1. Did everyone have a nice Valentine’s Day? Lucas and Alex both had a great time at their school/daycare parties, and now our kitchen table will inevitably be covered in valentines for the next couple of weeks. No matter how many times I pick them up, I turn around and BAM. There they are again.
I give it a few days before I start slowly sneaking them away and tossing them into the garbage because they never knowwwww.
2. Jay and I didn’t celebrate, since we don’t really do Valentine’s Day, and Jay had actually been away traveling for work, so we ordered some takeout salads for dinner and then I rummaged through the boys’ leftover Halloween candy for my “Valentine’s” dessert. Hey, chocolate is chocolate, right?
3. This is still one of my favorite pictures of these two. Funny enough, Alex was wearing the same shirt yesterday that Lucas was wearing here, since each of my kids only owns one red shirt.
Gahhhh, those cheeks. <3
3. I’ve had a few people reach out to me lately (mostly on Instagram) asking if I’m still tracking macros (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can check out this post to read more on that!). Most of these questions typically come when I post pictures of things like alcohol and sweets, so I could see why people may ask then. ; )
I will say, I took a good 5ish months off from tracking, and I think that was good for me. While tracking macros is a great tool and really does deliver results, it’s not something that I, personally, could maintain as a year-round lifestyle. That said, I think it’s a great thing to revisit, and after enjoying a very indulgent December and January (oh hey, birthday treats!), I’ve been loosely tracking again as a friendly reminder of what my days can look like without cookies and cake after every meal. Maybe I’ll share a few WIAW’s coming up to show what I eat to hit my macros? Or has that subject become overkill in the blog world?
4. So Lucas has become suuuuper interested in everything space and planets over the past few months. We’ve got plenty of books to read (these below are the most recent from a Scholastic Book Club order), and the StarChart app is one of his favorite things to check before bed, but I would really love to be able to find somewhere awesome to bring him to experience something more interactive.
We have a couple of smaller planetariums in the Albany/Schenectady area, but if anyone has any suggestions/recommendations for anything within a few hours of Albany, I would LOVE to hear them! I’m thinking we may try to plan a little day or overnight trip this spring or summer with him. :)
5. Okay, let me just say that Primally Pure’s Everything Spray is incredible. Not only does the scent just make me feel like I’m in a spa or something fancy, but my goodness, it works SO WELL on freakin’ razor burn, and that’s all I’m gonna say about that.
Their Lavender Deodorant and their Lip Balm are my two other favorite products that I’d highly recommend, too. Plus, don’t forget, you can use code SWEETTOOTH10 to get an additional 10% off your first order PLUS, anyone who purchases from Primally Pure in the month of February will receive a free flower bath packet with their order!
6. And for my last fun fact of the day…I promised you guys some feedback on the survey results that I got, so I’m going to share a little bit of that with you all today!
First, as I mentioned before, I will say that this survey was actually EXACTLY what I needed right now, and truly was a big eye-opener for me. I think for a long time now, even though I knew that my blog is a little different from many of the others I’ve been blogging alongside with these past 8+ years, I was still holding myself to the same standards. Feeling like I must post regularly, needing the bright/filtered/beautiful photography, wondering if I need to really choose a focus for this space…
When in actuality, that just isn’t what this blog is. And from reading through all of your feedback, that’s one of the biggest reasons that you come here! And it was sort of one of those, “Oh my god, they’re right!” moments, and I realized that it’s totally okay for this space to be perfectly imperfect. In fact, I’m embracing that even more now.
In terms of what you all like to see and/or what you want to see more of, they were pretty much the same across the board, and there really weren’t a ton of categories that were overwhelmingly higher or lower than others. The top 5 requested content topics were…
- Day in the Life/Personal
- Parenthood/Recipes/Meal Planning (all pretty much tied!)
- Fashion/OOTD
- WIAW
- Fitness
And while none of this necessarily surprised me, it was a good reminder that a wide variety of topics is a cool thing.
Out of everything from the survey, the comments were my favorite. Out of the 1569 of you who took the survey, 839 of you took the time to write a comment and that is awesome. I read through every single one, and totally appreciated each and every one of them…whether it was a positive ‘thank you’ or a more constructive criticism, I came away with some new insights and ideas.
So again, THANK YOU for your continuing to come and visit me here in this space, and I’m excited to continue sharing more of what I can, when I can. <3
I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and a wonderful weekend ahead, whatever you may be doing!
I love reader surveys to point out things you already know but need reassurance on. I love your blog and am happy you are feeling inspired!
I don’t know if this would be too far for you, but the planetarium at the Museum of Science in Boston is really nice! They also have a really cool weather / electricity exhibit in the museum that he would probably enjoy too. And of course in my humble Massachusetts resident opinion, Boston is an awesome city in general for a long weekend ;)
I’m an astronomer, so happy to hear about the interest in space. The American Museum of Natural History in NYC has a good space/astronomy section and planetarium shows. That’s where Neil de Grasse Tyson is, of course, so some are narrated by him. Union College in Schenectady has an observatory with public viewing: http://www.uobserve.com.
Macro posts sound great!😊
Macro posts would be awesome. It’s great to see others ideas! Your blog is awesome it’s what I need when I need to read from a down to earth blogger mom! Thanks for always sharing your life the good and the bad we can all relate in someway!
The Rochester Museum and Science Center has a great planetarium. The museum itself has a ton of cool exhibits for kids as well!
Come down to DC where the museums are free and there is a ton to explore with kids. The air and space museum on the mall is partially under construction so limited exhibits, but check out the udvar hazy branch by Dulles airport- an actual spaceship and a million huge planes!
I’ve always been a fan of planetariums and there are several in the Philadelphia area, if you’re ever in this area that are great to visit!
Hi! I didn’t take the survey but have been a looooooong time reader and just wanted to say don’t put too much pressure on yourself. If you feel like posting then go for it, if you aren’t into it and want to spend time with the boys do that instead. If it looks like bloggers are doing everything perfectly it stresses me out – I like to see that we are all doing the best we can. I hope you have a great week!
I bought Primally Pure’s Everything Spray a few months ago and LOVED it. I was holding out on trying their oil cleanser coupled with their baby bar for face cleansing and am so glad I finally did. Have been using it for a week, and my skin looks and feels amazing. Highly recommend both, and be sure to read the fine detail about the oil cleanser where it links to a blog post suggesting to use both the oil and baby bar for your face cleansing routine, I think the baby bar helps a ton.