A few weeks ago, I experienced a big milestone: for the first time, I am fully a stay-at-home mom without an additional job.
Back in 2017 when I was pregnant with LJ, I decided to take a step back from teaching special education. After six full years in the classroom I was excited to transition to being stay-at-home mom and didn’t intend to find another job right away, but when the opportunity came to work part-time from home as a virtual administrative assistant pretty much right after the school year ended, I jumped at the chance.
Working with baby LJ back in 2018
My role has shifted many times over the years, and I’m super thankful to have worked for a company that allowed a ton of flexibility as my family grew. I had the ability to get many of my tasks done in early morning or evening when my kids were sleeping and of course, nap time and (eventually) preschool was helpful too. During the days, I learned how to just fit it in whenever!
Answering emails while breastfeeding in 2020.
Getting some work done while the kids enjoy a little screen time in 2021.
I truly had the best bosses and co-workers and felt very supported as a working mama; my kids occasionally interrupted (or just straight up joined in) Zoom calls, my coworkers knew that my availability was dependent on demands at home, and I was always met with patience and understanding. A few years ago I wrote this blog post which talked about how I balanced working from home with a baby and a lot of the things I talked about then were true all the way through my work-from-home experience.
A kid or two playing under my desk was a common occurrence
That all being said, it was not without its challenges over the years. There were very difficult stretches of time where it was hard to find any semblance of balance in my life and I felt like I couldn’t keep it all up, but I was always able to stick it out and course correct until I got things back to a place that felt manageable again. Again, I’m so thankful to have worked for a supportive company that allowed me to shift my role based on my personal capacity, as that’s really the only way I was able to make it work for six years.
My work set up in 2023 – Ollie would often nap or play in the pack n play while I worked.
This spring, I started to feel a pull towards staying at home full time with no additional job. My kids are getting older and starting to get involved in activities like little league, gymnastics, and swimming. LJ will be going to kindergarten this fall and we won’t have as much time together each day. Ollie is getting bigger and we’re doing more family outings. It just felt like the right time to transition and focus my full attention on my home and family, and so I decided to resign from my virtual position at the end of May. It was a bittersweet decision! I loved my coworkers (we lived in different states but got to know each other well via video meetings over the years) and appreciated that this job allowed me to grow and utilize a lot of different skills while contributing to our family’s income, but I knew this was the right decision for myself and my family at this time.
I’m just over three weeks into this change and it is so clear to me that this was the right move. The shift in my focus and ability to be there for my family in ways I wasn’t able to fully commit to before has been a wonderful thing; I’m truly grateful and do not take this for granted.
With this transition, there’s another thing that’s changed: the home office is rarely used now. I had previously used this space multiple times a day and now that I’m not working from home, I’m just not really ever in there. It is truly one of my favorite rooms in our entire house so I want to make sure it’s used well and I’m thinking about what that is going to look like in this next phase of life. An art space for the kids? A music room for a piano? A lounge space for reading? Keep the desk and chair for bill paying/blog writing/just less frequent use? A hybrid of purposes? We will see!
As I reflect on the next phase, it’s also fun to think back on all my previous set-ups. I thought it’d be fun to take a quick little look back on where I’ve worked over the years.
In our last house, we didn’t have room for a full office but I was able to tuck a little workspace into the landing at the top of our stairs. It was small but it worked!
When we first moved into this house, I utilized the desk space in the corner of our kitchen as a home office. I had a little more room to spread out here, but because it was right in our kitchen, it always felt like work was right. there.
I started to desire a dedicated work space so I moved into what is now our home office and set up with things I already had on hand.
I loved having a dedicated space and decided to really make it the home office of my dreams in 2020. We DIYed this entire space! You can read all about that process here.
I’m not sure what the future holds in terms of going back to teaching/working part-time/working remotely/whatever other possibility there is. I’m also not sure what direction we’ll take this home office now that I’m not working from home. What I do know right now is that I’m thankful for the previous phases of my life, and I’m enjoying and looking forward to all that is to come in this next one!
