littleshoeprincess

The Best Canned Cocktails of 2023

November 6, 2023 littleshoeprincess

2023 was the year of the canned cocktail in our house. From ease of preparation (pop the top and pour!) to the convenience of packing a cooler for the pool, we went ALL IN with tasty canned bevies this summer.

If you’ve been to a liquor store recently, you’ve likely seen how much the canned craft cocktail scene has exploded. Everyone has a cocktail in a can on the shelf. And I feel it’s my duty to tell you: they are not all created equally.

I can’t handle sweet drinks, so that in itself eliminates High Noon and White Claws (eww) from our cocktail rotation. Thankfully, we found some amazing alternatives that I’m happy to share with you.

Two Chicks Cocktails

These tasty cocktails come in a variety of flavors but these are the two best. Refreshing, not too sweet and perfect over ice or straight from the can. 5/5 stars.

Dogfish Head Vodka Crush

Leave it to the beer maker to come up with a tasty cocktail. These pack a bigger punch than the Two Chicks (7% ABV vs 5% ABV) and come in a variety of flavors, however Grapefruit is the best one, IMO. Tons of flavor, not too sweet and a pretty can.

Talk House Canned Cocktails

Light and refreshing, Talk House craft cocktails come in two delicious flavors: Lime Vodka Soda and Blood Orange Tequila Soda. Both are delicious and worth seeking out (they are not easy to find).

Waypoint Bees Knees

We bought this one on a whim to try and WOW it’s delicious. AND, we found out it’s made right here in Connecticut (hooray for drinking local!). This is an easy-to-drink cocktail (read: watch out) and tastes just as good from the can as in a glass with ice. Tart and refreshing. One of my faves.

And – what every Suburban Mom Starter Kit likely had but did not advertise, was the slim can cooler – keeping cocktails cold all summer long.

We have become a canned drink culture, and I’m here for it.

Cheers!

shopping

The Best Things I Bought This Year

November 4, 2023 littleshoeprincess

I have made some really great purchases in the past year. If it made my life easier, made me feel better or helped our family, it’s in the list below!

Water bottle drying rack

This is the solution to drying the inside of your water bottles in a timely manner so they never have “that smell”. I love this drying rack! If you’re a boomer, you can also dry and reuse plastic bags! If you have kids and 317 water bottles at home, this is AMAZING! Get it on Amazon.

2. Best Leggings Ever

These leggings are butter soft and come in a million colors. They are extremely comfortable and even have the coveted side-thigh pocket for your phone. $25 on Amazon

3. Rubbermaid Stackable Storage Containers

Our Tupperware situation was NOT GOOD, and caused much stress for Mr. KK. So while he was away, I bought these BPA-free containers and upgraded our food storage game. Mr. KK came home to an organized cabinet of containers in a variety of sizes. Kelsey Nixon was promoting them, and I got them during Prime Days when they were on sale. Rubbermaid containers on Amazon.

4. Revlon Hair Brush Dryer

I’ll admit it, I was skeptical at first. My hair takes a long time to dry, pulling it straight with a big round brush, section by section. The first time I tried this with wet hair, it was an epic fail. My hairdresser then told me to let my hair be about 75% dry and THEN use this. When I tried that, I was sold. I let my hair air dry for about 30 minutes, then I use this and my drying time is cut in half. Smooth and shiny. Get it on Amazon.

5. Citrus Rug

With two dogs who prefer to vomit on rugs vs hardwood floors, I find myself replacing the throw rugs in our house quite often. I found this beauty for our kitchen at Target; I love how it matches my orange stove and comes in tons of sizes! Citrus Rug at Target (it’s 50% off today!)

6. Crocs Flip Flops

We spent a lot of time by the pool this year, and I needed a flip flop that could get wet, was stylish and comfortable. While I will never wear the original crocs sandals, these crocs flip flops were everything I was looking for. So comfy I bought them in 2 colors. Crocs Flip Flops at DSW.

7. Pet-Friendly Cushion Covers

Our couch is super comfortable; so much so, that our dogs love to be on it just as much as we do. Black dogs on a light gray couch means a lot of dog hair. These were an Instagram feed impulse buy (I bought them for our bottom cushions only) and I LOVE THEM. They are the exact same color as our cushions and fit snug and stay in place. I highly recommend these even if you don’t have dogs, but you have children. Nolan Interior Couch Covers. (50% off!)

