The other day John and I were talking about what we’ll miss most, physically, about this home, our first home, and my answer was our front porch. It’s unusually deep, perched well above street level and tucked behind a mature tree. Shady and private enough to work from on even the hottest summer days, it also played host to dinner parties, friend hangs, and tables set for Articles Club. On its sturdy boards we carved pumpkins, played in the sand box, read chapter books aloud, ate lunch, set up the chess board, spit cherry pits over the railing, waited on siblings to return from play dates and grandparents to arrive from the airport. The string lights were magic; the wreaths hanging on the gates each December, a source of deep personal satisfaction. And I can still feel exactly what it was like to sit cross-legged under the spinning fan, cooing at baby June as she learned to roll on a soft blanket. We’d head out there after work and daycare and just chat — for an hour, easy. That porch was an aerie, a world unto itself in the most ordinary of places. While the glorious view below will not always be ours, the sweetness will be. On my calendar:— Seeing The Sound of Music with June! After a few false starts for her “experiential” 2024 Christmas gift, this is where we landed. We are both so excited for a night at the theater together.— Our fall family mountain trip, this year to Boone. We’ve had more trips than usual to WNC in the last few months but you won’t catch me complaining. These mountain weekends are always some of the sweetest of the year for our family.— A weekend in New England! I’m flying to a dear friend’s baby

Alternative post title: you probably already know this, but… To whit: three recent revelations that have made a difference in my life, and might in yours, too. Cottage cheese is actually… good. Like many of our fellow Millennials, John and I are on a quest to add more protein to our diets. We’re drinking Chobani yogurt shakes, we’re eating grilled chicken, we’re switching to Banza, but it was only a matter of time before we came face-to-face with one of the most common protein-packing suggestions: cottage cheese. Pale, lumpy, suspicious-seeming cottage cheese. Dubiously, I added some to my cart at the grocery store. We got it home, cracked open the lid, and set to experimenting.  In a surprising turn of events, we were immediate converts, and we both eat it almost daily now. Some of our favorite uses: anywhere we’d have put sour cream (like on tacos). Anywhere we’d have put mayonnaise (like on a turkey sandwich or to bind egg salad). Mixed with hot sauce and spooned generously over grilled chicken chunks for a quick lunch. Mixed with everything-but-the-bagel seasoning or Hidden Valley Farms powder as a ranch-like dip for raw veggies. Blended with fruit compote and a little honey then frozen (seriously so good – it tastes like cheesecake!).  I know we are only at the beginning of our journey. Cottage cheese lovers, where should we head next? If you want to move, wear athleisure. While I know some of you would consider yourself recovering athleisure wearers, actively attempting to ditch the daily leggings and put on *real clothes* in the morning, as of this summer I’m a convert to the other side of the coin: ditching the jean shorts and underwire bras and embracing tennis skirts, tanks, and sports bras on a daily basis.  Why? Yes, it’s

If you’re a Connected Family reader, you already know that our twentieth high school reunion was an incredibly memorable and completely delightful weekend. I waxed philosophical about it at length last month, so I won’t reprise it here — but I did want to share some of the logistical details in case you’re thinking of planning something similar! Much of what we did could be applicable to a girls’ trip, a bachelorette, or a special family adventure. I’d love to share a little bit about how it all came together and a few of the details that made it special. Let’s go! Planning Timeline: Noticing that our twentieth high school reunion was approaching and that our class wasn’t planning an official event (at least at the time — they have since gone on to hold a low-key get-together!), John and I sent an email to our group of 11 close friends to see whether they’d be interesting in gathering the following summer last September. We’re spread out around the country, so even though we love each other dearly we weren’t sure how feasible getting together would be. Happily, the enthusiasm was resounding, so my next step (in December) was to send out two possible weekends for a vote. Once the responses rolled in, we chose a date. We were originally interested in staying at a communal property, as I’m of the mind that some of the sweetest moments in a group happen in the in-between times, but the place we had our eye on wasn’t available. Most folks opted to stay with parents who still lived in the area. From there, I got busy drafting an itinerary that was full of nostalgia but updated for our thirty-something lives, many of which now include kids. Happy to take the lead but

Big update over here, friends: we are under contract to buy a new house. !!! This came to pass in a quite unusual and stressful manner, because the house went on the market while we were in Maine. (Our realtor, to boot, was also on vacation.) We submitted our offer on Sunday night, learned there were multiple offers and submitted a new offer (and then another one) on Monday, and finally found out our offer was accepted on Monday night. We came home on Wednesday night and saw the house for the first time on Thursday night. While we hadn’t stepped foot inside, we were familiar with the house – it is in our same neighborhood, right around the corner from one of Shep’s buddies, and is one we had had our eye on for over a year. It checks a lot of our boxes – cul-de-sac location, flat driveway, separate dining room, bigger backyard, space for an office, even the possibility of a mudroom – and we are super grateful. That does not mean that the last few weeks have been without challenges. I wish I could say we’ve been uniformly blissful and brave, but alas I am a person who deeply dislikes change. In addition to staying on top of the piles of paperwork required to buy and sell a home – as well as fixing things up around our current home, coordinating completion of the rest of the punch list, streamlining our belongings and beginning to pack what remains – I’ve been on a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I am excited, of course, and grateful, but also fearful of leaving the security of our current corner of the neighborhood and all the good we have here, fearful of something “better” coming on the market in