1. Joseph’s Chocolate Hommus Dip
​I discovered this at a Labor Day BBQ this past weekend after one of my husband’s cousins brought it over for the potluck. She brought 2 containers and they sat and sat on the dessert table alongside some strawberries, ignored practically all night for other more traditional desserts. I’m not a hummus lover so I passed over it a few times but finally decided to give it a try. You guys, it was SO GOOD that I took the 2nd container home. Like slipped it in my purse while no one was looking, and didn’t even grab the leftovers from my own dessert I brought to share. I looked it up online to find out where to buy it and it just doesn’t seem to exist on Joseph’s website. Cue the panic. I’ve been savoring it all week and was finally able to track it down at Market Basket after texting my father in law and demanding he ask his cousin where she purchased it. I’ve eaten it with strawberries and apple for breakfast every day since

2. Sangria
​I go through phases when it comes to drinks. Nothing but sweet tea for a couple weeks, then moved on to hard ciders, then making cocktails at home, etc. etc. I had some incredible Sangria at The Revolution Tap Room in Rochester about a week and a half ago and have been obsessed since. I’m currently working my way through my 3rd pitcher of sangria since that fateful Monday sangria girl’s night. 

3. This salad I ate for lunch today
​Look, if you don’t follow my Instagram or don’t know me personally, then you may not know this already but my life revolves around food. I’m constantly thinking about what I’m going to eat next. If I don’t bring a lunch to work, then the decision of what to go out and get is agonizing. I am an over-thinker in general, but even more so when it comes to food. My coworker got this salad on Tuesday from The Works bakery café in Portsmouth and was raving about how great it was. So when I “forgot” my lunch today, I had no choice but to try it. Greens, grilled chicken, tomatoes, avocado, goat cheese, avocado-lime dressing, and carmelized bacon. Now that I’ve had the bacon from their salad, I’m obsessing over whether or not they use this same bacon in their breakfast sandwiches. I will report at a later date whether this is the case or not!

4. Amazon Prime Reading
I decided to try to get back to reading more often and unplug a little more at night. I was looking to see what I hadn’t finished yet in my Kindle library, hit the discover button and saw that there are books that Prime readers can download for free. There are some great titles on there too! I just started reading Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum.
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5. This tree I saw in Portsmouth 
I came across this tree in Portsmouth en route to my incredible lunch time salad today and had to stop and take a photo. I love running across these small acts of kindness. Portsmouth and the Seacoast is full of them it seems. It’s such a nice reminder that there is a lot of good in the world, even when things feel very heavy. 

What are you into lately? 

When I moved to New Hampshire 6 years ago, it was a bit of a culture shock for me. I had spent 20 years growing up in Anchorage and knew it like the back of my hand. Moving to a smaller town on the opposite coast of what I was used to was quite the adjustment. It took a little time, but I grew to love it. I also love lists, so here are my top 5 favorite New England quirks:

1. Iced coffee: all day, every day
Listen, I get the need for caffeine. Anchorage has the 2nd highest number of coffee shops/huts per capita in the US. I love coffee, but I typically would only buy it in the morning or while catching up with a friend, and I usually only drank it hot. I moved to New Hampshire and quickly realized that iced coffee (usually from Dunkin Donuts!) was as common as an afternoon fountain soda or cup of tea. I didn’t get it at first, but then I started getting iced coffee in the morning during the summer, which turned into a mid-day iced coffee to get over the lunch time hump at work, and before I knew it I was drinking iced coffee in the middle of winter. It’s much more refreshing than I expected. I get it now and I am in full support of iced coffee; all day, everyday.

​2. The New England Patriots are like a religion
And Tom Brady is their leader. I became a Patriots fan in high school before moving to the east coast. I had met my husband who like most New Englanders, was a die-hard Patriots fan. I started following football along with him right at the beginning of the Brady/Belichick era. If you’re from here, you know the Cinderella story – 6th round draft pick turned 5-time Super Bowl Champion. I can’t explain to you the dead silence I sat through in 2008 when Brady tore his ACL in the first game. If you want to make a Pats fan angry, try bringing up deflate-gate one more time. Or better yet, attempt to convince them that Tom Brady is not the GOAT. It won’t end well for you.

​3. Doggie Daycare
I had never heard of doggie daycare until I moved to New Hampshire. I knew people would board their dogs when necessary while on vacation, but taking their dog to day care while they were at work? The doggie daycares here even post pictures of your dog throughout the day on Facebook or their websites so you can check in on them. I have coworkers that spend as much on doggie daycare a week as I do on my children’s daycare. It’s so bizarre and yet I kind of love the idea of it. Like I said, I already spend a ton on daycare for my kids so I can’t really swing a day care bill for the dog too but I love that it’s such a dog friendly state! Every now and then my coworker will show me photos of her snotty, drooly, happy boxer at daycare and it’s hard not to smile about how adorable the concept is.
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4. Whoopie Pies
If you’ve never had a whoopie pie, you’re missing out. It’s basically like a cake sandwich. 2 cake like cookies with frosting in between. You can get all different varieties from basic chocolate and vanilla, to pumpkin, red velvet, lemon.. you name it, there’s a whoopie for it. I love all desserts so this was a great new addition for me. And I adore the old story behind the name which apparently came to be because wives would pack whoopie pies in their husband’s lunches for work and they would open their lunch boxes, see the little pies inside and yell, “whoopie!!” out of excitement. Legit? I’m not sure, but I love it anyway.

​5. Trick or Treat times
Each town in New Hampshire has it’s own set trick or treat time. Sometimes it’s not even on Halloween – a lot of times our trick or treat time is the day before Halloween. Where I grew up, Halloween was a free for all. I’d get together with my friends and we’d start trick or treating as soon as it was even a little dark and we’d keep going until our curfew or people started turning us away. At first I didn’t get it but actually, it’s great as an adult to know when to expect kids to be in the neighborhood trick or treating (and when it will stop!), and then it could be pretty awesome as a kid to go town hopping to get to maximize your candy haul!