Stephanie Howell

What I’m Reading // March/April Edition

April 28, 2014

Okay. So I sort of fell off the blogging about reading wagon. 🙂 But after a gentle reminder from some of y’all…I’ve decided to do a little update!

Thank heavens for Goodreads…or I wouldn’t remember any of this!

What I’ve read in the past few months:

1. The Good Luck of Right Now by Matthew Quick – Loved this one. I’ve seen lots of mixed reviews and I get that. It’s totally quirky. Wait…it bypasses typical Matthew Quick quirky and veers into weirdo land. But I loved it.

2. The Innocent Sleep by Karen Perry- It was interesting but never fully sucked me in. Sort of Gone Girl-esque. Worth a read, and the setting (Tangiers) is really interesting.

3. Mad About the Boy (Bridget Jones) by Helen Fielding. NO. JUST NO NO NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO. It makes me mad just thinking about it. HORRIBLE.

4. The Husband’s Secret by Liane Moriarty- I adored this one. I am a new fan of Moriarty. Light and fluffy, but good.

5. Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham- Disclosure…I LOVE Lauren Graham. So that might have given me some bias here, but I really liked this book. It’s no secret I’m a fan of good chick lit. This was adorable.

6. Falling Together by Marisa de los Santos- eh. and a little blah. That’s the best I’ve got. Super disappointed considering I’ve loved everything else by this auther. Maybe my expectations were too high?

7. Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight- Really good. Sad and scary and pretty on point with things going on in the world today.

8. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty- Oh how I loved this one. Just a good read. Not deeply intellectual, but I needed a brain break. Loved loved.

9. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss- I kind of just kept waiting for something to happen/click and it never did. I really liked the characters, though…I’ve just heard so much about this that I expected something different I suppose.

10. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion- Awesome. Quirky, different, interesting, and funny as hell. Two thumbs up.

11. Joyland by Stephen King- Man…King just rocks. Another great book. A bit coming of age/retrospective, a bit mystery.

11. The Dinner by Herman Koch – I don’t really know what to say about this one. Highly entertaining and a quick read. But seriously messed up and disturbing.

What’s in my “To Read” pile:

1. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

2. The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud

3. Wonder by RJ Palacio

4. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

You can see my past recommendations HERE.

So what about you? What are you reading?

xoxo

blink.

April 24, 2014

Look at this girl. I feel like it was only yesterday that I was holding her in my arms. An 8 lb. 9 oz. bundle of big brown eyes and brunette hair.

I feel like it was just yesterday I was learning about eczema and food allergies and spending too much money on beautiful little dresses from Nordstrom.

I feel like only yesterday she was teaching me how to me a mom. Teaching me that sometimes it’s REALLY HARD. And that it’s not all magical and natural. That sometimes I would hand her to her daddy the MOMENT he walked in the door and I’d run to Target where I’d walk in circles and cry because I was so overwhelmed.

That after a few minutes of this I’d miss her desperately and hurry back home.

That first year was a beautiful and terrible whirlwind all at once. At first I disliked it and loved it in equal measures. Then slowly, slowly…I figured it out and the love won over the desperation. She taught me how to be her mother. How to get over myself. How to learn 100 percent that it’s not always about me. I learned how to become truly selfless. How to breathe.

I learned that most of the time I have no idea what I’m doing but that we would learn together.

I learned that motherhood is a scary and wonderful thing. It’s messy and frustrating and awe-inspiring and terrible and beautiful.

She was and is my saving grace.

And in a little over a week she will be EIGHT. It has been such a joy and such an honor watching her grow into the kind, tenderhearted, and talented little girl that she is.

We still butt heads. We always will because we are cut from the same overly-sensitive cloth.

But oh, this girl. This girl is love.

The other day we were talking about daddy going away again for a while. I kind of expected tears about missed birthdays, plays, and other things. But y’all. It makes me teary just thinking about it.

