two years.

Wow. It's been almost two years since my last post, and I feel our entire world has changed. The baby bump is now a toddler named Kai. He's 19 months old, and a force to be reckoned with. He's charming, silly, stubborn, and the sweetest boy I could've ever hoped for. I really am the luckiest mama.

Paul. My amazing husband is a stay-at-home-dad, a student at Flagler College, and a part-time caterer for the Purple Olive restaurant. He takes care of us. I am so proud of the father he has become, and what an incredible example he is for Kai.

Also! We no longer live in St. Augustine. We moved just south of the oldest city, to one of the newest cities in Florida. Palm Coast is where we now make our home, in a lovely house with quite a bit more square footage than our little bungalow on the island. Additional bedrooms have become very important, since my awesome younger (not little, haha) brother is living with us. It's been so much fun having him here, and it makes me so happy whenever I see my brother & Kai together. It's plain to see that they adore each other.

I got the urge to start the blog back up a few weeks ago. I think listening to podcasts is what really spurred me on, coupled with the fact that Kai has begun sleeping very consistently. Miracles do exist! ;) But in any case, I hope to update here more often, now. There are some fun ideas I've been thinking on, so perhaps this old blog will become a venue for them. We will see.

To follow along in our day-to-day fun, you can always check out my Instagram feed. It's my favorite social network!

Veggie Thanksgiving.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! Ours was a bit belated, thanks to the craziness that is retail life on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. Regardless, our meal was lovely and the table was full of family.



We decided to host our very first Thanksgiving together since we weren't able to leave St. Augustine due to work. It was a challenge making everything in our itsy-bitsy kitchen, but we somehow managed it and everything turned out beautifully. Our meal was a little different than the traditional dinner, however. Paul and I are pescetarians, so we don't eat turkey. Our brother Peter cooked one the day before for himself and the other meat-eater, but our meal was all veggie!


Appetizers
Sweet Potato Rounds with Autumn Bruschetta
Baked Brie with Crackers
Deviled Eggs






Sides
Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce
Autumn Squash Soup (served inside a squash)
Spice Roasted Baby Rainbow Carrots
Fresh Green Bean Casserole
Chunky Mashed Potatoes
Stuffing (my favorite!)
Creamed Corn
Crescent Rolls


And finally...TOFURKY!

We had a mixture of foods made from scratch and some that had shortcuts, all of which came together for a stress-free meal. My favorites had to be the stuffing (always) and the cranberry sauce. It was SO easy! I used this recipe and it made the whole house smell seasonal.



How was your Thanksgiving?

Hello, December.

Our first trip to Crucial Coffee this holiday season!

I don't know how, but it's now December 1st. Our family left just a little while ago after an epic Thanksgiving weekend, and the house is quiet. Our Christmas tree lights are on, there's a load of laundry in the wash, and everything is quiet.

After putting together some November goals at the start of last month, I figured it might be a good practice to keep up. So, how did I do last month? Pretty well!

1. Drink more water. B+
2. Meal plan for nights we are home. A+
3. Get outside & exercise! B

Drinking water is sometimes difficult for me. I keep up with it at work, where I leave one of my water bottles, but seem to forget to drink it at home. Drinking water always makes me feel a lot better, so I'm going to work harder on it this month.

I kept up with meal planning pretty well thanks to my Moleskine planner and some cookbooks checked out from the library. I'd like to post about some great new recipes we stumbled upon sometime this month. Meal planning is super helpful, especially since it's now getting dark before six p.m.! We're putting our slow cooker to good use this winter.

I had such high hopes for exercising! While I did manage to fit in a lot of stretching and yoga, I would've liked it even more to get outside for some walks around the neighborhood. We did walk downtown quite a bit, which saved our "score" somewhat.

Now, what am I shooting for in December?


1. Set aside as much time as possible to spend with family and friends.
It's really hit me that this will be these little guys' very first Christmas. That, plus the fact that our families are each far away this year, has me itching for some quality time together. December also means lots of holiday parties with friends! Paul and I joke sometimes about being anti-social, but I'd really like to get out there and socialize during the holiday season.


2. Take more photos, especially of everyday life.
I've been doing more of my "day in the life" photo posts lately, reminding me of just how valuable they are. I can look back at what a basic day was like for me as far back as 2009. I want to keep that up. Also important is documenting all that time from goal number one!


3. Remind this guy every day of just how much he means to me.
Sometimes, it's easy to get lost in the routine of everyday life. I want to break out of that and try to make each day more meaningful for us. Simple acts of sweetness are my aim here, including mini adventures, a favorite snack, and a few little surprises. :)

What are you hoping to accomplish in December?

Hello, November.

November is my very favorite month, and so I'm thrilled that it's finally here! There are some really great dates to look forward to during November... my birthday, our dating anniversary, the day Paul proposed, Thanksgiving, and sometimes I even look forward to Black Friday. Not for the shopping, mind you, but for the fun that comes with working that day and the official start to the holiday season!

I think, though, that we are most looking forward to a lot of quality family time this month. We're saddened that we have no family in St. Augustine, and so are thrilled that our brother Peter is coming this weekend. Hopefully Elizabeth and Aunt Beth will come the following weekend, if things work out--fingers crossed!

With all of that fun and family visiting, however, usually comes a lot of eating out, convenience foods, and unhealthy choices. To counteract them (because they're certainly good in moderation!), I've come up with a few goals:

1. Bring my water bottle everywhere, and drink the entire thing.
Whenever life gets crazy, drinking water falls to the wayside. This leads to dehydration, water retention, and in my case, causes a whole bunch of other bad effects. I can't forget about it!


2. Meal plan for days that we do not have plans to eat out with family/friends.
We've been meal planning here and there lately, and it has helped SO much! I'd always thought about it, but chocked it up to too much work. Wrong! It's lead to healthier eating, and eating earlier than ten o'clock at night. We love it.


3. Get outside and exercise!
Whether it's yoga on the porch, a nice walk around the neighborhood, or a run to the beach... we need to do it! Breathing the ocean air and stretching our legs is so very important, especially for us couch potatoes. We went on a spontaneous four mile walk the other day, and hope to keep it up in the future.

Are you excited for what November has to bring?

Gatlinburg: Day One.

One of the craziest experiences in our lives took place near the end of July in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. We decided to go on a mass-vacation to the Smoky Mountains with almost twenty people. We split a huge, beautiful (RUSTIC) cabin on the edge of a mountain.



View from our cabin, the afternoon we arrived.



Our first afternoon there, a Mama Bear and her two cubs came up on our porch for a little snack. Brian was pretty unhappy about his sunflower seeds getting stolen, but figured it was for a good cause. We made sure we never left food unattended out there again.


The morning view, our first full day.



The morning of our first day, we went for a little "hike" to Laurel Falls. I use that term loosely, as I was in flip flops the whole time, and it wasn't very difficult. The scenery was just gorgeous, and the waterfall at the end made all of the walking worth it. We splashed around in the calmer waters below before our long walk back.






















This day ends with a group photo (minus Peter) from right before we embarked on our epic tubing adventure. It was actually a very relaxing lazy river trip, but our second go-around left us stranded in the river with the skies opening up around us. There was a ton of lightning, and the wusses (i.e. ME) in our group forced everyone out of the water to take cover at a nice couple's house on the river. We ended up standing in the rain (shivering, in my case) waiting for a ride from a local back to the tubing place. We were told by said local that the very same tubing place had six deaths in the very same river last summer in a similar situation. GREAT.

Regardless, it was an awesome day.