A few weeks ago we had some friends over for brunch and I decided last minute that I wanted to whip up a cocktail to go with our meal. I keep a pretty well stocked bar cart, so my options were wide open to anything that would pair with the citrus I had on hand. A juicy, bright grapefruit was on my counter, and a few limes leftover from a recipe my husband had made. By chance I popped open the freezer and saw I had a bottle of grapefruit vodka that must have been in there since last spring before I was pregnant. With these ingredients in mind, I had my eye on a Moscow mule with a twist! I used the grapefruit vodka and fresh citrus to mix up a tart-version of this classic drink, and finished it off with a few springs of rosemary and some fresh grapefruit wedges for the prettiest looking cocktail. These are going to be on heavy rotation this spring, I’m hooked!
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Okay guys, I have to say, I was a little bit hesitant about introducing lots of baby and parenting related content to this site. But since I’ve been sharing my experiences I’ve gotten such nice feedback from readers, which makes me so happy! I read and read and read until I reached the end of the parenting internet while pregnant and am finding it so fun to start to add my own perspective into the mix now. Today I’m partnering with my friends at buy buy BABY to take on a topic I found so daunting as a first time mom: researching baby gear. It’s so hard to know where exactly to start when researching everything you need for a newborn as a first time mom. I thought I’d share a few tips and tricks I picked up from my first experience with the hopes it helps other new moms out!
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Life with a newborn in the house has given us a newfound appreciation for weekend brunch. We’re up early, and those morning hours are when our little gal is at her happiest. So instead of meeting friends out for drinks like we used to on Saturday nights, we’ve been inviting friends over for a late morning brunch to catch up instead. With Easter just a few weeks away, brunch ideas have been even more top of mind – my family has a tradition of celebrating the holiday with a big brunch-style feast!
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At the beginning of the year I wrote a blog post about some of my quarterly “mini-resolutions” I was going to tackle, and one of them was to print out more of the pictures I take on my phone. I’ve been keeping my word and have printed out a bunch of my favorite photos from instagram (I use Social Print Studio for great square prints!) and have been trying to do a once a month printing of new photos of Jane to send to our parents and grandparents. With all of these new prints on hand, I need a fun way to display and rotate them. I decided to DIY a few photo-stands for these square photos so that I can prop them up on my desk and change them easily as new prints arrive. It’s a super easy DIY, and took me about 30 minutes to complete from start to finish!
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Miss Jane is two months old today! I can’t believe it. I had a grand plan to write this post after her first month and share all of the essential items that got us through those initial weeks. But the first few weeks are a blur, and now two months later I finally got my act together to share all of the things that were super helpful for my recovery and for our survival as first-time parents! I read so many of these types of posts when I was pregnant and I loved hearing different experiences about what worked for others; I hope my own experiences can be helpful for others too! 
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I peeked at the calendar and realized that Easter is less than a month away, and lo and behold, today is the first day of spring (though the patches of snow on our lawn don’t exactly make it seem that way!). With some optimism that this cold streak will break soon, I’ve got spring soirees on the mind and am pulling inspiration in an all pastel palette! To get you inspired too, I rounded up the prettiest pastel party supplies for spring parties and Easter celebrations. Those marble napkins and cups are my favorite, and how about the fun sayings on those plates? Shop all of the picks at the bottom of the post! 
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Someone recently commented on one of my instagrams that they were surprised I was able to cook so much with a newborn baby. The first month of Jane’s life I actually barely lifted a finger in the kitchen. My mom stayed with us for about two weeks and took over most of the cooking duties when we were right out of the hospital. The next few weeks after that we were so lucky to have amazing friends that brought over frozen casseroles and easy to reheat dinners. Once we finally got into a rhythm with Jane though, I really missed cooking and was eager to get back to my kitchen — cooking has alway been my best method for relaxation. Cooking with a baby is a different experience than before, and while I still love to chop and sauté and season, I have to get the whole thing done a bit quicker now. 
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The 10-day forecast is downright depressing with chilly winter temperatures showing no signs of rising. My online shopping carts on the other hand, are feeling that crisp spring vibe. I have warmer weather, walks to the beach, cocktails on the patio, and bright spring colors on the mind this week to help me get through these last few weeks of the winter. On my radar for the change of the seasons is a palette of hot coral, chambray stripes, and just a touch of mint! Shop all of my spring wish list picks below (almost all of them are under $50!). 
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One last snow day calls for some savory, indulgent comfort food, am I right? I have been craving sweet potatoes lately and decided to mix up my usual method of baking them into crispy fries and try something new. Enter my twice baked buffalo blue sweet potatoes. After baking sweet potatoes in the oven for almost an hour, I scooped out the center and mixed in blue cheese, scallions, butter and hot sauce to incorporate all of my favorite elements of Buffalo chicken. Then I filled the potato skins back up with the mixture and baked them off with more blue cheese on top to melt in the flavors. A few more scallions and some sour cream were added on top for a true twice-baked potato experience! Get the full recipe below: 
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It’s my Mom’s birthday this weekend (don’t worry Mom, I’m not revealing how many candles!) and we took a trip down to visit her in New York so she could get some time with Jane, and celebrate together as a family. I’m usually in charge of cooking when we all gather at their house for the weekend, but with a busy schedule we’re opting for a fancy dinner of take-out from the neighborhood Italian restaurant. I did offer to bring the cake though, and texted her last week to ask what flavor she wanted for her special day. She locked in her cake request: a Kentucky Butter Cake.
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