April Books

16. The Searcher, Tana French

17. Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds

18. All Adults Here, Emma Straub

19. The Survivors, Jane Harper

20. The Midnight Library, Matt Haig

This month was an "Ehh" month of reading.  The Searcher took over a week to get through and I put down All Adults Here to read Long Way Down. Long Way Down was without a doubt the best book I read all month and have already coerced encouraged two others to read it (and they did!). I have already put three more Jason Reynolds books on hold on at the library.  The Survivors was very good as well.  The ending had a great twist that made up for the slower parts of the book.

I'm averaging 5 books a month so I might just hit this goal this year!

The First 40 by 40 Update

 

Time for a quick update because I'm already working on this list...

40 by 40

TRAVEL

1. Disney World or Disney Land with the kids (again)

2. Lego Land in New York

3. Travel internationally - Europe ideally

4. Harry Potter World

5. Go to a Tropical Island

6. Go on a cruise.

7. Go on a road trip that's at least a week long a different place every night or two..

8. Fly 1st class.

9. Go Glamping/ Stay in a Tree house

10. Camp at least 10 days in the five years

11. Go to Aloha at Disney or real Luau in Hawaii.

12. See 5 Natural Parks

13. Go to an all-inclusive resort

14. Make a bucket list of travel locations  - done and done - check out my list here.

15. Get a new passport

16. Visit 5 new states

FITNESS

1. Try Barre or a new type of fitness class

2. Bench a full plate on each side

3. Run an in person 5k or 10k.

4. Run a half marathon.

5. Do a pull up

6. Try a pole fit class

FOOD

1. Try a juice cleanse

2. Eat vegetarian or vegan for a week

3. Go to a fancy dinner and splurge without looking at menu prices - Nick and I went to a deliciously amazing steak house.  We ordered amazing steaks and sides and drinks and didn't pay attention to the bill.  It helped that it was even less than we expected, but it was such a fun experienece since it's so out of the ordinary for us!

4. One month take out/fast food free

5. Try barbeque in the south

6. Tip 100% on a bill /$20 on a small bill

FOR WORK

1. Take a spanish or ASL class - I signed up for DuoLingo Spanish! I'm a couple weeks in and I'm relearning so much.

2. Masters + 30 or a CAGS

FOR ME

1. Be comfortable in my body

2. Get another tattoo

3. Buy a piece of art -- real art, not a print from Marshalls/Home Goods

4. Do the AFSP Overnight walk NOT in Massachusetts or New York

5. Unplug completely for 24 hours

6. A spa day

7. Try diamond painting or another new craft with Em

8. Cross stitch something

9. Take a baking class -- cookies or cake decorating.

10. Pay off the car

So three is not a huge amount but it's a start!

xo, Heather

Using Rover Dog Sitting

One of the biggest changes for me since selling our house and moving is the need to have a good dog sitter. I never went away for more than night and we could usually leave the pup with my father-in-law if it was more than just sleeping hours. My dog is the best snuggle bug and honestly will nap all day while I'm at work or is content to just hang out from dinner until breakfast that next morning. She's got the ability to roam the whole house, and even if the kids and I disappeared for the night, she was amazing and had zero accidents. I literally tell people she is the most relaxed, easy to care for pup, and is amazing even when she's home alone.

However, if she's not alone, she wants attention. Belly rubs, treats, you name it.  When the kids and I would leave, she'd curl up and be content for hours, but now that my gram is also home with her, she wants attention. She knows someone is there to let her out and adding dog responsibilities to my gram isn't what I'm going for.

I stumbled across Rover one day and found a ton of local dog sitters. Their prices are mostly less than that of a boarding facility and with reviews from others I can see how well they'd take care of my girl. Some offer coming to my house to walk, some offer over night care, some will even come pick up my pup before her visit!

We have been so lucky to find two amazing sitters for my girl. When we think about a weekend trip, I don't book anything until I know one of them is available to spend the time with her! 

Rover is super easy... enter your dates and zip code and local sitters pop right up. Many opt for a meet and greet before the pup's first overnight visit and everyone we have used have been so wonderful.

If you want to try out Rover for your spring and summer adventures, this link will give you $20 off your pups first stay! And if you're interested in being a pet sitter, all the info is right here! Have you ever used Rover? Let me know your thoughts too!

xo, Heather

Staying In Massachusetts for April Vacation

Massachusetts has April vacation this year and after last year's cancelled due to Covid vacation, I am so excited to get back to my normal visits to Provincetown. 

With the travel restrictions changed to just an advisory, lots of people are doing more traveling, but I still prefer to stick around the state. A few people have reached out asking what the best couple day trip could be so here's a few of my favorites:

Cape Cod

I love the Cape.  It's where we spend every April vacation. My favorite places to stay are right in Hyannis.  We often stay at the Hyannis Fairfield Hotel but splurge on the The Cape Codder hotel for the water park sometimes. There are so many local things to do with Hyannis being the central place on the Cape. There is the The Children's Museum and shopping at Mashpee Commons, which of course includes Cupcake Charlies and Lilly Pulitzer. And oh my gosh, pick up an Oreo Cookie Monster from Marylou's Coffee; it's the best (and there's no coffee in it!). If you want to venture farther you could check out Pirate's Cove Mini-golf , the Cape Cod Inflatable Park, or the Wellfleet Movie theater.  My kids especially loved the Whale Watch tour we took. It's a longer "event" but so cool if you see whales! We especially love P-Town all the way at the tip of the Cape!