As we’ve been settling back into life after our anniversary trip to Prague a couple weeks ago, I’ve loved finding places for the souvenirs I brought back. I was reflecting on the types of things I have started collecting on trips and I realized that the most common things I get these days are for our home. Of course there’s the occasional piece of jewelry or bottle of local wine or piece of clothing (I loved hitting up Czech thrift stores and found some gems!) and Justin and I have had the tradition since our honeymoon to get a magnet everywhere we go, but time and again, I come back to items that are for use or display in our home.
I love curating our home into a little haven that feels like a reflection of my family, and incorporating little pieces of places we’ve been, whether near or far, is definitely a part of that. I’m a minimalist at heart and don’t want to collect too many items, but traveling is a big part of our family life and I do love the reminders of both big and small adventures.
Today I thought I’d share the three things I most often use as souvenirs from our trips. These items go a long way in bringing unique little moments to places in our home and serve as sweet reminders (and inspiration for more travel in the future!)
Original Art/Local Art
Of course you can display photos you take on your trips, and I’ve definitely done that, but there’s something extra special about having a piece of artwork to hang.
Original artwork from a local artist in Florence, Italy
So often when I’m traveling we come across local artists selling their work in a street fair or farmer’s market. I enjoy browsing the selections and when there is a special piece that really speaks to me, I try to purchase it if size and budget permit. I love incorporating these little reminders of our travels into our home – they make me smile every time I see them and bring back memories from each place!
Original artwork from New Orleans, still searching for the perfect frame!
I usually try to buy an original piece but I’ve also picked up prints from local artists occasionally.
Print artwork from local artist in New Orleans
I find that picking up artwork here and there is a great way to mix different styles into your home to bring a unique level of character that feels personal to you and your family. Art is so subjective so DO NOT worry about what is trendy or what someone else might choose – there are no rules and it’s just about what YOU like and want in your home. It will still feel cohesive because it’s all stuff you like and it’s a way to have a collection unlike anyone else’s!
Print from local artist in West Virginia
Postcards & Tickets
Original artwork is great, but it can also understandably be expensive. A budget-friendly solution is to save the tickets from something on the trip (public transportation, concert, attraction, etc) and stick them in a frame when you get home. Museums, particularly art museums, often have really pretty tickets that are fun to keep and display! I love this little ticket from the Vatican tucked into our bedroom gallery wall.
Museum ticket from Vatican City
I’m excited to also use this ticket from the Mucha Museum in Prague once I find the right frame! The gift shop in the museum was full of expensive souvenirs, but this ticket alone is the perfect little way to remember a unique experience from a trip we both loved.
Museum ticket from Prague
Postcards are an even cheaper route to go and can often be found for less than $1. I picked up this fun one on a trip to Austin and it’s a quirky nod to all the murals we saw throughout the city.
Postcard from Austin, TX
Functional Houseware
On most trips, I don’t have the packing space to grab pieces for our home but occasionally I do have room in my suitcase for something. On our recent trip to Prague, I chose to pack extremely lightly so I had some extra room for souvenirs for our home. I was thrilled to stumble upon a cute little farmer’s market where local artisans had little booths and I picked up a handmade wooden cutting board, wooden spoon, and two small, handmade ceramic platters.
Handmade items from local artisans in Prague
I think a key for me with things like this is to find things I will actually use. I don’t want something that feels too precious and just sits on a shelf in a cupboard; I want things that I bring out and incorporate into our life! I’m excited to use these unique items in our home and know they will serve as sweet reminders of our trip every time. They are also beautiful enough pieces to have out on display if I want to use a small platter as a catch-all tray or keep the cutting board out on my counter for quick access, like I do with this small maple one from a special day date Justin and I had.
Maple cutting board from a day trip to a local town in Indiana
Home takes times in many ways. It takes time to plan for, budget for, and execute renovations, It takes time to DIY a project. It takes time to figure out how to best make your home work for you. And it takes time to curate the items that make your home functional and beautiful. Incorporating souvenirs is one of my favorite ways to add character, personality, and that cozy feeling of belonging into our home and I know this will continue to evolve in the future.
