Swoon Worthy | Maine Favorites

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Seeing as we're leaving for our family summer vacation in Maine some time in the middle of the night tonight, it seemed appropriate that I dedicate this week's Swoon Worthy post to some of my most favorite items from my beautiful home state.

It has been far too long since I have been home, and I seriously cannot wait to breath the fresh ocean air and indulge in all of my favorite things... As soon as we get through the way-too-long-road-trip-with-2-little-ones part. I'm just going to hope for the best, but be prepared for otherwise.

I'm so excited to share the details of our trip when we return, but in the meantime, here are some of my most favorite Maine things!

1.  These are hands down the absolute best tote bags ever. I love them in every size, and they are so durable.

2.  Maine is known for its Whoopie Pies, and These ones are the best!

3. I pretty much love every single thing from Stonewall Kitchen, but the Wild Maine Blueberry Jam and their Red Pepper Jelly are among my most favorites.

4.  The Ropes Maine bracelets have been on my Swoon Worthy lists before, but they keep adding new colors and styles, and well, I love them.

5.  I love a good summer beer, and This Maine brew is heaven served with a fresh lemon slice!

6.  I don't think there's a better pair of winter boots out there than Bean Boots. I couldn't live without mine.

7.  Chart Metal Works makes some of the coolest custom made jewelry around.

8.  I love, love, love, the concept behind These clutches.... The color selection is pretty awesome too.

9. Made right in Maine using recycled sails, Sea Bags are another favorite.

10.  You can't make a list about things from Maine and not include something lobster themed. I adore This lobster tea towel.

Wish us luck... We're off on what will hopefully be a fabulous family vacation!
-J

Weekend Recap | A (mostly) Photo Post

Today kicked off what will most likely be a super stressful week. We leave for our family vacation on Friday, kicked off with a 9.5+ hour drive to Boston with two little ones in tow. Between the mile-long list of things that I need to pack, the last minute errands, and the anxiety I'm already having about driving that far with Max and Ella, you better believe I will have earned some R&R time in the very near future.

So... I'm keeping this post short and sweet, and seeing as it was a pretty uneventful weekend, it should be easy to do!

Friday we went to a local amusement park with Max and Ella's Nana. She's been dying to take Max there since the day he was born, so seeing her show him all of the things his Dad liked as a little boy was pretty sweet.

We got our weekly trip to the grocery store in, and even managed to bake some cupcakes. It's amazing all of the things that Max points out at the store... From balloons, to apples, to may-yos (tomatoes), dog food, and of course Popsicles. He also likes to stop by the fish counter and check out the lobsters. I can't wait to get him to Maine!

Oh, and we stocked up on our favorite fall scented candles, so as soon as we get back from vacation we'll be prepared to decorate for autumn! This new scent is a little slice of heaven.

That pretty much sums it up. Hope you all have a fab week!

-J

Swoon Worthy

The last couple of days have undoubtedly felt like fall, which is why I made our favorite pumpkin mini muffin bites and indulged in one (maybe 2) of my favorite fall beers last night! It's been cool at night and early in the morning, and the air has had that certain crispness to it that can only mean one thing... Autumn is on it's way.

Fall is my absolute favorite season, I love every. single. little. thing about it, but I am in no way trying to wish this summer away too abruptly. We still have our family "summer" vacation in Maine to look forward to in about a week, so I need the season to at least stretch through that... Then I will gladly welcome fall, its pumpkin lattes, and apple crisp with wide open arms and a warm embrace.

That being said, I have decided to dedicate this week's swoon worthy post to some of my favorite fall things; a sort of "fall preview", if you will.

These are some of the things I'm swooning over for the impending arrival of autumn 2014:

1. Fall always reminds me of the start of the school year, which inspires me to learn something new. That's why I signed up for this awesome script writing class being offered by the super talented Tosha! (@hellotosha on IG).
2.  I guess the fact that I've featured Sahnda Marie Kid's shoes here multiple times is a testament to how much I truly love them. These ones are definitely swoon worthy... I'm loving mustard this fall, and pompoms... Always!
3.  Another favorite of mine, Lucky Sage Shop, is going to be releasing some new colors for fall. I've caught a glimpse on IG, and they are to die for.
4.  As soon as September arrives, you can pretty much count on me eating/drinking pumpkin everything all day every day. These pumpkin scones are on my must make list.
5.  I love these painted acorns I found on Pinterest.
6.  Bath & Body Works makes my favorite candles. Leaves and Caramel Pumpkin Latte are two of my go-to autumn scents. They are on sale right now, 2 for $22 and with the code FALLINLOVE you can get $10 off an order of $30 or more. I just purchased 4 candles for $34 plus tax... Normally this would have been $90 plus tax!
7.  My most favorite fall nail polish color of all time.
8.  I'm totally loving these boots for Max this fall.
9.  This is my most favorite pumpkin beer without question.
10.  My first thought was, Ella has to have this!!! My second was, does this come in my size???

