how a little one changes your life

well, today marks my final day as a nanny. as i have mentioned several times in the past few months i have been stressed. this stress i suppose is a result of trying to do so many things at once- be a great wife, excel in school, balance work and friendships, but has left me exhausted. i was battling trying to do all of these things that i wanted to do, but because i was doing too much, i wasn't able to do any of them well. so after much thought and consideration i decided that it was time to leave my full time nanny position and work part time in an office until i complete my masters degree. this was such a hard decision for me, i loved being nanny. i love holding a baby in my arms everyday  and i ache thinking that this is no longer going to be the norm. but i know i have to do it for me and that i was being stretched and pulled in to many directions, and that doesn't make a good nanny at all.

nannying has really changed who i am as a person. i have learned to love more and be selfless, i have learned how a child grows so rapidly and the beautiful blessing that children are. the babies i worked with filled my heart with such joy and passion to love more then i ever understood i could, a different kind of love then romantic or sisterly love. i  have been so blessed that i had the opportunity to work with them and have them forever change my life. i can't imagine what these next few months will look like as i transition out of this role i've know and been comfortable in but i know it's right, and that all things, good and bad, are difficult to transition out of. i am so joyful for the opportunity to be apart of a little ones life, and i cannot wait to see her grow from afar. i am so blessed to have these memories of being a nanny and it makes me so excited to be a mama in the far future. it is so funny how little ones make such a mark on ones heart and forever changes them.  i know i sound so sappy (and that may be attributed to the stress i still am feeling) but it's a happy-sad, one that i know is right but will be hard.

so cheers to the end of a beautiful, influential chapter in my life, i am so thankful for you baby girl and how you created so much joy in my life for this past year.

life lately

the photos basically show what my life has consisted of these past few weeks. i haven't been going out as much, nor taking very many photos, hence why things have been quiet around these parts. i think i have to blame it on this very long, cold winter (even by minnesota standards!). if you were to ask me three adjectives about how i have felt the last few months i would say, cold, tired, and frozen! the entire country has been in a cold front for so so long, but it is getting old. i am tired of being cold, i am so tired of the snow and all i want to do is to wear shoes with no socks! i feel like this weather makes me want to do nothing besides eat chocolate and drink coffee ( i know really healthy heather... really healthy). but that is just the way it goes. the end has to be in sight. and i feel so dumb for complaining about the weather so much (and that dang stress that was hanging around me for a while..)last weekend chad and i wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate me finishing some major coursework but we decided not to, because of the cold. suppose its the old soul within us, ha! maybe instead of complaining about it, i should just think about the next few months and the warm sun that is going to be joining us soon. (yeah, a much better idea huh?). at least i have my hot beverages to help warm me up on these bitter cold days. but i am done with the ranting i just had to do one last  one.. granted this weather has allowed me to be extra cuddly with chad, and made me not feel so bad if i wanted to spend the evening tucked away in a corner with a book. i have also been making some wonderfully, delicious, hearty food (that does not photograph well, so that is why they haven't been shared here)  in the bad, there is always some good.

hope everyone else is surviving the winter, spring has to be coming soon!

images: 1 // 2 //  3 // 4 //  5

taking stock // winter

hello! i did this little taking stock "inventory" last fall and thought it would be fun to fill out again. so much changes in each season and it is fun to pause and reflect on these things before it passes by. certainly i am guilty of wanting to move to the next stage of life while forgetting that i am in midst of a beautiful season. so, taking stock part two. please copy and paste if you would like to play along. i love reading everyones answers!

(photo from warby parker event last summer)

taking stock // winter

making: bath time a priority. there is nothing better then to calm someone down then a nice soothing bath

cooking: some delicious soup. this winter i have upgraded my soup making. it is the best lunch! pinterest has been the primary source of inspiration

drinking: lots of champagne these days. my favorite alcoholic beverage of choice.

reading: lots about style. i am constantly inspired by the way the french live, so i have taken up reading on the subject matter. some of my recent reads include all you need to be impossibly french and lesson from madame chic

wanting: peace of mind. and to go to a bookstore and cuddle up with no homework in site.

looking: at madewell's site and wishing i could own everything in the store.

playing: lots of solitaire on my phone, don't start it is addicting.

wasting:lots of limes lately. i like citrus but lately can't finish it all.

sewing: nothing, i can't sew. :(

wishing: that floral bouquets would never die. or that i could have a 24/7 flower service

enjoying: marriage and the crazy adventures it brings

waiting:  for  the day chad and i can buy a beautiful house, so i can have my own little chickens

liking: the tumblr convoy

wondering: when i can wear cute shoes again, and not boots. or wool socks.

