Hello!

December 2016 (Christmas Eve in Boden)

I miss blogging so here are some photos from the last few months where you can kinda see my outfits!

July 2016 (Rosie's newborn photos; also in Boden)

November 2016 (on vacation in St. Barths, wearing a Liberty print dress)

September 2016 (when we sold our house; wearing LOFT)

December 2016 (at Disney on Ice, wearing Old Navy)

March 2017 (on spring break with my sister at Disney World, wearing Old Navy)

I'm with or holding children in almost all the photos. So it's a fairly accurate depiction of my day to day life outside of work. I need to get back into the habit of taking outfit photos at work, especially now that daylight lasts a bit longer. I've got a bunch of new pieces that fit my still-transitioning but fairly settled postpartum body and I'm excited to share. I have no clue how regularly I will update but I'd like to start trying. Thanks for reading!

Weekend Packing List

Because Chris and I had nice vacations over winter and spring breaks and because he travels so much for work, we aren't planning any big family trips for this summer. But that doesn't mean that we don't want to get away for a weekend, here and there. We already enjoyed one weekend at Lake Erie and are headed to Cleveland and Ohiopyle for separate weekends later this summer.

Packing for short trips should be easy because you don't need to bring very much. But I often make last minute outfit changes when I am at home with access to my full closet. So I fret over what to bring more so when I know I shouldn't bring very much. From having gone on many weekend trips lately, I feel like I finally have a handle on what I do and don't need for both me and for Emilia (who I also pack for, whether she is coming with us or going to Grammy and Pap's).

I remember reading Martha Stewart's advice to pack based on a deliberate color scheme so that everything can mix and match. It is advice I try to follow but I get stumped picking between black or navy. I realize you can wear black and blue together but I just usually don't. I tend to pick between those and go from there. On a recent trip I picked blues and grays, which helped minimize the shoes and accessories I brought with me. Here is everything I took:

From top L to R: Calypso St. Barths linen drawstring dress, Levis denim jacket, Loft gauze shirt dress

Campers sandals, Longchamp Quadri hobo, Old Navy slip on sneakers

Anthro maxi skirt, Loft tee, Campers sandals, Longchamp bag

 Tankini bathing suit and tunic from Kohls

Ralph Lauren pajama set (current season here), VS night shirt that doubles as a swim cover up

The complete list:
2 lightweight/linen, comfy dresses (one of which I wear to our destination)
1 light jacket (usually denim)
3 pairs of shoes (one of which I wear on the way there)

• dressy sandals or flip flops
• cute flats
• a pair of sneakers

1 pair of pajamas
1 pair of shorts or leggings
1 night shirt that can double as a spare swim cover up in a pinch
1 bathing suit and matching cover up
1 outfit of separates

• maxi skirt plus tee or
• dark colored chinos and a matching striped boatneck  

1 lightweight leather handbag
And of course, travel toiletries, cosmetics, and enough underpinnings for each day of travel

I pack everything into:
1 large weekend bag. Mine is by Orla Kiely Etc. Here is the same one for the current season.

The main things that change when I am packing for a lengthier warm weather trip are that I add in a second bathing suit, a few more dresses, at least one more pair of pajamas (two if I won't have access to laundry), and a cotton cardigan to give myself another layer in case it gets chilly.

I am looking forward to our next weekend getaway!

Holiday in St. Croix

When you manage to finish two doctoral degrees during the first year of being a parent, there's plenty of reason to celebrate. So Chris and I pooled our frequent flier miles, took advantage of the "anyone under 2 years old flies free" rule, and headed to the Caribbean as soon as the fall term ended.

After much debate we decided to go to St. Croix because it was still technically in the US, meaning we'd have one less hoop to jump through since Emilia wouldn't need a passport. It was beautiful! We rented a very reasonably priced villa on the eastern part of the island that had incredible views and a private pool.

We liked the ease of traveling to St. Croix. Unlike St. Lucia, the airport was relatively close to where we were staying so we didn't have a long commute by car after a long day of travels. And unlike St. Barths, St. Croix doesn't require any elaborate additional flight on a terrifyingly tiny plane or a ferry trip to get there. It's a lot cheaper than St. Barths because everything is priced in USD and although you find some inflated island pricing, things were mostly akin to prices you find in a major metropolitan area.

Traveling with Emilia obviously changes our ability to just explore aimlessly, without constraints. We wanted to follow her cues and ensure she could have some semblance of normalcy in schedule. Our villa had a high chair and crib so that helped (though we mostly co-slept). It was surprisingly baby-proofed actually, save for the pool.

Renting a car was necessary for us. But renting a car has been something we've done on every similar trip. With baby in tow, we found ourselves looking for beach spots with more amenities rather than seclusion. Our favorite was the resort beach of the Buccaneer, where we met a lovely family from Italy on vacation. The mom was also still nursing her baby and balancing a career with her role as a mother. It was nice to find so many commonalities with her. It was also great to see Emilia with her little beach friend.

