Life Lately

Oh hey, have you missed me?

I haven't been posting much lately due to a few things but mostly because my laptop stopped working.   I'm back on my old MacBook clunker for now but thank goodness for her!  Here's what else I've been doing/loving/making.

__LOVING__

I've been totally obsessed with my new Aura frame that I got for Christmas!  My old digital frame stopped working a few years ago and this one is such an upgrade. We can all upload photos to it wirelessly and I've been having fun adding old photos that we haven't seen in years.

Aura Digital Frame

This long striped cardigan was another gift that I requested for Christmas.

Long cardigan

Here I am "rockin' it" a work. #bathroomselfie 

I've been using these pasta bowls on repeat.  I haven't been able to replace my Ikea bowls and these are slightly smaller but I really like the smaller size!

8.5" pasta bowls

We upgraded our utensil storage to this lovely gal.  

Utensil Caddy

I have flameless candles all over the house but this set was a little different with the smokey grey glass holders.  They have 2 different timer settings and a remote. 

Flameless Candles

I got this Telfar belt for Christmas in black.  I'm wearing it in the photo above too!

Telfar logo belt

My kitties need to get brushed frequently so I wanted a second brush to always have one handy. They seem to like this one too.

Pet Brush

Nessa really loves to be brushed!

__TRYING__

I tried KFC's Beyond Chicken Nuggets. The breading was good and the "chicken" is a really good dupe.  They were pretty greasy but I guess that's to be expected.  8/10 but probably wouldn't go out of my way to get again.

__DOING__

This paint by sticker book is a perfect thing to do when I'm watching tv.  It's a no-mess kind of creative and strangely addictive activity.   It was a lifesaver recently. (IYKYK!)   I have music icons and kitties.  

Paint By Sticker: Music Icons

Guess who?

This looks like my Willow.

I've been meal/food prepping a lot.

I saw this hack to put cilantro stems in a jar of water in your fridge to keep it fresh longer. It really works! It lasts a few weeks.

I've been on a fruit salad kick lately. This one had raspberries, grapefruit, apples, mandarin oranges and defrosted frozen mango.

__ORGANIZING__

This might not look like much but it's a major improvement in my closet organization.  I'm working with what I've got.  I've been purging and editing my wardrobe and I have a system for keeping everything in its place.

Decluttering For The Season

I got these tiny ceramic toothbrush holders at Muji in Boston.   So far I'm loving the clean, minimal look with the matching tray and cup.   This DIY is still going strong.

__COOKING__

Some of the meals I've been making...

Slow Cooker Taco Soup

Vegan White Lasagna Soup (With a Twist)

Creamy Butternut Squash Mac & Cheez

Creamy Tuscan Rigatoni

I've been on a freezer and pantry clean out frenzy lately.

 __DECORATING__

I put up a little Valentine's decor to enjoy.

Well this has gotten quite long! If you're still here, thank you for sticking to end.  I hope you have a great weekend. We are preparing for a winter storm that is coming tonight into tomorrow.  Have you gotten snow yet?

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Sparkly Clean Dishwasher

Who knew I would be so excited about a sparkly clean dishwasher but quarantine can do that to a person.

I was inspired by this video.

Follow along to see how she cleaned out the dishwasher filter first. I didn't get any pictures of mine but trust me, it was gross!

I recorded the next steps.  Sprinkle baking soda on the bottom of an empty dishwasher.   Fill a cup with white vinegar and place it in the dishwasher. Run a rinse cycle (I don't have a rinse cycle so I did the quickest one I had).

*Why not clean the coffee maker while you're at it?* That's what I did. 

After the dishwasher is done, remove the cup and see how shiny it looks. 

 Wipe down the out sides of the dishwasher(where I forget to clean sometimes!).

If you have a stainless steel dishwasher, I highly recommend these wipes from Weiman for cleaning and polishing the front.

Bask in the shiny reflection!  Wow, I really need to get out of the house. How are you making out?

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Most Popular Posts of 2019

Happy New Year! How was your end of 2019?  Mine was full of family, food, friends and festivities (with lots of nice down time too!).

As I go into the new year, it's fun for me to look back and see which posts were the most popular from the previous year.  I hope you enjoy them too!  Here are my top 8 from last year.

{Recipe} Sheet Pan Chick Pea Fajitas

{Travel} Italy Day 7- Florence

{The Abode} Powder Room Reveal

My Must-Have Travel Items and Hacks

A Few Things Friday (Spring Edition)

{Travel} Dublin-Day 10 Morning Campus Visit & Flight Home 

New (to me!) Trader Joe's Finds

{Recipe} Chickpea Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan & GF)

I guess I didn't do this last year (*Edit* I just did one and you can find it here) but here are some I've done from other years.  

 Most Popular Posts of 2018

Most Popular Posts of 2017

Most  Popular Posts of 2016 (Pantry organization and so much more!)

Most Popular Posts of  2015

Most Popular Posts of 2014

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{Travel} Packing for Italy

In case you didn't know, we went to Italy for our 30th anniversary in September.

I knew I wanted to travel lightly (like we did for our Scotland/Ireland trip to see  College Girl last fall).

Luckily it would be warm where we were going but we still had to pack for inclement weather.  We'd be staying in hotels, not Airbnbs, so we wouldn't be able to do our laundry either.

I made sure all of the clothes I packed could do double or triple duty. I stocked up on solid bottoms-shorts and pants-and added in pops of color with my tops.

{Shopping: Some New Summer Fashions}

{More Summer Fashion Finds}

 I tried on everything a few times to make sure I had plenty of options. We would also be traveling between cities by train so we wanted minimal bags and comfy travel clothes.

 I whittled it down to this much clothing; including a packable rain jacket, sun hat, umbrella, purse, 2 sweaters (one long striped cardigan and one short black cardigan) and 3 pairs of shoes (two pairs of Birkenstocks and a pair of TOM's.) I knew we'd be doing LOTS of walking so comfy shoes were key! Using this portable clothing rack was a huge help in planning what to bring as well.

We were ready for take off!

to be continued...

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