I just realized its been eons in internet time since the last time I posted and I wanted to hop on and give a quick update of where I’ve been and what fun projects I have in the works for you to keep an eye out for. I thrive in staying busy but I have to admit that the kind of busy that I’ve been operating under for the last month is a bit extreme even for me.
Since my last post was right before Valentine’s Day, I’ll start there!
At the end of February we listed our house for sale and if you know anything about the Denver housing market you probably know that means that things have been a little bit crazy. If you don’t know anything about the Denver market, I love you, but please don’t move here 😉 We’d been planning since last summer to sell and move to the opposite side of town to try and improve the commutes to both of our jobs, but the actual getting things ready to go was a whirlwind. I’m hoping to put together a full post on my thoughts about staging a house for sale, so that should be coming in the next few weeks.
Since we knew that selling would mean a ton of showings, we intentionally planned the go live date for when we headed out of town on vacation to MAUI. It was an incredible trip and included some much needed downtime in what has started off as a real busy year. Maui is beautiful and I couldn’t stop thinking about how lucky we are to be able to take a trip like that and really enjoy the time off together. With opposite work schedules, sometimes its hard for Drew and I to be more than just passing ships, so spending an entire week together was incredible.
Here is my quick video of the trip and there will be more to come in talking about all the amazing things we did while we were in Hawaii.
Once we were back, we hit the ground running on finding a new house since thanks to our incredible realtor we were under contract before the end of the trip. After months of watching the area we want to move to and a handful of showings earlier in the year, we found the perfect house! Now we just have to keep our fingers crossed that everything goes as it should for the next month and we’ll be all moved over to north side of town!
Outside off all that, I’ve been really excited to get to work with more bloggers and business owners as part my new SEO Agency, Mae Digital! Over the years I’ve worked with photographers and other creative business owners to help them get more exposure on search engines with referrals coming from the amazing ladies I’ve worked with! One of my goals for 2018 is to connect with and help more website owners understand the mysteries of SEO and I launched Mae Digital last fall. Since then, I’ve been working on rolling out SEO trainings and programs for bloggers and photographers and have had some wonderful clients start up SEO services with me. If you are interested in learning more about SEO, go join my facebook group were I host Office Hours every couple of weeks and walk you through questions and changes to the Google Algorithm.
That said, I can’t believe we are already halfway through MARCH. I’m excited about everything that is going on and looking forward to having a ton of new fun home decor posts to work on once we are all moved into the new house.
Planning the perfect outing for Valentine’s Day can be overwhelming with all of the options. When the holiday is in the middle of the week, like it is this year, it might make sense to try and celebrate the following weekend instead. With our contrasting work schedules, Drew & I will be celebrating next weekend since I won’t actually see him on Wednesday till after midnight.
I’ve put together a few of my favorite places to enjoy Valentine’s Day in Denver, perfect for heading out with your love, or tossing together a galentine’s group instead. Continue Reading…
When we bought our house, I knew one of the first things I wanted to do was turn the landing nook into a small office. This odd nook in the middle of the hallway seemed like an afterthought by the builder [or a creative way of adding useless square footage]. The entire space is approximately 5′ x 5′ so finding the right things to make the office feel both useful and comfortable was a challenge.
Starting with the furniture, I needed space that would allow me to keep a wide variety of things at hands reach, without taking up too much space. For a desk, the Ikea LINNMON table ended up as the perfect fit. Paired with a 4 square KALLAX I had enough storage space to keep everything I wanted near by. While functional, I didn’t really love the space and even though it works, I still would take my laptop over to a coffee shop or the library to focus and get work done.
As my own personal Valentine’s Day challenge, I wanted to see what I could do to take a functional space, and make it into one that I LOVE to work in. Continue Reading…
We’re three weeks into the new year and if you are like most people, losing weight or being healthy is probably one of your resolutions. If you feel like you are struggling already (or gave up entirely) you aren’t alone. One of my goals for 2018 is to eat out less and cook more (ultimately to eat healthier) but its hard to think of new recipes and not get into a rut. Luckily a couple of new cook books just came out that are perfect for helping stay on track with my resolutions.
Healthy Cookbook: Cooking that Counts
From the editors of Cooking Light, Cooking that Counts is full of easy to make recipes for every meal of the day. Even if you aren’t a fan of calorie counting, being able to easily see what proper potion sizes are and which healthy swaps are helpful to eat better, makes this cook book the perfect way to start off the year.
I’ve been working my way through the Lunch section and use my Sunday evenings to prep lunches for the week from their recommendations. My favorite so far is the Chicken and Feta Tabbouleh. With greek inspired flavors and the whole grain bulgar as much of the substance of the dish, this recipe is perfect for weekday lunches and helping expand my palette.
Shop for Cooking that Counts on Amazon.
Healthy Cookbook: 100% Real
When someone tells you the solution to eating healthy is eating clean, it doesn’t mean you need to wash your produce better. Clean eating is using wholesome, natural ingredients to make delicious and hearty meals.
Written by chef Sam Tabot, 100% Real features 100 recipes perfect for working towards a healthier lifestyle in 2018. Throughout the book, Tabot shows how to substitute healthy ingredients without sacrificing any of the things you love about food. There’s even a whole chapter featuring sweet treats that are taste almost too delicious to be healthy (but they are).
I love cookbooks with beautiful full color photos and this is one of my favorite parts of 100% real. The beautiful photos make the food come alive and show how amazing good food can look and taste.
What healthy cookbooks are a must have in your kitchen? Let me know what some of your favorites are in the comments!
Disclaimer: I received review copies of both these cookbooks as inspiration for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Amazon links are affiliate and will support the production of this website.
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