The Fabulous Life of Stefanie

The Eucharistic Minister had good form in ash distribution! Happy day after Mardi Gras, also known as Ash Wednesday, also known as the day that everyone does a lot of double takes about the smudge of black on my head (though not as much as if I lived elsewhere since, well, Boston and all us Irish Catholics). We celebrated Mardi Gras on Lundi because Matty has class on Tuesday nights, and due to having the day off for President's Day it worked out really well. I got to spend a lot of time in the kitchen making jambalaya, cornbread and king cake, all from scratch! This was the first time I had done jambalaya all the way from scratch, including the Cajun spice that I mixed myself and I must admit that it was amazing . We put out a little decor from our travels to NOLA, put on some beads and threw Rebirth on the speakers and had ourselves a pretty awesome lil' party (though I did miss the Abitas this year, sigh). Due to the current situation complete, utter, terrible, ch...

You guys, really, this snow! We have had more snow this past month than has ever been recorded in the history books...and this is Boston so you know we know history! There is just SO much snow and no longer anywhere to put it. It really is absurd, and I hope that someday summer really comes so I can think back to it from a warm spot in the sand and laugh. Really, I just hope summer comes... Of course, the more snow the less we get out, which is the pits. One energetic toddler and one restless, preggo mama plus four feet of snow is just a terrible equation. So, instead of letting the snow beat us down on Sunday, we decided to brave it all and take a trip out to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art to see a special Madeline exhibit that is ending soon: Madeline at 75: The Art of Ludwig Bemelmans I had read about the exhibit when it was in NYC over the summer and was going to try and see it there, but once I found out it would also be in MA, I decided I could wait and save the...

Things are not well. As a matter of fact, they are pretty unwell. Work. OH work. How does one maintain an open door policy when the need to shut the door and cry is so great? Something has to give, but it hasn't. Home. My home sweet home that I do love so much but the project list is not moving because it is a daily task just to keep it together with a very energetic toddler who cannot get out and run around and be a toddler. Our commute time home has doubled, even tripled, on most nights so we get home, get dinner and get to bed. The time we spent playing and coloring and getting a few things done is spent on the road staring at brake lights and snow banks as high as the eye can see. My me time. I see the runners on the Esplanade with their millions of layers and frozen tears and don't remember my own runs against snow drifts with chapped red legs and impossible miles ahead. I just miss it. I am so, so jealous. I want to get up and layer up and go for a run in this terri...

These 'Currently' posts are one of my favorites to do but somehow I haven't done one since October...oh holidays/life/ridiculous New England winter blizzard chaos. Good thing there is so much fun stuff to catch up on...so here we go! Reading I just finished one of Damien Echol's books, Life After Death , and it was so, so good. If you aren't familiar with him, Echols is 1/3 of the West Memphis Three, a group of young men convicted of murdering three young boys in West Memphis Arkansas then sentenced to life (and death row for Echols) with absolutely no evidence outside of the WM3 being into metal and wearing black. I started following the case in high school after hearing Jello Biafra speak about them and eventually wrote my undergrad thesis on them, which included an interview that I managed to do with Eddie Spaghetti from the Supersuckers (another huge supporter of theirs). When I was pregnant with Madeleine they were finally set free through a screwy method us...

I love a lot of things and I really like to share these things, so I am starting a new weekly post just to talk and share and maybe hear about what other people love. Love it! First of all, I hope everyone had a chance to reflect of the life of Dr. King today, whose words never become antiquated. Today more than ever his speeches, his work and his method of non-violence are great examples of how to fight for social justice. Every year I spend some of this day talking to Maddie about Dr. King's message and I can only hope that it helps form her and inspire her to be a change agent in her world. On to much less meaningful things now: five things I am totally digging. 1. Nars blush in Orgasm . I have had this on my to-buy list for ages and was forced urged by my husband to finally buy it Saturday afternoon before a date night. I love it. It is the perfect color, the perfect amount of shimmer and actually lasts the whole day. Sold. 2. Bastille Kitchen in Fort Point. Spea...

We left Boston last Wednesday when it was hovering just under the double digit degrees and when my nerves were well under a 10 on a scale of one to having it together.It wasn't until well into the third day of our vacation when it hit me how very badly I needed to be on vacation. Something about pulling yourself out of your daily routine really gives you the opportunity to look at how things are going, what things aren't working and where more energy needs to be allocated.  I've spent a lot of this pregnancy sick, which is really difficult for me; I don't do rest well and I don't like feeling unable to give life my all, which is exactly what bronchitis, pneumonia and a bit of pregnancy induced asthma created. So we decided to take a vacation; just a week and just the three of us to get away somewhere a little warmer with no house projects or work schedules or alarm clocks. Like I said, it took a few days for me to unwind. A specialist I saw put me on an extended ...

I wish I could say that I was ending the year on a bang, but really I am ending it on my sick bed (er, at my desk at work being sick). For the second time this pregnancy I have bronchitis, which is just as fun as it sounds. Luckily, I seem to be slowly getting better and not progressing towards pneumonia like had happened in September. It has definitely been the pits feeling crummy over the holidays and I feel sad that I haven't been able to play with Maddie and her new Christmas toys as much as she wants me to, but here is hoping I will be on the mend soon. 2014 was a pretty huge year for our family and I just wanted to do a little end of the year recap to say goodbye to a wonderful year and hello to another exciting one! The Big News This year we became homeowners! This was a goal that had been HUGE for us and while the process was anything but awesome, the day that we closed and opened the door to OUR home was amazing and (almost) worth all the chaos leading up to it. Then, ...