8. Cozy Pants (Barefoot Dreams knock offs)

OMG these pants. You will never want to take them off. Yarn Wide Leg Pants at Target.

These are some of my favorite purchases this year. I hope I inspired you!

Kids will be kids, school

A PSA to Schools

November 3, 2023 littleshoeprincess

Dear Schools,

Let me begin by telling you how amazed I am that you take in hundreds of children each and every day, and that you continually show up for work. For 180 days. Kudos, truly. I have no idea how you do it. You are better humans than I am.

Now that we are two full months into the school year, I wanted to share some parental thoughts that you may not be aware of, that are plaguing families in towns across America.

We don’t have any cash. There is nothing more stressful than being reminded by your child that today is spirit day for a donation/field trip money is due/class t-shirt order day seven minutes before the bus comes. These requests are usually for cash and we don’t have any. After pillaging through our child’s drawers for tooth fairy money, we are tapped out. May I propose a class or school Venmo account that parents can use to pay for everything that pops up throughout the year? Speaking for this Mama, if I could donate money to a charity so my child can wear a hat to school, the donation will be much bigger if submitted electronically than if I have to find actual paper money in my house.

Kids don’t tell us shit. This is the truth. Or if they do tell us, it’s too late. A perfect example of this is when Little Mister came home with a workbook that hadn’t been started yet.

Me: “Do you have to do anything with this?”
Him: **shoulder shrug**
Me: “Why is this coming home for the first time today? Do you have to complete any of it?”
Him: “I don’t know!”

A quick email to the teacher revealed that the kids were told to do a few pages in the workbook on Monday (today was Wednesday). My particular child looked at me like I asked him to recite the periodic table of elements when I asked him if he remembered being asked to work on this.

Unless it’s assigned to them in writing, sent home via email from teachers to parents, or stapled to their foreheads, there’s a 97% chance that what teachers are telling students in school is not making it to their parents’ ears at home. What IS making it to our ears, is who went to the Principal’s office, if the cafeteria ran out of Oreo ice cream bars and who pushed who during recess.

When a child does remember something, it’s usually at the most inopportune time:

At the bus stop: “We could bring a stuffed animal in today! Can we go get one?”
Having breakfast: “Can you chaperone the field trip today?”
Before bed: “Today parents could have come in to read to our class.”

Projects. You are looking at someone who LOVES herself a good art and craft project. When I have the opportunity to break out the glue gun, I am one happy girl. And I can appreciate the learning that goes into working on a project, creating something with your hands and mind, and showing it off. I am not looking for fewer projects! My question is this: is there any chance the projects could be smaller? Actually physically smaller. While we are putting our Amazon boxes to great use, we are running out of room to display (read: store) all of our beloved works of art. Because guess who doesn’t like to throw out projects? The kid who made them.

We parents can not thank you enough for everything you’re doing for our children.

If you need me, I’ll be gathering small bills from the bank to get us through the end of the year.

Moms

I’m a Walking Cliché, And I’m Ok With That

November 3, 2023 littleshoeprincess

One thing social media is good for is making you poke fun at yourself.

One of my favorite laughs this year came from the multiple reels and TikToks going around about The Suburban Mom Starter Kit.

On any given weekend, school pick up or grocery run, this is how you will find me. What I thought was just my go-to comfortable style turned out to be a trending meme. And I’m ok with that.

Here’s a breakdown of what my personal Suburban Mom Starter Kit looks like:

Lululemon cross body bag (in Camo)
Stanley water bottle (40 oz, in Tigerlily)
Another liquid (iced Starbs)
Non-athletic sneakers (slip on Rothy’s)
Amazon leggings (2 black, 1 gray, 1 green camo)

It’s funny to me to think that there are so many other Moms out there, dressed identically to me. It’s like we’re all part of a secret society where we don’t know each other.

Perhaps the most iconic item of the Suburban Mom Kit is the Stanley water bottle. I have no idea how or where this trend started, but there was no way I wasn’t jumping on this bandwagon. I am a girl who loves a water bottle.

