The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

October first is here, so I think it is safe to say that the summer of 2020 has come to an end. The leaves are changing colors, sweatshirts are making their way out of drawers, pumpkin is being consumed in every way possible and Halloween costumes are a regular topic of dinner conversation. For us, our children are also back in school, but for all of us, a pandemic rages on, leaving sickness and sorrow in its path. A mixed bag, if there ever was one. I love, love, love the fall in New England, but it continues to be hard to enjoy it, or anything, to the fullest in a world full of so much anxiety, the unknown, constantly in the back of my mind. We had a really lovely summer. It makes me feel guilty to say, and I am fully aware that this summer's joy was not there for many others. Working from home gave us a flexibility we have never had as a family, we could meet our work obligations from anywhere, so we did. Cape Cod, Maine, New Hampshire - New England was our oyster and our bubble...

Summer 2019, you were so good to us! Two big trips down the Cape, lots of time on various beaches, a big kid who can ride her bike on two wheels like a champ, Annie's first summer camp and so much time outside, with each other and with our favorite people all summer long. Maddie heads back to school tomorrow and then Annie follows her in on Monday for her very first day of school ever. And just like that, we have both kids in school. Sweet, bittersweet and all the underlying anxiety for Mama to absorb the change, but I know it is going to be nothing but great. Annie is totally ready to be there and we still get the best of both worlds by having our glue/aka nanny in the afternoons with them. Life really worked itself out as best as could this season of life, and for that I am so thankful. I cannot wait to watch them grow and live their best little lives this next year. This fall is going to be a whole new world for us with new activities, different schedules and me having such...

I'll just come right out and admit that this is probably one of the longest breaks I have taken from writing down our adventures over here and it was completely unintentional! Life got really busy, mornings got earlier and nights got really tired. But, here I am! I even have my first new laptop that is mine all mine since I was in grad school. Mac Books have come a long way in 10 (ohemgee) years. How are you? How was your Thanksgiving? Ours was pretty lovely - family, chosen family, food and more food. We ran our annual Turkey Trot, which was a bit of a disaster for my own running career, but I was back at it again this morning with 5 really good miles, so I will just have to redeem myself next year. I am training for another marathon - number 5 - which will be in Louisiana in January. This has been my best training yet and I chock it up to a lot more miles and a lot of time spent at the gym on my lunch breaks cross training and doing the exercised I learned in PT. I am hoping to...

My last blog was about the end of summer and now here we are in the thick of fall and man oh man have I missed this blog of mine. I love coming here and sharing our life, spewing random things and making a little piece of Internet memory for myself. Note to self, schedule some blog time in at least once a week. So what's new?  My Mom recently made a super spontaneous trip to see us (read: bought tickets less than a seek before flying) and it was absolutely magical. We decided not to tell Maddie and when she woke up and wandered into the kitchen to see her Gramma standing there it was just the cutest situation ever. She was beyond confused, surprised and elated and spent the next 5 days in Gramma heaven.  It was also really awesome for me to spend time with my Mom and get to work on our own relationship. It's interesting how things change when daughters become mothers and start relating to their own mothers and WOW things can get messy but I feel so close and at a gre...

Last weekend while out running errands we decided to avoid the highway and cut through the Blue Hills to get home, as we often do when we are trying to lull a certain toddler into a weekend car nap. Maddie wasn't really falling for it, and it was super gorgeous outside, so Matty had the great idea to take a spontaneous little hike on one of the easy trails. It turned out to be the best random idea of the day and provided us with a much less cranky toddler after all that fresh air. One of the many things I love about living in Boston is the close proximity to some pretty amazing outdoor spots that always seem to amaze me with the way you feel so out of the city (but really it is just right there!). The Blue Hills is one of those spots; hike to the top of the Great Blue Hill lookout point and you get a great view of Boston and beyond. It is seriously just a few miles outside of city limits, but it feels like you are in the middle of a wonderful, quiet nowhere.  Maddie is in...

THIS KID. My heart can't even take her some days. Hooray, we made it! This was not a short week for me, so I am a little extra excited over the impeding weekend since it seems like everyone else got to avoid their Monday this week. It was a good, productive week at work and at home and I am looking forward to some time to unwind from it all with my little family.  I am incredibly thrilled that we will finally be getting our washer and dryer situation taken care of this weekend. I know, life is full of exciting things for the O'Sheas right now and this ability to do laundry at home may just put me over the edge. New baby? New house? LAUNDRY?!  No but really, we have not been able to use our washer and dryer since we moved and had planned on getting someone to wire/plumb our basement to be able to use the machines we already had instead of buying a stacked unit for our small area inside the house, but decided to take the plunge and get the stackables, It would likel...

This morning as I was overloading my poor husband with tasks to do before he could get out the door and go to work, the door was left open and the strangest thing happened: it was cold! Like, real fall brisk cold, to the point where I had to think about layering up for myself and the kiddo. This excites me to no end because, like most people in New England, I love the fall (until it turns into winter, but that is another story) and with that comes my love of fall food. The slow cooker has been out and at work for a few weeks now but I am also looking forward to making up some soup, which is the easiest thing to freeze and bring to work during the week. I am also the queen of throwing a bunch of leftover veggies, some beans and some tomatoes into the slow cooker for random weeknight chili dinners. Top it with hot sauce and cheese and I can call it whatever I want! I thought I would share some of my favorite cooler-weather recipes, including some slow cooker gems. Feel free to share ...

