First snow

One, somewhat unusual, perk of our kitchen renovation is the fact that the dog run is blocked off with debris. That means that every time our silly monster needs to use the facilities we have to take him out on a leash. We swap off early morning, evening, and last potty duties (heh)

He is not a morning dog.

I say this is a perk because I've really been enjoying the early morning walks. It's so quiet and calm.

And then it finally snowed on Tuesday! And the morning walk got even better.

It snowed just enough to make everything gorgeous- clean and frosted.

This Texas girl still thinks snow is magical. I miss it this year. Plus, this was the only year I was going to get out of shoveling guilt-free. Missing out on pregnancy perks because of global warming- boo!

Saw these tracks outside...hopping three-toed sloth? What could it be?

And the husband cleaned off my car! What a guy- I am the luckiest!

Christmas Recap

The husband is in the middle of his biggest home improvement project ever- he is completely renovating the kitchen. He took last week off work and gutted the entire room. Essentially, we're combining the dining room and kitchen for a more open floor plan- no small feat considering we live in a 900 square foot bungalow.

Since the kitchen is officially closed until further notice, I wanted to take a few posts to catch up on the last few months.

First up- Christmas!

We considered not putting up decorations this year because of the construction, but I caved! I needed some holly jolly.

We finally found a Gilligan ornament at the Fryeburg Fair in Maine- check out the resemblance! Labradoodle paraphernalia is tough to come by so we were extra excited when we stumbled upon this gem!

Christmas eve was hosted per usual by Nick's Aunt ReRe. Looking a little mischievous, I'd say.

Nick's dad, Jack, bought a totally awesome hat- it sings and dances. A very silly photo shoot ensued.

My lovely husband.
Jimmy.

Nana.
Papa.
Aunt Kath.
Joey.
Mary.

We ended the evening with a sing-a-long and dessert.

Next, we went to Nick's Aunt Nancy's house for more merriment. There aren't any pictures of this gathering because I was too busy making googly eyes at an 11 day old baby- so sweet- and playing with a totally awesome 18 month old. Christmas is so much more fun with kiddos!!

Midnight mass was lovely- and I especially appreciate that it starts at 10:30 pm instead of 12 am.

Christmas morning always starts with a celebration just the two of us. We wake up early and exchange our presents and then eat breakfast.


Santa brought Nick a nerd starter kit- included was a Star Wars t-shirt for the wee one, Star Wars Legos (for Nick), and a Star Wars DVD. If we want our little boy to love all things nerdy, we gotta start him young.

Santa brought me a Giada cookbook and a griddle. Cannot wait to make millions of pancakes! My mom also got me a cowboy boots charm for my bracelet- can't wait to meet my very own cowboy in May!

Our little family.

After our small celebration, we head over to Nick's parents house for the rest of the day. We were thoroughly spoiled by them- I think my mother in law bought every maternity shirt that Old Navy sells! Nick got an awesome winter parka that I have stolen on several occasions- so warm.

The cousins showed up with their Bruins pride.

Nick's childhood bear Ben obliged for a photo op with his newest friend.


And my father in law kept our teapot obsession alive with these adorable teapot ornaments. We've been teasing each about teapots for years- it all started when Nick stole Aunt ReRe's Irish cottage teapot Christmas Eve 4 years ago. It has since been returned, but teapots have a funny way of showing up at all family functions now.

It was a lovely, low-key Christmas- cannot wait for the fun and excitement our little Nugget will bring to the celebration next year.

Adventures in biking

I'm a summer girl at heart. I love the heat and Nick often finds me lounging on the front porch once the 90s roll into town. With work and life, sometimes I forget to enjoy the 2.5 months of summer in New England. Not so, this year! I've been outside soaking up the sunshine and we've lined up a host of summer travel plans hell bent on getting outdoors.

First up- Shawme Crowell State Forest in Sandwich, MA!

We left around 6:30 on Friday and stopped in Plymouth for fuel- human and car. I saw the Pizza Factory in a strip mall near the gas station.

One small veggie pizza to share- what can I say? I have a thing for veggie pizza. And this was delicious! Seriously yummy. Kudos Pizza Factory!