As far as food goes, if you ever find yourself on the eastern part of St. Croix, be sure to check out the La Reine Chicken Shack. It was amazing. I wish we had ordered twice as many johnny cakes as we did. The chicken was incredible too. We also loved the Blue Water Café for both take out options and sit down dinners. They had decent coffee and were fairly close to our villa so we stopped by a few times. We had an amazing meal of local seafood at Duggan's Reef. They put lobster in everything but it still manages to be priced quite fairly. We also had delicious island roti from Singh's Fast Food Restaurant in downtown Christiansted. We didn't get to do any shopping while we traveled but that was just as well. I don't recall shopping much on our last island trip to St. Lucia and have no regrets. We ate and slept very well.

We were all super happy to get away and spend some uninterrupted time together. It was a fortunate thing to get to do and we didn't spend a ton of money to do it thanks to the nearly free flights. Finishing our degrees and surviving our first year of parenting were big deals and it was fun to really commemorate them! I hope we are as lucky in 2014!!

Scenes from our weekend in Cleveland (part 1)

Chris just started a new job and while this is fantastic news for our family, it also means that our schedules have become a little less flexible. Naturally, he has to accumulate vacation time and is beginning from scratch. But that doesn't eliminate our shared travel bug! We decided that in the meanwhile, we would utilize any long weekends we could to take short trips. Our first voyage was over Memorial Day weekend, when we drove up to Cleveland to eat, shop, and explore.

We visited the newly remodeled Cleveland Art Museum, which is pretty fantastic and free to the general public! While there, we saw so many wedding parties taking photos, which always makes me feel a little wistful. As a spectator, I was reminded of the strangers who wished me well and snapped photos from the patio outside of Heinz Chapel, while I waited to walk down the aisle on my own wedding day.

Chris put his art history degree to use as he took Emilia on her own private tour. It was fun to compare her reactions to the art on this trip vs her previous museum visit at the National Gallery of Art (when she was two months). At six months old, she was less into impressionism and cubism. She was more into portraits of women and girls. She still liked the mobile sculptures of Alexander Calder. But she also appreciated multisensory and multimedia pieces.

 

We loved the West Side Market, where we shopped and had lunch. Because it was a Saturday on a holiday weekend, it was very crowded. Thankfully, we opted to wear her rather than try the stroller. She loved looking up at the architecture of the space in the main terminal.

There was certainly a lot to see!

 

We took a break to eat our hand pies from one of the vendors. We also gave Emilia a break from the Ergo so she could stretch her legs.

We ate at some amazing places too. I can't wait to go back!

Outfit details
Me:
Tory Burch Warren ruffle trench
J. Crew anchor dress
Old Navy leggings
Lucky Brand Emmie flats
Marc Jacobs Mercer hobo
Norman Childs glasses/Etro sunglasses

Chris:
Vince sweater
Marc Jacobs jeans (note that these are way cheaper in the mbmj store than online for some reason)
Vans slip ons
Lifetime Collective sunglasses

Emilia:
Osh Kosh cardigan (similar hoodie set she also has here)
Tea Collection dress (same in another colorway here)
Old Navy leggings
Trumpette socks
Handmade hat

By the way, I'll be drawing the Shabby Apple Giveaway winner later today and contacting them via email. The winner will also be posted in the Rafflecopter widget. Thank you to everyone who entered and to Shabby Apple for providing the prize!

Scenes from my December holiday

Last year Chris and I were lucky enough to be reunited in Brazil, where summer had just begun. This year we left together for St. Lucia to enjoy a little sunshine and relaxation at the semester's end. And it was as beautiful and inspiring as every other voyage we've taken.

Our villa had incredible views and on clear days, we could even see Martinique! It was named aptly the "Windsong," nestled at the northern most part of the island in an area called Cap Estates. Although it was somewhat remote, we loved how quiet and secluded we were from the bustle. The trade winds were so strong that they whistled at night. The property had a hot tub, which proved clutch on windier and therefore chilly evenings.

The famous pitons from a vista on our day trip, driving south. 

 At the Botanical Gardens where we soaked in the hot mineral baths (hence Chris's bathing suit trunks).

The "drive in" volcano and bubbling sulfur springs in Soufriere

Jalousie Plantation (now a resort) nestled between the Pitons

The property owner greeted us with this beautiful tropical flower arrangement on the evening of our arrival. On the right I'm resting during our hike up Pigeon Point.

The view at Pigeon Point. You can see one of the three Sandals resorts on the island.

We were so fortunate to get to take such a trip. I doubt we'll be traveling next December so we relished every moment of this particular pre-winter escape. Everyone we met was so friendly. And everything we ate was delicious. We can only hope to return to St. Lucia someday!


St. Lucian favorites:
The neighborhood of Gros Islet where we ate many meals and went to the Friday night Jump Up
Agnes's Bar near Pigeon Point where we met locals who gave us great recommendations
Flavours of the Grill which had our favorite rum punches and delicious meats!
Sea View's blue marlin plates (so cheap and delicious... only on Sat. and Wed. nights)
Prudee's House of Roti (delicious pockets of curried meats and veggies but go early cause she sells out!)
Le Sport beach (public beach with staff that allow visitors to use the chairs and umbrellas without charge)
Razmatazz (expensive but delicious... plus the chef kindly helped us change our flat tire in the parking lot!)
Drive-a-matic who rented us the adorable Suzuki Jimny that we drove while there
Shopping at Rodney Bay for ladies sandals and other things
The roaming livestock and dogs
The many beautiful views