Girls Night Out in Annapolis with the Loews Annapolis Hotel

Last week I was invited to a night at the Loews Annapolis to have a holiday night out. It was Midnight Madness in downtown Annapolis and the perfect excuse to have a fun, festive, casual night out. I’ve been to many events at the Loew’s and it’s definitely a favorite venue of mine – from the Junior League of Annapolis Galas to the Zooma Expo, they always put on a fantastic event. The staff is always super friendly and the rooms are beautiful with local-inspired decor. If you ever need a place to stay in ‘Naptown, I highly recommend.

I’ve been to many events at the Loew’s and it’s definitely a favorite venue of mine – from the Junior League of Annapolis Galas to the Zooma Expo, they always put on a fantastic event. The staff is always super friendly and the rooms are beautiful with local-inspired decor. If you ever need a place to stay in ‘Naptown, I highly recommend.

The evening/afternoon started with Glam Sessions – I got my hair curled (of which I am now obsessed with but haven’t quite figured out how to replicate it). They also had makeup (mainly eyes with some false lashes!) and nails that you could get done as well. I did my own makeup though my nails look like garbage but I replied late so was only able to score a hair appointment.

GNO with Loews Annapolis

I left shortly after my hair was done to get changed into my cozy, festive casual outfit for the evening – ready to hit the town. (As much as a 30 something working mom can and wants to hit the town…)

holiday casual outfit

{Pants | Sweater (old, similar) | Plaid Shirt | Necklace | Shoes (old, similar)}

Prior to heading out to Midnight Madness, we started with cocktails and appetizers at Baroak – Teddy Folkman’s restaurant in Annapolis – which is DELICIOUS. We had mussels, flatbread pizza and some charcuterie on the appetizer side…

Baroak annapolis cocktails

…and some (delicious) specialty cocktails – a white sangria with cranberries and a white rum punch (that I did not try but heard delicious things about!). They have an exceptional menu (mussels and frites anyone?!) and the beer menu isn’t terrible either. If you have not been, I highly recommend.

After cocktail hour, I headed downtown with Liz to check out a couple of the shops, snowflake alley and meet up with some other Naptown pals of hers. We ended up at Dry 85 and had a couple of drinks before Ubering back to the hotel because holy crap was it FRIGID to walk the four or five blocks back (even though we walked down there).

The night ended back in the Presidential suite at the Loew’s with gift wrapping. I got the couple of gifts that I picked up wrapped, I’m a good wrapper generally, but this lady was AMAZING. I’ve got enough to wrap at home, so it was nice having a couple to get wrapped fo’ freesies.

I was back in my room at a halfway decent hour and crashed watching HGTV. It was a really fun night for sure. Thanks to Loews Annapolis for hosting and for putting on such a fantastic evening.

FTC disclosure: I was provided an overnight stay, however, I was not compensated for my honest review. All opinions here are my own. 

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Boo-ing our Neighbors

When we bought our home, the one piece of the puzzle I never felt I got that I really wanted was a close-knit neighborhood. As we’ve started getting involved in our neighborhood association, I’m finding they are pretty close. Our direct neighbors seem really nice, however, we haven’t really connected with them as much as I had hoped.

I was lucky to grow up with my three best friends all living within a house of me. I had a fantastic childhood (until my parents split up in 8th grade) thanks to so many fun memories with those friends. I always had friends to hang out with – there were summer camp outs, late night swims, someone to walk to school with, and someone to hang out with on our many snow days. It was all idyllic. So when we moved in and saw a kiddo around Ethan’s age wave at us with small hands through their front window, I got excited that he might have that too.

Needless to say, the family friendship is still in the works, but they work different hours than us so we’re always two ships passing in the night. BUT I decided to Boo them anyhow. It’s not even a thing in our ‘hood but i’m going to make it so.

boo basket

What I included: 

–My favorite pumpkin beer for the adults
-Halloween cocktail napkins
-Fun glow sticks for trick or treating
-A autumny candle
-Halloween sticker book
-Gummy worms
-some chocolate peanut butter cups
-Some Halloween utz cheddar balls
-Fun halloween socks
-A printed “You’ve been boo’ed” sign with instructions to pay it forward (maybe they’ll boo us?!) 

I picked up everything at Target in the Halloween section and the dollar spot and spent about $10-15 on each of the baskets I made. I really hope they enjoyed it!

Have you ever boo’ed your neighbors or been boo’ed?

Boo

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My Four Favorite Podcasts

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts lately, mostly because I’ve been feeling a little lost, not that I’m misunderstood but that I’ve in a sense, become disconnected from my village. So I’ve been struggling on the friend front – or so it feels like. So the podcasts I’ve been listening to, have been – in a way – guiding me through all of it.

favorite podcasts

Dear Prudence – I love love love this one. Mallory Ortberg could be a great bestie – she gives great advice, sounds like she would be fun to hang with and is so effing real and to the point. If you love Ann Landers or any other advice type column, you’ll love this one.

