Tales of Me and the Husband

make way for ducklings!


back in october (same day as these pictures!) steve, parker, and i went into boston for the day.  steve was determined to follow the story line of one of his favorite children’s books around the city.  a make way for ducklings tour, if you will.  if you know and love this book, then this video’s right up your alley.

steve was the sweetest with his determination to connect the dots for parker.  and it was so fun watching parker’s face light up when he saw the actual thing that he’d been seeing in his book for months.  truth be told, it was really fun watching steve through it all too.  we were cutting it dangerously close to nap time by the end, so parker’s excitement waned a bit but steve’s… not a chance.

i think steve would make a really great “official tour guide” if we ever decide to really hit boston hard with the make way for ducklings franchise.  shirts, hats, books for all.  i think we could do it up.

enjoy!

p.s. huge thanks to the policeman who posed as michael!

{music: child by edward sharpe & the magnetic zeros}
{more home movies}

a snowy walk.

we finally braved the weather (truth: it got much, much warmer so we put on our gear and headed out for a little hike.).  it was really fun.  this park is covered in trails and rhododendron bushes and feels so narnia-like.  there were sledders and snow-shoers and cross country skiiers.  and so many dogs.  everyone was thawing out a bit, stretching their legs, enjoying the sunshine.  the type of winter day where you could work up a sweat and take off your outermost layer and still be warm enough.  i like those.  with parker on two feet, it was pretty slow-going so from time to time, we’d hitch him to our back where he’d ride along that way.  
hope you’re staying warm in your neck of the woods.  i know some of you are experiencing some crazy cold right now!  
(and p.s.! my scarf was made by my friend from the providence story!)

lately.

sweet pillows on lindsey’s bed.  
the bubble-blowing one c/o tiny toast!
my mom and parker in the teepee reading norman the doorman 
(a really, really cute story if you’re in need of one.)
steve’s the man and snow-blowed three times this last blizzard.  
my  sister and i brought the kids and dogs to the beach.  it was freeeeezing.
we didn’t last long. 
i love this picture of my boys.
(and am routinely struck by how darn handsome william is.)
cliiiiiick to read more!

parker really, really didn’t take those shoes off
for a good twenty-four hours.  
also, my mom got him this nat geo magazine subscription which he loves looking through.
i started ordering a burger at five guys, thinking parker and i would share 
and steve looked at me all, “you sure about that???”
sure enough, we ordered him his own, and he ate the entire thing.
I STAND CORRECTED.
ummmm… don’t even have words.
more reading for mame + parker.
really, really liked reading about the pope in time this month.  
i don’t know about you, but he gives me some hope. 
does this picture sort of make you want to turn us over and scribble with our hats?
right?
no?
lindsey’s playing with her new rainbow loom here.  they’re all the rage.
costco bathroom selfie.  not one of our finer moments.
another of the beach in december because it’s really pretty.
hope your 2014’s have been good so far!  we’ve been low-key.  stiiiiiill spending a lot of time in pajamas (it’s been so dang cold here!  like single digits!), building fires, and entertaining.  my parents just left, last night i made salad and mac and cheese and we had sweet friends of ours over and tonight i’m making chili and we’re having people over again.  we might play some games… william’s pretty keen on the ‘heads up’ game app.  i will say, after a lot of nay-saying (let’s play a REAL game, not one on the ipod), it’s pretty fun.  

new year’s resolutions. i aim low here.