I would usually say that fall, and especially October, is one of my favorite times of the year: crisp weather, Halloween decorations and a certain winding down after the summer months. So far, though, it has been a little bit more difficult this year. The weather goes from lovely to gross, I can't seem the find the Halloween decorations in the basement (or the time to put them out) and I feel about as wound down as a spinning top filled with espresso. In just a week's time we have weathered one hospital visit, three sicknesses, one broken down car and too many hours of stressful work days than I would like to track. Buuuuuut, such is this stage in life, and with our health back, a new battery in  the car (which was the best case scenario) and some sense of calm back at work, I have decided to start enjoying October to the fullest extent. This weekend provided a great opportunity for that as we were down the Cape for some relaxation and so I could run the Harwich Cranberry Ha...

I cannot believe that Labor Day weekend is just a few days away! So much has happened this Summer since my last Currently post and I can honestly say this has been a Summer for the books! Here is what we are up to as the summer rolls out and pumpkin everything   Fall comes in behind it. Reading: I am a couple hundred pages away from completing Allegiant, which is the final book in a trilogy by Veronica Roth, and it is due back at the library tomorrow so I better hurry! Most of my friends had a decline in their enjoyment of the books as the trilogy went on, and while I do agree that the first one was the best, I am actually still into the second and third. As with a lot of YA books, I do get a little annoyed at the brooding, poor decision, boy-crazy female protagonist, but it made for some good summer reading. Eating: I am trying to get in all the yummy summer fruits before they are gone, and have been incorporating lots of random berries into my morning smoothies. Also,...

I am not sure where to start with this post, what witty or cute thing to say, so I am just going to skip that and let this picture do the talking: I ran a marathon! Yep, twenty six point two miles later, I am a marathon finisher and I am feeling pretty darn good about it. The bottoms of my feet are sore, but the rest of my body feels totally great, which means I trained well and didn't push myself too hard on race day. It also means that I need new running shoes, apparently about 800 miles was my limit on my trusty Brooks . The race was pretty amazing for a number of reasons The weather was perfect - cool and sunny with some splashes of cloud breaks to keep from being too bright or hot. The views were beautiful and varied - the Newport mansions, the ocean and lots of greenery - oh New England, you beautiful thing  you. The spectators were awesome - there was a group at mile twenty banging on pots and pans and waving a flag and cheering their hearts out who could not h...

I started using eye cream for the first time in my life about a week ago, as a preventative measure, you know? I get really dry skin around my eyes and figured that not only would I be helping to fix that situation but that I would also be tackling any wrinkles that may show up in ten years (shhh, I know, I know, don't ruin it for me). Last night as I was washing my make up off for bed I noticed that my eyes seem a little brighter and the dry skin is a lot better, making me feel pretty good about my purchase...fast forward nine hours when I am standing in front of the same mirror with bags the size and color of a body bag hanging out underneath there. Hell-o Monday! But hey, we had a good weekend and learned that even (especially) on a Sunday a late nap will definitely screw the kiddo's sleep schedule up and keep her awake way past the time that we want to be awake. Never stop learning, people. We started our weekend off by attending a beautiful wedding reception in Narragans...

I think it's despicable that I only post once a month, I promise (myself) that will change, even if it's just a few words on life, some pictures or a random thought, I will post more. I follow a lot of bloggers and I look forward to their (more frequent) posts, so I need to embody their consistency and get to it! Oh, and I heart blogging and the great feedback I get from my friends, which are the best reasons of all to post more! Since we last spoke.... Fall kind of turned into Summer but is turning back to Fall, I hope. It's October, which meant an intense need to go apple picking and find the perfect pumpkin, so Matty, Kate and I set out for Tougas Family Farm to get our fill yesterday. It was a pretty farm with a great selection of apples (which is important for our varied needs to bake, puree, eat and cook) and they had pygmy goats (!!) the only issue was, that even in a tank top and flip flops, it was just too damn hot. At eight months prego I could be biased, but ski...

We went to Niagara Falls and it was beautiful and breathtaking and wet. I know that Fall doesn't technically begin until the end of the month but the crisp air and the pumpkin flavored coffee has me so excited for my favorite season! I love the Fall, especially in New England; apple picking, pumpkin flavored things, scarves and sweaters, Halloween and the O'Shea Annual Oktoberfest party; Halloween and Thanksgiving (candy and gluttony) and...oh my God, wait...Fall...then that must mean....holy shit, we're having a baby! (cue tire squeals) This little person who has been growing in side of me, and who is currently bopping and kicking and squirming around, is going to be here in just a few more months, and we just cannot wait to meet her. This week we toured Mt. Auburn where I will be giving birth and it really, really hit me that there is a period of time between being pregnant and cuddling our little girl; namely, that somehow I have to get this little baby out of me...