the thought process behind what is going on, so I thought you might like that, too! I might not post regularly until we are actually building or buying or renovating or whatever, but I figured that today was as good as any other day to spill the ...
Grilled Mushroom Appetizers
This post might be a little late for your Independence Day cookout, but it's never too late for a summer dinner on the grill, right? I'm not a huge fan of mushrooms, but Josh loves to make these for pool days and when we're tailgating during football season. They require four ingredients and only a few minutes to prepare! All you need are whole white mushrooms, cream cheese, pickled jalapeno slices and bacon. Start by filling your mushrooms with cream cheese. Add a slice (or two!) of jalapenos on top. Wrap with a half slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Then throw them on the grill! You probably want to make a few kabobs while you're at it... Just leave them on a covered grill until the bacon is crispy. And if you're anything like Josh, you'll eat the entire ...
Rewind: Beach Weekend
One of the down-sides to my crazy month of work was that the kids went on our summer vacation without us. Everything had been so up in the air for months and with my ever-changing schedule it was hard to determine if Josh & I would make it down or not. We debating him going ahead without me, but ultimately decided that he and I would do the same thing in the hopes we could travel together later in the summer. My parents decided to take the kids with them their entire two weeks, so our house was pretty quiet. Josh decided to go down the last weekend they were there and see the girls, eat some seafood and help them pack up and bring the RV home for the rest of the summer. At the last minute, I found myself with 48 hours at home alone and decided to make the long drive to surprise them ...