Week in Review | August 25-29

How was your week? Mine flew by in a haze of hormones. A particularly busy week at work paired with the end of our birthing class and a million minor annoyances had me wanting to burst into tears at any moment. In fact, the restroom at work has echoed with my pregnant sniffles more times than I care to admit this week.

Trust me, the rational side of my brain is delighted with all of the joys and blessings that I am currently experiencing and will experience in the coming year. It’s just the irrational pregnant side of my brain that turns a stolen parking spot at the grocery store by a skinny bitch in a Mercedes into “why does the universe hate me?!” It’s all pretty comical looking back, really.

Although I am feeling legitimate sadness over the end of our birthing class at MIT. Since day one of the class, I felt a strong connection to all of the women and our doula instructor. It was wonderful to share the experience with Jared and for him to hear other Dad’s stories in the class. Every Wednesday night I felt a true and sincere acceptance, empathy, and overwhelming sense of being nurtured and taken care of. I would go from just another pregnant person in the sea of procreation to being praised for enduring the incessant symptoms and celebrated for taking care of my body the best I knew how and the little body cooking within.

Although many of the couples in the class are MIT graduate students moving on to great academic and professional adventures around the world, there were a few fellow MIT employees in the class- two of whom live in Winthrop! I love that we were able to connect with this couple and will be able to share pregnancy stories, baby stories, and drop our kids off at the same school one day.

So needless to say, I was a distracted mess this week and did not delight in my favorite blogs. Instead of a blogosphere week in review, I hope you enjoyed my hormonal week in review above. Happy Labor Day weekend- which by the way, takes on a whole new meaning when you’re preparing to give birth.

CS Lewis Quote


Week in Review | August 18-22

Happy Friday! What will you be doing this weekend? Relishing in the final days of Summer at the beach? Or considering this cool week our first peek at Fall and baking up some apple crisp? You know I can’t wait for Fall! Bring on the pumpkins! It doesn’t get any better than this! Fall always makes me feel lucky to live in New England. And perhaps it’s the smell of school supplies in the aisles of Target or my September birthday that always makes me feel like new beginnings rather than the near year-end.

Either way, I promise not to jump right into the pumpkin-filled Week in Reviews. I’ll do my best to hold out until after Labor Day… but it won’t be easy!

Here’s a look at what happened this week in the blogsphere- pumpkins excluded.

Week in Review

  1. Life on Virginia Street recapped some fabulous posts from around the web. This minty desk makeover definitely caught my eye! Isn’t it darling?
  2. The gals at the Glitter Guide are saying so long to Summer with a Rose’ Garden Party. Oh wine, how I miss thee…
  3. Brittany Makes made her own CB2-style woven wrap bench this week. What a great DIY!
  4. Dana at House Tweaking tweaked an unused room to create this lovely nursery for her little one. Mixing quality wooden toys and natural elements with IKEA and Target finds- a woman after my own heart!
  5. Before the summer blooms fade, Cottage and Vine foraged some beautiful blossoms and assembled this wildly wonderful centerpiece. Check out her step by step instructions here.

Week in Review | July 28-August 1

It’s August! Wow! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer.

We’ll be fitting in one last relaxing vacation BB (before baby) this month. I’m super excited to spend a week on a lake, swimming and sunning, not caring how round I am in a bathing suit because I’ll be with my fabulous family.

And speaking of family, today is going to be another different kind of ‘Week in Review’ because I’m dedicating it to my superstar cousin Rachel who is one week away from completing a cross country bike tour with the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults. Rachel’s been blogging too and I’ve spent my summer forgoing design blogs to read Rachel’s adventures every morning. You can check out her adventures here: http://rachelrides4k.wordpress.com/ or take a look at some of my favorite photos of hers below.

Finish strong Rachie!

Rachel 4K

  1. Day one of the 70-day trek started with a send-off ceremony in Baltimore, Maryland. Rachel along with the four other teams that will make their way to the Pacific Ocean dipped their back tires into the Atlantic Ocean. They’ll dip the front tire in the Pacific next week!
  2. Riding up to 100 miles a day, many bikers dedicate their days to a loved one. On day one, Rachel dedicated her ride to her Dad, John DeFronzo.
  3. Niagara Falls, Mount Rushmore, National & State Parks, and even the Corn Palace in South Dakota! Rachel and her team biked through 13 states and saw some of the countries finest landmarks and vistas.
  4. There were rest days, sick days, and “the hunt for food donations” days but my favorite pics were ones like these of Rachel (the gorgeous redhead) being silly with her teammates. I think we all have life changing experiences that bond us with people and teach us more than we could ever read in a book – and I know that this summer is one that Rachel will never forget. Life is like a bike pedal, they can push you down but you’ll always come back up! We’re so so proud of you Rachie! See you soon!

Week in Review | July 21-25

Another super busy week flying by without time to pour over my beloved blogs! Remember the days of sipping coffee and perusing lovely post after post before I even had to tackle an email? Now it’s all work, work, baby stuff, work, baby stuff. But it’s fabulous so I’ll try not to complain. I just hope you all forgive the lack of proper “Week in Reviews” around here.

Today, I’ll leave you with some happy nursery art. There will always be a special place in my heart for Dr. Seuss and I think this quote is fantastic for a nursery, dorm room, or corner office!

Dr Seuss


Week in Review | July 14-18

Pretty quiet on the blog front this week, eh? Sorry about that but I’ve been tackling a lot of new projects this week. There seems to be less and less time to read blogs or blog myself and with a baby on the way, time isn’t exactly going to free up anytime soon.

But I’m terribly proud of the things that are consuming my time at the moment. My job continues to challenge and excite me. I learn and grow and most importantly laugh every day at the office. On the home front, Jared and I are prepping for the little one- both in the house and in the classroom. MIT offers fantastic wellness classes for students and employees and we have a fabulously quirky Birthing Class instructor. I love her to pieces and we’ve only just met really! And my final time suck goes to a new volunteer position I’ve accepted. I’ll be sure to fill you in on that soon but in the meantime, just call me the Leslie Knope of Winthrop!

Leslie Knope