Homemade Living

Bird’s Nest!

Today on our walk home after picking Evie up from school, we found the *coolest* thing in our alleyway: an empty bird’s nest. In perfect condition. To my 3 and 5 year old city kids, the day got instantly awesome! Mack leaped from the stroller to gently retrieve it.  He was concerned: where would the […]


Homemade Almond Butter

For the past couple months Trader Joe’s has had a shortage of almond butter.  Lately my husband has been using it every day in a smoothie, so the shortage at TJ’s was becoming an issue! Ha! I’m not sure why I continued to buy almond butter when we’ve prepared homemade peanut butter for so many […]


Jane Iredale: My *Favorite* Natural Make-Up

My mom is full of good advice, but perhaps the best advice she ever shared is something I rely on everyday: never leave the house without mascara on! I strive to live a simple and natural life, but I think I look about a million times better with at least a quick swipe of mascara, […]


Banana-Avocado-Orange Smoothie

Poor little Vivian. She’s got two sharp and nasty teeth pushing through her top gum, and for the past week she just hasn’t been her normal cheerful self.  She’s been grumpy and inconsolable at times, a far departure from the cheerful disposition we’re all used to.  She wants to wear snuggly pajamas all day, and […]


Homemade Tomatillo Soup

A couple years ago I wrote about a tour I took through a lovely rural Illinois garden. The organic garden belongs to my mom’s dear friend Pam, and every year her garden grows in size and selection.  I saw Pam last weekend, and she very generously offered to gift me with some of this season’s […]


Walk to School!

One of the best things about living in Chicago is that we walk e v e r y w h e r e.  The grocery store is less than a block away. The library is right around the corner.  Lake Michigan is a mere 10 minute stroll from our front door.  I feel so lucky […]


Memory Organization

Earlier this year my siblings and I were called out to my parents house to retrieve the decades of our stuff they were storing in their attic. Yearbooks, first shoes, grade school art projects.  It all had to go. It was a tad bit overwhelming: so much stuff and no where for me to put […]


Homemade Make Up Brush Cleaner

I have a confession to make: I do not clean my make-up brushes as often as I should.  Beauty magazines encourage us to wash them like once a week. Huh?! That just doesn’t happen in my life.  Cleaning make-up brushes tends to fall to the bottom of the priority list, along with cleaning out the […]


Homemade Polish Chicken Soup

With my cousin Monika visiting from Poland for the summer, we’ve all had fun reconnecting with our Polish roots. Chris grew up with a Polish father and Polish grandparents, so he’s been practicing speaking his very rusty Polish with Monika, much to her amusement. My Dad asked that I learn how to make a traditional […]


Morning Exercise

As I’ve written about before, I work-out a lot. At least five mornings a week I’m at my fitness studio for an intense 60 minute class with cardio and weight-lifting intervals.  I love the natural high that follows a hard-core work-out! Chris is borderline obsessed with his Cross-Fit work-outs.  He also goes at least five […]


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