We got to the campground while it was still light outside- big ups to the 1.5 hour commute down to the cape. Set up was pretty easy- we got stuck in the sandy ground a few times but Nick hauled the T-blaze through it. Bedtime came early- we were pooped from the work week!


The next morning we got an early start and enjoy a quick breakfast. Instant oatmeal + Starbucks vanilla VIA coffee. Best.instant.coffee.ever. Srsly. Please note the Ove-Glove/wrench combo. We're pretty savvy campers.

Our plan was to debut the Houndabout to the monster. Gilligan tried it at home and seemed reasonably accepting...sure...uh huh. Everything was FINE at home.

See? He's happy, right? Not so, a mere 9 mile earlier. We decided to try out the Cape Cod Rail Trail which extends from Dennis to Wellfleet- a lovely 22 mile path that's paved a shaded.

What I don't have pictures of is his great escape. Somewhere around mile 1.5 Gilligan totally lost his marbles and jumped Free Willy style out of the top section. Somehow Nick didn't crash and Gill didn't run into traffic. Suffice it to say that we leashed his puppy butt to the trailer after that nonsense. But only after we lured him back into the trailer with bites of PBJ.

P.S. Best PBJ ever. I made peanut butter out of honey roasted peanuts (just threw them in the Cuisnart with a smidge of canola oil), white bread from 7-11, and low sugar organic raspberry jam. YUM.

On the road again, we continued on our merry way. Nick said towing Gilligan and the trailer (a total of 110+ pounds) was fine unless Gilligan was shifting position. He towed that silly dog over 20 miles that day- what a trooper! I was still fresh as a daisy by the end of our adventure...Nick- not so much.


Around mile 9, we finally figured out that Gilligan needed to burn off some energy, so Nick biked while Gilligan ran- that dog is fast! And kind of swerve-y. He chilled out after that.


And so did we! We stumbled upon the Hot Chocolate Sparrow in Orleans completely by accident.


Totally Turtle for Nick and Strawberry Cheesecake for me! Gill even got his own dish of vanilla soft serve. He slurped it up!





Views from the trail.

Bikes. I love them!




Found Gilligan some water to swim in- he's finally showing his lab side. Dude loves to swim.


After our 20 mile bike ride, we took the scenic route back to the campground. On our way, we spotted the infamous ZooQuarium! Weirdest place ever- Nick says there's a sad little seal and a fox in there. No thanks.

We also saw a truly impressive collection of ceramic animals on our drive that weren't at a mini-golf course. Elephants, rhinos, and marmots- oh my!


Dinner was a breakfast scramble of quinoa, eggs, pinto beans and Morningstar sausage. Plus some contraband white wine. Yum!

Dinner was enjoyed by a rip-roaring fire. I *heart* camping.

Pizza happens

I'm usually a very hands-on cook- I make myself a homemade breakfast every morning, pack myself a lunch, and usually prep a pretty involved dinner 5 nights a week. But sometimes you have to cut yourself some slack. Tonight was one of those nights. Work has been wacky lately and I've been leaving work much later than usual. We are running wicked low on groceries and it's hot.

This is all a very long way of telling you that I picked up a pizza on the way home. And it was good.

I first tried Unchained Pizza back in May when my sister was here. It was delicious! One of the only veggie pies I've gotten that wasn't completely soggy.

Non-soggy bottom.

Huge 18" pizza- we each had two slices and have several leftover. Lunch!

Covered in mushrooms, broccoli, olives, tomatoes, onions, and peppers.


Just because we had takeout didn't mean we couldn't enjoy some ambiance. Enter our lovely backyard and a glass of 3 buck Sauvignon Blanc. Hurrah for al fresco dining!

And while we're outside, how 'bout a few backyard pictures??

Check out the garden- growing like weeds! And there are plenty of actual weeds in there- I've been pulling up the naughty ones a few times a week!


Kevin hiding in the kale.

Baby peppers.

Baby cucumber.
Baby 'maters.

Whole lotta mint- we need to have a mojito party, stat!

Gill loves playing in the BBY (big backyard- he can't spell but he knows where the fun happens!).



For dessert, a few freshly picked raspberries. And then birthday cake for my mother in law at their house- happy birthday Lorraine! (And Uncle Dan- his birthday is tomorrow, too!)