i’ve never been a resolutions maker.  like really.  here’s last year’s list, where i also talked about how i sort of have noooo relationship with new year’s eve itself.  anyway, according to that list, i did two of them.  and like the two easiest ones: learn more about photography and buy more underwear.  which is pathetic.  bridget, you’re pathetic.  there, i said it.  you were thinking it, i just said it.  although, i did play taboo with william and lindsey for quite awhile on christmas night so maybe we’re heading in the right direction on that score.  
anyway, i’m just not a disciplined person.  it’s not in my genetic makeup.  you see that?  i just pinned the blame on something else.  but, i’d like to be.  i envy people who put their head down and just do it.  it’s an impressive quality, to be sure.  there are things that so totally pique my interest and then i find myself going forward full-throttle but those things are fewer and further in between and am i interested in them because they’re easy?  i don’t know.  maybe?
so, in keeping with my aiming low, taking it easy, one step at a time mantra… here’s a few new year’s resolutions: keep exploring!  that’s an awfully open ended one but here’s what i do really like about this family of mine.  we get out and do things.  i feel like there are so many places in new england that i have seen.  that people who’ve lived here forever haven’t seen.  they’re just shelving it for ‘some day’ but we’ve really done it.  camping in acadia and the adirondacks, day trips to boston, concerts at tanglewood, canoeing and beach-going.  and not just in new england.  i like that about us.  we like doing things, exploring and i want to keep it up.  drink more water!  i often start the day with coffee, and it’ll be noon before i’ve had any water at all.  that means i’ve gone upwards of 12 hours without a glass!  i’ve already gotten better about this.  a pretty glass helps.  so does this article, thanks to a friend.  did you see that?  by the end of this new year i’m gonna look ten years younger!  may be a little awkward in my current age-difference-situation but so be it!  wear pajama pants that are long enough!  not kidding.  i have so many crappy pajama pants that make it look as though i’m waiting for a flood.  i’m over it.  you hear that flood pants?!  i’m over it!  i’m over you!  my two new favorites are both amazing, make me happier than they should, and are from old navy.  exercise!  it has been a good two years since my last barre class (i’m looking at you, parker) and for a good four years barre was one of my favorite things ever.  how’d i let that go?  shame on me.  while i might not get to a barre class, i can go for a walk, do some yoga in my living room (do you guys have a favorite program you do from your house?), and work on my meager push-ups.  recycle!  duh.  but i want to up it.  remember oprah’s earth day special?  lindsey and i watched that wide-eyed, mouth agape.  not even kidding.  she introduced me to that huge trash swirl in the pacific that day and i’ve been thanking (and missing) oprah ever since.  i’ve recently had the opportunity to share about repreve, this freaking awesome company that does cool things with bottles.  like, makes volcom shirts which are a favorite amongst my people (namely, jordan and william).  what does upping it look like?  well let’s see.  first, us hunts are going to use less paper towels.  commit to bringing my reusable bags to the grocery store, and recycling the plastic ones when i don’t (i usually do!).  how about shutting the lights off when we’re not in the room?!?  this is clearly a joint effort and i’m gonna have to have my family read this.
so, that’s it.  aiming low but good things all around.  you?
picture
this post is sponsored by repreve.  thanks, as always, for reading folks.

a rainy day in concord.

Days when we’ve been housebound too long, I feel like my go-to is Concord.  When the boredom and pajamas-too-many-days-in-a-row sets in… to Concord we go!  We walked around (the neighborhoods just off the main part of town are some of the prettiest), had lunch at Helen’s, and then pulled out the umbrella to cover ourselves from the rain.  A few hours was all we needed.  The rain fell harder and faster and we made our way back to the car.  It was a really nice few hours.
Do you have a go-to when you’re in need of a change-up?  And, better yet, do you live in Massachusetts?  I will always take more exploring ideas.
{Concord in 2011}
{Concord in March–with almost the same Main St. Market picture as the one in this post!}

christmas at our house.

christmas eve.  there’s something so wonderful about those hours when the kids have gone to bed, you set up the presents, and everything looks so magical before the chaos ensues.  
would you believe it if i told you parker was the last one up?  by 7:30 william was busting from his seams so i had to wake up parker!  even nathaniel and jordan were already up (or maybe had never gone to bed the night before?  one can never be sure with them…)
this is already a big hit.  it’s cute, well made, and requires imagination.  and his blue shoes?  he didn’t take them off all day.  even for his nap.  they make him very, very, very fast.
if you’ve been reading long enough, you’ll know that steve actually gave me this exact staub dutch oven two years ago.  at the time, we were feeling a little strapped financially and i ended up returning it.  shame on me!  but this one’s staying here and i cannot wait to cook stews and chills in it all winter long.  my favorite kind of food.  also, i may just paint my entire home that color gray.  
boys and their airsoft guns.  learning to embrace gun-play is a newer concept for me having only grown up with sisters.  also, the giant gandalf was a gift from nathaniel to jordan.  
nathaniel got parker this nerf axe thing and he is obsessed with it.  
spent two days straight in pajamas.  two days straight.  it was glorious.
christmas tree glasses from the dollar spot at target, of course.
hanging out in parker’s newest present, a teepee i snagged at a huge discount on zulily months ago!  yes, we’ve joined the teepee masses.  i couldn’t help myself.
this christmas might’ve been my very favorite and i really mean that.  i don’t know why, or what exactly made it that way, but i do know that it was such a good day.  on christmas eve, we watched it’s a wonderful life and i enjoy that movie more every year.  is there a theme more perfect than the one in that movie?  nothing goes right for george bailey.  strike out, after strike out, and yet in the end, it’s all about the love.  it’s a good reminder.  i looked over at steve during that last scene and, like every year, his eyes are filled with tears.  i love that about him.  he’s a keeper.  
the kids all headed up and we set up the presents.  there were some really good presents under the tree this year that i knew the recipients would be excited about and i couldn’t wait to give them out.  by 8 am, everyone was sitting around one another, opening presents one by one.  snow boots, and new jackets, and robes, and some shoes, make up and jewelry… everyone had something to be excited about.  
after the presents we ate french toast bagels and an apple egg pancake and then in the afternoon we had this sandwich.  both the breakfast and the lunch are becoming tradition and steve is a serious keeper-of-the-traditions.  steve kept the fire going all day and all seven of us watched a movie around it in the afternoon.  we never took off our pajamas (christmas day or the next).  we laid around, read books (william got me bread & wine and i am quickly discovering that food writing is my absolute favorite writing of all), played games (taboo!  the newest game addition), hung out.  that night steve and i cheered over prosecco.  
it was a really good day.

