It’s my first download post of the new year, which feels crazy since January is nearly over. This month has been zooming by thanks to lots of fun activities and celebrations that have been keeping us busy! We kicked off the year with our annual New Year’s Day brunch party, I had a little getaway weekend in Newport to celebrate my birthday (34! Gasp!) and this past weekend we got snowed-in with family and had a fun little party for Jane’s 2nd birthday. In a blink of an eye three-weeks of January have passed and I feel like I forgot to do all that new-years-y stuff like write down resolutions. That’s what these posts are for though, to catch up and share all of the stuff in my brain that needs to be written down, so read on for some resolutions, my reading list, upcoming book events and more:
Resolutions. I have a secret love-affair with reading other writer’s blog posts about their resolutions; I love to hear what people are prioritizing and working on and digging into their ideas to borrow for my own list. The last two years I was really relaxed about resolutions, and truthfully they were probably my most productive and successful years because of it. I put a ton of pressure on myself, and lifting just a tiny bit of that pressure that I feel from writing them down seemed to have a pretty positive impact. So instead of writing down a list of New Year’s Resolutions, I’ve started a 2019 To Do List that I keep on my phone (in my favorite App: TeuxDeux) of things I want to tackle this year. Among the items on the list are some fun travel ideas (heading back to Quebec City where we got engaged, maybe booking another trip to Europe, and I really want to visit Charleston), some work tasks (redesigning my media kit and getting serious about SEO), and a few personal growth ideas (starting a vegetable garden this year, experiment with baking bread, beating my reading list goal from last year, and challenging myself with more landscape photography).
Book Events. I took a nice little break on my book tour events after a jam-packed holiday season, and now I’m ready to get back into it! I just added a few fun events to my book tour calendar, including a stop at Stock in Providence, The Sweet Bay Shop in Wakefield, and at the Wenham Museum in Wenham MA for a Valentine’s Day themed event. Check out my event listings page for all of the events next month and into the spring! (PS: If you’ve purchased a copy of New England Invite already, I’d love for you share a review on Amazon so I can hear what you think!)
Reading List. On the topic of books, I shared a big recap of all the books I read in 2018, and how I met my reading list goal from last year! I’m trying to beat that goal its year with at least 30 books and I’m already on my 2nd of the year. I started off with Transcription, which was a great read about a female spy in WWII. I’ve been getting more and more into historical fiction, and this one solidified my interest in the genre! Next up I’m reading Ghosted, which I’ve heard so many great reviews of — I’m enjoying it so far, it’s a real page-turner and I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds at the end!
Toddler Stuff. Jane’s birthday was this past week, so we have a slew of new toys to play with (thankfully, since the snow and chilly temperatures have been preventing us from playing outside!). The big hits of the birthday were her play kitchen and play food (we got the Magnolia home kitchen from Target, it’s so pretty!), and a new set of SmartMax magnetic blocks (I can confirm they’re addictive for adults to play with too!). My sister got her some really beautiful interactive books about food — cookies and tacos, some of her favorite foods! I also got her a monthly membership to Kiwi Co, which sends STEM activity boxes to us each month in the mail — they’ve been really interesting and so key for activities inside while the weather is frigid! They’re tailored to specific age groups so she was able to do a lot of the activities on her own.
New Recipes. Healthy recipes aren’t always my favorite to develop (cheesy, carb-loaded snacks are really my wheelhouse, ha), but I have been attempting to eat more responsibly in the new year and my most recent recipes reflect that! I shared a few of them this month, include a very easy Instant Pot Turkey Chili, a healthy-ish Shredded Buffalo Chicken that you can also make in the Instant Pot, and my go-to healthy side dish: Garlic and Herb Mashed Cauliflower. Don’t worry though, I have lots of not-so-healthy Super Bowl recipes coming up next week — so stick around!
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