April Monthly Musings // From The Inspired Abode
March was a doozy! It started off great when we rang in our mom’s birthday (March 1st!) & B gave birth to her beautiful son, Callum… but then our family got hit with a wave of a bad cold that took most of us out. Between feeling sick or caring for those who were sick, doctors appointments for other health happenings, and the general craziness of life, we feel like March flew by in the blink of an eye without a whole lot of fun.
That being said… we are so excited to welcome April & hopefully have a bit more downtime and joy in our lives. It’s already started out great with Kel and her husband picking up their new “family car” SUV – finally a two-car household – as well as finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for a difficult toddler-bed transition, preparing for a fun Easter egg hunt & brunch this weekend 🐰, and a family Disneyland trip with friends (our first time in 10 years, so send your recs!).
We’re so excited to spend this Saturday with you. Now, grab a coffee or tea (we’ve been loving cappuccinos at home & dirty chais when out and about!), share a fun snack with your toddler if you’re also in this season of life & let’s catch up! 🤍
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links we can’t stop sending each other, products, links, current faves
Once we’ve finally come to terms with the look of our standing desks, this gorgeous fluted light-wood one comes along & just makes us want to spend so we can stand/treadmill in style while working away!
For the littles, we finally have Rylee + Cru bathing suits for the kiddos (thanks to gifts from friends!), and while expensive, the quality is amazing! Hint: To save & make them last, just buy a size or two up!
Eyeing these handled basket planter boxes for our faux olive trees that provide a homey look that feels pulled together, yet casual 😍
These healthy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (note: we do half the sugar & a very minimal amount of chocolate chips) have been such a hit with the kiddos (and us!). They’re tasty & great for a little reward system without the guilt!
Has anyone purchased a Mina Baie diaper bag? We’re eyeing the “Emmy” & “Harlow” – unsure what the best size/color is, but thinking size Midi in Terra or the limited-edition Teddy!
what we’re watching
Stop what you’re doing, grab your calendar, and find a time to go see Project Hail Mary in theaters. And if you haven’t already, read the book first!!
We are really enjoying this season of Top Chef. We’ve always wanted to visit both South Carolina & North Carolina, and we have a feeling we’ll be wanting to even more soon. Puckerbutt Farms here we come! #iykyk.
We are tempted to start watching America’s Culinary Cup considering Padma used to be the host of Top Chef and has another cooking show now that’s running at the same time, but we think we might wait until this season of Top Chef is over so it feels less like cheating.
We hate to say it, but this season of Paradise is just too scary for us at this stage of our lives (and with the current state of the world). Maybe we’ll come back to it when we’re not pregnant or caring for a newborn, but the first few episodes just weren’t the same as season one now that the bubble has burst.
The March Madness games have been super fun to watch (we do a bracket every year with our husbands!) & we’ll be sad when it’s over on Monday. But if Arizona wins it all, the two of us will be duking it out for the grand prize based on the point scoring tie-breaker.
If you haven’t seen this amazing game-winning steal & shot by UConn – it’s worth a watch even for non-basketball fans. All Duke had to do was hold onto the ball, but after a silly pass and a near half-court shot, the tables turned.
Season 2 of Your Friends and Neighbors premiered on Friday & though we think he should’ve boarded that plane to Switzerland, we are excited to see what he gets up to this season. And also excited to add everything Olivia Munn wears to our online shopping cart – and see James Marsden on screen again!
We’ve also been enjoying Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat on Prime Video for a quick 30-minute show with some laughs (the first season is worth a watch if you haven’t seen it already!) & Apple TV’s Imperfect Women (since we read the book & loved it!).
what we’re reading
We are both still reading These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean & really enjoying it! It’s about a multi-billionaire family vying for their inheritance through a series of tests laid out by their now-deceased father who seemingly understood the value of hard work and not being handed a boatload of money.
If you want to read along with our LA friends book club, pick up The Lion Women of Tehran by Marjan Kamali.
what we’re listening to
We love the Spotify playlists that we’ve curated ourselves, but sometimes it’s nice to discover new music we either haven’t heard before or haven’t heard in awhile. This Dinner Party Mix has been our recent go-to in the afternoon hours.
In the past, we shared a link to Jefferson Fisher on the Diary of a CEO podcast (which we still highly recommend!), but we just started listening to his episode on Jay Shetty’s On Purpose podcast & we are learning even more.
what we’re eating/drinking
Caroline Chambers’ cheesy rice & beans from her cookbook continues to be on our weekly rotation for lunches – we add jalapeños, a dollop of Greek yogurt, Trader Joe’s habanero sauce, and avocado on ours (and cilantro if we’re feeling fancy)!
We’ve been making SO many recipes from Jenn Lueke’s Don’t Think About Dinner cookbook & they’ve been so fun to make, delicious, nutritious, and most importantly: easy to pull together in ~30 minutes or so!
Kel’s second loaf of homemade sourdough is currently completing its rise before baking, and not to toot my own horn, but the journey is going very well so far! Excited to perfect the bake, shaping, and “crumb” – so much to learn and it’s been so fun.
B and her husband made the most delicious homemade passion-fruit mocktails to celebrate the car purchase & now I’ll be craving them until next time they pick up passion fruit at the farmer’s market!
little joys
Hearing our toddlers sing the handwashing song from the other room with the faucet on full-blast.
Getting out of the house for B’s first family-of-four restaurant experience!
Seeing Avery so excited about her “big girl bed” – starting with the toddler bed crib transition & moving to an actual big girl bed once she turns three 💕
Finally having an SUV with a third row – so much space for storage, the dogs!, kiddos, and everything we could ever need! We ended up going with the Hyundai Palisade & it’s a beauty!
The first pool day at B’s house! We’re so excited to spend all of the hot summer days out there & just feel so lucky to have the opportunity to swim and make memories with the kiddos as they grow up!
DIY turfing the backyard! Kel and her husband have been wanting to do it for years, but they finally pulled the trigger and decided to make their rental feel more like home (just in time for the beautiful outdoor weather we’re having 😍)
We’d love to know what you’ve enjoyed watching, listening to, eating, drinking & what you’ve been eyeing and are looking forward to. Let us know in the comments section or send us a DM on Instagram – or better yet, join the group chat when you sign up for our newsletter! You can also follow us on Pinterest to see what inspires us & our abodes!