Faves & Life Lately -8

The faves and life lately posts are where I share what’s happening and some things I’ve come across which I’m loving. These posts are always some of my favorite to work on and share!

Over on Instagram stories I did a poll asking if people wanted to hear more about how I run the blog and the business side of things, and the response was an overwhelming YES (96%)! So I will start adding some business things in, don’t worry though, recipes will still be my #1.

Business

For the past month, I’ve been doing something new with my newsletters. Each week on Friday ahead of the weekend I send out an email about the previous week containing links to any new blog posts, what recipes people are making, links from around the web and I also do exclusive newsletter subscriber only giveaways. If you’d like to sign up, you can do so here. I changed my philosophy about emails (I would rather have a small, engaged list than a big email list where no one reads it or engages) and changed email providers (I now use Convertkit). It’s been a little bit of a learning curve, granted, but I definitely love the changes and response!

Baby Ben

I cannot believe how fast time is flying. Ben is 11 months old and will be 1 year old in a month. I think I’ll say it a million times: cannot believe it!! Just look at how he’s grown:

• I’ve been making Ben food and it’s so fun seeing what he likes. I shared two recipes he loves: these egg cups and turmeric chicken and potatoes.
• With the beautiful weather lately, we’ve been taking to the park every day after work. He loves the swings, and I cannot tell you how much fun it is to see his little smile as he swings.
• He just started walking, he’s really fast and gets into everything lol, he loves opening cabinets and taking everything out, especially if its containers and lids.

Food

I live in Milwaukee, WI and always get asked for recommendations of where to go out and eat, so I was really proud and happy to share this post of the best Milwaukee Restaurant Guide.

This summer, I’ll be making the following on repeat for parties, bbqs and get togthers (I’ve also created a summer favorites category where you can see even more faves):

• Watermelon salsa – refreshing and a great summer fruit salsa
• Tortellini pasta salad – this is the best side pasta salad, it goes with grilled food and is always gone at potlucks.
• Slow cooker cheesy potatoes – no oven needed for this warm side dish. Just add all the ingredients to a slow cooker, and as soon as you put them out at a party, be ready to watch them disappear.
• Grilled balsamic vegetables – these are my all time favorite vegetarian side
• 5 ingredient magic green sauce – this sauce is amazing, we love it on grilled chicken and as a sandwich spread!
• Grilled hot chicken sausages – a super quick and easy chicken dog!
• Sour cream and chive turkey burgers – we make these on repeat in the summer and grill them up!
• White chocolate peanut grape bites – perfect to have on hand for summer guests and snacks…sooo good!
• Whole wheat fruit pizza cookies – these are healthy, but soooo yummy and summery with the beautiful berries.
• Strawberries and cream ice box pie – so refreshing and delicious, everyone who has had this raves about it
• Refreshing cucumber melon spritzer  – my father-in-law asked me when I was making this again this summer, it’s so good and refreshing.

Books/Entertainment

I listen to books on audible on my commute to/from work and I got through 1-2 books a week! They are not all winners. Here are two that I loved.

• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear – this book is by Elizabeth Gilbert. She is the author of Eat, Pray, Love. This book was about doing and living creatively. I really liked her take on a few concepts, for example, she shares that she worked ‘regular jobs’ even after publishing 3 novels, she said people don’t need to put unnesseary pressure on their creativity, that it can be done in addition to other things. I loved that, because during the day I work full time at a very operations focused job, not a lot of creativity in all the logistics that need to be managed on a day to day, but my blog/photography/writing, etc. I view as my creative outlet. Yes, I do run my blog like a business behind the scenes and am very serious about it, at the end of the day, it’s my creative safe haven. If you are involved in a creative lifestyle (if you’re a painter/writer/photographer, etc. even if just for a little fun or as a hobby) I would recommend this book.
• An American Marriage – I could not stop listening to this book. It was so incredibly moving. Without giving anything away, I will say that this was one of the best books I’ve picked up in a long time, it’s very well written, and it’s no surprise to me it was on Oprah’s 2018 book club list.

Nick and I went to see Melissa McCarthy’s new movie Life of the Party. We didn’t have very high expectations, but I have to tell you, it was hilarious! We (and especially I) laughed SO much, it made for a great light date night movie.

I’d love to know from you – would you like to hear more about business related things (like what apps I use or tools I use to run my blog business)? Leave a response in the comments and let me know!