She said…It’s okay mommy! We’ve done it so many times and we will do it again and be just fine. It’s just another one of our adventures. We will miss daddy so much, but we will make memories and take lots of pictures to tell him about it.

And then she whispered in my ear…”Mommy my heart hurts and I want to cry. But I mainly just want to be strong and happy.”

Harper Elizabeth, I am so proud of you.

Positano + Amalfi

April 18, 2014

#Positano #Italy // via Stephanie Howell

This past weekend we took a little trip to the Amalfi Coast. And it was not NEARLY enough time. I’ve been obsessed with Italy almost my entire life…specifically the Amalfi Coast. So going there was a HUGE deal to me.

And it met (and surpassed!) every single expectation. I want to go back NOW.

We left bright and early Friday morning for the 8 hour drive. Here’s what blows my mind. I grew up in Texas. Where you can drive 8 hours and still be in Texas.

Here you can drive across an entire country (or through multiple countries!) in that amount of time. We drove through Tuscany, Umbria, and then into Campania…the region the Amalfi coast was in.

I literally gasped out loud the entire trip!

We rented a villa (pretty much my dream home) through Airbnb. You can see it HERE. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

I’ve talked about this briefly before…but Airbnb is awesome. And so much more financially smart for big families. In Europe, due to occupancy, we’d have to rent 2 hotel rooms per night. Which would cost a FORTUNE. We so prefer renting entire apartments/villas and have done so in every single country we’ve visited!

Here’s what we saw when we walked in the gate…the steps up to the house. There were calla lilies, succuluents, and elephant ear ferns everywhere.

The view from the magical terrace. My favorite part of the entire home. There was a huge retractable roof, a gorgeous table and couch, candles everywhere, and an unbeatable view.

The living room view:

The neighbors:

Processed with VSCOcam with c1 preset#Positano #Italy // via Stephanie Howell#Positano #Italy // via Stephanie Howell

The jaw-dropping view at night:

#Positano #Italy // via Stephanie Howell#Positano #Italy // via Stephanie Howell

The lemons there are RIDICULOUS. Seriously the size of small Nerf footballs.

The first afternoon we headed to the beach to explore.

We also walked through town and looked at all of the adorable storefronts.

The pottery there was so beautiful. I had to go back before we left and pick up a few pieces!

On Saturday we took a water taxi/ferry to Amalfi. We wanted to go to Capri (one of my ultimate dream destinations) so that’s definitely at the top of the list for next time we go.

It was overcast but the view was so inspiring.

This was Amalfi from our bird’s eye view:

#Amalf #Italy // via Stephanie Howell#Positano #Italy // via Stephanie Howell

and the adorable piazza:

#Amalfi #Italy // via Stephanie Howell#Positano #Italy // via Stephanie Howell

We drank a lot of limoncello on this trip. And we’ve had a fair amount since we moved to Italy. When it is good it is really, really good (like delicious lemonade with a kick). And when it is bad it is so,so,so SO bad (think something that tastes exactly like the smell of Pine Sol.) We had lots of the good kind on the Amalfi Coast.

They do limoncello right there!

We explored the winding streets of Amalfi. And OH THE STEPS. So so so many steps. Ha!

When we got back to the house, the littles were WORN OUT. They fell asleep without dinner. So we sent H and J out to pick up pizzas and Sadie and I set up a surprise outdoor dinner for them.

Before we headed out of town the next day we made sure to pick up some souvenirs. Limoncello glasses, pottery, and lemons. Of course.

We were heartbroken to leave. Every single one of us. I could definitely live there forever. We are already planning our next trip(s).

Ciao Y’all! And Buona Pasqua.

xoxo

Paris Favorite | A Scrapbook Layout

April 15, 2014

I got a box of Market Street and Necessities in the mail yesterday and I HAD to make something today. Never mind that the dishes are piled up and the dirty clothes are overflowing out of the unpacked suitcases.

I ignored the mess and made a quick page. I know I recently said that Market Street was my favorite MME collection of all time. And having it in my hands has only confirmed this suspicion.

