From Foothills to Fog Newsletter

As I continue to build this community, I wanted to start a newsletter. Some things I often want to share, I hesitate to because it feels so public on the blog, but a newsletter seems more like a conversation between friends. 

I plan on sharing things outside of what you'll find on the blog. Topics like Motherhood, things that have inspired me, meal plans for the week, recipes I love, and I also hope to highlight local businesses and attractions to foster a local community in addition to online. 

If this sounds appealing to you, you can sign up here! The first newsletter will be going out February 6th, then every other Monday moving forward! 

Until then, here are a few things that have inspired me lately. 

Liz Adams Monday Chats / Thai Basil Beef Recipe / Rent the Runway Jacket

Lifted Her Look - Let's Try Again

Remember two years ago when I planned to do a style challenge called "Lifted Her Look" and then the world turned upside down with the Covid-19 Pandemic the following week? Yeah. 

Well, even two years later I think this is such a fun idea that will be perfect for helping me find my style again, and work towards my goals for 2023. With the pandemic, and being home all the time, I pretty much stopped taking care of myself and putting any effort into ME. With pregnancy, then newborn twins, and just the general stage of life I've been in the past couple years, I found myself unmotivated to put in the effort. My Rent the Runway membership helped a little, but I still spend more days in comfy clothes and no makeup than I care to admit. But in 2023, the year of me, that all changes! I want to find my own personal style again, what makes me feel great, and hopefully, inspire someone else out there who found themselves in a similar stage that I had been. 

I'm planning to start on February 1st and continue the challenge for the entire month. I'll be sure to document my looks on Instagram, as well as a weekly recap of my outfits here on the blog. I will be using the hashtag #liftedherlook and tagging those who inspired each look. I'd love if you follow along with me, tag me if you do!

Also must give credit where credit is due, this idea was totally inspired by Nadine, who is one of the Moms behind Moms in the Mirror. If you don't already, be sure to follow them! They share real-life Mom style and are just so kind and relatable. I'm sure I'll be lifting one of their looks during this challenge.  


My goals for the challenge:

1. To find my personal style that fits with my life as a mom who works from home. 
2. That practicing putting outfits together inspired by others, will teach me how to do this on my own.
3. Help me to feel inspired by the items in my own closet, instead of wanting to buy more more more. 
4. Gain confidence in myself
5. To get out of my rut, and inspired to get ready every morning
6. It's ok to re-wear the same look during the month
7. "Lift her look" at least 4 days a week

Wish me luck!


*photo by the talented Stephanie Court!

Newport Moms Weekend

One of my best friends invited us to Newport for a little escape from Mom life and a weekend with the girls. Her boss owns a home there that we were able to stay in, and let me tell you, it was just what the doctor ordered. 

As I'm sure most Moms do, I always struggle with guilt when I go away for the weekend or any amount of time. I try to line up as much as I can (meals, activities, etc.) before leaving to make it easy on Andrew. I was feeling especially bad this time, because my parents were out of town and our nanny was busy so she couldn't give Andrew any breaks. It did help knowing Andrew has a guys weekend on the books (even though I'll have help while he's away since it's for a longer stretch). Eventually, we'll be able to travel together when it's not as much work taking care of our three boys, but for now we try to be supportive of one another and give each other some time away. 

As it turned out, Andrew managed just fine without me. I shouldn't be surprised, it's just a lot to manage 3 little ones solo. He even took them to the park once by himself, I was shocked, proud, and wondering when I'll work up the nerve to do that myself. 

As you know, this year I am trying to prioritize myself and filling my own cup, so I can show up as the best version of myself for my kids and Andrew. So, I tried to leave the guilt behind and truly enjoy myself and take the break I knew I needed. We had the best time, and I truly felt so refreshed afterwards. Ready to come back home and jump right into Mom mode. 

We had a great time. It was a perfect mix of relaxation, good food, shopping, lots of good wine and laughter. I am so thankful to have such wonderful friends that feel like family. I love that we're raising our kids together and building so many wonderful memories. On our last morning on Balboa, we ran into the cutest woman who was asking about our trip as we waited in line at a bakery. It turns out she and her best friends have been doing similar girls trips for more than 40 years. They all live around the country but meet in Aspen where they met when they were younger. She was so cute and said she got chills talking to us and said never lose what we have, it's special. Which, we all know already, but it's always fun to hear that from others and be reminded just how unique it is. It was the perfect interaction to end our time together. We're already planning our next girls trip in Scottsdale with the full gang! 

Some highlights from our weekend that stand out to me are sitting on the deck in the sunshine talking and laughing, walking on the beach, morning walks to get coffee, delicious food and flowing wine, and our evening on the deck enjoying our wine, watching a boat sink. True story! Thankfully it wasn't my friends boss' boat, but it was on their dock so we had front row seats. It caused quite the stir on the island and we were fascinated by the process of the workers trying to save it, then eventually realizing it was a total loss. 

I hope you all are able to find a tribe of friends like that if you don't have one already. And remember just how important it is to nourish these relationships. I am feeling refreshed and thankful after a fun-filled weekend! 

Our First Home

We purchased our home back in 2021, at the height of the housing market, after a brutal year long search for "the one." We were getting to the point in my pregnancy that we were going to pause the search, and pick up again after the twins arrived and we had settled into things a bit. But sure enough, after months and months of declined offers, we actually had two offers accepted the same day. We had looked at a nice home in Meadow Vista, a community I always thought I'd love to call home in the foothills. And another, in Granite Bay in a neighborhood that seemed great and had wonderful schools. Both were the same price. Meadow Vista was a nicer, updated home with a pool. But with fire insurance in that area, as well as location, it seemed like a risk for being at the top of our budget. Where as Granite Bay felt like a safe investment, and seemed like the better choice for our family. As much as I would love to be 15 minutes from my parents, I know we made the right choice in Granite Bay. 

It was but of a crazy situation, typically in that market we would have never gotten the house for asking price, but the circumstances with the sellers worked in our favor. We officially closed July 6, 2021. Just 9 days before we welcomed Jack & Charlie. Since we knew the twins were arriving soon, and we had to make some updates to the house since it wasn't in the best condition (it was worse than we realized) we planned to move at the end of August so we had a month to get the work done. 

A good, deep clean, removing a couple pony walls, removing glass block details, new carpets, all new interior paint, replacing carpet for tile in the primary bathroom, adding recessed lighting, and we were ready to move in. The list is long for things I'd like to do to make this home more updated and feel like us, but those changes made a huge impact and really helped freshen it up and make it feel like ours. 

Since we've been here a year and a half now, we've made a fair amount of changes, but I wanted to document an official "before" post of our home. These are the listing photos so the quality isn't great, but you get the idea. 

Here are the updates we did prior to moving in. Not too many changes, but enough to make a big difference and give us a blank slate. And most importantly, a CLEAN home since we'd having babies spending a lot of time on the floor that first year. 

Once we were living here, the top priorities were exterior paint and landscaping. In our first year we managed to update the paint and front yard landscape. Our neighbors would often stop and tell us how they loved the changes we were making and how nice it looked. (As you can imagine, now that you know where we started). Landscaping is shockingly expensive. As is everything these days, but I had no idea! So we were only able to do the front yard and very minor updates in the back while we save money. Hopefully this year we can do more DIY projects and continue to improve the backyard. Here is a little peek at those exterior changes, but I plan to share a full blog post soon. 

Eventually, I'll share a list of my dreams for each space and some inspiration photos. But for now, we save money and do small projects with a tiny budget and some elbow grease.