the five senses right about now.

what i’m eating: mozzarella artichoke dip that i brought to a friend’s house last night.  i will share the recipe because it is a HIT of an appetizer.
what i’m listening to: christmas music with a little bit of non-christmas music thrown in  (mostly motown) because even i am starting to get a liiiiiiittle sick of it.
what i like seeing: christmas presents wrapped!  a fire in the fireplace!  it’s a wonderful life that we’ll watch tomorrow night!  (steve holds jimmy stewart only a small step below god himself.)
what i like smelling: same as last time… coffee in the morning.  nothing tops that.
what i like feeling: lotion on my skin.  i use it all the time in the winter since i’m always washing my hands.  doesn’t matter the kind, i’ll take coconut oil too!
{last year’s list, almost this same time}

ringing in the new year with brika. plus, a little giveaway.

so, i know a lot of you are probably shopped out at the moment.  are you?  are you finished yet?  i’m basically done.  a feat of strength in and of itself when you have a family as big as mine.  but then promptly after christmas we’ve got new year’s and for some of you that actually includes staying up till after midnight, looking totally fancy, to ring it in.  (not i.  i’m asleep by 11 for sure.  sleep trumps partying in my opinion.  call me boring, but… it is what it is.)  anyway, some of the above are my favorites to both ring in the new year (the jewelry!!  a mason jar shaker!  hipster cocktails abound!!) or just my plain old having-nothing-to-do-with-new-year’s favorites.  like a sweet note stamper to encourage you to send old-fashioned hand written letters in 2014.  or to bring greenery into your home with that awesome yellow planter.  or those great mountain stamped napkins.  i’ve got to say, my favorite of the above is that top left ring.  (check out the jewelry at brika.  it’s a really, really good selection and i’m not just saying that.)  so, brika is sort of this collection of all things good from home decor to toddler wear (those moccs!) to jewelry to accessories.  made by various designers and artisans that they’ve basically handpicked!  there is a lot of junk on the internet and they sort through and whittle it down resulting in a really cool site with a lot of good stuff at a lot of great prices.  win!
also, since you yourself may be tapped out at the moment, maybe a $25 gift card with a fast turnaround will do (closes monday!).  while $25 may not seem like a lot, it can get you a lot of the above (and a whole lot more at their site.)  or it can be a last minute stocking stuffer for a sweet friend!
// to enter: go to brika and check it out.  sign up to get $5 off. 
leave a comment back here with what you’d pick!  it won’t be hard.
closes monday.  and i’m outta here.  hope you have a good last-weekend-before-christmas!
this post is sponsored by brika.  thank you for reading!

grandpa sweater.

{sweater: asos}
{chambray (old): old navy}
{shirt: old navy}
{jeans: thrifted}
{shoes: zappos}
i’ve worn this sweater (grandpa sweater is fitting, no?) every day since i’ve gotten it (exhibit a).  different variations (oooor much the same), yes, but wearing it nevertheless.  it’s perfect.  
also, my hair’s darker for winter.  or the next five weeks anyway.  and a few inches shorter cause deeeead ends.
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