welcome to the blog

It’s crazy to think that last year at this time we were all gathering with friends and families blissfully unaware of what was about to come our way in 2020. If you would have told me then what was going to go down in March, I would have thought you were crazy. But here we […]

The weekend before Joe went hunting we bundled up and went Christmas tree hunting our neighbors tree farm. It sounds a bit like a hallmark movie scenario doesn’t it? living next to a tree farm? Except I didn’t leave a big bustling career in NYC to return to rural Allegan to fall in love with […]

We are slowly making our way through the virtual holiday tour of my home this year. I’ve had so much fun getting out all of my collections with Otto this year. So far we’ve had only two ornament casualties and one was because he bolted into the living room and cuffed the aluminum tree with […]

The gifts are wrapped and ready to be opened, Santa has came and filled the stockings, Christmas is officially here. We are going to savor the morning and watch Otto open his stocking and gifts while watching The Christmas Story and then reading the story of the Birth of Jesus before heading to Joe’s parents […]

I have been waiting for this moment since Otto was born. When he would be old enough to help us decorate the christmas tree. It has been hilarious to watch him try to process why we would bring a full, huge tree from the outside into our living room. He does stare at it quite […]

preserving the pint – marisa wrote the first recipe i ever preserved. the tomato jam on her blog is insanely delicious. i went a few years using this book not realizing they were the same author! if you can’t get enough of her blog recipes then check this book out. she is super thorough and […]