food – Jaclyn Grace

Life Updates

It has been a long while since I have stepped into this space. I actually wasn’t planning on coming back here, but it’s funny how time and time again I find myself missing this page and craving an outlet for my thoughts. The past year has been one of the best and most transformational of my life. We welcomed our sweet daughter Grace to the world last February and have loved every moment of watching her grow. My son, Wesley, is 3 now (how?!) and they are the cutest little duo. He is so protective and so in love with her – I can’t wait to watch their relationship continue to develop and grow.

We received another amazing blessing from God when I found out in August that I was pregnant with Baby #3– due in April 2025. We do not take this for granted for one second and we cannot wait to hold another precious, perfect newborn in our arms and see how they fit into our family.

Amidst all of this joy, there has also been struggle. I feel like this year has really been focused on looking inward, personal development, figuring out who I am as a mother and a person versus who I really want to be, figuring out what is important to us as a family… and so much more. This has been a work in progress and has often been stressful and uncomfortable ~ mostly because it is so big and so important.

As someone who has always had a *plan*, I am feeling a bit like a rudderless ship lately as I try to figure out how all of my desires and dreams for my family fit into the reality that is my life. I feel like I have been on a hamster wheel going full speed ahead for the past decade+ and I’m so ready to get off. I want to live my life in a way that is simple and joyful and in alignment with who I truly am.

I’m well aware that this shift is going to take time, but I am realizing that it is going to be the most important thing that I can do for my future and my family so I’m going to take it slow. My goal for the month of February is to intentionally add one activity to every single day that brings me quiet joy. By quiet joy, I don’t mean the dopamine hit that often accompanies moments of instant gratification (i.e. shopping online, consuming sugar), I mean true joy that brings peace to my soul and even just a moment of clarity amidst the chaos.

I will be sharing these moments on Instagram each day if you want to follow along. As always, I’m so happy that you’re here – I’ve missed you!

xo,

Jaclyn

Friday Favorites

Yay for the weekend! Tomorrow is my big test and I am SO excited for it to be over with. Here are a few things that I was loving this past week. 🙂

1. This week I really loved some of the excerpts that I read from my book before bed. They all focused on having faith rather than planning for and worry about the future. They spoke about how God has a plan for us all that is already set and will be slowly revealed to us moment by moment.

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Some days I like the readings more than others, and this week I felt like they really were all things that I needed to hear.

2. On Thursday night my Dad and I went out to dinner in Hoboken to a restaurant called “Margherita’s Pizza and Cafe.” I had been looking forward to our visit all week! It was nice to get out of the apartment and spend some time catching up.

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I had a feeling that the food would be good here because each time that I previously walked by there had been a line out the door. The atmosphere was really cute and cozy and felt like your typical small family owned Italian restaurant.

They started us off with bruschetta and Italian bread and butter. Then for our main meals, my dad had chicken parmigiana and I had raviolis stuffed with eggplant, sun-dried tomato, and cheese. Both of our meals were fantastic!

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We then finished off our evening with a coffee and cappuccino before heading out.

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Overall we had a great time! We hopefully are going to try to do something like this once a month or so. 🙂

3. Lastly, two of my favorite things this week have to do with my bedroom coming along in my apartment. As of right now, the kitchen and living room feel nice and cozy, but the bedroom is a mess. For the past (almost) two months I have had no rug, curtains, or even a bedspread. Luckily that all changed this week!

My aunt had been working hard on a hand-made quilt for my bed for a little while now and she just finished it! I haven’t seen it in person yet, but it looks absolutely beautiful from the pictures.

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My grandma picked out the fabric for me when she was in Amish country this past summer and I immediately fell in love with it. I knew that it would make a beautiful quilt, but I’m not super confident in my quilting abilities yet so I decided to ask my aunt to make it for me. Luckily she said yes and it’s already one of my very favorite things that I own (despite that I don’t actually have it in my hands yet)!

Even the small details are perfect!

To go along with this, I got a nice surprise from my Grandma telling me that she bought me a braided rug for the bedroom as a Valentine’s Day gift!

Screen Shot 2017-02-17 at 8.52.54 PM.png — Here’s the photo she sent me, but I’ll be sure to post actual pictures when I get it!

I had been looking at very similar rugs online for weeks now but hadn’t mentioned it to anybody. I was so shocked when she told me that she bought me one in the exact color that I liked! I am so excited to get it into my bedroom and see how it helps things come together.

I will definitely be doing a post on the apartment in the near future to share my attempt at making this place feel like home!

That’s all for this week. I am so grateful for my fantastic family who truly made this week fabulous.

Have a great weekend!

xo,

Jaclyn

Ogunquit, Maine

During the last week of August my mom, stepdad, brother, and I took a mini-vacation to Ogunquit, Maine! They knew how much I loved it when I went earlier in the summer and they wanted to see for themselves. We had a fantastic long weekend together.

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We stayed at the Meadowmere Resort and it had everything that we had hoped for- pool, hot tub, gym, bar, free continental breakfast, and it was in walking-distance of downtown Ogunquit and Perkins Cove.

Our first full day in Maine was spent in Perkins Cove. We walked down in the morning and spent a few hours poking around the shops. Naturally, we had to make a stop at the candy shop.

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That afternoon we went on a 3-hour sailboat ride around the cove! At first, there was not nearly enough wind and we were a little worried that we were just going to sit there the entire time, but eventually it picked up and ended up being a lot of fun.