It’s magnificent and Jen hit it out of the park.

I had plans to use the J’adore card and Eiffel Tower card from the die cut packs…but I ended up keeping it simple and just using the florals and the flair. And I love the way it turned out.

Happy Tuesday y’all!

I hope to have a Positano post to share soon!

Paris in Photos

April 9, 2014

J and I just returned from a whirlwind Friday afternoon-Monday morning trip to Paris ON OUR OWN. Yes, you read that right. We celebrated our 11 year anniversary together. In Paris. ON OUR OWN. Yeah. Pretty Amazing.

Also amazing? The amount of activities you can cram into three days sans kids. On Sunday we left the apartment at 9 am and were gone until 2 am. CRAZINESS.

We relied almost 100 percent on the metro, though we did take a cab once. I’m very thankful that Jimmy took French growing up (as my brain is so full of Italian and English I literally had NO room to learn French phrases) and could handle communication beautifully.

No meltdowns (except one minor one by me when I fell off my bike- see below), no naps,no snacks, no “I need to use the pooottyyyyyyyyy”. It was so FUN.

I don’t really know where to start, so I’ll just briefly share photos and thoughts from each place we went.

I do want to say this. I am NOT a Paris expert. 🙂 Just sharing what we did and loved.

Note: We didn’t get to see Musée de l’Orangerie, the Rodin Museum, Versailles, the morning markets, or Luxembourg Gardens among other things. We didn’t go up the Eiffel Tower. We also didn’t have much time for fancy meals or shopping. This trip was about fitting in as much as we could fit in. Next time we will focus on food, shopping, etc.

**all photos taken with iPhone 5

The Eiffel Tower: Funny. I thought I wouldn’t be that impressed by the Eiffel Tower. I.Was.WRONG. It took my breath away. On Friday night we did a cruise down the Seine and it came into view just as it lit up. On Sunday night we sat underneath with a bottle of champagne and watched the lights twinkle/go to dark at 1 am. Totally worth it.

Giverny: We took a train (and drank a bottle of champagne). From the train station we rented bikes and rode the 5 km to Giverny. I had not ridden a bike in at least 20 years. I’d like to act like it was beautiful and magical. It wasn’t. I couldn’t sit down the day after, I swerved and fell off and cried. Here’s the good news. I’m already laughing at the memory. And the really good news was that Monet’s house and gardens were AMAZING.

Musée d’Orsay: I loved this one. It was easily manageable and I am a bit of a Degas freak. So it was my favorite. We did miss seeing the VanGogh exhibit…by minutes. But I still really loved it.

Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur: This tied with Marais for my favorite neighborhood in Paris. I loved everything about it. The last night we sat outside eating and drinking wine while a man played his guitar and sang and sang. It was authentic Paris (or how I dreamed it might be) and magical. Truly.

We wandered into Sacré-Cœur just as mass started and sat through the entire thing. Talk about once in a lifetime…

Marais: We stayed in this neighborhood. Adorable, funky and laid back. Loved everything about it.

Sainte-Chapelle: Out of everywhere we saw, for some reason this was the one place that brought tears to my eyes. Breathaking, surreal, and awe-inspiring.

The Louvre and Surrounding Area: This was very much Jimmy’s part of the trip, he was THRILLED to be experiencing the Louvre. He was a history major in college…so I just let him do his thing. 🙂

Random story- I HATED macarons before this trip to Paris. I have always thought they were dry and tasteless (or tasted like dust) until I sampled some from Laduree. HEAVEN. Absolute heaven.

I laugh so hard every time I look at this photo. Jimmy announced “SELFIE STATUE!” and I took this photo. HAHAHAHA!

Notre Dame: There aren’t really any words. Another goosebump experience.

Arc de Triomphe: What a view. And randomly…my favorite gift shop we found.

Cruise on the Seine: Totally worth every dime. And every touristy moment. We bought bread, cheese, pate, strawberries, and champagne beforehand. One of my favorite memories from the trip.

xoxo

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