Christmas may be over, but peppermint and gingerbread season is still in full swing, and that means it’s time for some gingerbread scones! I started working on this scone recipe just after Thanksgiving, when I planned a Christmas tea/birthday party for my mother-in-law, Jane. The overall tea was great and we liked the scones, but […]
Christmas this year is going to look a lot different for many of us, and as someone who has spent a lot of holidays away from my family (even before I became a military spouse), I know that can be hard. It’s especially challenging if you can’t get together with friends who feel like family. […]
We’re having a Winnie the Pooh tea party at home, and you’re invited! When I canceled Arabella’s first birthday party in March, I thought I was just postponing it. But as restrictions increased and our time in Okinawa got shorter and shorter, I realized we weren’t going to be able to have her party there. […]
I am not a fall person. I mean, I like plaid. Coats and boots are cute. Pumpkin is delicious. But I don’t like being cold, and I had never really seen leaves change before moving to Maryland when I was 16, so that isn’t something I look forward to every year. But since we spent […]
As you’ve probably noticed, I love mom and daughter matching outfits with Arabella. I figure she won’t want to dress like her mommy forever, so I want to twin while I can (though she may come back around — my mom and I probably own more matching outfits than my daughter and I, though we don’t […]
We recently completed our first-ever successful Whole 30* (we’ve tried, and failed, a few times before), and I think the key to us actually finishing was having lots of delicious Whole 30 recipes to make and eat throughout the days, instead of trying to stick to just plain meat + vegetables all the time. I […]
I’m not sure how other people come up with the themes for their children’s first birthday parties, but I was inspired by a stuffed animal. A Hello Kitty doll in a cherry blossom kimono, to be exact. Since Arabella was born during the mainland cherry blossom season and this may be her only birthday (other […]
A few weeks before everything shut down, we had photos taken at Fukushuen Garden in honor of Arabella’s first birthday. I had never been to Fukushuen Garden before, but I’m really glad we decided to do the photo session there because it is gorgeous! The beaches in Okinawa are really incredible, but after a maternity […]
Yes, you read that right: margarita pie with tortilla chip crust. It’s like the best parts of going out for Mexican food, all in one easy frozen pie. And since most of us can’t actually go out for Mexican food right now, that means we all need a little margarita pie in our lives. Plus, […]
I’m not sure how it happened, but a year passed in the blink of an eye and our baby doll turned one! Her birthday was near the beginning of COVID-19 restrictions in Okinawa, so we had to cancel her party. But luckily, we had gotten professional photos taken by Heather Johnson Photography a few weeks […]