In the beginning of June, Justin and I took a parents-only vacation for our anniversary and checked a top destination off of our travel bucket list. Neither of us had ever been to the Czech Republic before and exploring this beautiful country together was such a fun way to celebrate ten years of marriage. We spent four days in Prague and two in a small, quiet town named Kutná Hora and the whole trip was just incredible. (Psst – scroll to the end for a few specific recs!)
I’ve shared before that I’m always drawing inspiration from our travels and this trip was no different. I found myself so energized by the architecture, the colors, and the culture! There was one unusual aspect though: I realized early on in our trip that I was very drawn to one thing in particular over and over and over again. Can you guess what it was?
Yep. It was the doors.
I sure didn’t have “fall in love with doors” on my European vacation bingo card, but that’s exactly what happened. I took pictures of doors. I took pictures with doors. I stopped and admired and took mental notes about doors. I. Loved. The. Doors.
I think part of the reason doors were on my mind is because replacing our front door is quickly rising to the top of our home project list. We need to prioritize this sooner rather than later because the outside door frame is damaged and falling into disrepair; it not only looks terrible but it’s inviting critters to make their homes in the hole around the door frame (obviously problematic for many reasons).
It felt like everywhere I looked, doors were giving so much personality. Each one was unique and beautiful and full of character. Doors weren’t just a functional means to an end, they were thoughtfully crafted to fit the story of the building and I really want that to be the case for our home too. Obviously we’re not going to have enormous handcrafted doors made for our home, but the more I saw, the more I realized there are a few things I was particularly drawn to and want to think about as we begin the process of replacing our front door. Today I’m sharing a bunch of pictures of the doors I loved and the takeaways I’m keeping in mind when we shop for our doors.
Double Doors
If it’s possible, I absolutely want to use a set of double doors! There is something about double doors at an entrance that feels so special and elevated. Our current front door is a single door but it has a fixed pane on either side, so if we take the whole thing out I believe we would have enough room for double doors.
Window Panes
I loved the doors with windowpanes! They feel both classic and modern, which fits right into the aesthetic of the rest of our home. Right now our front door’s glass is frosted so it’s nearly impossible to see who is at our front door and I would love to have something with clear glass windowpanes. If double doors are not ultimately an option for us, I like the idea of fixed panes with lots of windows on the side like the above photo.
Historic Hardware
There were wrought iron details on so many of the doors and I found that so charming! While an elaborately decorated door wouldn’t really fit the rest of our home, I love the idea of using antique hardware – I snapped this pic to show how an old door handle was retrofitted for modern keys and would love to do something similar if we can!
Wooden Doors
There were some fun statement doors, but I was overwhelmingly drawn to wooden doors. Doors with some character, some nicks, some scuffs, and a nice worn-in stain. Right now our front door is painted to match the trim but I absolutely want to have wooden front doors when we replace!
Fun fact: I loved these doors in Kutná Hora and as we were taking the picture, the homeowner came home! I just explained that we really liked the doors and he invited us in to see the whole home (we politely declined but it was a funny interaction!)
Check out these babies I found on our last full day in Prague! Wooden double doors with clear glass windowpanes and historic detail – are these my dream front doors!?
I have a feeling this search for the perfect front doors will not be quick and easy, but I’m planning to scour antique shops, salvage shops, and also look at newer options to find our Goldilocks – not too big, not too small, not too ornate, not too plain, just right for our home. Let the search commence!
Traveling to Czechia? Here are a few things we loved!
Prague
*Jewish Quarter. Touring this area and the synagogues and buildings was an incredibly moving experience and an important education on Jewish history in Prague (and Europe in general). We chose to add the audio guide to our tickets which gave a lot of additional information and context. I would recommend dedicating a full morning at minimum for the tour, and make sure to give yourself time in the afternoon to process and reflect on everything. It’s a lot to take in and the information is really difficult at times (I cried multiple times, especially through the Terezín Children’s art exhibit in the Pinkas synagogue).