As for the mini muffin recipe, it couldn't be easier... Mix one box of spice cake mix and one can of puréed pumpkin. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a mini muffin tin with non stick cooking spray. Bake for 20 minutes.

Hope you're all having a great weekend, and that you're as excited for fall as I am.
-J

DIY Painted Onesies

It's been awhile since I posted a good DIY project, and this one is definitely good.

These painted onesies were super fun and easy to make, you could even do this with your little ones, and the possibilities are endless.

The same concept can be applied to T shirts, cloth napkins, any fabric really and the design options are entirely up to you.

All you need is a few items to get started!

Materials:

Martha Stewart Crafts Tintable Fabric Medium (can be found in craft stores or on amazon.com)

Acrylic Paint in assorted colors

Paint Brushes

A water soluble fabric marker (optional)

Fabric Item (onesie, T shirt, cloth napkins, etc)

Piece of cardboard

Here's What I Did:

-You'll want to wash and dry your fabric item to prepare it, and also iron it so that it's smooth.

-Place a piece of cardboard inside of your onesie or T shirt to stop paint from bleeding through.

-Decide on your designs. For the gold heart onsie, I traced a large heart shaped cookie cutter with my fabric pen and painted within the lines. After the paint is dry you can remove the lines with a little water (I used a wet Q-tip to do this).

-To mix the paint, follow the directions on the Tintable fabric medium; Martha says you should mix 2 parts paint to 1 part medium.

-Start painting!

-You'll want to allow your project to dry for 24 hours.

-Heat seal your project... I completed this step by placing a cloth napkin over my designs and pressing with a hot iron.

-Enjoy your awesome handmade item!!!

*** When washing turn item inside out and use a cold water cycle.

Hope you all enjoy this simple and fun craft! 

-j

Weekend Recap

It's Monday, and it's raining again. I'm not sure why, but it seems as though every Monday has been rainy and dreary lately. 

First things first, over the weekend, THIS happened! I have been dying to put Ella's hair in pigtails for the last three months, and well... There you have it. Basically the cutest thing you ever did see!

Mike spent much of the morning Saturday working outside, which obviously left me enough time to play with Ella's hair, but also time to make these homemade cashew cookie "larabar" bites.

They're super easy to make, and much less expensive than the whole bars you buy at the store. Best part, they're healthy, there's only 3 ingredients, and there is zero cooking involved!

The recipe goes a little something like this...

Cashew Cookie Dough Bites (homemade larabars)

20 medjool dates, pitted

1 cup raw cashews

Pinch of salt, to taste

Purée dates in a food processor or blender until they come together (about 30 seconds). Add in cashews and salt and purée until all ingredients are combined. Pour ingrients onto a surface (cutting board/plate) and work together with hand to form a large ball. Break off pieces about the size of a walnut and roll into smaller balls. You should get about 16 "bites".

I like to store mine in a ziploc bag/Tupperware container in the refrigerator.

Yesterday we made our way to the outlets to do some shopping and then stopped to visit friends of ours who recently purchased their first house.

They had an absolutely enormous LoveSac and the movie Rio, so Max was pretty much in heaven. He had such a blast that he passed out on our couch when we got home, which rarely ever happens.

Which brings us to today... We're easing ourselves into this week gently.

Hope you all have a fabulous week!

-J

Swoon Worthy

I'm currently in the middle of planning our family summer vacation, and I am over-the-moon excited that in just a couple of weeks, we will be piling the whole family into the car and heading off for what I am sure will be a super relaxing (I'm obviously being sarcastic here) road trip to Maine!!!

I haven't been home since before Max was born, over 2 years ago, so I have been doing lots of online searching to find great new restaurants and fun things to do in my home state.  I seriously cannot wait to get there and see all of our family and friends in Vacationland!

In the meantime, I have discovered all kinds of fun new stuff lately so I'm sharing some of my favorites here in this week's Swoon Worthy!

1.  So, I'm about 3.5 months late to the game on this one, but I recently discovered these awesome Milestone Baby Cards... I figure, better late then never! I can't wait to use them to document all of Ella girl's firsts.

2.  We cannot get enough of Angie's popcorn around here lately! The Lightly Sweet Kettle Corn is our favorite flavor, but the cheddar caramel is ah-maz-ing too!

3.  As many of you know, I am originally from Maine, and absolutely adore an awesome Maine-made product, these Bait Bag Clutches are perfection!

4.  For any of you that have little ones who are book lovers, I recently found @thelittlebookcollector on Instagram. If you're on IG, follow her.  Her feed is beautiful and full of great reading inspiration.

5.  I love, love, love these bowls from Anthropologie.

6.  Is there anything more fun than Funfetti? These softbatch Funfetti cookies from Averie Cooks are a must make in my opinion!