It took me a few days to finally commit to this investment in a drinking vessel. This was back when it was harder to find Stanleys, and when Amazon was charging ridiculous prices for “hard to get” hues. Of course I went with my signature orange (Tigerlily). It was a big deal when Stanley came into our house. Seriously, it was as if another man moved in with us.

First off, Mr. KK made fun of me. Perhaps that was because I have 37 other water bottles, or that this water bottle in particular had a high price tag* and cult following. Or, it could be because Stanley is so tall that we had to find room in the cabinet. The minute I put him down on the counter, he became this person, Stanley, who now needed a place to live.

And then, there was the Little Mister, who loved to drink out of him. We’d be driving and he’d yell from the backseat, “Mom! Pass back Stanley!” Or we’d be at the pool and he’d run up to me out of breath, “Mom, I’m so thirsty. I really need Stanley.”

And so Stanley became a member of the family. Stanley spent the summer at the pool. Stanley vacationed in Cape Cod…twice! Stanley has taken up yoga. Stanley takes part in game night. And Stanley also helps build up muscle (in just one arm!) because he’s so dang heavy once filled.

Stanley enjoying some time by the pool in the Cape this summer.

So that’s me, Suburban Mom cliché, and totally comfortable with it.

To pay homage to the late and great Chandler Bing: “Could I BE any more basic?”

*Money-saving hack: If you live near a Paper Store, they carry Stanleys in all sorts of colors (and they aren’t marked up like on Amazon). PLUS, you can use their 30% off coupons on your Stanley (currently, they are not excluded from the coupons!). You’re welcome.

Books, Uncategorized

I Met Elin Hilderbrand and Was Totally Girl Crushing

November 1, 2023November 1, 2023 littleshoeprincess

I’m BACK for a month of blogging!

This was a long year. I’ll share details and escapades over the next month, but thought I’d start with a high note: I met my favorite author this summer!

As someone who is always writing their first novel, I find people who can write a really great book fascinating. The ones that write multiple books that I enjoy? The are truly amazing.

Elin Hilderbrand is that author for me. If you aren’t familiar with her work, she has written almost 30 novels, most of them set in Nantucket (with a few set in St. John). They are easy, entertaining reads, and if you don’t want to pack up and move to Nantucket after reading them then we can’t be friends.

She was touring this summer for her novel “The Five Star Weekend“, a novel about a woman bringing together friends from different times in her life for a spectacular weekend on Nantucket. She tends to visit independent book stores around the country, and her stop closest to me was in Mystic, Connecticut. Every book signing has a theme, and mine was “The Preppy Handbook: Pink and Green”.

If hordes of women all dressed in bright colors standing around talking about Veuve Clicquot and Jessica Hicks jewelry (#iykyk), then an Elin book signing might not be for you.

Proudly, I attended this book signing by myself. I took my place in line, met other Hilderbabes (as her fans are called), and nibbled macarons and sipped pink lemonade. My ticket included a hard copy of The Five Star Weekend, which would be personalized by the great Elin herself!

I took the color theme very seriously, and made sure I was as preppy as I could be. My actual meeting was a bit of a blur – handing off the book, saying hello and sounding cool, posing for a photo, then being guided on my merry way. My encounter was probably about 8 seconds long total, but I am so happy that I did this small thing for ME.

Me and Elin Hildebrand at the Five Star Weekend book signing

After the signing, I wasn’t ready to drive an hour home (after waiting in line for an hour), plus it was getting ready to storm. I headed over to one of my favorite restaurants in the area – the Shipwright’s Daughter – where they have a delicious happy hour. I sidled up to the bar BY MYSELF, ordered a few appetizers and a wine, and started reading The Five Star Weekend. Soon more Hilderbabes found their way and I chatted with a few women at the bar, but for the most part, I was enjoying my own company.

Warm crab dip and blistered shishito peppers at The Shipwright’s Daughter in Mystic!

As someone who doesn’t have any “heroes” (well, besides Ina Garten, of course), having the opportunity to meet someone whom I admire so much, who makes what I want do to (write a book) seem so effortless, was one of the highlights of my summer.

Elin was gracious and kind, giving time to each person who came through the line. AND, my outfit was so on point with the theme that I was featured on Elin’s Insta stories! (My 2 seconds of fame!)

