the bucket hat.

Thanks to a wonderful coworker I was able to get a few summery things for Henry a few weeks ago at the Children's Place. Including this bucket hat.

I just can't get enough of this little man. And the hat. It has a strap, guys. And it's reversible. Let the summer outings begin!

mediterranean omelets.

Some people get take-out menus so they can order from the restaurant later. We get them so we can just copy their recipes at home. We went to Pauli's in the North End last Tuesday for a quick lunch and LOVED it. Their Chicken Mediterranean Wrap was seriously amazing. Since we can't go to Pauli's every day, we took a menu and had them come to us.

Mediterranean Omelete (makes 1)
- three eggs
- dash of milk
- salt and pepper
- basil
- feta
- cherry tomatoes, chopped

Whisk first three ingredients. Pour into hot skillet and once ready, add the last three to one side of the omelet.

We used plain feta, but you can get mediterranean-style feta and I bet that would be even better. Maybe even add tiny bits of chopped red onion? We felt so classy and brunch-y Saturday morning eating them.

memorial day weekend in Boston.

Writing the little post about DC made me realize that we do fun things here in Boston too, I just need to blog about them more.

We had a really great weekend. Filled with Thor and Up, walks to the park and through the public garden and Boston Common, a picnic, and a shopping trip to Madewell (with Ry so he could hold/entertain a fussy Henry). I could not have asked for a more perfect weekend.

1. 33,000 flags representing every MA soldier killed in action since the civil war
2. Hen and the flags…soakin it all in :)
3. & 4. Dad and Mom with Hen after our picnic. Apparently something to the left of us was very interesting.

On a side note, Ry's weekend was a little more stressful, with a Sunday full of not-so-fun things happening one on top of the other. Hate when that happens.

taquitos. and missing dc/nyc.

Did I ever tell you, dear readers/friends/family, how all our taquitos were stolen while we were in NYC for Memorial day weekend two years ago?

I'm over it, I really am. And sorry mom and dad and Ryan for hearing that story way too many times. It's a good story for parties though.

This weekend I realize it's been two years since, when we lived in DC for the summer, we went to New York City. I feel like ever summer it's another anniversary of our amazing/spectacular/wonderful time we had in DC. It was my first time in the Big Apple and I cannot wait to go back again.

We had a much more relaxed weekend than that weekend two years ago, but for you viewing pleasure, you can read about it here, here (where I mention that I hope we go to law school on the east coast--and we are!), here, here, here (the first picture on this post is hanging up in our living room--love it.) and here.

My parents went a few months ago and I was so jealous. We didn't make it to Shake Shack and they did. Even though we live so close, it's still a bit further than we'd like, and having a babe complicates things just a bit (darn you Hen Hen--just kidding!), but fingers crossed we'll make it back at least one more time while we're living so close.

happy friday!

Have a great three day weekend everyone! We'll be exploring Boston and hogging as much daddy time as possible. 

Even though I didn't get Hen in his blessing outfit, I took a quick itouch picture of the onesie I decided he should wear underneath it. Not only is it classy, but it made me feel like Amanda and Dave were with us on Sunday. Also, how can you not love that little attitude?!

a baby blessing.

While Henry sleeps I thought I'd write a short post about this last weekend. We blessed Henry at church and Ryan's parents and my dad came out to be there. Although I didn't take any pictures of Hank in his adorable outfit--the same outfit my two older brothers were also blessed in--I took a few pictures through the weekend and wanted to share them. It was the first weekend since our wedding that we had our parents here where we weren't moving or graduating and hosting definitely takes it out of you, but it was so lovely having our parents here and seeing the love in their eyes as they held Henry. I didn't get any pictures with Ryan's parents, but Ken probably took more pictures than one ever needs to take in a weekend's time, so I'll post a few of them when I get them.

Henry, you are loved!

1. my dad and henry
2. henry's somewhere in there lookin cute in his blessing outfit at church
3&4. henry and daddy smelling the flowers in wellesley.

grandpa!

I cannot believe it has taken me this long to post Henry's first time meeting his grandpa! My dad came to Boston for work and even though it was a quick trip, we were able to sneak in a few hours with him at the swanky Charles Hotel.

He held Henry the whole time and Hen was such a champ the whole time! We're blessing Hen this weekend and he'll not only get to see my dad again but also Ryan's dad and hopefully his mom as well. Hurray for grandparents!

Also, thanks mom for the shirts! I've been at my pre-preggo weight for some time, but my shirts definitely aren't fitting like they used to--thanks for helping me look cute!

Style.

I'm here to tell you how to dress.

Not really. I've been thinking about my own style lately, or lack thereof. I do this every spring, when outfits pop with color, when I bust out my bermudas and re-evaluate the t-shirt situation. And thanks to some adorable blogs with hip mamas, how can anyone not think about it? I am hugely guilty of waiting until a birthday or other holiday to count on my super fashionable mom/sisters to a) give me something of theirs that they don't wear anymore b) buy me something or c) persuade me hardcore to buy something for me. I was looking at an article on the Washingtonian (see here) and the interviewee mentioned that her biggest pet peeve is when women don't wear clothes for their body type. That got me thinking even more about what I wear, and not only if it is "in style" or not (because really, things are constantly changing), but how it fits. I think wearing things that fit will always be in style.

So here's to getting some cute new things for spring/summer (why is it so hard for me to spend $25 on a cute top/pants that I look great in, feel great in, and will wear for multiple months/seasons?!) and feeling good.

On a side note, I got to thinking about style after reading a post from the Daybook blog (see here).

On another side note, I did a little 30 Day Shredding today and completed level one. That was my goal: to finish the workout. And that was the first sweaty workout since Henry was born (before I was sticking to almost daily walks and a few lunges/crunches every so often).

that time where henry decided he didn't like me anymore.