7.  I absolutely must make one of these dresses for Ella before the end of summer!

8.  Fall will be here soon, and I have to have one of these puffer vests for Max.

9.  When I saw this crocheted throw in the latest Pottery Barn catalog, I knew I could make way one for much less... I promise, the pattern is coming soon!

10.  Lets be honest... I mostly live in sweats these days, and considering these are currently on sale, I think I need them in my life.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
-J

Running on Empty

Things have been nothing short of crazy around here lately. Being outnumbered on a daily basis by 2 tiny humans is downright exhausting!

Max has been on a mission to tear our house apart from top to bottom and Ella has been on a bedtime strike for the last couple of weeks. She is an amazing sleeper once she actually goes to sleep, but lately her schedule has been more like that of a teenager than a 3 month old infant, since she's been going to bed after 11:00 pm and sleeping in all morning.

I'd be all for this schedule if it wasn't for the fact that I have Max to care for too, but seeing as he's on a pretty fine tuned sleep schedule these days, that means it's late to bed and early to rise for me.

I'm sure if I woke Ella in the morning and made a valid effort to keep her up, it would help get the late nights under control, but I have to admit, I kind of enjoy the one-on-one time with Max while she sleeps. Things are a lot more manageable when I only have one to deal with one while in get in my first dose of caffeine for the day.

While it feels good to vent about how chaotic and tiresome these kiddos can be, they're also pretty darn cute and I wouldn't change a thing about these crazy days. Getting to be there for all of the firsts and seeing them grow and change is well worth the exhaustion.

Recently Ella has discovered Sophie the giraffe, and they are becoming fast friends, just like Sophie and Max were back in the day.

Max has been obsessed with eating "up corn" (popcorn) and ice cream with "frinkles" lately. He also almost always wants to hang out in "Da's bed", I'm not sure why he doesn't realize that it's my bed too, but I just roll with it... And he won't stop talking about the "baby dee" (deer) that have been hanging out around our house since spring. He literally wakes up and asks about them first thing in the morning.

The weekend is almost here, so I only have to get through one more day of being outnumbered, then I get a couple of days of 2 vs 2, which is kind of like a mini vacation! Yippee!

-J

Weekend Recap

I feel like I say this all the time, but seriously, where has the time gone? With the blink of an eye, the first weekend of August has come and gone, and summer is flying by at warp speed.

We kicked off Saturday with a picnic in the park... Something that's been on my summer bucket list and needed to happen. The weather was perfect, and Max had a blast running around and getting dirty.

You can tell by the look on his face here, that he was up to no good.

We capped off the day with our favorite go-to steak salad topped with roasted cherry tomatoes, roasted potatoes, red onion and Gorgonzola cheese, dressed with a nice light balsamic vinaigrette. It's seriously my favorite salad, ever!

Sunday morning was rainy and dreary... The perfect kind of weather to indulge in a trip to Target. All was fine and good until a full blown thunder storm broke out and we had to ride it out in Starbucks, where Max shouted, "thunder, loud!" on repeat long enough that I felt guilty for disturbing the peace and decided I was brave enough to venture to the car in the monsoon outside.

Despite getting soaked, it was a successful morning, due to the fact that our Target haul included this amazing find...

Starbucks cold brew... my life is now complete!

Rainy Sundays really lend well to supporting one's iced coffee addiction, love of crocheting, and need to binge watch Friday Night Lights while my kids slept!

(Keep an eye out for these hand crocheted Mommy & Me cowls, I will be adding them to the shop soon!)

It was a good weekend! Hope you all have a fabulous week!

-J

Swoon Worthy

It's officially August 1st, and as usual, summer seems to be flying by! 

After a crazy week of dealing with summer colds, cooler than normal temps, and me going stir crazy and wanting to rip my hair out, we are more than thrilled to get back to our "normal" summer routine!

Here's what I'm swooning over this week:

1.  I've already mentioned my love for Yosi Samra ballet flats in a previous Swoon Worthy post, but these miniature ones are just too much.

2.  We have had a major overabundance of zucchini in our garden this summer, leaving me with no choice but to try every recipe including zucchini that I can find... this one and this one are both amazing!
3.  I love these knit dolls so much, it's impossible to choose just one.
4.  Finally, an at home gel nail polish that doesn't require a UV light, hallelujah!!!
5.  Getting paid to work out? I am totally intrigued by the Pact app.
6.  My love for J Crew baby Pajamas grows by the day.
7.  Pie Crust Cookie S'mores... Need I say more?
8.  I adore a good crocheted hexi pattern.
9.  We are once again entering the teething stage, these are a favorite when it comes to teethers!
10.   Just added this to my summer reading list!

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend... After the week we've had, I'm off to indulge in some wine. Cheers!

-J