*New Town + Old Town. Any guidebook or travel itinerary will have specific places to go in both New Town and Old Town and my suggestion is to pick a few that you really want to do and then spend the rest of the time wandering the sections. You will likely stumble upon more of the suggested tourist spots, but you will also have so much fun just walking and exploring. There is truly SO much to see and do and it is hard to actually get lost since there are so many large historic landmarks. I also recommend exploring both at day and night, as the vibes are different and each is uniquely fun!
*Castle Quarter. I absolutely recommend spending a half day exploring Prague castle + St Vitus Cathedral. You can access the grounds and see the outsides and a small section inside the cathedral for free but we found it to be well worth buying tickets + audio guides to get the full experience.
*Use the public transportation! We used trains, metros, trams, and buses and all were fairly easy to navigate once you got the hang of the system. All public transportation uses the same ticketing system which is helpful! English is very widely spoken so you can always ask a question to a staff member or bus driver and they’re happy to help. It’s a fun way to broaden your scope of exploration and see more of the city/country in an authentic way.
Kutna Hora
I absolutely adored this charming small town and highly recommend making it a priority to visit. We spent just under two days there and while you can make it in a day trip from Prague, we were glad to have some time to just relax, explore, and enjoy a slower pace in a town that wasn’t overrun with tourists.
*St. Barbara’s Cathedral is gorgeous!! Well worth a visit. We also saw the Bone Church and St Mary’s Cathedral and both were interesting (the bone church is pretty chilling though, I’m not sure we’d ever want to go again).
*We stayed in this bed and breakfast and loved it. Great location, delicious breakfast, warm and gracious host. We would definitely recommend it!
*This is the perfect town to just wander and explore. We lingered at restaurants and popped into thrift stores, cathedrals, tiny museums, a Vietnamese market, parks, overlooks . . . it was the perfect little getaway in the middle of our vacation.
Those are the highlights of our trip but I’m always happy to give more information or specific recommendations if you want so feel free to ask away in the comments!
Sometimes I just get in moods where all I want to do is read, and this month one of those moods hit me. I think it was the combination of warmer weather, school ending, and just the general energy and time-to-relax vibe that the beginning of summer brings that made me want to make time for as much reading as possible.
I managed to squeeze in six books this month and I’m excited to talk about them all so let’s get right to it!
You know how in made-for-TV holiday movies, the plot is always some version of a Serious Big City PersonTM traveling to a quaint small town and falling in love with both the charming area and the Wholesome Small Town PersonTM? This book is what happens to the Career-Oriented Significant Other in the CityTM they leave behind.
Nora is a NYC-based literary agent who keeps getting dumped when her boyfriends travel to small towns and fall in love with the quiet, slower-paced life (and the baker/florist/owner of a Christmas tree farm they meet there). But Nora doesn’t want the small town life. She wants lively and bustling, not country and quaint. When her younger sister Libby begs for a girls-only getaway to the small town that inspired Nora’s client’s bestseller, Nora reluctantly agrees. Libby creates a small town bucket list for a transformative experience like the heroine in the book, but with each item checked off the list, Nora pines more and more for life back in the city. The only person she runs into that seems to feel the same way is Charlie Lastra, an editor that Nora has encountered before in NYC. It turns out Charlie is originally from this tiny town and while they might not have had the greatest first (or second) impressions, Charlie and Nora can’t seem to help running into one another again and again. Is it possible for them both to actually find happiness? And if so…where?
This book is both filled with tropes and written as a parody of tropes, which I found to be a clever and delightful mix. I loved that Nora didn’t apologize for who she was and stayed true to her actual self throughout the story. I relished Nora and Charlie’s chemistry and felt like both characters were written in such a realistic, layered way. Their banter is amazing, their romantic development is believable, and they just seem to fully get one another and accept the whole person. I mean really, isn’t that the best formula for a fun rom-com? The only part that felt a little forced was the “enemies” part; it’s such a strong word and didn’t feel quite right. It was more like…unpleasant initial encounters? Regardless, this was a winner for me and I smiled so many times while reading. It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s warm and fuzzy, it’s satisfying, it’s just right. It pokes a little fun at tropey romance while also embracing tropey romance and that in a nutshell is how I also feel about tropey romance, so I found it very refreshing and entertaining. If tropes aren’t your thing, stay away, but if you can hang with them, I highly recommend this one!
