Enjoying a glass of champagne as I write this post. One of my favorite little luxuries–writing in an airport before a fun trip with a glass of bubbly just hits different. Also, you can still get 25% off my favorite leather ABLE backpack. More details here!
Coming at you from O’Hare! I’m heading to NYC this morning to spend the weekend with my sister and my nephew! He will be graduating in May and asked to go to New York for his graduation present, and asked if I could come too! 🥰 I am so honored and cannot wait to spend the whole weekend with just the two of them–something I’ve never been able to do before! It’s going to be so great! ♥️
Answering a few recent reader questions below before I hop on my flight.
Ask Jess: Shoes for in-between weather, toddler meal ideas, and more!
Favorite shoes to wear for this in-between spring weather?
I agree with you–I loathe wearing boots past early March 😂 I’m so sick of them! I highly recommend checking out this blog post on my comfiest shoes for warm weather travel! (Most of them aren’t sandals, and they’re great whether you’re traveling or if you never leave your own city!) I will say 90% of the time I wear classic white sneakers (my favorites in this post, plus how to clean white sneakers here) for these in-between weather days. But I also think ballet flats and loafers are the perfect things for shoulder seasons!
What are you feeding June these days? Always struggling with what to feed my toddler!
Honestly, it really depends on the week. She just went through a SUPER picky phase that (fingers crossed) she seems to be coming out of now. For a few weeks there there were meals where she wouldn’t even eat ONE bite of food. 🤯 Then this week she has been eating so well and even housing broccoli and asking for bites of my salad. Toddlers, man. You just never know with them.
In general, we typically just try to feed June whatever we have in the fridge that’s either leftover from dinner we made the night before or staples we have on hand. I like to buy organic frozen grass-fed meatballs from Whole Foods to keep in the freezer, along with Earth’s Best frozen pancakes (I don’t add syrup) and Whole Foods chicken sausage for breakfast. Also lots of oatmeal for breakfast (I do the organic whole oats with flaxseed and mix it with peanut butter for protein and flavor). Oh, and the Dave’s Bread bagels are great–they’re a good source of protein, too!
She (usually) loves hummus and tzatziki.
So I’ll always have those on hand, and there are veggies she likes (depending on the day): avocado, bell pepper, green peas, broccoli and she loves edamame. She also likes pesto so that’s another good thing to keep on-hand to put on meat, pasta, veggies etc. The Once Upon a Farm plant-based meals are also great to keep in the freezer and are easy to add to a pasta, quesadilla, etc to make it more nutritious! I also usually keep frozen peas and a frozen medley of carrots, peas, corn and green beans in the freezer. And I’ll put olive oil and some herbs in them to go along with whatever else we’re serving her.
Of course, noodles are a big hit (Banza noodles are great for extra protein), sometimes she’ll eat leftover chicken or steak that we have (other times she’ll be offended we would offer her such a thing) and some weeks more than others we’ll lean on Annies Mac & Cheese, of course. If we can’t get other veggies down her, we love Once Upon a Farm pouches with veggies and fruit. She also loves green smoothies (another easy way to get veggies down her–I buy the BlendTopia pre-kitted smoothie bags. And then I’ll usually add an extra handful of spinach) and any kind of fruit.
I rarely go out of my way to prepare her a special meal aside from MAYBE boiling some noodles to feed her throughout the week. So if you’re also overwhelmed with all these “toddler meal prep” posts you see on social media…I’m in the same club. 😂 I just don’t have time for that. And I also want her to get used to eating the same things we eat. I hope this helps!
Any advice for camping with babies/toddlers?
Yes! I actually shared some of your reader tips on camping with littles at the end of this post. We’ve only taken June camping once, and there isn’t really anything revolutionary to share advice-wise aside from to recreate your home sleep environment/routine as much as possible, make sure you’re accounting for their temperature control (both during the day–how hot will it be? And how cool will it get at night? Make sure you’ve thought through both and have the appropriate things to keep them warm/cool enough). Also, go with an open mind/be prepared to go with the flow, and bring more than you think you’ll need in terms of baby supplies! (Even things you probably WON’T need–like extra diaper rash cream, Tylenol, etc–because you definitely don’t want to be stuck without them!) Oh, and just do it! 😉
What do I wear to weddings this summer!? Help! I have so many!
I have a whole blog post on what to wear to spring/summer weddings right over here! So many dress ideas broken down by dress code/occasion! In general I do feel like people overthink what to wear to weddings, so please don’t feel the need to buy a new dress for every wedding you attend. Nobody is going to remember what you’re wearing and spending so much money on a dress you won’t wear much just doesn’t make sense!!! (I’m also a big fan of renting dresses, too!) Again, all that and more over here.
Hope you have the BEST weekend! See you back here on Tuesday after I’m home! ♥️