Mom and Dad are Fighting – Another Slate podcast. But the mom and dad on here, though their kids are much older than me talk about all sorts of parenting issues from sleep, to eating to education and everything in between. They have fantastic recommendations and their fails and triumphs always make me feel like I’m doing much better than I probably am. ha!

The Mom Hour – I recently caught wind of this through another podcast I listen to. It’s fantastic. Between the two hosts, they have 8 kids ranging from toddlerhood to high schoolers. They’re real, they speak truth, and as fellow working mamas, they get it.

The Girl Next Door – I love love love this podcast. Their latest episode that I was listening to tonight just…nearly made me cry because everything in my life – self care. friendships. and finding happiness. Their conversations are so authentic that you can’t help but nod along and say OMG YES to all of the things. Also, if you don’t read their blogs, I highly recommend that you check them both out!

 

I have dozens of podcasts that I’ll continue to share every so often. – these are the ones that I’ve been tuning into each week, but if you have any that you love – please share, I’m always looking for new suggestions!

What are your favorite podcasts? 

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Fall Bucket List 2016

Happy fall my friends! I had a slue of blog posts that I was supposed to/wanted to write – I’m a bit behind but it’s been a busy/emotional week and I’m mourning the end of my triathlon season with a DNS. But I had to write about my fall bucket list – or as hubs would prefer I call it, our Fall Family Fun List. I like the bucket list term better.

So despite the fact that this probably should have gone up yesterday and the fact that it’s 85 degrees here in Maryland today…. here’s my fall bucket list.

 

fall bucket list

Apple picking

Make a fall wreath
(i have my goodies! Just need time to do it…)

Decorate my mantle for Fall.
(i.e.purchase new fall candles!) 

Make chocolate pumpkin bread

Carve pumpkins

Get Fall family photos taken
(probably in November…)

Go to a fall festival
(Kinder Farm Park Fall Fest – Oct 8, 2016) 

Visit and take pictures at a pumpkin patch

Decorate our front porch (mums! Pumpkins!) 

Write a blog post about all of these

Happy Fall my friends!  What’s on your Fall Fun list?

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Summer bucket list

Each summer, I get wistful about making it the BEST. SUMMER. EVER. Filled with beachy weekends, tons of outdoor hosting at our house – you know…summery things.

Most of the time I fail, because well, life. But sometimes, we get a big fat win – like last year when we spent a couple of weekend days at the beach (though our anniversary trip was a rain out which was a bummer), or the summer I was pregnant with Ethan we got to go to Ocean City with one of my best gal pals and we finally (nearly 10 years later) made it to Seacrets.

So this year, we kept our bucket list short – I’m up in Vermont for a bridal shower this weekend, Adam’s National  Guard training is taking him out of the country for 2 weeks at the end of July, and then my sisters wedding the weekend after he gets back…our summer is already half filled. But what we put on here should all be fun, small ways to make the most of the rest of our summer.

summer bucket list

Go to an outdoor concert

There are so many free concert series around us in Annapolis or Crofton – even in Baltimore, how can we not make it out once to listen to some live tunes?! Definitely need to pencil that in once or twice this summer. The Friday night series in Annapolis is one of my usual go-to’s and they do the same thing in Crofton on Saturday nights. 

Visit a splash pad

My dear friend Lexi recently turned me onto a splash pad in Ellicott City which isn’t super far from us that I would love to check it out with Little Man 🙂 In addition to this one just west of us, there are apparently a handful of others fun water parks and splash pads in the greater Annapolis/Baltimore area. 

 

Go to the beach

Each year, we try to make it out to the beach once or twice – usually for day trips. This year, we’re heading out to Dewey in September for my triathlon but I’d love to get out there once before the end of the season.

Visit four new ice cream places on the MD ice cream trail

Though none of these are super close to us (1 – 2 hours away) i think we can do some fun exploring and really come down on the debate of who has better creemee’s – Maryland or Vermont (Ima go with the 802 on this one friends but please let me know if you beg to differ).

Have a date night at the Annapolis “Dinner Under the Stars” 

They are apparently closing off a portion of West Street for some dining al fresco – I love eating outdoors and since this is going on until October, I’m sure Hubs and I can find a Wednesday night to get a sitter and have a fun date night.

Go hiking

A few years ago, pre-baby, we hiked up Old Rag in Virginia. I miss hiking, it was something I did somewhat regularly when I was in Vermont. While Little Man won’t be scaling stone walls or going up rock scrambles like Old Rag any time soon, I’d love to check out some of the family friendly hikes in the area like Calvert Cliffs, Patapsco State Park or Gunpowder Falls to do some hiking as a family.

What is on your summer bucket list friends?

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How to get out of a rut & an update

I’ve been in a funk my friends. I’ve been unhappy – with myself, my motivation, my job, my goals. That probably explains why I haven’t blogged since June 1 – since I feel like I’ve had nothing to say. At the very least nothing positive or productive. 

