For my entire married life—4 years and counting—we’ve been eating Jack’s Garden Fresh Salsa. Purchased from Costco. It’s one of the main reasons this two person household has a membership. That and rolled oats. And then we moved to Connecticut. No Jack here. Read more
Who was your first blog crush? Mine was Smitten Kitchen. I’ve been reading since nearly the beginning. I remember when she first went on that Caribbean food blogger trip. I was green with envy and thought maybe I’d get to go one day. And I remember when she announced she had a bun in the oven with real buns in the oven. And when she told us so long ago that there would be a cookbook. She’s who I looked to when I started this blog. In a way she’s been my mentor, not that she knows it. And I imagine she’s been a mentor to thousands of others too. Read more
This cake is my nod to fall. My nod that it’s coming. But not here yet. I may be wearing my favorite sweatshirt and yoga pants already. Working with the windows open. That’s allowing the tinniest of chills to blow through our apartment. Drinking warm coffee in the morning instead of iced. And we may have gone pear-picking already. Read more
I hoard two things in this world. Gift cards. And recipes. And maybe holey-armpit t-shirts, but we’ve already gone down that road.
My wallet is full of gift cards from last Christmas. Who knows, maybe from the Christmas prior. I’m not a shopper of clothes. But if and when I do, I probably have a gift card to pay for the total. I call this resourceful. My husband calls this wasteful. His giftcards don’t last a month. Read more
A couple months ago, I started this simple summer series. I read every last suggestion from you on how to keep summer simple and even implemented a handful, although they were faced with great resistance at first. A friend from college posted a suggestion to go outside, sit on the back porch, and stop everything. Shivers ran up my spine as a read it. Read more
I’m slowly getting back into work mode after an inspiring couple days in NYC. Filled with a lovely gathering hosted by Blog Brunch. A full day of Alt Summit conferencing. And a last minute breakfast with two of my favorite food bloggers—Apt. 2B Baking Co. and La Buena Vida. In case you’re wondering, I ended up ditching the dress for cropped pants and a ruffly top. Chunky necklace and pointy toed shoes made the cut. But at the end of the day, I forgot about appearances (as noted in the mirror much later that night) and let the time take its course. I learned a couple lessons along the way too.
1. “Find likeminded people. Make sure they’re respectful and a good bunch.” —SwissMiss
There I was. Sitting in a room with likeminded, crazy people bloggers. Following their dream, whatever that even means. Listening to the brilliant and very inspiring Tina of SwissMiss bestowing her rules to live by. My favorite rule—Don’t be a complainer. Instead make things better.
We made our first trek to NYC this weekend. It was glorious. But it started with an alarm at 5:45 am. A walk to the train in the pouring rain. And a two hour train ride. Wishful thinking—I thought we lived closer to the city. Read more