Also, I truly enjoyed The Five Star Weekend! It was a great early summer read, and it got me thinking who I would invite on my own five star weekend from the different stages in my life and if there would be any drama. (likely not drama, but lots of wine and cheese!)

Welcome to November, and a full month of my nonsense!

Life, parenting

Finding Balance in the Every Day

December 1, 2022 littleshoeprincess

Well, somehow, we made it to November 30th – my last day of blogging for the month. I missed only two days, not too bad!

And I didn’t stress Mr. KK out too much either, so that’s a win in this house.

I usually use this post to do some sort of wrap up of the blog month, or of the year that is so quickly coming to an end, or my perspective on the year ahead. One year I wrote what could be the first chapter of my novel. Sometimes we celebrate my cancer-versary.

This year, I just wanted to share that I’m having trouble finding balance: balance of my work, mom, wife, and “me” lives.

One hypothesis is that we are fully back to “normal” and life is busy again and the juggling is even harder. Another thought is that I’m a year older and it’s just harder, if that’s possible. Or, I’m prioritizing different things and that is tugging at my psyche.

You should know that I really like my job. I work for a surrogacy and egg donation agency as a Marketing Director, and I manage our company’s brand, website, and oversee all of our paid and organic marketing, social media, marketing materials, you name it. I have such passion for what we do: enabling those who cannot be parents on their own to have the child(ren) they’ve dreamed of. It’s pretty powerful, especially compared to my last job at a marketing agency where I was selling M&M’S.

The thing about work is that it just never ends. I am hella busy, and it’s hard finding a stopping point each day. There’s always one more web page I could create, or another email I could answer. But if I don’t stick to a schedule, my work life will start to creep into my home life, when I must turn the switch from Boss to Mom. It’s bad enough that Little Mister is home a solid hour plus before my work day even ends, it’s like moving mountains to get him to do homework while someone isn’t sitting next to him, all while trying to keep him off of every electronic device within 30 miles.

If I stop working at 5pm (which honestly feels like the middle of the day since emails continue to roll in until 8pm or 9pm) then it’s immediate Mom mode. We need to get homework done, maybe play with Little Mister, get dinner together, eat and clean up, Little Mister watches a show, then the bedtime routine with 20 minutes of reading under the covers. And that’s if we don’t have an activity after school, like Scouts or Basketball. Even a haircut could throw a wrench in the mix. Once Little Mister is tucked away in bed, I usually hop on the computer again to address any urgent needs, or finish the project I left hanging a few hours ago. If it’s November, it’s also time to write a blog post, unless I did that early in the morning before work, which means I did that instead of going kickboxing. But there are mornings that I can’t kickbox AND shower before work (not enough time!) so I have to choose between them. This time of year I’m trying to get holiday shopping done online (who has time to go to a store??), and before bed is the time to do it, especially if I need Mr. KK’s input. Sometimes we’ll watch 10 minutes of a show before I fall asleep (and many nights, we are re-watching the same 10 minutes 3 days in a row because I just can’t keep my eyes open).

Let’s not forget there are things that I like to do, even if I don’t do them that often. Like getting a manicure, or mindlessly wandering the aisles of Target, or reading. Or vacation planning. Or party planning. Or changing my closet for the seasons. Or folding the basket of clothes that’s been staring at me for a week. (Am I the only one who eventually wears enough clothes out of the clean basket until it’s a manageable size to put away?)

That’s a long-winded way of saying: there’s just not enough hours in the day for all the things I want to do!

Since we didn’t win the billion dollar lottery, and Mr. KK tells me I have about 137 more years of working until I can retire, how can I find balance.

As I said, I love my job, but good lord I would retire TOMORROW if I could. I think about my parents and in-laws who are all retired and have every day to themselves to do things and it makes me sad (for me) and jealous (of them). They can go to lunch whenever they want! They can organize a closet on a Tuesday afternoon! Get a manicure on a Thursday morning. Hit the gym at noon on Friday. If I have to wait until I’m of retirement age (probably in my 90s according to Mr. KK), I won’t have the energy to do anything!

I want to be retired now while I have interests and hobbies, and the strength and mobility to DO things. I don’t want to be bent over and frail when I finally have all the time in the world to enjoy life. I will have missed everything I’m looking forward to!

