If there’s one thing you probably know about me, it’s that I love a grazing board. Putting together these themed boards has become one of my favorite seasonal entertaining ideas, I love tweaking them to fit different events and holidays. With the 4th of July coming up this week, summer entertaining is top of mind; I wanted to create a summer grazing board that was fit for warm-weather hosting! 
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A few weeks ago my husband and I were sitting on the couch and chatting about our weekend plans. We started throwing around the idea of going to the beach and after a few minutes we were deep down a rabbit hole discussing how the worst part of beach days is all of the lugging and hauling of our stuff to and from the car. Sometimes the idea of packing everything up almost deters us from doing the trip (and we live a 5-minute drive to the beach, so it’s not much of a trip at all!). We came to a determined agreement that we would refine our beach-packing process this summer and hone it down to only the essentials, the best of the best. After a very serious inventory of what we actually use at the beach we have a new system down, and I’m happy to report the last few beach visits have required much less schlepping. I thought I’d share a few of our refinements, and the favorite beach gear items we use again and again that made the beach bag cut!
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It was a beautiful, 80-degree, perfect weather day last Sunday and I woke up with some very serious determination to have the BEST summer day. I swear that toddlers have a sixth sense for this kind of mental planning and they just love to throw a wrench in those plans. We had a tough morning of grumpiness with a certain unnamed toddler, we never made it to the beach like I planned, and I was so deflated by the time she went down for a nap. Summer is fleeting in New England, and I put so much pressure on those short weeks to make the most of it. After Jane woke up from her nap I knew we both needed to reset the day and I asked her what she wanted to do. She answered without hesitation: ICE CREAM!
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What is it about summer that makes reading so enjoyable? In the good ol’ days I could sit on the beach during a vacation and make my way through 3 books a week! Of course life with a toddler has definitely changed my reading pace, but I have found I’ve been reading a ton this summer thanks to picking up books at night instead of flipping on the TV. I have a big stack I’ve been collecting for my summer line-up and thought I’d share my 2019 summer reading list to spark some inspiration if you’re looking for a good beach read of your own:
Last week I took a foggy little ferry ride on the Hyline to Nantucket for the day, where I met up with a few other bloggers to tour the island with @ShopNantucket and check out some of the best shops and bites on the island. I was pumped because the rain cleared up as we pulled into the dock — and shopping is one of my favorite things to do in Nantucket with so many unique shops and brands to explore! After our fun day on the Grey Lady, I thought I’d round up a mini Nantucket Shopping Guide with a few of my favorites to keep in mind if you ever find yourself on the island for a day of retail therapy! 
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It’s been a wild couple of weeks and I have lots to share — from fun events and projects, to summer finds, new recipes and lots of updates on my reading list! Scroll down to read more in this week’s download:
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I had to share this one last detail from my sister’s bridal shower last weekend because it was one of the tastiest things I’ve ever made! We had a local Italian restaurant cater the party since my sister is a big fan of pasta (go follow her @agirlandherpasta instagram account!). We decided to tackle a few salads to go along with the pasta and chicken dishes we ordered — one bridesmaid brought a beautiful caesar salad, and I was in charge of caprese salad. My motto for this event was go big, or go home and I brought that mantra to every detail (she’s my little sis and BFF after all!), including the caprese salad. 
I love making crostini for easy entertaining appetizers. It’s such a simple dish but is always a crowd favorite, and a versatile one that you can adapt to use tons of different types of ingredients. I shared a few varieties of these seasonally inspired crostini in my entertaining cookbook, New England Invite.
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Living close to the beach in New England, we get our fair share of summer visitors that swing in for a visit. After a day out in the sun, the last thing I want to do is run back out to the store for snack-rations. This recipe is one of my easy-entertaining tricks that I keep in my back-pocket for one last-minute guests pop by. It’s made out of ingredients that I almost always have in my fridge (like Hood Cottage Cheese) and freezer (like frozen filo pastry cups).
Every time I host a party I swear to myself that I’m going to keep things simple, and then usually about 48 hours before the party starts I’ve got half a dozen active craft projects in-progress. It’s always worth it in the end though, because those custom details are the things that stand out! I made a bunch of fun DIY elements for my sister’s recent bridal shower, and thought I’d share a few of the super-easy ideas I crafted up to make the day feel personalized to our guest of honor! The best part is, each one of incredibly easy to do! 
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OH, HELLO THERE.
I'm Kate, and I like to
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