loving: the combination of chocolate and peanut butter

hoping: that despite the massive amounts of snowfall, traffic wont be *that bad*

marveling: at how much i love babies.  and how fun it will be to be a mama (but not for another 4-5 years)

smelling: my cinnamon gum. my latest obsession.

needing: sleep, or a fuel pump that would feed energy into my body.

wearing: my classic staples, comfortable sweater, black jeans, and beautiful scarf.

following: the olympics! go usa!

noticing: i'm getting wrinkles...

knowing: i need more jesus

thinking: about the trips we have planned this year

bookmarking: when looking up the books i shared in the reading, i googled french women and this link came up. it caught my attention and continued my adoration for the women of this culture.

opening: magazines. bon appetit and martha stewart living.

giggling: at these two old best friends. i aspire to have a friendship like theirs one day.

feeling: all over the place. i have been very up and down lately, probably due to the stress. things have been making me extra emotional.


come join the fun and play along :)

wordless wednesday // snowy minnesota

three things over the weekends // oh so sweet

three things over the weekend

1. well this lady over here is still pretty stressed, but that lovely husband of mine takes care of me real well. we decided to keep this weekend pretty low key and got a bunch of little things done and had a lot of fun doing it. for instance, we got rid of our not so pretty kitchen table i inherited during college and braved ikea, on a sunday! then we, or should i say chad, proceeded to put together our nice, simple, new ikea kitchen table and beautiful chairs. its a little thing but that little thing is a win if you ask me! also if you want to ask me another win- chad and i walked around ikea with ice cream cones while we furniture shopped.


2. we opted out of dining with all of the other love birds on friday night and had a great homemade meal night at home with a nice italian theme. my love for cooking is growing like a mad weed and i am always thinking and trying new recipes. we had a ton of fun with our little valentines night at home, with a long pasta dinner ( with the musician iron and wine playing in the background), sipped on a few glasses of wine, and finished the night with a  good ol' movie. i have to say that it was one of the best valentines to date except for in the desert department. i attempted to make a vanilla bean cheesecake that i have to say wasn't that good.. which was a bust if you ask the sweets lover over here, but hey, you can't win them all ;)

3. my sister rosie came over and we spent the afternoon in a sweets coma (i think that was at fault for the cheesecake i messed up and my stress levels), we ventured out, got treats, and then made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and home made tag-a-longs, all gluten free! twas glorious , time spent with the sister while eating sweets, doesn't get much sweeter then that ;)

to add to all of the "sweetness" in this post, i have to mention that the card chad got me for valentines day talked all about how sweet i was ( the one photoed is the one i got him), but how fitting, especially because it seems to me that this weekend was all about the sweets!

how was your weekend?

inspiring spaces // the kitchen

on days that i am tired and stressed, i love scrolling through pinterest to find inspiring images. its the best mindless task to do. chad and i are hoping to move in the next 6months-1 year and once we move i am so anxious to get starting with decorating my very own kitchen. here are some inspiring kitchens that i have found. i realize that i love white, open spaces, and pops of colors. i also love having the pots and pans shown, i feel like it is so julia-child-esk, and she is one of my biggest inspirations (sidenote, did you know you can watch the french chef on amazon?! changing my life).


whats your dream kitchen look like?

image sources:1//  2//  3// 4

adventure in the kitchen // roasting my first whole chicken

well i successfully did it! i roasted my first whole chicken on monday night and i am mighty proud of myself. i don't know why i consider this such a "success", maybe it is because i had no idea what i was doing but it was probably one of the simplest, delicious meals i have made. i have been wanting to do this for months but would chicken out (pun intended) every time. but after continuously reading how simple roasting a chicken was, i knew i had to try. but i couldn't have done it on my own- before embarking on this task i consulted the experts on the matter, aka  martha stewart. who i forgot to consult was julia (childs), but i plan on using her methods next time!

herb-roasted chicken

1 whole chicken (between 3-4 pounds), rinsed and patted dry
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 parsley
1 lemon
2 stocks of celery, halved lengthwise
3 medium carrots, cut into 3-inch lengths
1 pound fingerling potatoes, halved
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine
butter, at room temperature


1. preheat oven to 450 degrees. season chicken inside and out with salt and pepper and set aside. squeeze lemon juice on top of chicken and  stuff cavity with parsley and lemon remains.

2. in  a large bowl, toss celery, carrots, and potatoes with oil, season with salt and pepper. place vegetables in roasting pan, i placed them like they said to do here (watch the video) and placed the potatoes around the sides of the pan, then place chicken on top. pour wine into pan. add slices of butter onto the chicken skin to get a nice, crispy roast.

