cross it off

last night, i looked outside at 7 o'clock and it was already almost dark. i like warm weather, going to the beach and summer clothes, but the thing i always miss about summer the most is the light. when it's almost nine and it finally decides to get fully dark. i miss that in december when it's pitch black by 5:15.

dc got lucky this year. august was pleasant, not boiling, and it was one of the nicest summers i can remember. 

_ _ _

the changing of the seasons always brings about a closet clean-out. i got rid of a ton of clothes this time. my motto for this clean-out: "if it doesn't fit TODAY, it's GONE." feels good to look in my closet, knowing that everything that's in there actually fits. no aspirational clothes allowed. enough of that bs.

_ _ _

we got a lot done this weekend. boring errands and life stuff, but i always feel good when the weekend is productive. as much as i think i'd prefer to relax, i always end up feeing better when i'm getting stuff done, crossing off the to-do list like a maniac.

enjoy these last few days of summer. i'm not ready to let go.

a beautiful sunset from our last trip of the summer 

lucy being a grade A weirdo

cinnamon rolls for my birthday 

coming back from a kid-free dinner

killed it

for me, weekends don't get much better than this. 

hanging out with my boys (lucy too of course), beautiful weather, shopping for herbs, blooming flowers everywhere and impromptu cocktails at our neighborhood spot.

hope you got to spend the weekend with the people and pets you love the most. 

tbt

...to that one time i thought we'd just take a quick family picture because it's so pretty outside and he's in a good mood.

more please

i'm the type of person who usually jam packs my weekends. 

run one more errand? yep. squeeze in another dinner with friends? ok. do another project around the house? bring it!

but this weekend, i didn't have any plans in particular and it felt amazing. sometimes, being the anxious person i am, having no plans makes me a little nuts. "but i should be doing SOMETHING," i think. 

and while checking stuff off my to-do list is always gonna be something i love, i decided, for whatever reason, to just let it go this weekend. maybe it was the awesome 60-degree weather. maybe i'm trying to become more laid back (ha). but i spent yesterday afternoon going on a long walk in the sunshine with my husband and my kid and it felt great. 

no plans? no worries.

i need more weekends like this.

hurry up

cold weather makes me want something good for breakfast

our rosebush. looking beautiful even dead and in the snow

my favorite little guy

lucy's pretty cool too.

when i'm sick, i get really annoying and tell my husband some form of "ugh. i don't feel good" way too often. 

the same thing happens every year about this time when i get really really sick of winter. i want to say that every two seconds but i force myself not to because we're all in the same boat. the time change on march 9 is the only thing keeping me going at this point. i'm so ready for spring. who isn't?

_ _ _

we had a pack and play set up in our living room while i was on maternity leave. it made diaper changes easier since i had all my supplies right there. and when he was really little, he used to nap in it. but i always hated it in our living room and we are replacing it with this. i can't wait. i've missed the lack of seating in that room when we have the occasional visitor.

_ _ _

hope you're having a great tuesday.

short days

making muffins on snow days 

yikes

park time!

if you love s'mores as much as i do, make these tonight.

tuna tartare tacos that were super delicious

lucy hates the cold

yummy breakfast burrito and an even better latte here

man the amount of daylight hours are really dwindling. this winter hasn't been so bad but i won't be sad to wave goodbye to these days of darkness before five.

i'm still out on maternity leave and i'm so grateful for this extra special time with my little man. it's cool spending time together and just hanging out.

at the end of this week, we're all headed to charleston for a week. i've been keeping my eye on the forecast and see some temps in the seventies. i would be so happy to ditch the coat for a second.

_ _ _

hope you all had a great weekend!  

fall in dc

lunch at arcuri | delish btw

k street, friday evening

sunday afternoon walk

lucy loves it

on the way home from target

it's hard to believe there's only a few days left in october. 

we get a ton of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood and since this will be the third halloween in this house, we stocked up on candy last weekend since we've run out of it in the past. 

can't have our house getting toilet papered.

_ _ _

this mild weather we've been having has been pretty great, but i hear that tomorrow will bring some cooler temps. 

i'm ready for it though. i even have my winter coat ready to go (the cobalt one), just in case.

here's to a good week! 

soon

took some teamwork with my husband to make these. worth it!

admiring these yellow flowers in dupont

on the way to room 11 for coffee

lucy enjoying couch time

the baby will be here any day now. i went from feeling like he was never gonna get here to "holy shit. am i really ten days from my due date?"

i'm not gonna lie. i'm totally ready for maternity leave to start. i've been doing a lot of planning and preparation at my job these past few months so i can fully relax while i'm out (hence the lack of posts around here lately).

but now it's almost here. this friday is my last in-office day and then i'm going to work from home until he comes. 

