Simple Meals + Honest Book Reviews + Practical Living
If you ever feel like housework piles up faster than you can tackle it, I hope this will encourage you to break it down into small daily pieces — and show you how to take the decision fatigue out of cleaning.
I know meal prepping gets a bad rap. We all picture those Instagram-perfect rows of identical containers that probably took five hours on a Sunday. If spending half your weekend prepping meals works for you, amazing! But for me? I’d rather break it up — a little bit each day, woven into my normal cooking rhythm.
Homemade preserved lemon vinaigrette, using lemons I preserved myself, has been on the regular rotation at our house since my first batch of preserved lemons were ready to go. It’s incredibly easy, and even more satisfying to do it yourself.
It’s the week between Christmas and New Year’s, and we are fully embracing slow, lazy days over here — exactly what my body and soul need. I honestly think this stretch of the year is perfect for a digital detox, a closet clean-out, reviewing finances, writing goals, and reflecting on the year we’re closing out.
And speaking of the year… I read 67 books in 2021!
One of the questions I get asked most often — by friends, listeners, and honestly total strangers — is:
“But Dara, how do you have time to read so much?”
So today, I’m sharing exactly how. ❤️
We are thrilled to join the 1,000 Hours Outside Challenge. At 1 and 2, my kids are so little but I’m a strong advocate for exposing kids to nature and allowing them to have outdoor free play at every age. 1000 hours breaks down to roughly 2.7 hours outside per day. Which yes, sounds like a lot, but it’s totally doable! On today’s episode, I’m sharing our daily flow with you and how we make it happen, what our summer days look like around here.
Reading books aloud to children stimulates their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. It helps them develop language and listening skills and prepares them to understand the written word, none of this is a surprise. Here is a list of our tried and true favorites!