It’s Elf on the Shelf season! I have a soft spot in my heart for the little guy and get a kick out of thinking up silly scenarios for him. Last year I snapped pictures of all of best elf-antics and have over 20 Elf on the Shelf ideas to share to keep you inspired. My best advice for doing the Elf on the Shelf is to start small – the first year I only did it for two weeks before Christmas, not the whole month – and have fun with it. Sometimes the simplest set-ups have been the ones that garnered the best reactions! 
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Back to School is one of my favorite times of year. Besides being a school supply nerd (give me those freshly sharpened pencils!), I also love being back in a routine. Getting back into that routine can take a little bit of practice though, and I like to set myself up for success by getting prepared for the season ahead. My friends at Christmas Tree Shops and That! recently invited me into their store to check out some of the fall trends, and while I was there I did a major stock up on supplies for back to school lunches. I thought I’d share a few of the things I keep on hand to make lunchbox packing fast, fun, and affordable!
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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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The snow is coming down outside, and I’d venture to guess lots of other parents like me are trying to figure out how to entertain their kids this morning. I love a seasonal DIY project, Jane loves a seasonal DIY project, and we both had a really fun time making this one for Valentine’s Day: recycled heart crayons! We have a big plastic container in our playroom that holds all the random crayons — broken crayons, crayons from restaurants, crayons from craft kits, crayons that somehow ended up in the bottom of my purse. With a little bit of prep work, a silicon mold, and some color sorting, we recycled the abandoned crayons and melted them down into festive heart shapes to share with our friends. 
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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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If you’ve been following along with me this year you’ve heard me share my love of Little Leaf Farms! I’ve been lucky to partner with the brand on tons of recipe content this year using their fresh, crunchy lettuce that is grown right here in Massachusetts. I rave about the tasty produce, but another reason I’ve long admired the brand is that they put sustainability at the forefront of each container of lettuce they grow and sell. I had the opportunity to visit Little Leaf Farm’s greenhouses last week to tour their facility and chat with CEO Paul Sellew all about sustainability and how their lettuce gets from seed to store. 
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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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I took Jane last week to the Franklin Park Zoo for one of our first official activity outings since March, and she kept saying to me “Mom this is a REALLY fun day.” I totally agree – it was a really fun time, and it’s amazing what a tiny slice of “normal” can do for your outlook these days. Zoo New England has officially reopened both their locations with tons of health and safety measures in place, and I was so impressed with whole experience.
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One of the things that has me in total awe lately is seeing how resilient and adapted small brands have been during these uncertain times. I’ve had the opportunity to partner with my friends at UpNext in the past on amazing in-person retail experiences, but since we’re all hunkered down at home right now I’m so excited that they asked me to help host their first ever virtual pop-up event with a collective of New England based brands. 
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I woke up this morning and realized I had no idea what day of the week it was. Is it the weekend? Is it a school day? It’s all blending together. We are doing our best to maintain some level of normalcy around here, and one of the things that helps with that is keeping Jane busy. On nice days, we’ve been going for long nature walks by the beach, exploring trails, and going through our fair share of sidewalk chalk. On the cold and rainy days (ugh, there’s been a lot of those!) I’ve been trying to fill the morning with a creative project. I thought it would be helpful to share a few of the easy, toddler-friendly craft ideas that have worked for us. 
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