_ _ _

anyways, we had a nice weekend and i hope you did too. personally, i'm just glad i didn't need an umbrella again today.

mistakes

breakfast sandwich action from here

lucy giving some serious side eye

proud kitchen moment for me

so on sunday morning, i was on h street by 9 am, ready to sink my teeth into one of frenchie's croissants. turns out, the market is open on saturday mornings, not sunday. we ended up getting some pretty tasty breakfast sandwiches instead, but so much for another year wiser.

doh!

speaking of dough (see what i did there?), i got a pasta roller for my birthday and to my surprise, successfully pulled off some fresh fettuccine on sunday night. i was surprised mostly because doughs of any kind -- especially when kneading is involved -- tend to scare the shit out of me. i don't know what it is but making my own rolls, breads, etc. has always been something i've avoided. it just seems so daunting i guess. 

but this was a happy success for me and i'll definitely be making them again. i tried to make lasagna noodles before i had my handy pasta roller and trying to get the dough thin enough with a rolling pan and elbow grease. just.. no. 

hope your week is off to a fun start.

sunny september

roasting in the florida heat

lucy does this every day waiting for bob to get home

  we're done with traveling this year, and i'm pretty happy to be out of the airport scene for a while. the boarding/de-boarding process is one of my least favorite on earth. why does it take SO LONG?

anyways, we had a nice trip and today's my birthday!

woo hoo!

my husband and i are going here for sort of a joint celebration since our birthdays are only six days apart. can't wait to see how it is. i hear they have some sort of cotton candy dessert?

_ _ _

the cool mornings have been nice. it's still getting into the mid-80s during the day, too, so i like this weather. the best of both worlds, in a way.

here's to a great month of football and blue skies.

winding down

september 22 is officially the first day of fall. so we have just over a month left with summer.

the recent cooler weather has kinda thrown me off my game. i've lived in the area for nearly a decade and can't remember the last time it was even remotely cool in august.  

i have mixed feelings about this: it's amazing to not be drenched in sweat after walking a block or two, but i kinda miss the hot days. 

i'm in no rush to start wearing jackets, scarves and boots. sure, it's fun to get all bundled up and cozy. but i don't want to start doing that too soon because next thing you know, it's march and we've been stuck in our fall/winter uniforms for six-plus months.

so i'm hoping for a warm september. i can wait until later for the boots and such. 

out for a walk with lucy 

a delicious ice cream treat from here

lucy knows what's up

hope your weekend was nice. we put the crib together and the rocking chair comes this friday.

it's getting a little more real...

i promise

i swear this isn't going to become a place where i do nothing but re-post instagrams. and it kinda bugs me to have two instagram posts back to back but...

my real job has been keeping me pretty busy, especially with the upcoming maternity leave once the baby comes. i've been trying to cram in as much work as i can and the blog has suffered as a result.

womp womp.

but i have some cool posts in the works. so yay.

hope your first weekend in august was nice.

how bout that lack of humidity?!

road trips and childhood secrets

this weekend, bob and i babysat our six-month-old niece, leah, while my sister and her husband had a little getaway weekend in vermont.

for some weird reason, babies seem to want a lot of attention and i wound up taking zero instagram pictures this weekend.

just this one on the way out of town on friday morning. 

you can see the suspicion in her eyes already.

"wait, there's gonna be another 19-pound thing vying for your affection? rude."

we had a good time though and had plenty of time to talk and just hang out as a couple. it was nice.

and i learned a deep dark secret about my husband: as a child, he was a VERY picky eater and he strongly preferred cereal to almost every other food out there. so much was his love for this crunchy breakfast staple that when his family had taco nights, he'd forgo the delicious seasoned meats and toppings and would instead load up his crunchy taco shell with....cap'n crunch.

yep. 

and i thought i was a weird kid.

anyways, hope you all had a good weekend. i'm working on a roundup of our san francisco trip. pics coming very soon!

a few pics

this weekend was pretty quiet for me, which was a good thing since the last couple have been pretty busy. and we're traveling the next few weekends, so it was good to have some time at home.

we did go to another nats game yesterday. probably shoulda went saturday instead since yesterday decided to bring the pain in the form of crazy humidity.

but they won! both games, actually.

we also had to say goodbye to our other frenchie that we'd been watching for the week. it was fun having him around.

later this week, i'm off to san francisco for our one-year anniversary getaway/friend's wedding in sonoma. should be an awesome time. i can't wait to eat and eat and eat.