Well friends, we’ve survived another week. It seems like no one has an answer for how long this period of containment will last, but I hope you’re all hanging in there and finding ways to take care of yourself and your loved ones in the face of the uncertainty. For now we’re grateful to have our health and for all the selfless souls working to care for others through this crisis. I’m trying to remind myself to take things one day at a time and to take a break from the news when I need to. I hope you’re able to get a little break this weekend too. If you find yourself going a little stir crazy this weekend, don’t forget these 70 ways to stay busy while social distancing. Sending love. xoxo

1. What are your thoughts for keeping vs. getting rid of your pool?

My thoughts on keeping it are it’s fun to have a pool and would only get more fun as Teddy and future children get older. My thoughts on wanting to fill it in are mostly specific to our pool because it needs a bunch of expensive repairs/updates and takes up so much of our yard that we have very little grass for Teddy and Rory to play on. In a perfect world, we would love a pool that’s not this pool, but we’re going to enjoy it in its current state for one more summer before Teddy’s on the move and then hopefully start to tackle exterior projects sometime in 2021. 

2. How is it living and working at home through a renovation? Did you consider temporarily moving out?

We’re hanging in there! It’s noisy during the day, the house is a mess, and we’re all living on top of each other, but it’s temporary and completely manageable for the time being. (A little tighter with me, Will, and my brother Camden all working from home, but this too shall pass!) Our current projects are confined to the exterior (mudroom and loft) and the back of the house (kitchen), so we still have our living room and the office on the first floor and nothing going on upstairs. We honestly never considered moving out — it wouldn’t have been financially feasible with everything we’re trying to get done and our builder thankfully didn’t bat an eye when we said we’d be living here throughout the process. We’re still waiting to hear if they’ll have to pause construction in the coming days so we might go a little crazy without a kitchen for longer than we were expecting, but we’ll get through it. 

3. How did you plan a budget for your renovation?

We gave our architect and builder an idea of what we were hoping to spend and had several meetings with them to explore what would be possible within that amount. We had no idea what different ideas would cost until they priced them out for us, so there were lots of surprises and going back to the drawing board until we got to a place we were all comfortable with.

4. Will you have a dog shower / wash station in the new mudroom?

No but they are fabulous! We definitely didn’t have the room in our budget and Rory is kind of a psycho after getting out of the bath — he wants to sprint around the house and dry himself off on every rug and piece of furniture so bathing him in such an open space would have been chaos!

5. Are you nervous about your parents living with you? Any boundaries you had to set?

We’re really not! My mom is one person I can be completely direct with and vice versa. My parents don’t want to be on top of us any more than we want to be on top of them and I really trust that we’ll settle comfortably into a routine that works for all of us. I think the fact that their loft space does not connect to the second floor of our house (they will walk through the mudroom we’re building to get from their space to the rest of the house) offers a nice built-in boundary so we’re not all calling down the hallway yelling “good night.” ?

6. You mentioned a wide single sink vanity for your parents — care to share what you wound up with?

For sure! This one is scheduled to arrive today and we can’t wait to see it in person.

7. Do you follow any parenting plan (responsive parenting, etc.)?

We don’t. I read a bunch of parenting books while I was pregnant and I feel like 90% of the information went in one ear and out the other before I even had Teddy, so I’ve tried to cool it on the information overload where I can. There’s a small handful of books we’ll reference if we have a specific question about something, but we haven’t been super successful implementing specific schedules and personally imagine we’d find any one prescriptive school of thought more limiting than helpful. But I have friends who feel the opposite so I’ll say what I always say: you do you! I firmly believe that every family has different (and ever-changing) needs and that most parents are doing what they trust is the right thing for their kids.

8. Do you highlight your hair? Have you ever colored it?

I don’t highlight it and I’ve never colored it. I’ve tried plenty of things to tackle frizz and texture but my color is basically the one thing I wouldn’t change about my hair if I could! 

9. Do you prefer traveling alone or with a group?

I’m assuming you’re asking whether I’d rather plan my own trips or participate in press trips and I feel fortunate to get to do both! Press trips are great because I usually get to meet new people, explore a place that might not have been on my radar otherwise, and squeeze a ton of experiences into a short visit. That said press trips are definitely work — there’s usually a strict itinerary with minimal free time and you’re expected to post photos in real time, so you’re often staying up late editing photos before waking up early for a full day of activities. Traveling with Will is generally easier because we can set our own schedule, shoot outfits as we’re going about our day, and don’t have to be “on” the entire time. But now that we have Teddy, personal travel is definitely more work too!

10. What was the most stressful part of wedding planning for you?

The venue where we had our wedding reception is a family business with various family members in and out of the picture at various times of the year, so it would be hard to get in touch at times and that uncertainty weighed heavily on us throughout our nearly two-year engagement. Our month of wedding planner Caroline was an absolute godsend and really took the reins in the weeks leading up to our wedding to make sure everyone was on the same page!