Ella just turned 9! What a fun, witty, sassy little thing she is. She wanted to have her Birthday party at our home again this year. The day of her scheduled party she was sick. She was so bummed. Then the day of her re-scheduled party three girls were sick. Personally I thought it was nice to have a smaller group. We had a paint night and it was a big hit, everyone loved the painting! This would be so fun to do with a bunch of girl friends or even with couples. I went to a paint night at a restaurant with some friends and it was a lot of fun- but it would be way more affordable to do ... Read More
Valentine Dinner with a Raclette
Have you ever heard of a Raclette? Or Raclette cheese? Well if no, then you were in the same boat as me. I have heard about a Raclette from three separate people in the past 6 months. I went to bookclub last month and the host served dinner on a Raclette. It was SO much fun! I kept thinking how great this would be for a Valentine dinner. At bookclub we all sat around the table and cooked veggies and sausage over THIS Raclette grill. We discussed the book and cooked. I loved that she passed around a simple salad to start out the meal before all the food was cooked. So I made the same meal ... Read More
Friday Favorites- Starts with Pinterest Top 100
I am back with my favorites from this past week. I keep notes on the random things I come across and enjoyed and thought you would too! First of all Pinterest is the greatest. Gone are the days of ripping out magazine pages and saving them. I was really excited when I heard about this- Pinterest complies all the pins that are trending and they forecast what will be popular in 2017 Pinterest list of "Top Pins for 2017" These were my FAVORITES from that list- "Navy is the new black of home decor" and since navy is my favorite color- this has me (!!!!) (source) They also s ... Read More
Trendy Home Decor- That Will Last
I am a big supporter of putting things in your home that YOU love. Sometimes we need some inspiration to know what we DO love. We look to what is trending either online, magazines or shops. I get most my inspiration from Instagram and catalogs. But if you are like me whenever you buy something new you think "I will love this forever...or I hope I do!" I recently came across this an article on "Ten so called Trendy home decor ideas you will never get tired of." I agreed with most of it. Their list included- 1- Mason Jars 2- Chalkboard Paint 3- Subway Tile 4- Open Shelving 5- ... Read More
Banquette Seating- Cha cha cha changes in our Kitchen
January was our two year anniversary of living in our little cape in Connecticut. We were quick to make a lot of changes to the home right when we moved in. I couldn't wait to paint the entire house, rip out the carpet in our upstairs, update both bathrooms and tackle the outdated kitchen. We did all of it within the first few months. I really wanted to add some sort of banquette style seating in our little eat-in kitchen. But I was tired of spending our savings on this house and just wanted to be done with the projects. So I made our settee work and created a little banquette with what we ... Read More
Friday Favorites- Starts with Making your Bed
You know when you come across something great you want to tell your sister, friends and anyone who will listen? Well these are mine. All my favorites this past week that inspire or things I love wrapped up in a quick blog post! I read THIS article this past week "10 things to make you happier at home." And of course it starts with making your bed. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, explains that this three minute task is one of the simplest habits you can adopt to positively impact your happiness. I shared the above photo of my bed on my Instagram last night and ask ... Read More
Word of the Year- See it daily
I know that picking a word of the year is not a new concept. But I love it. I can remember when my former boss told me they were having all the managers pick ONE word for the year that sums up their goals for the year and they read THIS. I loved the idea of picking one word to define my goals. That year I picked CONNECT for my word. I had just moved to Connecticut and felt a little lonely away from all my friends and family I loved. So I decided I would try to CONNECT with new friends, CONNECT with God, CONNECT with my hubby and CONNECT with people on my blog and Instagram account. Having ... Read More
Whole 30 and Paleo- How I survive
I can list about 10 people I know who are are trying to eat better and are giving Whole 30 or Paleo a try with the new year. I have shared before on THIS post that I have eaten Paleo for about 3 years. I was not as strict while I was pregnant and while I have been nursing. I didn't want to restrict anything for risk of losing my milk, I ate oats, dairy and wheat when I wanted it. Now that Finn is 9 months I have started again to be a 95% Paleo eater. I have to admit I did try macro counting for about two solid months. I got burned out on that real fast, I don't have the time to weigh all my ... Read More
How I Grew my Instagram to 100k
I started my Instagram account on a whim. We had been in our new home in CT for about 4 months and I needed a creative outlet. I was unsure if I should just use my personal Instagram account and share design ideas that way. I bounced ideas off of my good friend Rachel and she was SO great to encourage me to use my nestingwithgrace account and get serious. And I did just that. Within the first 6 months I had close to 50k followers then a little over a year I had 100k followers. It was crazy to me and a lot of work, but the type of work that I love and am passionate about, the ... Read More
How to Keep a Kids Room Clean and Organized in a Small House
We have been enjoying the little changes we made to the girls shared bedroom in and sitting in their new hanging chair every night since we got it and reading. Such a cozy little spot. I wanted to follow up on that post. I get a lot of questions on how I keep my girls room clean and organized and where we keep it ALL in a small house. So I thought I would share our little tips on keeping our kids room clean and organized. With any house the kids stuff is not all confined to their room, so I am sharing a few spaces that actually help to keep their room organized that are not in their room. Does ... Read More