Bee Königswasser is a brilliant, purple-haired neuroscientist who just landed a career-making lead position in a joint NIH/NASA backed project. It is a dream project in every sense except one: the co-leader of the project is none other than NASA engineer Levi Ward. Sure, he’s fairly dreamy himself, but their paths have already crossed back in grad school and Levi made it clear at the time that he had no interest whatsoever in working with Bee. Nevertheless, she isn’t going to let her nemesis ruin this chance of a lifetime . . . unless, of course, it’s already being ruined since her equipment hasn’t shown up and her emails are going unanswered and she’s dangerously close to getting kicked off this project. She needs Levi, her sworn scientific enemy, to get in her corner – but as she gets to know him more and more she realizes he may have already been there all along.
I happened to find this book at a Little Free Library while we were strolling the streets of New Orleans and just had to grab it. I started reading it practically right away, as we found a bar with an outdoor patio a few blocks away where Justin could watch playoff basketball and I could start reading. #fate
This ended up being a great choice for a light vacation read – perfect for reading at the bar, at the pool, lounging in the hotel, etc. If you’re going to do a rom com with only one character’s point of view, you have to make their inner thoughts entertaining and Bee’s are humorous and quirky and full of personality. I really like that Ali Hazelwood writes about women in STEM and not just in a fluffy, it’s a blip on the radar of the plot line kind of way – Bee’s love of science and career in academia is central to the entire plot. She’s an approachable, fun main character to root for! I also liked Levi as a solid male lead with a softer side. I do have a few critiques that keep this from being a runaway hit for me. First of all, I read The Love Hypothesis by this same author and honestly, the books are very similar in plot, characters, conflicts, etc. so it felt a little like deja vu. There is also absolutely nothing surprising – not to say there aren’t “twists” but there is not a single one I didn’t guess immediately. I don’t think that’s just because it was similar to The Love Hypothesis, I think it’s just because they’re all very obvious. The misunderstanding trope is not my favorite one (it always feels so juvenile!) but once that finally got out of the way, I appreciated Bee and Levi’s dynamic. All that being said, I still enjoyed this read because I didn’t expect too much from it. I didn’t need a twisty book full of surprises; I was in vacation mode and wanted fun, light, and easy to fly through so this one was very satisfying for me!
“It’s a crazy idea: trying to name the phrases that make love and connection possible. But that’s just what Kelly Corrigan has set out to do here. In her New York Times bestselling memoirs, Corrigan distilled our core relationships to their essences, showcasing a warm, easy storytelling style. Now, in Tell Me More, she’s back with a deeply personal, unfailingly honest, and often hilarious examination of the essential phrases that turn the wheel of life.” – Description taken from Goodreads
This book is small but mighty. Over the course of twelve short story-style chapters, the author shares personal recollections of various experiences relating to phrases like “I Don’t Know,” “Good Enough,” “I Was Wrong,” and “It’s Like This.” It’s incredibly compelling, yet easy to digest. Some chapters are long and some are short, but they’re all standalone in a way that makes it easy to set the book down in between chapters so you have time to process and think if you want (which I did!) I want to re-read the “I love you” chapter again and again and again. I cried reading the “Onward” chapter. Each chapter feels a little bit like you’re sitting down to lunch with the author or lingering on the porch with a glass of wine just talking about family and failure and triumph and life. It’s deep and thought-provoking and relatable and funny. I texted my friend afterwards to tell her to put it on her TBR list and said: “It’s a good one for when you want to read something but just can’t decide what, or if you don’t want to settle in to a big book, or if you need a quick win after either a dud or a book that was long and took a lot of energy.” I highly recommend it.
The Finlay Donovan series follows a divorced mom of two who is struggling as a writer . . . until she’s overheard describing the plot of her next book and inadvertently gets hired as a contract killer. In this book of the series, Finlay and her nanny Vero sign up to attend a citizen’s police academy – it’s the perfect place to get inspiration for her latest book deadline, try to learn the identity of a real contract killer, and provide a safety net from the mob boss who landed in jail thanks to them.