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That night we went to dinner at The Front Porch in downtown Ogunquit. This was easily one of the best meals that I have ever had and I wish that I had taken photos of the food. We had calamari and a flatbread pizza as an appetizer, and I ordered a blueberry, walnut, and goat cheese salad for my meal. Everything was phenomenal and we were so stuffed by the time we left! My mom and I shared a carafe of sangria to go along with our meal. 🙂

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After dinner we headed back towards the hotel to see a comedian, whom I will leave unnamed. The entire audience was 60+ and we knew that this was not a show catered to young people- however, I have never been so bored and close to falling asleep during a show! Our entire family ended up leaving after a very long hour and forty-five minutes (and it wasn’t even close to over!). We all agreed that this was the worst part of our weekend.

The next morning we woke up and headed out to spend the morning in Kennebunkport. I loved it just as much as the first time I went. I hope that I get a chance to visit during the Holidays because I hear it is beautiful then as well! We headed back to Perkins Cove in the early afternoon and went for a walk along the Marginal Way.

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By the end of the day, we were all exhausted and starving. We went back to downtown Ogunquit and my mom picked up some cinnamon butter rolls (so delicious!) at Bread and Roses.

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I am definitely visiting this little bakery again next time I am in town. Everything smelled and looked fantastic.

We finished off the weekend in the best possible way – with ice cream 🙂

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I am so grateful for all of the laughs and fun that we shared during this weekend! I already can’t wait for the next time time we visit.

xo,

Jaclyn

Girl’s Weekend

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a week and a half now but just haven’t gotten around to it. Working 40 hours a week plus 12 hours of commuting certainly takes a lot out of me. Most nights by the time that I get home, the last thing that I want to do is sit down in front of yet another computer screen. Regardless, I’m trying my best to keep up with this!

Last weekend I went down to West Hartford for a girl’s weekend. Most of us hadn’t seen each other since graduation, so we were super excited to be reunited! On Friday night, we want to Bar Taco at Blue Back Square.

It was such a cute and fun place for dinner and drinks. The food was good, but not my favorite as it was a little too spicy for me. If you love spicy Mexican food though, this is the place for you.

On Saturday morning, we woke up at 7AM to attend a free “Morning Yoga in the Streets” event. I loved every second of it.

Most of the yoga studios in the area participated and there were tons and tons of people there. The class was very fast paced and quite challenging, especially considering all of the different skill levels there. Since taking this class, I’ve been wanting to get back into practicing yoga more regularly.

Once we finished up, we headed out to brunch (my favorite part of any weekend) at the Pond House Cafe. The dining room that we ate in was located right in the middle of a big garden, with a beautiful patio that you could eat out on. They also had a huge banquet hall where they host weddings and other large events. Unfortunately, I left my phone at home and so I couldn’t take any pictures.

On top of the cute atmosphere, the food was phenomenal. I had a green apple, brie, and spinach omelet with a side of corn bread. All of the ingredients were fresh and very tasty! This was the type of place that I could imagine bringing my family for breakfast after church on Sundays. 🙂

After brunch we headed down to the Farmington River to go tubing, which was perfect because it was HOT all weekend.

We spent about 3 hours relaxing and floating down the river, all while catching up and snacking on cut up watermelon. I had a great day and would love to do this again sometime soon.

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On Saturday night, we headed up to Worcester to pick up one of our friends who flew in from California for the weekend and spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with her.

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There’s nothing better than laughing with your best girlfriends. I already can’t wait to see them again!

Sunday morning, Emily and I stopped for a bagel and coffee before our drive back home. It was my first time having Bruegger’s Bagels and I fell in love.

Anybody who knows me knows that I am a huge bagel person, and these certainly lived up to their reputation. I already can’t wait for my next visit to the area so I can have another one ;).

xo,

Jaclyn

Weekend Recap

This weekend was a great one – filled with lots of friends and fun! On Friday night, I went out for appetizers and drinks with my fellow dance team seniors.

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We have been trying to get together more often lately and we had a blast. We went over to a delicious Mexican restaurant nearby called Mezcal. We got four pitchers of margaritas to split. After much debate, we decided on coconut raspberry, blood orange, mai tai, and guava flavors. They were all phenomenal.

We also split two large orders of guacamole! My favorite was the “tropical” flavor. It was regular guac combined with pecans, mango, and coconut. I know it sounds kind of strange, but trust me when I say that it was delicious.

On Saturday morning, I got up bright and early to head into Boston for an ugly sweater christmas bar crawl that a few of my friends and I had bought tickets for. Three of us left on the 8:50 train so that we could get brunch in Boston before hand.

After walking all over creation trying to find somewhere that wasn’t packed, we ended up at the Trophy Room. We started off our day right with mimosas, easily one of the best ones that I have ever had.

I ordered eggs benedict for my meal. It came with seasoned homefries and was topped with bacon, mushrooms, and sautéed spinach.

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I ate every single bite and was in heaven. I will definitely be back here next time I find myself around the Back Bay of Boston!

After brunch, we headed over to the Faneuil Hall area to register for the bar crawl. We met up with the rest of our group on the way over. I was so excited to be reunited with my IQP group again!

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We spent the rest of our day sipping on drinks, socializing, and taking in some of the ugliest christmas sweaters I have ever seen. This day was exactly what I needed to start getting in the holiday spirit (even though Christmas is less than two weeks away!).

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Now, I am back to studying for finals and finishing up the last few reports that I have to do before break.

xo,

Jaclyn