We woke up to a surprise little snowstorm this morning in our neighborhood, which meant all of the day’s plans got thrown up in the air. I didn’t mind it too much though, after having some friends over last night for a little Galentine’s Day craft night, I was onboard for taking it slow and hibernating with Jane today. We read books, played in the snow, and took every.single.toy out in the playroom to tire her out so I could work during her nap time (which seems to be shrinking these days, help!). So before my energetic little snow bunny wakes up, I thought I’d share a few random things going on around here: 
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Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because of the food – of course! The past few years though the holiday that been inching up my favorites list has been friendsgiving. It seems like everyone has adopted this fun tradition, and I’m delighted that it’s become so popular. It’s another chance to indulge in tasty Thanksgiving side dishes (I love to use it as an excuse to test a new recipe that I might not normally try for actual Thanksgiving day). I also have noticed that friendsgiving tends to come with a bit more of a casual vibe than the traditional family gathering, where friends just kick back with cocktails and bites and catch up – which I am certainly on board for.
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Okay friends, it’s Friday! We made it. Pour yourself a glass of wine, make yourself a nice little cheese plate, and put your feet up. I’ve got some recent blog posts and links for you to read as you unwind and get ready to kick off the weekend!
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That darn Labor Day snuck right by and I’m in denial about how fast summer passed us this year. It made me think a bit this week about the Summer Bucket List I made at the beginning of the season, and I thought I’d check in on my progress. I did pretty well on my farmer’s market recipe challenge — I added 6 new recipes that were full of local ingredients. We hosted a clambake (two actually!), definitely took some fun weekend adventures, and made use of our beach passes with tons of Friday pizza-nights on the beach. I just scratched the surface of my summer reading list, but got in a few good reads! The Heirs was a great beach read, I’ve been digging into a new cookbook called Feeding a Family, and I’m just about done with my friend Alaina’s debut novel called And Then Everything Changed.
Can I confess something? Meal planning and prep is one of my guilty pleasures, which I think stems from love of both organization and talking about food. My husband and I started the habit casually a few a years ago, talking about new recipes we might want to try for the week. Recently, we’ve got a bit more serious about it, and sit down to make a plan for the week – usually on Sunday mornings – before we purchase our groceries for the week.
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This week I fluffed the pillows, rolled out a new rug, and tucked a few fresh flowers and some newly framed artwork into our new master bedroom. This was a huge project for us, and one of the best makeovers we’ve completed in our house. I had to go back to my email account to figure out when exactly we started the project and I laughed when I realized we’ve been working on this room since mid-April. Projects used to go a whole lot faster pre-baby, but after nearly 4 months of chipping away at the renovations, we’re “finished” with the bedroom!
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I’m having a mild panic set in that Jane will be 6-months old this week, how does time move so fast? Yet I’m writing this post at 8:30am and feel like day has been going on for hours upon hours. What’s that saying about children growing up? The days are long, but the years are short. That is exactly how I feel right about now. At 6-months I still feel like everyday is a new challenge, a new discovery, and even more fascination with this tiny human than we ever thought was possible. When Jane was first born I wrote a list of blog post topics that I found helpful during my pregnancy internet-research bonanza, and noted a few that I’d love to write myself once I had a bit more experience (in fact, I started a new baby section of the site with a few of those posts already!). One of them was a comprehensive review of everything we registered for — all of the baby gear we’ve loved using and the random things that I didn’t even know existed while we were trying to survive those first few weeks.
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Do you ever get that feeling of summer-guilt? It’s when it’s so incredibly nice and warm outside, and you have that pang in your gut that says you should really be at the beach or drinking outside on a patio or going for a walk somewhere with a nice breeze. I that feeling this weekend. I think it happens in New England particularly because summer is so fleeting here. A mere 8 weekends, 9 or 10 if we’re really lucky, of that warm air and sunshine that passes by so quickly we feel guilty if we don’t take advantage of every second of it.
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Did you catch my last post about our guest bedroom overhaul? Well, more fun house projects are in the works, and this one is an even bigger undertaking: our master bedroom! I truly can’t wait to show you the before and after pictures of this little makeover because the before pictures are rough. I’m talking should-we-even-buy-this-house level roughness.
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All right guys, we’re talking about something a little bit out of the ordinary here today: working out. This blog is usually a space for my latest adventures in putting donuts on things. I’m also the farthest thing from an expert in health and fitness. I do however love to share things here that are relevant to what’s going on in my life. Working out has been a new addition to my lifestyle, and I thought it would be fun to share a little bit about how I worked out before having Jane, and how I’ve found some ways to reintroduce it back into my routine post-baby.
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