To be honest, this story felt dragged out and really didn’t move the overall plotline along much. So much happened, and yet nothing much happened in terms of providing any answers from the previous books. Like the second book, this one very much felt like a middle book to me. I do love Vero and I loved the entertaining little side plot with her friend Javi (and wanted way more of it!) That fun dynamic aside, I think I’m over this series. The books are comical but in an I Love Lucy kind of way where it’s slap-sticky and over the top. I found it charming and fun in book one and was willing to suspend some reality, but book two and three don’t have the same magic. Nonstop zany shenanigans that somehow perfectly work out every time have grown stale for me. This one picks up right where book two left off, but since I read that over a year ago it was hard to remember the plotlines and all. the. characters. (there are so many!) It’s possible I would have enjoyed it more if I jumped right in from book two. I read it quickly, skimmed a bit when I grew tired of the plot, and just kind of felt meh at the end. Fans of the first two books will likely enjoy this one, as it’s very similar, but for me the magic has faded and I’ll only be reading the 4th book if I’m sure it is the final one and everything will wrap up. If you do try this series, just know that the books are not standalones at all and you’ll need to read them all in order to have any sort of idea of what’s going on.
Rated PG-13 for mild language and a mostly closed door scene.
The Stockton family is living off a tremendous amount of generational wealth in the fruit streets neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. Darley is the oldest; she married for love but may have bargained away too much and lost some of herself in the process. Sasha married into the family and is struggling to feel like she belongs -not only within the family itself but within the museum they call a home that she now lives in. Georgiana is the youngest and at 26, she still has a lot of growing up to do, both romantically and with the direction she wants her life to take. Told in alternating POV chapters, we take a deep dive into the inner workings of this family and see how wealth, love, and class weave together throughout all their lives.
This book is a slow burn, character-driven novel so if you’re looking for a fast-paced plot or a lot of things going on, this is probably not going to be a satisfying read for you. I found it fascinating though! Because chapters alternate between the three Stockton women it’s a fairly easy one to set down and pick up when you want, although I kept wanting to read one more chapter, one more chapter. The characters have just enough growth and development to keep them from being truly unlikeable, but they’re absolutely portrayed in a way that feels deeply human and personal. In a family, you see the best and worst parts of each other and that’s what this book gives us a glimpse into. This family is relatable in ways, out-of-touch in others. They can be selfish, but they’re also loyal. The dynamics within the family feel both familiar and strange. As I read, I would be frustrated one minute, then laughing the next minute. I found some characters to be more redeemable than others, but ultimately thought the book felt satisfying. It just feels like real life in the 1% and I enjoyed this intimate, escapist look into a wealthy, WASPy family.
Alex is a social media influencer who wakes up from a drunken night celebrating one million followers only to realize she’s going viral for the worst reason: a vicious rant was posted to her account last night and toxic, threatening comments start pouring in. Alarmed and confused (can she actually remember writing that post??) she reaches out to her assistant AC to help with damage control but AC has vanished without a trace. Now police are showing up asking questions, online comments from trolls are never-ending with threats that are becoming too real, and worst of all, a dead body is discovered on Alex’s property. Through it all, AC is still missing and it begs the question: who exactly did Alex trust with the most personal details of her life?
The premise of this book was enticing to me because honestly, this is the best and worst of social media. Alex has shared inspiration and found success, but in just one post, it all crashes down and hatred and vitriol spread like wildfire. On top of all that, her assistant is gone and her husband may be keeping secrets from her – it has all the components of a great domestic thriller. I will say, the characters aren’t particularly likeable so it’s hard to know exactly who to root for through the alternately narrated chapters, but it’s still a compulsive read. I devoured it up until the last maybe 20% but things kind of unraveled from there and not in a good way. I guessed a few of the twists and the ones I didn’t felt off to me for reasons I can’t elaborate on because I don’t want to spoil anything. Unfortunately, I ultimately was pretty unsatisfied with the ending. Ugh – I hate when that happens! It took this from a “definitely recommend” to a “pretty decent” thriller. Meh.
simplify the chaos 