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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When a box arrives in the mail from my friends at Martha Stewart Living, I always know there will be fun times to be had. This particular mail day I was excited to find they shared some adorable Martha Stewart glasses from Macy’s with me, and Kerrygold® Irish Cream Liqueur to experiment with! Given our recent heat wave and general summer celebratory mood, I decided to try my hand and mixing up a batch of spiked milkshakes for a simple dessert-cocktail.
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Our master bedroom project is almost complete, minus a few last details that are getting delivered in the next week or so! One of the best parts of starting to move everything into the new room was getting our brand new his and hers closets organized, which meant a fairly big closet clean out for both me and my husband. We donated bags of old college t-shirts, and I sifted through racks of formal work clothes that I’m not wearing anymore now that I work for myself. I also packed away all of my maternity clothes from the past year, and what was left was a pretty pared down selection of clothes I’m currently wearing. Mostly, a uniform of skinny jeans or jean shorts and an endless supply of navy and white striped t-shirts. Looking at this edited (dare I say, capsule?) wardrobe, I noticed how very blue my favorite pieces tend to be. A sea of chambray, navy, and other blue hues that mix and match pretty effortlessly with my favorite denim. I pulled together a bunch of my current favorite chambray and blue styles for a bit more style inspiration to fill that closet back up after our clean-out! Shop my favorites below: 
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I’m keeping pace with my summer Farmer’s Market challenge (in fact it’s the one thing I’ve marked off my summer bucket list – I need to tackle my summer reading list and some of our day-trips before summer slips away). So far I’ve made a charred summer vegetable salad, mixed in tons of fresh veggies in a farmer’s market pasta dish, and made use of those first summer tomatoes with a fresh bruschetta mixed with brine-y olives. The berries are starting to show up on the tables at our little Farmer’s Market and I had to scoop up some bright red strawberries to play with, and I ended up with a tasty strawberry goat cheese crostini recipe this week. 
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I have to start this blog post with an apology to my bestie, who is the biggest fan of my Rice Krispy treat recipe but also a total RKT purist. She texts me every time she sees me posting about new Rice Krispy treat experiments that I should just stick to the classics please, because you can’t improve this perfect, buttery, sweet dessert. So sorry buddy, I’m at it again, but I do think you might want to give these a try because I gave my favorite recipe a s’mores spin this time around.
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We’ve had quite a week around here. Last weekend was filled with houseguests and beach days and holiday weekend BBQs. Until Sunday night when I was knocked down by a stomach bug that kept me couch-ridden for 48 hours. It hit my husband next, right as I was coming out on the other side of the worst of it. We’ve been recovering, cleaning, and generally quarantining ourselves over here since mid-week. Between the great 2017 stomach virus and the holiday weekend, we blinked and the whole week passed us by. I’m telling myself we’ll catch up next week; Friday feels like we’re hitting the re-set button. Before I sign off though, I wanted to share my Friday download with a few fun links, products and recent blog posts worth sharing. Plus a cute picture of Janie, because after this week we all need to pop the bottle and have a drink!
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I think the best thing about the Fourth of July being mid-week this year is that we get to double the celebrations and BBQs and general summer festivities across two weekends. I had the best time last weekend hosting one of my girlfriends and her daughter at our house for a little mom and babies night-in while our husbands were away for a bachelor party. Since we were staying in after the kids went to bed, I decided to make homemade lobster rolls for dinner. Heading to our local fish market and grabbing a few fresh lobsters that were caught in the harbor across the street made for a tasty meal.
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I am on a Farmer’s Market kick right now and am doing well with my own personal challenge to try a new recipe each week inspired by the seasonal ingredients I’m finding there. This week, I started to see a nice variety of sweet, colorful summer tomatoes and knew they were the ingredient for me. Appetizers have been on my mind with all of the upcoming summer celebrations and BBQs. I thought it would be a fun idea to create an individually portioned starter that guests could grab and nibble on while playing lawn games.
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I am eagerly watching the weather for this holiday weekend and crossing my fingers for beach time and sunny walks and of course some cocktails on the porch. It looks like we may get at least one day of that perfect summer weather and I’m preparing for some friends to stay over with a few fun celebratory details. Among them is a little icy treat to keep us cool – some blueberry popsicles made with IZZE sparkling blueberry.
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I’ve noticed this week that all of the neighbors are putting out their American flags and bunting to prep for the Fourth of July. I feel so lucky to live in New England this time of year when you see all of the historic homes putting on their patriotic best. It gets me into the spirit for the holiday, and I look for all of the ways to add a little bit more red, white and blue to the festivities. We typically spend our Fourth of July weekends hopping from pool parties to beach picnics to lakeside BBQs; so casual is the name of the game for entertaining. I thought it would be fun to give one of my favorite All-American BBQ staples a patriotic twist this summer: red, white and blue chips and dip!
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