3. roast until chicken is golden brown (with a instant read thermometer it should read 165), about 1 hour.

i have to say that i am surprised at how easy this meal was ( and to think i was SO nervous before taking on this task) and i am so proud of myself for it turning out. life is all about these little victories not to mention it is even more of a 'win' when the cooking was simple, tasty, and healthy.

now that i have successfully roasted my first chicken i have starting thinking about the idea of roasting a weekly chicken. it is an easy way to "multitask" in the kitchen. you get to eat a roast chicken for dinner one night, eating it with the vegetables in the pan for one meal, then you have leftover meat from the chicken that can be used for soups, lunches (think- sandwiches, wraps, salads, pasta), and even maybe another dinner (think quick stir fry!). how glorious is that. i have even read that you can roast a chicken on low with a crock pot for 8 hours, think of coming home to the sweet wine sauce and a nicely cooked chicken hanging out in the crock pot for ya ;)

overall, i do have to say i think my first roast chicken was a great success and i am so excited for all of my chickens to come ;) if anyone has a recipe or two for roasting a whole chicken i would love to hear them! i am going to be experimenting with this for a while.

valentine day love & a give away

happy monday! it is crazy to me to think that valentines day is a short four days away! chad and i have never really celebrated valentines day on valentines day rather we wait a few days and buy the chocolate on clearance ;) kidding (only slightly). we do love the day focused on love, but we just choose to celebrate in a different fashion by having a date night in and with a freshly baked desert. we choose not to do gifts but to just spend time with one another and i love every minute of it!

i am also a believer that valentines day isn't just a time to show your 'lover' that you love them, rather it is a time to tell everyone you love them. i always make some valentine cards to send out to friends. i think that is so fun to write little 'love notes', and make peoples day. so with my love for love, i am going share a little giveaway with you. i'll let samantha tell you more about it. 

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I am excited to be partnering with Loopsway.com and some fabulous bloggers, Ariel and Heather, to bring you a wonderful giveaway! You can win any item of your choice to go along with a beautiful pair of earrings.  Below are just a handful of some of my favorite pieces from the collection. The thing I love about Loopsway is that it is very pocket friendly, and not to mention super cute!

Scroll down to enter the giveaway! A winner will be announced on Friday, February 14 - Valentine’s Day!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

on a thursday in february

today, on this thursday in february i ..

...  tried tricking chad into eating quinoa. i packed it up in his lunch for him and told him it was a pasta salad. he didn't fall for my trick. nor does he have a new acquired taste for quinoa

... woke up at three am, and proceeded to get ready for the day. until i looked down at my phone and realized it was three am. back to bed i went

...have had three cups of coffee at it is only 2:42 p.m. and to be honest there is probably more to come. thats what happens when you have stomach problems/pains for the five days and you have lots of homework to do. and not enough time in the day

... went to my favorite book store, wild rumpus, with the baby girl . i love this place because it is filled with wonderful book and because there is a chicken and kittens running around . it makes me so happy, and i should really go there more often. baby or not.

...  had a dream that i moved to seattle. i have never been to seattle but i wouldn't mind taking a visit there, and i don't think i would mind living there (we are starting to have an itch to move to a new city!)

... noticed how dark my hair is. and realized how much i miss my long, blonde hair (grow back soon?)

... drank my weight in pellegrino

and tonight i..

... get to meet up with some of the best ladies. lately there hasn't been a lot of time for friends (like i have mentioned several times before, stressed,  frequently stomach-pains , sleep deprived graduate student), but tonight i get to see two of my best friends. it is going to be a great treat.

how is your thursday?

we were made to live by an ocean, our vacation in florida

 though we have been back for almost a week now it has been hard getting back into the rhythm again. i don't know if it is the climate change or the massive workload i left at home, but this week has been rough. i can't believe that it is only tuesday evening as i am writing this (i schedule my posts), when i feel that it should be thursday. it is going to be a long long week. anyway - chad and i had such a lovely time going down to florida. 

back home

hello there! i hope everyone had a lovely weekend relaxing and being with loved ones. we returned home from florida late thursday night and spent the majority of our weekend decompressing from our absence, getting reorganized again, and adjusting back to the cold ;) .  i love going on trips, but there is something that feels comforting being at home and sleeping in your own bed again.

 as sad as this may be, on our little vacation. i really missed good coffee.we didn't have access to a quality coffee shop and the only thing around to drink was weak folgers. so it was a rough 9 mornings for us coffee loving kirseboms. however we made up for our lack of access to coffee on saturday when we decided to make a few chemexs through out the morning. it was so, so good. this also teaches us the importance of bringing our own coffee when we travel. it is rough going so many days with out having a quality cup of coffee. i know. we are addicted.

anyway- this post is short and sweet, basically saying 'we are home, we are well, and we have a lot of catching up to do!' hope that everyone has a happy monday (as happy as they can be) and because mondays can be rough, treat yourself to something delicious today ( i'm choosing chocolate)


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