easter weekend with my peeps

Good Morning!  Did you have a fantastic weekend?  I spent most of the day Saturday writing a paper, but it paid off because I got to enjoy lots of treats and family time on Easter.

While Easter in North Carolina is wonderful, I do miss my family's traditions.  Josh and I don't have any traditions of our own for Easter, but we want to start some!  So far we have (1) eating a fresh baked good and an orange on Easter morning before church... and with that we are officially taking your suggestions for creating some Easter traditions of our own.  Help is obviously needed and much appreciated...

easter morning

Saturday was the most beautiful day I can remember in a long time.  We opened all the doors and windows in our little house and enjoyed the weather as much as possible.  As I said before, I spent most of the day writing a paper, but on my breaks I ran outside to soak up some sunshine.  We had lots of walks with Mac and enjoyed lunch outside at Merritt's, home of the best BLT in the country. 

josh and mac "at the rock" on our favorite walking route

spring flowers and merritt's blt

Easter this year seemed like the perfect chance to load up on sugar...and I did.  I made homemade scones for our Easter breakfast and then with each meal we added more treats and sugar.  I think I will be on detox for at least a month!  On another note, how cute are those cupcakes my sister-in-law May made?  They are carrot cake cupcakes topped with chocolate peeps- adorable and delicious!

cupcakes and peeps // homemade scones // easter petits fours

Sunday night we had pancake supper at the my sister-in-law's parent's house.  The Easter Bunny hid eggs for our niece and nephew in the yard and we had fun hunting for the hard-boiled gems.  That's right- hard boiled eggs- as in real ones...here's hoping we found them all?!?!

jake, maggie, and david ready to hunt / annie and maggie / josh and jake

What are your favorite Easter traditions?  Like I said, we are taking suggestions so I would love to hear from you!  Wishing you all a wonderful start to your week.  

xo,

thoughts for friday

Happy Friday!  Last weekend was a wonderful recharge for me and it was so needed before this LONG week of projects, meetings, interviews, etc.  Fingers crossed for another recharge weekend full of relaxing, checking things off the list, and CELEBRATING EASTER.  

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As a brief aside, my perspective on Easter tends to get so skewed as a student- I inevitably wind up looking towards exams that are coming up in a few weeks instead of focusing on what I consider to be the most important holiday in my faith.  Let me just say that while I have loved the flexibility that being a student has afforded me, I am super excited to re-join the "real world" and hopefully to focus a little more on the things in life that mean so much more than any test or paper.  

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With that perspective in mind, here are a few things that have brought a little extra joy this week, that I highly recommend trying, or that I am contemplating trying myself.  I bit of a mixed bag of "friday finds" and "thankful thursday" items if you will.  

Dogwoods are BLOOMING in our neighborhood.

Makes those chilly walks so much nicer!

photo credit to josh...xo

Tried to "recreate" the feeling of vacation with a little french patisserie visit in Raleigh.

My croissant didn't come with a view, but it was still a delicious mid-week pick me up.

paris  // j'taime

I LOVE these blue earrings and am contemplating them as a treat for myself.

Thanks to the ever stylish Lauren T for introducing them to me!

stella and dot

New workout tanks that wick but aren't too tight.

Why didn't someone think of this sooner?!

oiselle

Delicious...no DELICIOUS rosemary sea salt bread.

Run to Fresh Market and grab some...it has made an appearance with most meals this week!

Happy Weekend everyone!  I hope it's a wonderful, relaxing time to focus on what matters most to you.

xo,