not necessarily in this order

  Well, we made it through the holidays! On the other side of New Year’s, I’m happy to “countdown” a few favorites from the Christmas —> New Year’s season! 4 advent calendars The Mr got a snack one with flavored nuts and meat sticks. It was good for the first 6 (varied nut mixes) and meh for the latter 6 (the same 3 meat sticks repeated.  LM got one of her favorite YouTuber’s Christmas advent which had 12 little plushies of some of the characters in holiday outfits. Now, as a Moriah Elizabeth forward family, there was some sadness with missing favorites, but overall a huge win and great for decorating LM’s pink tree.  I had a 24 day calendar with miniature versions of classic literature each day. It’s super cute - each one has a quote on the back and a loop from the spine so I’m going to make a garland for my office - and I may have squealed when I opened  Anne of Green Gables .  As a family, we also did the  Taskmaster  Advent calendar which was th...

We really did have a great time in NH. We did everything on our list: We saw waterfalls! We went on rides! We went out to breakfast! But, as a lot of things do right now, the whole thing felt so shaky and precarious. We are in one of those weird seasons where everything feels so wrought with meaning because it’s all the firsts – our first NH vacation where we didn’t have to wait for a call about my mom or have me on the phone with an ER or nurse. It puts a weird “supposed to” energy on things because we no longer have this elephant in the room, but we also are still finding our balance in this next part of life. So, when the boarding place called to say Bella might have a UTI but they weren’t worried about it, it was like muscle memory to start worrying.    <<this part isn’t too graphic, but it just talks about pet ick a bit, so SKIP THIS NEXT PARAGRAGH if you need to, but know Bella was sicker than a “don’t worry about it”, sigh.    A few months ago, Bella had...

  Last year, we were supposed to take the  Cog railway  up Mount Washington (6,288 ft), but we ended up bailing out on the vacation early and drove home in a downpour. Not this year! We grabbed a hotel breakfast (and then better coffees at Starbucks; Lil Momma got her favorite hot chocolate with a shot of caramel) and then headed to the train.  It was a whole experience! They have a tour guide who both “narrates” your summit ride and return with what you’re seeing on the mountain including the NH range, flowers and trees, the Appalachian Trail, etc. We also had unusual clearness and could see Maine and Vermont!, but also about the railway itself: its history, how the biodiesel and steam engines differ, and how the tracks were built. It was so cool! Even the seats were at an angle to handle the up to 37% grade.  Once you summit, you have an hour to explore the extreme weather museum, take a picture with the summit sign, and even have lunch! We wandered about aft...

I’ve been so impressed by  Daria‘ s Italy recaps that I decided to take a swing and try and recap my wild week. We have our family vacation to  New Hampshire  from Monday through Thursday and then on Saturday I’m actually going away by myself to Maine, which is a trial run or precursor to my first ever solo vacation this fall. Our energy is a little hectic coming off a week where we were trying to do a big computer swap that just left us only with our work computers and smartphones and Lil Mama having some wild antics. But, I have hope that this vacation can chill us out and make some memories, and hopefully be an overall win. Here’s how I prepped : I admitted that I’m feeling a lot of feels  For almost my entire life, but especially the last 5 to 10 years, I’ve spent every vacation or day away worrying about my parents. Things always just seem to happen when I was away and it’s led to a lot of anxiety around being away. This is my first one since losing both of them...

  We have a family goal to actually enjoy vacations this year. To kick us off, we spent 48 hours in Portland, Maine during April’s school vacation. Here’s a loose tracking of our stops: Day 1 Stop 1 : drop Bella (our Maltese-Yorkie) off to be boarded about 20 min from our house; her tail started shedding on the ride over and the anxiety level in the car is oof. Stop 2 : Gas station snacks! Lil Momma navigates her indecision (so. many. oreo. flavors.) AND agrees to get a water, so a win overall.  Stop 3 : The rest stop just over the New Hampshire border to pick up a Combo spill, use the restrooms, and stretch our legs  Stop 4 : A Wendy’s in Portsmouth; hanger averted, but at what cost? Stop 5 : Our hotel in Portland! We figured out parking for the night, ditched our stuff and went walking! Stop 6 : Gelato Fiasco ! We got mediums when we should have gotten smalls (and LM mixed her mint chip with her s’mores and had to steal my cookie dough because ew), but another overall w...

  I was inspired by   San   and wanted to share some of my currentlys today, too!   ENJOYING  / some fun nail color that Lil Momma and I got done over Feb vacation. I have never been a “nails” person (it always felt like my fingers were suffocating), but this time hasn’t been that bad and I appreciated them shaping them.   EATING  / I’m in the office 2-3 days a week and if I pack and bring my lunch like I am supposed to, I’ve been having my favorite Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on one day and a fun coffee on the other (apple crisp oat milk shaken espresso… mmmm!). It’s been a nice way to incentivize getting everything ready the night before.   SAVORING  / This may sound weird, but last week I started a new workout plan (aka “little things done consistently are better than big things done once or twice”) and it’s honestly been really gratifying to feel a little sore from working out. Maybe it’s because I’ve felt “injured” for years – and I’m sti...