I even have a short list of retirement jobs that I think I’d be great at:

Personal grocery shopper
Audio book narrator
Vacation planner
Food/shopping/travel blogger
Novelist (finally!)

I know I’m not alone. How does everyone find balance to the point that they feel they are giving the appropriate % of themselves to everyone and everything in their lives? So that no one feels slighted, even yourself? That you feel like you’re contributing well to work and enriching your child’s life? That you’re present even when you can’t be present?

That’s what I’m carrying into 2023 with me: how to find better balance. Finding the time to work out, be a good mom (whatever that means), be a superstar at work, be a great wife, all while squeezing in time for myself so I can stay sane.

I wish you all luck finding your balance in 2023! Until next year!

Little Mister, parenting

Let’s Talk About Sports, Ba-by!

November 30, 2022November 30, 2022 littleshoeprincess

Typically, we are not a sporting household. We don’t watch sports, we don’t attend sporting events and there is little to no sports talk going on.

Me, I don’t do sports. I never played a sport growing up (is sarcasm a sport?) The closest I came was one season of softball, and I played one Powder Puff football game as a high school senior the night before Thanksgiving! Instead, I danced for 13 years. I understand the importance of them, but I’m not an avid sports fan. No one has mistaken me for Sporty Spice. I’ll go to a Sox game every once in a while, but that’s about it. The closest you’ll find me watching sports on TV is the movie Dodgeball. Also, it should be known that I don’t watch sports movies. And – before you even ask me – no, I have not seen Field of Dreams.

Mr. KK, however, IS a sports person. He played baseball his whole life and was a really great – if not humble – pitcher. He used to ski. He’s a phenomenal golfer. He’s the type of person who can watch a sport for a bit, and then attempt to play for the first time and be decent.

So where does that leave Little Mister? Unfortunately, not super sporty. He likes to be outside and to run around and play, but organized sports are not his favorite thing on earth. He didn’t grow up around sports; he’s an only child so never had an older sibling play any sports; we don’t have a “neighborhood” so he’s not around kids on the block who play sports or put together a game of kickball in the street. Perhaps we have failed our child?

We are lucky enough today to live during a time when there are sports everywhere. Not to mention, all sorts of sports – a literal sport for every body. Soccer, football, rugby, water polo, archery, running, diving…you name it, it’s available to kids these days.

Personally, I don’t care if Little Mister plays a sport or not. They are great exercise and provide a sense of team, but they are not the end all, be all for kids. They can take over your life if you let them and become a full time job. When I see stories about kids and the parents talk about how they practice every day for 5 hours, all year long, etc etc, I can’t help but think, “Don’t you guys do anything else? Go to the aquarium? Have movie day on the couch?” I mean…good lord.

I don’t think I have the personality to be a sports parent, but you never know.

We always want to give Little Mister as many experiences as we can to see what he might like, so we have signed him up for various sports in his short life. We have tried soccer, golf and basketball. We have taken swim lessons (this was more for survival than for sport). We’re trying out a bunch of things to see what – if anything – sticks.

Here are his assessments of sports so far:

Soccer

We’ve played for two seasons, one spring and one fall. For the Spring, we had 2 friends on our team. For the Fall, we had zero friends on our team. For both seasons, we had the same coach.

Little Mister’s review: “It’s ok I guess. You do a lot of running for the entire time. It’s tiring.”
When asked if he would play again: Maybe. Is there less running?

Golf

We tried golf last spring/summer. After being told there was “too much running” in soccer, we went the complete opposite side of the spectrum: no running whatsoever. In fact, when you have a cart, you barely have to walk.

Little Mister’s review: “BORING.”
When asked if he would play again: Hard no.
When he heard that I was taking golf lessons: “Why are YOU taking golf lessons? It’s so boring.”

Basketball

We just started basketball and have had one practice. Little Mister is a pretty tall kid (tallest on the team) so I’m sure when coaches and other players see him they’re like, “Oh great, here comes Michael Jordan!” When in reality, with all the jumping and “jiving”dancing” he’s doing on the court, it’s more like Michael Jackson. We need to learn the fundamentals (dribbling, not the pick up the ball and just RUN) but I’m quietly optimistic that he will enjoy the season. Plus, the coaches are patient and great! (BONUS!)