The past month, during my absence here, I took a lot of things into consideration. Hubs and I went to a marriage retreat (if you’re military, I highly recommend the Strong Bonds retreats. They’re free for service members and so very valuable! More on that later though), and while our marriage was never in jeopardy, it helped me reevaluate how we’re communicating and what the root of my problems was and why I’ve just been so blah and not present in my life. 

I was doing things that weren’t making me happy or fulfilled and the unhappiness was causing me to retreat inward – not run, not eat healthy, not spend quality time with my family – it was a downward spiral. I was officially in a rut. 

getting out of a rut

I’m not going to preach on happiness because there are other bloggers that do that a gazillion times better than I ever could (I’m looking at you Gretchen Rubin), but I do know that if you’re not focused on what brings you joy, or what motivates you – you’re going to be unhappy and nothing else except your unhappiness will matter.

So how am I digging my way out of this rut? Well, here’s what I’m doing

Reevaluate goals

I took a long hard look at what I wanted. What I had capacity for outside of the necessities (working. eating. sleeping. taking time for my family.)  It was in doing this that I briefly wondered if I was in the right career (marketing). I am – because ultimately marketing is my passion, but I wasn’t at the right place.  The right thing came at the right time and and I’m confident I’m finally about to land at a great company, with great values, in a role that is really perfect for me. It just took me a while to get here. 

Next, I looked at my racing schedule, my travel schedule, and decided to stop. I have three or four races left for the year but I decided I will not be racing Iron Girl Columbia in August. That was a tough decision because there is nothing I hate more than wasting race fees, but it was causing me unnecessary stress and I didn’t have time to train with my commute and wanting to have actual family time at the end of the day. There is a chance I’ll miss the MCM 10k depending on if Hubs leaves for a 2 week training (still TBD) but I’m okay with that as well. 

By reevaluating my goals and looking at what was really bringing me joy, what I wanted to put my time and effort into, I finally stopped thinking I had to do ALL OF THE RACES, BLOG ALL OF THE TIME and be ALL OF THE THINGS to everyone. I can’t. And I need to be okay with that. 

Make tough decisions

Getting to this point involved making some tough decisions. Leaving my job. Throwing away $100+ on a race fee.  Accepting the fact that I’m not making thousands of dollars from blogging because well… I haven’t been blogging. Those weren’t easy decisions or acceptances for me – but they were necessary.

But, what I did there with those tough (but necessary) decisions, was I put my family first. What I wanted was a little less important when i looked at how my goals were affecting my happiness and what ultimately is most important to me at this point in life – my family and quality time with them. As a working mother finding time for little man can be tough, but him and hubs are the two great loves of my life and I really needed to focus on them a little more rather than training for a big race or commuting to a job that I wasn’t enjoying. 

As you reevaluate your goals, make those tough decisions and don’t let yourself be guided by money or the “should do’s” because if those are the only reasons you’re staying at your job or training for a race or in some cases (though not mine) staying in a relationship – that should give you the answer to the tough decision you need to make.

Be (a little) selfish

I stressed a lot about giving my notice but when i thought about it, it’s wasn’t personal, it was a decision that’s best for me and my family. A business decision if you will, with the business owner making the decision being me. The timing was less than ideal but I need to “do me” (i.e. “you do you”) when it came to this. 

While i love running and racing, I need to think about me and hubs and little man for a change. While sticking with the races I’ve since chosen to forgo might have been more selfish, I would have been doing it so I wouldn’t feel guilty about wasting the money. For me, the money wasn’t worth it. Instead of thinking of what I SHOULD do, I’m focusing on what I WANT to do. I’m being selfish in the best ways possible. 

What’s next?

That all being said, I’m still planning on the Maryland Duathlon in two weeks, and I’m still planning on doing Dewey Beach Tri (which I had deferred from last year) but I can handle running and biking until after my sisters wedding and then I’ll throw some swimming into the mix in August 4-5 weeks before the race. Doing it right now when I have a 90 min – 2 hour commute (round trip mind you) each day just isn’t feasible. I’m focusing on yoga and writing and all of the toddler giggles and just finding joy in life. 

I start my new job in just under two weeks and I’m taking some time between the two for a trip to Vermont for my sister’s shower and for myself. Hopefully in these next few days I can recenter and focus on me for a change.

What are my current goals?

My current goals:

  • Enjoy the summer with hubs and little man (summer bucket list! Hubs and i just came up with one. Now that we’ve lost a month of summer hahaha) 
  • Stick with 80/20 paleo diet to continue my weight loss goals.
  • Run 3 days per week and 2 days of some form of cross training. No mileage goals. Just run, yoga and spin.
  • Write 2 – 3 blogs per week. Regularly.
  • Do 2 things for blog housekeeping each week

Have you ever been in a life rut? How did you get out of it? 

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