May Monthly Musings // From The Inspired Abode
April was a much better month than March (besides the birth of baby Cal, of course!) & we are so grateful for our health. We started off the month with the sweetest at-home Easter Sunday brunch & egg hunt, cherished family time, tried new recipes, reunited with friends thanks to pre-baby celebrations & enjoyed sunny early dinners!
May marks two years since we moved from Los Angeles to San Diego, and we are just overjoyed with that decision. While it doesn’t feel like we’ve been here two years, it really does feel like home. We’ve put down roots, are growing our community, and we’re finding our “go-to” spots – with so much more to discover as individuals, couples, and a family as the kids get older ✨
Kel & fam have been making excellent use of their new SUV by getting outside & exploring places we’ve had on our must-try list since we moved. If you’re local, check out San Dieguito County Park – multiple playgrounds, picnic benches, hiking trails (including one to a cool suspension bridge!), easy parking, plenty of room to explore & public park bathrooms that literally smell like vanilla & cinnamon.
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
Both of our kids are in the midst of their big bed transitions from their crib and so these are what we bought to make them functional, cute & fun for them.
Avery’s room:Upholstered bed frame, pink ruffle “bed in a bag” set complete with sheets, comforter, and pillowcases, and the prettiest (& softest!) rug.
Cameron’s room: Queen bed frame with rails, truck & construction vehicle sheets, duvet cover, and truck decals that literally look like wallpaper they’re so cute.
Both rooms:Leesa youth mattress, Naturepedic organic waterproof mattress cover, inflatable bed rails, and adjustable pillows.
We are both very tempted to see Ina Garten IRL at this event in San Diego in November. Do we do it?! Maybe tickets will sell out before we have to make the decision.
How cute is this oven mitt & pot holder set? With all of this sourdough bread baking, it might be time to treat myself to a (very inexpensive) upgrade!
Also, shoutout to Great Jones for the prettiest Dutch oven that’s been putting in work this month – pro tip: follow the directions & wipe it down before putting it in the oven, so it doesn’t get brown patina marks on it like our beautiful white one did!
Kel & her husband will be going on their baby moon in Laguna Beach (staying here!) this month & so we are scoping out all of the amenities & vibes ahead of time to get even more excited.
what we’re watching
Still loving this season of Top Chef, but we feel like there isn’t really a stand out contender this year… We were thinking one of the twins until the last ep, so who knows?!
The Imperfect Women finale is this week & it’s been so interesting to see how it differs from the book. It’s very close but also very different – like they are almost worse people than they were in the book. Curious if the ending will match up!
We will probably start season 2 of Your Friends and Neighbors next. We have been loving the press snippets between James Marsden & Olivia Munn – who knew they’ve known each other since she was in high school in Oklahoma!
what we’re reading
Surprise, surprise… thanks to being pregnant (Kel) and exhausted (both), we are both only capable of reading like 2 pages before falling asleep, so 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.
what we’re listening to
I guess we’re on a Diary of a CEO podcast kick because B listened to his “Brain Rot Emergency” podcast from February this week & it is fascinating. It’s a conversation between the host, Jonathan Haidt of The Anxious Generation, and Dr. Aditi Nerurkar, a Harvard physician & stress expert.
Highly recommend if you’re feeling like you can’t help the grip your device has on you or if you have kids & want to learn more about how to keep them off screens as much as possible. It’s very much an “it’s not you, it’s biology via the stimuli we’re exposed to” problem.
what we’re eating/drinking
B is on an overnight oats kick (10 years too late – we know)! It’s been such a delicious & easy breakfast when mornings are tough… and WAY better for you than just grabbing the 5th Lara bar of the week. She is loving this recipe from rachel mansfield!
Kel’s homemade sourdough obsession is in full effect & it’s been so fun to try different recipes, techniques, timing, etc. to try to find her go-to “signature” loaf. Also very excited to try some other sourdough recipes & discard recipes – like these sourdough tortillas, Cheez-It inspired crackers & bagels ??
little joys
Both kiddos being in their “big kid” beds & just cuddling up with their sheets, covers & stuffies
B hosted the cutest sprinkle in Newport Beach to celebrate Kel’s baby boy & it was just such a joy-filled day surrounded by all of our girls 🤍
A surprise breakfast in bed with a special delivery of coffee + pastries after a rough day or night 🥐
Seeing Cam & Avery have their own little conversations, playing pretend together, and just being little humans. We are so surprised by their vocabulary and sentence structure & they’re not even 3 yet?!
Realizing that instead of listening to your usual radio station or podcast in the car by yourself, you’re practicing how to sing songs from Moana in the right pitch 🥹
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!