Little Mister’s review: “I loved it!”
When asked if he would play again: Yes!
When asked if he would like to get a basketball hoop for the driveway: “Nah, why do we need that?”

Swimming

Again, this one was more for learning not to sink vs joining a swim team. Little Mister made huge progress last summer with his swimming skills. He had some private lessons, plus some lessons at camp. By the end of the summer, he could swim the length of the pool, which was amazingly awesome! There is a possibility we try a swim team in the spring, but we’ll see!

Little Mister’s review: “I love swimming! I’m an awesome swimmer!”
When asked if he would swim again: “Of course! It’s the only sport I like.”

As I said, I don’t care about sports. If he doesn’t end up playing a sport, I’m ok with that. HOWEVER, I do want to expose him to group activities like sports so he could learn how to be part of a team, how to participate, what it means when people count on you, and to expand his social circle a bit.

In short, I would like for him to do something outside of school. And that can be anything! We are having fun doing some after school classes run by the PTA, like running club, basketball clinic and sports of all sorts.

The more we can expose Little Mister to, the better. And if he falls in love with a sport – great! I’ll get my Mom Sport Gear (portable chair, insulated cup, team shirt) ready! And if he finds something else, I’ll be just as excited about that (bonus points for cute paraphernalia). Because ultimately I’m on Team Little Mister, and whatever he decides to do.

Just not football. #sorrynotsorry

Christmas, Family, Gifts

On Being the Family’s Gift Buyer

November 29, 2022 littleshoeprincess

It is no secret on this blog that I LOVE Christmas! It truly is the most wonderful time of year for me. Things I look forward to:

Annual Cookie Making Day
Decorating the House
Picking out the Christmas Trees
Decorating the Christmas Trees
Moving Jack the Elf all Around the House
The Smell of the Christmas Tree
All. The. Christmas. Songs.
Christmas Parties
Christmas Eve Dinner
Spending All of Christmas Day in Our Pajamas
Christmas Shopping!

Christmas shopping may be the last one listed here, but it’s one of my most favorite parts of the season. I pride myself on buying really great gifts. I do this by taking cues throughout the year, listening to family members tell stories and gleaning ideas, seeing what they could use in their lives to make them better/easier/more fun, and then just finding gifts I know they will love but they’d never buy for themselves. (There are also the “must have” gifts that I get them; not the “hot gifts of the season”, but the gifts they must have to replace something they currently use or do that drives me bananas.)

My weekly screen report showed that my phone time was up 162% last week for an average of 5 hours and 27 minutes a day. At least 2-3 hours of that time was spent researching Christmas gifts! The remaining hours were spent on Wordle, Instagram and Spotify shame listening to Christmas carols in my car.

Buying Christmas gifts makes me so happy! Most of my shopping is done online, however I do venture out on the Saturday after Thanksgiving each year with a deal friend. Granted, a lot of that shopping is for ME, because I’m not going to pass up a good deal for myself because that would just be silly.

Last year, I wrote about my role as the family’s travel agent. It appears, I am also the family’s gift guru. Right around this time of year, I start to get the requests from family members about what they could get for Little Mister or Mr. KK. So not only do I need to get them gifts for myself, but I need to find enough gifts and ideas that other people can give them too. Oh, and add in the extra layer of figuring out Santa gifts for Little Mister, too. No one needs this many gifts, especially our child.

Because of this, I try and get all of my shopping done early. That way, I have the last 2-3 weeks in December to focus on what others can get my loved ones.

Don’t get me wrong, we have some family members who are VERY difficult to buy for even for me. (They will all tell you that I am the one who is hard to buy for, but that is false! I am SO EASY to buy for.) So that takes extra time and creativity. But there is nothing better than that Eureka “Ah Ha!” moment when I uncover the perfect gift for him or her.

Wrapping Christmas Gifts

One of last year’s themes: Gray Buffalo Check with rose gold accents.

