In a Nutshell: Parenthood, Sunsets and Back in the Day

I’ll blame the lack of timely posting on end-of-summer depression. Being a New Englander for life, I’m all for all things fall – bring on the Pumpkin spice everything, chunky sweaters and boots. But in the back of my mind, snowmageddon looms and that makes the shorter days and random chillier days a little scary.  But if I’m going to be honest about why this post is a few weeks behind, it’s because of Parenthood. And not because of like actually having a relationship and a baby and trying to keep a human alive like my brother and sister-in-law. I’m talking about the TV series that I recently probably set a record for binge watching all 6 seasons in record time.

  • TEAM JOELIA! – If you haven’t seen Parenthood, don’t worry I won’t spoil anything. But I will say I became totally addicted and emotionally attached to the show much more than I expected. Most of the characters you already know from other shows like Friday Night Lights (Texas Forever!) or like Lorelai from Gilmore Girls also plays a single mom in this show (not quite as loveable as she was with Rory though). I had a few back to back weeks of work travel, and spent probably a good 3 hours a night staying up way too late trying to get through a few extra episodes before going to bed. I felt like I knew the Bravermans in real life. Zeek, Crosby, Adam, Julia, Joel, Amber, Camille, Sarah – the whole clan. I loved them all. (Except Amber, geeze that girl never went more than 30 second without crying!) And let me just tell you, I had some ugly crying (like watching the end of The Notebook) at the Series Finale the other night. But now that it’s over I can get back to going outside and seeing other humans again. That is unless you have another Netflix series to recommend? The last thing I’ll say about this is TeamJoelia 4 lyfe. TSC_Nutshell_091915-11
  • BAKERS GONNA BAKE: And hater’s gonna hate. I’ve actually got a decent amount of baking under my belt in the past month, even if I’m a tad slow in writing posts. Quality over quantity people! I’m working with OXO on a few campaigns which has been a lot of fun. I made these Zucchini Chocolate Chunk Muffins a few weeks back using the OXO Hand-Held Spiralizer, which I’m a big fan of. I’m working on another cookie recipe for them soon too! Can you see that steam literally coming off of that hot muffin? Yeeeeaahhhhhh buddy!TSC_Nutshell_091915-2I also posted the recipe for these random Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Coconut cookies earlier this week. I went back to my roots of just closing my eyes, dumping a bunch of ingredients into one cookie and hoping for the best. They were a huge hit and pretty delish. Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Coconut Cookies-8
  • And alllll, thattttt Jazzzzz: Chicago is quickly becoming one of my new favorite cities. Maybe because I’m able to stay downtown on these work trips instead of out in the ‘burbs like my past visits, and I’m there during the most gorgeous weather ever. I was back in Chicago last week for a few days for work. One night my team and I went out to Cindy’s rooftop at the Chicago Athletic Association for dinner and drinks with an amazing view. Look at this awesome sunset over Millennium Park.TSC_Nutshell_091915-5One of the reasons I really like my team out in Chicago is that every time we go out to dinner together we order a dessert to try. This time we opted for this very adult grown-up ice cream sandwich. It had peach-lambic sorbet and mascarpone ice cream, with an oatmeal cookie just packed with so much butter it was delicious. Don’t worry, we shared this! Otherwise I think we’d be in an immediate sugar coma. 
    TSC_Nutshell_091915-6It was definitely worth staying for dinner that night, but then I caught the early flight back to Boston the next morning, along with this really gorgeous Chicago sunrise. TSC_Nutshell_091915-7And a few hours later captured my signature consultant over-the-wing shot landing into Boston. I think I’ve certainly had enough practice after racking up over 50 flights this year so far. I like this view when you can see all the different neighborhoods. TSC_Nutshell_091915-3
  • If I could do it again, I’d do it the same: One of my favorite country singers Corey Smith, who my friends Katie and Jess have followed for years before he became a little more mainstream was in Boston last Friday for a concert at The Sinclair. After a delicious dinner at Alden and Harlow in Cambridge, my friend Gabby and I caught the concert where Corey Smith played some of his top hits like If I could Do it Again, Twenty One and I Love Everyone. If you haven’t seen him in concert yet, he’s definitely worth checking out! TSC_Nutshell_091915-8
  • Bootcamp and Mormons! Saturday morning I went to a Blogger Bootcamp at the General Assembly hosted by one of my favorite Boston Bloggers AllieWears. Allie is actually a fellow technology consultant who has an awesome fashion and lifestyle blog that was rated Boston’s Best Fashion Blog last year. She gave lots of tips and tricks about enhancing your blog and monetizing it, and it was really insightful coming from someone who has a similar day-job to me. Sunday afternoon I had gotten last minute tickets to the matinee for The Book of Mormon with my friend Ania and her friend Michael. I had no idea what the show was about before seeing it, but oh man I think I pulled a muscle laughing so hard. If you have a chance to see it, I highly highly recommend it. TSC_Nutshell_091915-9
  • BACK IN MY DAY: I was back in Boston this week which was nice to have a week off of travel. I had two recruiting events for my company at my alma matter Boston College this week. I always like going back to campus, at least up until the point where I start feeling ancient. I probably feel extra old because I start every sentence with “back in my day!” and hunch over and shake my finger at the kids like I’m 90. (half of that is true). But really. KIDS THESE DAYS. Do you know they have an app that tells them when the laundry machines are free? Back in MY day we had to drag our hampers full of laundry down the flights of stairs to the laundry room WITH OUR QUARTERS only to find the machines all full. They have an app that tells them when the bus is coming, and obviously use ubers for cabs. Back in MY DAY we had to wait an hour for Veterans taxi or stand outside in the rain for an hour for the Comm Ave bus hoping it would show up. DVR wasn’t really a thing. We either recorded a show if we had class at night on a VHS tape OR *Gasp* we WATCHED IT LIVE. I remember my friend Christy and I used to have a ritual on Thursday nights of watching Grey’s Anatomy together (RIP Denny) and then calling a cab right at the end to meet our friends at An Tua Nua for drinks and dancing. But seriously, we didn’t have iphones or reliable Wifi. We plugged our laptops into ethernet cables and used AOL Instant Messenger to make plans. This one girl stood open mouth gasping at me and was like WOW when did you graduate??! I’m like woah woah honey boo boo child, I’m only 30. I graduated 8 years ago. I need to stop making myself seem so old, but I mean, I was a freshman when we were one of the first schools to get Facebook. Remember when the Facebook sign-in screen used to list which new colleges got added to Facebook that week? I’m old. Fine. I’ll accept it. I’m speaking as a panelist at an event next week, so I need to not mention how Charlie cards didn’t exist when I was in college and all the other things I say that make me seem like a granny.Boston College Gasson Hall
  • “Book” Club: Finally after a long day at the career fair on Thursday I hosted our monthly book club so we could sit outside and eat mass amounts of cheese and talk about all things (except books). I think we were supposed to read Black Mass this month, but no one read it. We did enjoy lots of delish cheese and wine and caught up on our gossip and picked another book for next month, which likely none of us will read. Book club is the best. TSC_Nutshell_091915-10And now it’s finally the weekend! After we take the boats out of the water today (#summersover) I’m heading over to the Harwich Cranberry Festival, which has been a tradition in Harwich for years. Happy last summer weekend!TSC_Nutshell_091915-1