I have been patiently waiting for our New England spring weather to cooperate so that I can get back into our garden and start planting for the season ahead! If you know one thing about me, it’s that I love bold pops of color, so I am delighted to partner with my friends at Better Homes & Gardens and Endless Summer® to plant some colorful Summer Crush® hydrangeas in my yard this year.
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Rice krispy treats are what I would consider my signature dessert – I’ve shared recipes over the years for my classic rice krispy treats, a pumpkin spice version, neapolitan flavors, and even a s’mores flavored treat! One of my favorites though is a chocolate rice krispy treat made with cocoa krispies (we are chocolate lovers at our house!). I pull out this recipe every year for the Big Game and make a big batch that are stamped out with a football cookie cutter and decorated with just a touch of white icing to make little football laces. They’re festive and kid-friendly (though grown-ups love them too), and best of all – quick and easy to make!
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I keep hearing the phrase “back to routine” repeated, as back-to-school season also means a different schedule for many of the grown-ups this fall. Whether you’re going back into an office or shifting your routine with kids back in school, I always find the first few weeks of September to be a re-setting period — it’s my New Years of the fall! With that comes a chance to start fresh and set myself up for success with good habits – like preparing healthy, smart lunches (the bar is low, since most days I’m grabbing a half-eaten PB&J slice of a toddler’s lunch plate!). A big hearty salad with crunchy Little Leaf Farms greens is one of my go-to options, and I thought I’d share a few ways that I keep lunch salads feeling new – a refresh to your salad routine!
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I’ve been documenting the process for my mini kitchen makeover on instagram stories, and am finally sharing the final reveal today! This kitchen nook is small but mighty, and for the past 5+ years I’ve tested 100s of recipes, made more meals than I can count for my family, and wrote a cookbook in it! The space was terribly outdated with old, beat up wood cabinets and a yellowing laminate backsplash. The look of it drove me crazy, but it’s very functional and everything still worked, so I put off making any updates to it until we could do a major kitchen renovation in the future. 
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Is there anything better than clean sheets and a freshly made bed? My friends at Serena and Lily asked me to share some of my favorite bedding pieces from their collection, they’ve been my favorite bedding resource for years! When we first finished our master bedroom I gave our bedding a big overhaul (see the original post here!) and I am continually impressed with the quality and design of their sheets, duvets and other bedding accessories. 
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I’m kicking off another year of my annual reading list — it’s a running list of every book I’ve read with a brief recap and mini-book review. Last year I didn’t meet the goal I set, I fell short because I had a hard time focusing at night and was juggling a lot during the end of the year (weren’t we all?!). I’m just starting to get back into the reading groove and it’s such a good way for me to escape and power down at the end of the day (and fingers crossed that later in 2021 I’ll get to do some vacation reading if we ever get to travel again!). One of my goals this year is to focus on diversity over quantity. Instead of setting a goal for the number of books I want to read, I’m challenging myself instead to read from diverse authors, perspectives, and genres. See everything I read in year’s past on 2018’s list, 2019’s list and 2020’s list for more book inspiration and scroll down for my current reading queue:
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One thing is for certain this year: our celebrations and holiday look quite a bit different. I’m hopeful though that this slower season will still elicit tons of joy, new traditions, and the making of memories we’ll have for years to come. As we kick off the holidays, I’m taking a more purposeful approach to how I entertain, cook, gift and celebrate – with a huge focus on shopping small and local. Which is why I’m super excited to announce a big project I’ve been working on – a #shopsmall virtual holiday pop-up with my friends at UpNext. I’ve partnered with UpNext and eight of my favorite small batch brands to create a holiday gift guide that features curated and limited-edition products for gifting and entertaining. I’m sharing a little bit more about each brand in today’s post, there’s a little something for everyone in this small batch collection!
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It’s been quite a few weeks since my last download, so I have lots to share! Kicking off the new season with some fun recipes, a few mini book reviews from my reading list, a guilt-free educational kid’s iPad game we have been loving, and lots of affordable (and cozy) fall style finds — scroll down to read more! 
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One of my favorite publications, EatingWell magazine, is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary issue this month. I love the magazine and have had the pleasure of collaborating with them before so I’m super excited to be joining in the anniversary celebrations and sharing some of my favorite features and recipes in the issue. 
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Over the last few years I made a commitment to myself to get back into a groove of reading more regularly. I was stuck in a bad cycle of ending my days with mindless TV and endless instagram scrolling, so I set a goal to start reading every night instead. It was a huge shift and now has become a part of my routine that I look forward to daily — a great motivator to turn off my phone, get lost in a good book, and power down my brain. I ended each year with a massive review of all of the books I read (see 2018’s list and 2019’s list) and this year I thought I’d do something a little bit different. I’m sharing a running list of my mini book reviews as I go, because 2020 just calls for escaping into a story more than years past, you know? Scroll down for my list and reviews, and let’s see if 2020 is the year I finally beat my reading list goal! 
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