Oh, how I love to wrap gifts! Each year I try and have 1-2 wrapping paper themes/colors, and each person gets their own wrapping paper (this makes it easy to group presents under the tree and it looks really nice, too!). Then, I set aside 2-3 hours (or at least half a day if I’m doing it all at once) and get to it. I put on the Christmas music, spread out all my wrapping supplies, and put myself on Do Not Disturb mode. Sometimes I’m able to take a day off from work to tackle the wrapping. Other times, I start after Little Mister goes to bed, Air Pods in, and wrap until 1am.

So what’s it like being the family gift idea generator?

It’s hard work!

First, I have to think ahead far enough in my own gift planning to ensure that I am giving the gifts that I want to give. Once those are purchased, I will review my Plan B gift option list, the ones that didn’t make the first cut to have my name on them. These are usually low hanging fruit to give away to other people to get for someone. Once I run out of the back up gifts, the challenge begins.

For example, Little Mister needs ZERO things for Christmas. ZERO. It was hard for ME to think of Christmas gifts for him. There is no room in the playroom, we can’t fit another thing. He doesn’t even know what to put on his Christmas list. This says to me he doesn’t need anything!

We are barely getting him any gifts. And to help combat too many gifts, gifts he doesn’t need and just plan STUFF, I have asked the Grandparents to limit their gifts to 5 gifts. AND, they cannot be sneaky and put 20 things in one box and call it a single gift. Even with the gift limit, I’m still having a hard time thinking of gifts for them to get for him. I want this Christmas to be fewer gifts, but more meaningful gifts.

This is a timely post, as it is Cyber Monday! I do have a few deals to catch…happy shopping!

Christmas, Elf on the Shelf

Hello…It’s Your Elf Calling

November 27, 2022 littleshoeprincess

Well, he’s back! Jack made his appearance this morning much to Little Mister’s surprise.

Little Mister woke to find a present on his dresser. Inside was a note from Jack, a pair of Christmas jammies, some ornaments for his tree and a pair of Christmas dinosaur socks.

Then…off to find Jack!

Where could Jack be hiding on his very first day in the house? That sneaky little devil was up high on the curtain rod, where he could get a good look at everything going on…and keep an eye on Little Mister.

The antics have officially begun! My daily 10pm alarm to “do Christmas things” has been set for the nightly moving of the Elf and filling of the advent calendar (which doesn’t start until December 1 so I have a few days reprieve from that).

The trick to the Elf on a Shelf in this house is to be creative while still keeping the Elf out of reach of Bruno, who would chew him to pieces and ruin Christmas. Last year I had my mohter-in-law sew wires in Jack’s appendages so that he could move and pose more easily. LIFE CHANGING. Why these elves don’t come with posable limbs feels like a big manufacturing miss to me.

For a little inspiration, I wanted to share some of our little Elf’s shenanigans from last year…

We started the holiday season last year with a tug of war between Jack and the King of the LEGO jungle.

Teaching math at dino school. We’ll never know if they ever learned anything.

When your truck breaks down on the way to Bethlehem.

“Hey, Wiseman in the back, I can’t see your face. Okay, ready…say CHEESE!”

If you’re Elfing this year, have FUN! Our elf is always up to no good!

cocktails, cooking, Entertaining, Family, food, Mr. KK, recipe, thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving…Told In Pictures

November 25, 2022 littleshoeprincess

This post is always meant to be one you can “read” with mindless scrolling through photos to experience our Thanksgiving. For those keeping track at home, the day started at 6:30am and ended at 10pm when the last guest left. A full day of food, laughs and drinks.

This photo diary includes recipes from our Thanksgiving meal! So here we go!

Today started before the sun came up. This is me, Black Friday shopping and simultaneously planning out the day’s timeline while lying in bed.

If you look closely you can see the reflection of the phone in my glasses.

I shared this tip last year, but here it is again. Your 2 best friends on Thanksgiving Day are: chicken stock and your phone – the alarms on your phone that is. I plan my whole day out and set alarms to keep me honest.

Next, you should be sure to taste taste everything to see if it needs more salt, or more bourbon.

Crazy hair, no makeup and full-on prep mode. Taste-testing the punch at 10:39am.

Our first step in making Thanksgiving a little easier (besides my phone alarm trick) was to make a punch ahead of time so we could eliminate the need for Mr KK to make 1,000,000 drinks before he could get a sip of his own cocktail. This punch was a crowd pleaser! Highly recommend – here’s the recipe for Bourbon Rosemary punch.

