January Happenings

Whew, we made it to 2021!

For me, 2020 still feels like a dream, or an alternate reality. I still can’t quite comprehend how much life has changed. We went from going, going, going, to the complete opposite. 2020 was about taking a step back. We were forced to be in our homes, sit with the discomfort of it all, and find pleasures in the mundane. While I’m forever grateful for the lessons 2020 taught me, I’m really looking forward to a New Year.

One of my favorite parts of starting a new year is breaking in my new planner! I love writing in birth dates, important upcoming events, and moments. It also really keeps me on track with goal setting and to-do’s. For the past few years, I’ve been using this Wit & Delight planner (which Santa graciously puts in my stocking!) and absolutely love it.

Speaking of goal-setting, this is probably the first year in a very long time where I didn’t create any resolutions, but instead, I dug deeper into my To Be Magnetic practice. I’ve been listening to Lacy’s podcast for the past year, and officially became a Pathway Member at the start of the year. I’m currently working through the "How to Manifest” classes, which are so well done. She provides incredible videos, as well as journaling and meditations along the way. I’m really excited to get deeper into this work, and I’ve officially narrowed down my manifestations for 2021.

So far, January has been a really fun month to start the year as we finally hit the 20 week mark, and are officially halfway to baby J! I spoke about our journey to get to this point in my latest post, IVF Part II. Due to my growing belly, I have officially upgraded my beauty routine and have been using Mutha Body Oil + Burt’s Bees Belly Lotion every single morning. I’ve been lighting a candle and taking really long showers these days. Life is still relatively slow due to Covid, so I’m trying to enjoy the little moments and this has been part of my new routine that I so look forward to.

I’ve also been reading some of the pregnancy books that were gifted to me — I especially love Bringing up Bebe which was one of the first baby gifts I got from a dear friend of mine. It’s a super easy read about the parenting differences in Europe vs. the US. Next on my list is Nurture.

We’ve also started buying things for Baby J’s nursery! Originally, we were planning to purchase items in March, but due to Covid, items are taking so much longer to be delivered than expected. We just ordered this swivel glider from Pottery Barn and it’s expected delivery date is the week I’m due! You can read more about my nursery inspiration and planning preparations here! I’m looking forward to buying the rest of our furniture over the next few weeks and cant wait to share them with you!

In the meantime, I’ve been continuing to do some experimenting in the kitchen, and happened to stumble upon these insane vegan ice cream snicker bars. They’re so easy to make and were the perfect treat to keep in our freezer (while they lasted!) I think what makes them so delicious (besides the ice cream and chocolate), is the date caramel which I found from Thyme with Meg — I really love following her for healthy recipes and sustainability tricks.

On Friday’s we’ve been continuing our tradition of making a Shabbat Dinner, with homemade Challah of course. After a long work week, there’s nothing I love more than turning off my phone, cooking dinner with my husband, and lighting the candles for a beautiful and relaxing shabbat dinner. If you try out the challah recipe, let me know if you have any questions and I’d love to see pics of your braiding — I haven’t quite nailed that down yet!

And lastly, we continued our 2020 tradition of long car rides and drove down to Florida for the month! We rented an airbnb on Anna Maria Island with my parents to getaway from the City for a bit. As we’re all working from home right now, we thought what better time to sort of relocate for a bit and enjoy some warm weather. We won’t be leaving the house much, but we are about a block from the beach and we have a pool, so I’m hoping for a lot of sunny days outside!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to 2021!

P.S. If you haven’t watched Bridgerton on Netflix yet, I highly recommend. Such a fun watch, and even my husband enjoyed it!