Even though our weekdays have looked incredibly different over the past few weeks, the weekends have felt pretty much the same. With a newborn, we anticipated sticking pretty close to home this spring, so doing exactly that hasn’t been as much of a letdown as other things have been. A perfect example was our anniversary last weekend. When we talked about it months ago, we weren’t sure if we’d be ready to leave Azelie with a babysitter yet, so we never made any real plans. We ended up putting the kids to bed early, eating a fabulous takeout dinner from Mandolin at a table set with details from our wedding (candles, candlesticks, table-runners-turned-napkins, and even a few extra menus I found during our move!), flipping through our wedding album, and digging into some homemade tiramisu (we used the recipe from the cooking class we took on our honeymoon!). It was cozy, sweet, and, given the circumstances, even more memorable than it might have been otherwise.

I know we are still a long way off from anything we’d consider “normalcy,” but as a few states begin to lift some restrictions, I’m catching a tiny glimpse of light at the end of this tunnel and hope you are too. With that in mind, what’s one thing you’re most looking forward to doing post-quarantine? The two things I care about most are getting back to church (hold me to this: I will never complain about our kids’ behavior at Mass ever again, as long as we get to be there!) and Charlie seeing his friends again, whatever that may look like!

On to a few favorites from the past week!

1. We have been living on our front porch lately and it has been so wonderful! It started with afternoon cocktails, then we took glasses of wine out there one night after the kids were in bed, and now, we also head out with our coffee almost every morning. The last scenario, in particular, feels vacation-level indulgent…a feeling we’ve been craving lately! To spruce up the space, now that we’re out there so much, we bought this gorgeous garden stool (pictured above–it perfectly ties our green house and pink door together!) and are waiting on the arrival of these Adirondack chairs (a generous anniversary gift from Dave’s parents) to replace our plastic ones.

2. If you need a major mood-lifter, flip through April Hoss’ quarantine meme round-ups in her Instagram Story Highlights. I have had to stop looking at new ones when I’m nursing overnight because I literally cannot stop myself from laughing out loud!

3. Two can’t-miss Mother’s Day sales going on this weekend: 25% off sitewide at Little Unicorn (my very favorite swaddles, blankets, and burp cloths! I just bought this changing pad cover and this and this reversible bandana bibs for Azelie) and 20% off at Gathre with the code FINDMOM (we have the Mini mat in Chiffon, which is gorgeous and so versatile).

4. Not that libraries are open, but regardless, my apologies to the person in my county next on the waiting list for Evvie Drake Starts Over…I have had it on my shelf for two months now and just cracked it open last week! I’m a little over halfway through and I’m loving it–great characters, clever writing, and a setting that feels so vivid, it could be a character itself.

5. As soon as I spotted the peonies in my yard that I shared about last week, I promptly messaged my friend Whitney for her advice on how to keep them alive. I need a little more reassurance to go all out and start my own garden (my dislikes for bugs and dirt are kind of a problem when it comes to that particular endeavor), but her dreamy one, plus all the tips she generously shares on her garden Instagram account, almost have me convinced that it would be worth it.

Enjoy your weekend!