Springfield

We loved visiting Springfield.  We did it as a two day trip but could absolutely be longer! The Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum and Sculpture Garden was so fun but it has multiple museums right there. Hop in the car for a quick 30-minute drive north to Deerfield for a visit to the Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory. If you're staying for a few days, visit Six Flags in nearby Agawam! Book your stay at the MGM Springfield, which has a movie theater, bowling, an arcade, and restaurants, or check out Hampton Inn Springfield East - it was perfect for our last visit!

Plymouth

Plymouth holds such a special place in my heart because it's where I grew up but we still "vacation" there. The John Carver Inn has a great pool and is within walking distance of so many cool spots like Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower, and our favorite places: Plimouth Candy Co and Cupcake Charlies. Plimouth Plantation is also a cool walk through history for kids. Check out Plymouth Beach Nelson Park for some really relaxed fun. If you need an inside activity, Billy Beez at the Kingston Collection is a great way to get some energy out.

Boston

Boston offers so much for the family! We love finding a hotel and then exploring. We've done the Freedom Trail (including Quincy Market), The Boston Children's Museum, and the New England Aquarium. The playground outside of the Children's Museum is one of our favorites!Taking a water taxi is so much fun, and Flour and Co Bakery is worth the visit! Taiyaki's iconic fish cones will bring a smile to your face and the Lawn on D is a great place to just relax for the day.  We love staying at the Yotel in Boston and with a Charlie Card, you can get to where you need to go! Bowling at Kings is a great indoor activity but if you want to travel a bit, go to Castle Island and grab some delicious food.

Vacations can still be amazing with the proper Covid precautions.  Be sure to call the hotel to check on breakfast and pool availability, as well as the local activities to make sure they are running or if you need a timed ticket!

Sunita Williams Elementary School Playground, Needham

 My kids love Greenfield Park in Natick but it's just been too busy for us lately. We are continuing to make good choices regarding the amount of people in a place we go and often leave when others start to show up. That's what happened but, we were lucky enough to see the Sunita Williams Elementary School Playground on our way home.  The signs on the fences said it was closed to the public until 4:30 and we showed up at 4:35 so it was perfect! Even more perfect, no one else was there.

It's definitely one of our favorite local playgrounds now!

Loker Park, Natick

 Just like last summer, we are back to searching for the best local playgrounds. This week we found ourselves at Loker Park in Natick.  It's a smaller playground but it has the most amazing looking sledding hills!

We packed up a picnic and had a great time. The trash barrels are convenient and the cheese/checkers table makes a great picnic table!

Loker Park is found at 79 Walnut St in Natick Ma.

Traveling Bucket List

Have you ever actually sat down and said "These are the places I want to go"? Because it's not nearly as overwhelming as I expected.  I know there are lots of places I want to go but had never really thought of writing it out. I'm not sure I believe in manifesting, but I do believe that things get done when they are written out so here's how I feel today...

I feel like I've been so lucky to travel around the US, but there's still more I'd love to see.

In the US:

Hawaii

New Orleans

North Carolina - Outer Banks, 

South Carolina - Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach

Georgia - Savannah, Charleston

Nashville Tennessee

Lake George

Grand Canyon

Alcatraz/San Francisco

The Florida Keys

It's not an all that exhaustive of a list. I feel like I've been so lucky to see so many of the places I have hoped for. 

Internationally, there are so many more places I want to see, but international travel also carries so much more with it... costs, worries about language barriers, etc but, maybe one day I'll reach these places. 

Ireland

Rome

London

Iceland

Germany/Poland (my educational fascination with WWII)

Alberta - Banff National Park

Spain or Portugal

The Seven Wonders of the World

and I just want to go spend time on tropical islands. Whether they are in domestic or international waters, I honestly don't care. I just want to sit on a beach and rest under a tropical sun.

How about you? Where do you dream to visit post Covid?

xo, Heather

Country Kitchen Coffee and Donuts

 After the last post about Basic Batch donuts, I was told I had to try out Country Kitchen Donuts in Walpole. It is a very unassuming building but it gives off the best old school diner vibes on the inside. You order at a counter and are welcome to sit to eat. My favorite part of the visit was that they had apple filled donuts. They are my absolute favorite but very few places carry them. Picture a jelly donut but filled with apple pie filling instead. Heavenly. I ordered three just to be sure they were delicious.

The kids loved sitting and eating the donuts too, but really loved their bagels. The donuts are soft and airy and bagels have that perfect crisp to them. 

  

Country Kitchen can be found 745 Main St in Walpole Ma. Be sure to grab something delicious and pull up a stool at the counter!

xo, Heather

Basic Batch Donuts

 I have been really trying to get us involved in our community now that things are opening back up and we can visit and still stay safe.

One of the fun things we have done is create a list of food places we want to go. Finding good donuts near us is so important since we were so spoiled with the great donut places in New Bedford.

The first place we tried is Basic Batch Donuts in Milford.

Oh my gosh. These things are huge. And delicious.  I like my donuts to be really light and airy and these absolutely are.  The only issue is that they are so big and there's such a huge desire for them. I showed up ten minutes before they opened and the line was already 20+ people deep! They were super efficient and I was in and out 15 minutes after they opened.

 

The real reason I went was for this amazing sounding lemon raspberry filled but I was not disappointed by any of the flavors.  I ordered a dozen thinking that would be perfect for us but literally each donut can feed 2 or 3 people. We ended up slicing our donuts so that we could try even more of them!

The price was a bit of a shock as I'm used to paying like $10 for a dozen at our local places in New Bedford but they would be worth it as a special treat if we're in the area!

Have you tried them? Where should I go next?

xo, Heather