Holy moly guys, after three months of being a mother, I suddenly really appreciate my own mom more than I ever could have imagined. When Jane was born my mom came to stay with us and help out right when I got out of the hospital, and then again when Mike went back to work. The day she left to head back home to New York I cried as she was pulling out the driveway. I felt a very sudden urge to apologize to her for every nasty thing I said as a teenager, every eye roll, and every slammed door. Being a mom, I’m learning, is hard work. And even though I’m in my thirties and have a kid of my own now, I’m still leaning on my mom for help and advice (and some free babysitting too). So I guess my point is, make sure you do something extra nice for your mom on Mother’s Day – moms really deserve it. I have tons of fun gift ideas you can shop below like cozy pajamas, fun accessories, sweet treats, plus a few funny cards I loved too! read more

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! read more

I just sat down to write this post and had to do a double take when I realized it was the very last day of November. The holiday season is already flying by and it seems like it just started. This week I have lots of holiday updates to share in my download — I’m listing all of my festive upcoming book events (I really hope to see you there!), linking all of my gift guides for your holiday shopping, and sharing a great charity to consider supporting this season. Hope you have a very merry weekend — we’re getting our Christmas tree and I can’t wait! read more

The holiday season is coming at us fast! It tends to be my busiest time of year, since I write so much about food and entertaining. In fact, over here in blogger-land, I’m actually already in the midst of it – ‘tis the season for recipe testing and gift guide sourcing and prepping holiday content. I sometimes find that I spend so much time working on creative holiday ideas for my blog, that I don’t leave enough time to actually focus on slowing down to enjoy the holidays. I’m trying to change that this year — knowing just how precious this time is with little kids – and was putting some thought into how I can make it feel special. read more

I’ve been thinking about starting a new weekly post series here for all of the little random thoughts I have that don’t always qualify for a full blog post. I love to share products I’m using, articles I’ve read, and recipes I’m trying out and this seems like the place to do it! I see other bloggers calling this their weekly round up, or their Friday links, but I think for me we’ll call it what it is – a download of all of the stuff in my brain that I can’t wait to tell you about! Let me know what you think of this and if you want to see more of it!  Let’s give it a try:  read more