When we prep for hosting, I’m usually in charge of the inside of the house – which includes watching the dogs and entertaining Little Mister – while Mr. KK handles the outside. Yesterday was a little over 50 degrees, so we were able to set up our patio heater and chairs on our new deck in case anyone wanted to get some fresh air.

Mr. KK in his signature party day move: blowing leaves.

Two minutes before everyone arrived…let’s hope this all goes well! (Little did I know the fried turkey fiasco that was to follow!)

No one wanted to enjoy the deck…but we found 5 minutes to take a breather out there.

Let’s talk turkey…and everything else!

We did 2 turkeys again this year: a full turkey in the fryer (house in still intact) and a turkey breast in the oven. Both turkeys came out amazingly juicy! My mother-in-law preps the turkeys, and my father-in-law drives the birds over the morning of Thanksgiving and enjoys a drink with Mr. KK (and me!). Our turkey breast had a garlic and herb marinade and the fryer turkey had a rub on it.

Everyone makes jokes about my mother-in-laws breasts (we are nothing if not inappropriate) as part of tradition.

Thanksgiving Menu 2022

Appetizers

Butternut Squash Soup Shooters with Creme Fresh. I used this recipe for the soup and it was delicious. The sage and ginger really added a depth of flavor.

Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Rugelach

Every Christmas I make cinnamon and sugar rugelach, but this is a savory take on one of my favorite cookies. I used this savory rugelach recipe, but substituted gruyere for the cheddar, and candied pecans for the candied walnuts, just to put my own spin on it.

Interestingly, I found the recipe in a magazine – yes, a paper magazine – and I didn’t even look it up. Well, if you click on the recipe link, you’ll see that this recipe only got 1.5 stars from 2 reviewers. From personal experience, this recipe got 5 stars across the board from our family! Perhaps it was the subtle changes I made (nuttier cheese vs boring cheddar). But I highly recommend. Plus, you make it with pre made pie dough so it’s super easy.

Getting ready to cut and roll the rugelach.

Here they are! The can brown quite a bit on the bottom when the sugar from the pecans oozes out, but that just adds flavor!

The last appetizer I made was the Spicy Whipped Feta from this blog post. Somehow, I didn’t get a pick of it, but it was also really good; I served it with baby naans.

Soup Course

Our cousin (cousin in law?) made a delicious, light soup. I’m going from memory, but it was a veal stock with chicken and mortadella meatballs, with escarole and ditallini. It was the perfect first course!

Main Meal

The turkeys were the real stars of the show, and TBH, I don’t even really love turkey. But I loved picking off the crispy skin and dark meat that fell off the fried turkey!

That is one nice looking breast (well, two actually).

Dueling carvers! And a very messy kitchen!

This is happiest Mr. KK looked after an hour of stress when the new turkey fryer pan set up DID NOT WORK and he put the turkey in the oil and it barely covered the turkey. This was after the oil wasn’t hot enough and we had to heat it for another half hour. This was all going on while we were serving up the soup course, so thankfully no one heard all the swearing going on in the front yard. But it all worked out and we ended up with one golden brown bird. The best part about the fried turkey is that a 16 pound bird cooks in about 45 minutes!

For sides, we had stuffing (made with sourdough, apples, pancetta and apricots), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing and Ina’s Cacio e Pepe Asparagus.

All assembled, it looked like this:

Little Mister was not a fan of any of the food we were serving (aren’t 8 year olds fun??) but he agreed to try some foods (which was a win). Here is his plate, which could easy be called “Deconstructed Thanksgiving” and be served in a Michelin Star restaurant for $50.

After he finished “eating” the plate looked the exact same except a small piece of turkey was gone (he gave turkey a “Maybe”), the tip of the asparagus was missing (10 minutes of chewing with a weird look on his face) and all of the sweet potatoes were gone (“this tastes like pumpkin pie filling”).

Dessert

Pecan pie, pumpkin pie and cheesecake!

I am done fighting with WordPress and why it keeps adding this photo upside down. I have tried to fix this about 4 times. You get the idea.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving with loved ones!

8:04am…time to start changing this house into Christmas!