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! 
New Recipes. We’re in that sweet spot, in-between seasons, when you can get away with having a burger on the grill one night, and a hearty warm-the-bones soup the next night. My most recent recipes have been celebrating the last hurrah of grilling season — pesto grilled salmon, grilled green goddess chicken, and a grilled pork tenderloin with mango salsa. I have been working on my fall content plans, so get excited for all the pumpkins and apples soon! And in the meantime I have a tasty new eggplant, ricotta, tomato and kale dish that uses up those later summer veggies from the garden that’s fresh on the blog this week.
Reading List. I’ve been keeping track of all of the books I’ve read this year, with mini reviews, in my 2020 Reading List blog post, and have a few additions that I added this month including 28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand, Friends and Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan, and The Herd by Andrea Bartz. I loved The Herd which is about an elite, women-only co-working space and the magnetic founder that started it. The night before a big company announcement, the founder goes missing and the book follows her friends as they try to solve what happened to her — it’s a page turner! My most recent read was Majesty: American Royals II by Katharine McGee. This was the sequel to last year’s American Royals (the first book ended in a cliffhanger!) so I cracked the book as soon as I got my hands on it. Without giving too much away, the book is like Gossip Girl meets the royal family, with tons of love triangles, family drama, galas and tiaras — a very fun read.
Guilt-Free Screen Time. I will be the first to admit that over the last few months we have been using the iPad quite a bit to entertain Jane while we’re working. I of course have the inevitable guilt about too much screen time and at least try to push the educational apps when she’s using it. We just bought an Osmo starter kit for her to use during her iPad time and I feel like I have to shout from the rooftops how awesome it is. I bought it after seeing a ton of instagram ads for the kit, and it comes with a base and a mat that makes your iPad interactive and works with a few different games. One of the Osmo games is a problem-solving storytelling game where the kids pick different costume pieces for a character to help them move through the storyline (Jane LOVES this one), another one of the games uses different pieces to help them learn how to form letters and recognize their shapes. It’s super engaging and I think we’re going to get some of the Osmo add-on kits for Christmas, because guilt-free screen time is a gift for everyone!
Fall Mom Uniform. I will always start my style updates with this disclaimer: I am not a fashion blogger. But if you want to know what the best sneakers are to run after your toddler link while looking semi-cute, I’m your gal! The sneakers, by the way, are the Rothys slip-ons and I am forever grateful that they’re machine washable after a day trailing a 3-year old. My most exciting style upgrade is also a practical one — after several years of wearing glasses with an outdated prescription I’m seeing sharp again in a new pair of Warby Parker Maeve Frames (I love the blush tortoiseshell!!).
I have been living in these colorful, cozy Target sweatshirts and have made my very first loungewear joggers purchase. I can’t recommend these joggers enough, they feel like you’re wearing a cloud! Speaking of cozy, I’ve wanted a fluffy sherpa fleece coat and picked one up at Old Navy this week — it’s warm and soft and I like that it doesn’t add too much bulk! My favorite fall purchase though has been this striped Sail to Sable shirt that wears like a sweatshirt but looks polished and structured enough to wear out (I wore it apple picking, which is the most “out” I’m planning to be this month!). There is a clear theme to my Fall Mom Uniform: simple, cozy, and practical.