There are multiple reasons why I love this "running away" picture. 

One: I'm sure there will actually be a time where Henry doesn't want to be around me. Hopefully it'll only be for a few minutes and be because we're getting a babysitter or we can't go to the zoo because it's raining or something. It breaks my heart already that there would ever be a time like that, but I know it's 'a comin.

Two: Hen is so tiny here! I mean, he's probably somewhere around 11 pounds give or take now, which is still tiny, but he was even tinier just a few weeks ago!

Three: I look SO. TIRED. But happy. I know that there are many times in my life where I won't look picture-perfect, but who cares?? If I didn't let my mom or Ryan take this picture because I looked not-so-hot then we wouldn't have one of my favorite pictures of Hen as a newborn! I need to remind myself of that fact more often. 

Four: Speaking of sleep, Hen recently slept for seven hours in a row. Wahoo! It's not a habit, but we're totally ok with that. He's a great napper and at night he's good about sleeping about 3-4 hour stretches at night. He's woken himself up lately after only getting an hour of sleep after his first cycle, but he's also been able to soothe himself back to sleep one of those times. Pretty much a total keeper.

tide.

We do laundry a lot more these days, thanks to the cutie in the picture above. In Utah, when I couponed like a maniac, I would buy the cheaper detergent, purex or all, because with coupons it was even cheaper. They worked fine and I didn't think anything of it.

But whenever we go to my parents house, our laundry smells divine. She uses Tide. But she's also go a beautiful washer and dryer. I pretended that my laundry would smell that awesome if I had a fancy washer and dryer--that the detergent I was using was just fine. I pretended that saving a couple dollars was better.

But I was wrong.

We took the plunge at Costco a few months ago when there was a coupon for liquid Tide. We had some powder Tide with Downy (from when we got married!--there would always be coupons for other detergent so we never got to it until now) that we were using up, and it was ok, but last week we finally used the liquid Tide.

And it's heaven. Every day Ryan has come up to me and said, "Smell this." We're hooked. It makes our clothes smell so good. And we even had it in our kitchen for a bit and Ryan mentioned that we should always keep it in there, it made it smell so good.

Pretty much our house smells like an amazing laundry room. And I'm totally ok with that.

Caramel Brownies

These are possibly the most stick-to-your-mouth brownies you will ever eat. Trust me, they're so good. They may only be a once-every-season dessert (or maybe just for Ryan and I since it was just the two of us eating an entire 9x13 pan) but it's seriously so good. We made this a while ago, but I found this post after searching through my drafts and thought y'all might want to check them out.

I got the recipe from the Sister's Cafe and it's super easy and super delicious. She even calls them deadly, they're that good.


Caramel Brownies
from the Sister's Cafe


1 box German chocolate cake mix
1/3 c evaporated milk
1/2 c butter,melted
14 oz package of Kraft caramels, about 50 (I would probably use a little less next time, it's a TON of carmel)
1/3 c evaporated milk
1 cup milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together dry cake mix, butter, and evaporated milk. Press half of this mixture into bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Bake for 6 minutes.
2. Melt caramels with 1/3 c evaporated milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Set aside.
3. Sprinkle chocolate chips over baked crust. Drizzle caramel over chocolate chips. Spoon or sprinkle the other half of the cake mixture on top. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Refrigerate approximately 30 minutes to set. Cut and serve.

Henry's Instas

For those of you who don't know already, I post an Insta a day for my mom/sister/family. Mostly for my mom, but since we don't live close to family, I'd say everyone likes to see a little Hen Hen in their lives. Feel free to follow me here, if you'd like, but just in case you don't want to see the cutest kid alive, no hard feelings. Also, if you'd like to see the second cutest kid alive, you can follow my sister here.

And if you don't have a smart phone or the instagram app, don't fret.

Here are a few of my recent favorites:

finals week(s).

Ryan's finals started on Monday and they don't finish until the Friday after tomorrow. And even then he's not really done. He's got a writing competition to see which journal he'll be on (we're gunning for Law review, but there are some awesome other ones that he'd love to write for too) the entire week after next.

We're lucky enough to see him during lunch and dinner, and sometimes he studies at home a few hours in the morning or a few at night, but sometimes it feels like we don't really see him at all.

So.

Today I took some mail to the mailbox down the street (our apt. building doesn't have a drop-off), talked to Amanda, talked to my mom and dad, made a video of Hen and submerged myself in photography tutorials. It's a bummer it's been such dreary weather lately, but all the more reason to bake (these bars are our new favorite), walk to the library (we have a few books overdue…) and curl up to a good book. And dote on the H man, of course.

Ryan/Dad, we miss you and can't wait to hang out with you all summer sans school!!

henry's first marathon.

I posted about the Boston Marathon here, but thought that Henry needed his own Marathon Monday post. It turns out babies are especially adorable to undergrads. Specifically, tipsy undergrads.

Let me back-track. Ryan and I got a good spot for the race and we were there early so we could see all the front-runners of each category. But Hen needed to finish nursing, so while we waited I nursed in a camping chair. The lead male runners sped by and then Hen decided he was done so I handed him to Ry. It was getting sunny so Ry left the masses and was holding Henry and all of a sudden like 5 undergrad girls were swarming him and commenting on how cute he was and the same five girls that were previously singing Spice Girls songs at the tops of their lungs were now chanting "Henry, Henry!"

Boston, you never seize to entertain. Also, I'm pretty sure my child is cooler than me.

three years.

I have been married for three whole years to one amazing man. Yesterday he took his first final (of four) for the semester and we celebrated by walking along the public garden. He is an amazing husband and father and I love seeing his love for Hen and I growing more and more each day. I love you, Ry!!