Weekly Obsessions

WOAH IT’S BEEN A MINUTE

I’ve been saying to myself, ‘Man, I wish there was a way I could share all this good stuff I’ve been listening to, doing and finding without having to post on Instagram like every two seconds.” Then it hit me. WEEKLY OBSESSIONS! It’s been so long since I’ve done one of these! Let’s get into it.

MUSIC:
BRAXTON COOK: I don’t consider myself a knowledgable jazz music fan, but even knowing next to nothing about the genre, I know this is good. I know it’s legit and inspiring and soooooo great to listen to when you need an extra boost of hustle for your work day. I know it makes sense to my ears. I love this guy’s work!
Dear Evan Hansen Soundtrack: yes, emotions, amazing, yes, love, so good, omg, this. amen.

Professional Basketball:
Nate and I watched both nights of ESPN’s 30 for 30 special on the Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers rivalry. Up until now I’ve only ever been a college basketball fan, but this documentary showed me that I genuinely love the sport in general (not just college version of it) and will most likely become a Celtics fan in the near future.

Ancient copies of the Natick Bulletin (the local newspaper):
I spent probably an hour last week looking at old maps and reading the June 1883 and June 1931 copies of the Natick Bulletins at the library. It was SO interesting. And so crazy to see the old ads for businesses that are STILL around & the ads for businesses that are long gone, streets that are still the same, ect. The column called Natick Locals really made me laugh. It was a list of “Mrs. So and So is summering at the Cape” – and we thought telling people where we are at every moment is a new concept. And rent was $7 a week! :O I’ve always had a thing with learning the history of a place I live in. I don’t need to know any of these things, but I feel like a better citizen when I do. I want to know more. I want to know why THAT building is the town hall and where the first fire station was and who originally lived in THAT gorgeous house, you know? Maybe I’m weird. 😉

Summer Sunsets:
Needs no explanation. Top 3 most favorite parts of summer (other 2 are ice cream and swimming 😉 )

Weekly Obsessions

- Stephanie Leave a comment

END OF SUMMER KAYAKING
Nate and I didn’t do as much kayaking as we would have liked this summer due to travel, busy weekends and general “it’s way too hot for this” vibes. This past weekend was sooooo fall-y, though, that we went kayaking two days in a row! We even got to catch the most perfect sunset up in NH.

CIDER SEASON
With the end of summer comes the beginning of cider season. Being the adventurous humans we are, Nate and I have tried a couple new brands recently. My personal favorite has been Citizen cider, while Nate has been digging Stowe’s product. I also want to give a shout out to Lookout Farm‘s new cider, it’s good and luckily they are located just up the street from us! I’ll definitely be supporting local this season. 😉

CASTRO + CARLY RAE + ARIZONA
My three music picks for this season are pretty different from each other! Castro is a singer-songwriter sibling trio who have honest lyrics and impeccable harmonies. Carly Rae Jepsen, I believe, is the unofficial queen of pop, and ARIZONA has some serious electronic beats that are a perfect addition to your running playlist. Listen to my fall playlist with jams from all these artists here!

Have a great week!!

WEEKLY OBSESSIONS

- Stephanie Leave a comment

It’s been just over a year since I started blogging for fun again (affectionately known as fun-blogging 😉 ) and I wanted to celebrate with a Weekly Obsessions post! Here are some of my recent favorite things!

Sparkler Inspiration Shoot – I always have 2-5 photo shoot ideas wandering around in my head and sometimes I actually get to make them come true! This one was based on summer, sparklers and pure best friend fun. Go to my photo blog to see!

STOK cold brew – I discovered this cold brew recently and I can’t get enough! Buy a jug of it at the grocery store (for the price of one Starbucks iced coffee!) and you’ll be in cold brew heaven for at least a week! Bonus, pour some into your ice tray and have coffee ice cubes, too 🙂

Saltbox Kitchen – There are way too many awesome, delicious restaurants in my surrounding area that I haven’t tried yet! Luckily, yesterday I stopped by Saltbox Kitchen for lunch and it was the best place to eat I’ve been to in a while. The best part is they use all their own, locally-grown veggies! Maybe I should set a goal of eating at one new restaurant per week. Metrowest Boston peeps, where else should I go?

The end of July – July has been SO hot and a lot busier than normal, and I’m a little relieved that it’s ending soon. Just being honest. August is bringing a couple weekend trips with friends and hopefully not-constantly-in-the-90s weather, so I’m looking forward to that!

Weekly Obsessions

- Stephanie Leave a comment

ICED GREEN TEA
Summer means iced drinks. Coffee is good, but sometimes I want to switch it up, so I make my own iced green tea! I steep the tea bag as usual, then drop in 5-7 ice cubes and add a splash of almond milk. It’s a summery drink that has some health benefits too! (I don’t know the health benefits, but you can google it.)

THESE THREE ALBUMS
Guys, music is so cool. I love music. Did I mention music is my favorite. I can’t stop listening to these three new albums. My ears are so happy.
– Maren Morris’ sassy and smart debut album ‘Hero’.
– My ever-favorite Matt Wertz’s new sound on ‘Gun Shy’.
– Jon Bellion’s incredibly creative and real “The Human Condition”.

ECHO PRAYER
I only recently learned about Echo. It’s an app that reminds you to pray! It’s so simple: you make a list of all your prayers, set a reminder, and then pray when the notification comes up. It’s been very helpful in making time for intentional prayer and I would really recommend it!

SUMMER FARMER’S MARKETS
My town’s farmer’s market is a 37 second walk from my house. I go every Saturday morning and get a bagel and love my life. The cool thing is that 3 times this summer (June 25, July 30, Aug 6), I will have a table full of artwork for sale at that very market! It will be a new experience to be on the vendor side of the market and I am excited! For more info on Natick Farmer’s Market, go here.

Happy Friday!

Weekly Obsessions

- Stephanie Leave a comment

MY 2000’s CHRISTIAN MUSIC PLAYLIST on SPOTIFY
Talk about nostalgia! I grew up in a Christian family, and while I definitely listened to the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls, a lot of my music choices were in the Christian music realm. I had mostly forgotten about these songs until about a week ago, and then promptly went down the Spotify rabbit hole to find every single one of my past faves!

RICK STEVES
Wow, this man and his brand have been a LIFESAVER (mostly a sanity-saver) while planning our Europe trip! Nate and I have almost exclusively been using Rick’s books and website to plan our trip to Italy + Barcelona. Rick is just so helpful, and I love how he covers the touristy areas, but also the lesser known areas of cities as well.

BIG MAGIC
I went into reading Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert already knowing many people who had read it and loved it, so I had big expectations of this book. Sometimes having those kind of expectations about a book can be a let down once you get around to reading. But, I’m happy to announce that Big Magic was anything but a letdown! I was drawn in and inspired pretty much immediately in the first chapter! Loved it, it’s a must read!! (P.S. I’m doing a giveaway on my photo blog! End next Friday.)

FRISBEE
Whenever we have a free hour on a nice weekend, Nate and I take to the field near our house to throw the frisbee at/to each other. It’s fun and active and during the summer you can get a pretty good tan. We’ve actually gotten pretty decent over the years and we’re thinking of starting our own ultimate team in town… jkjk… but… maybe…

Happy Friday!!

none of this is sponsored. as usual, i’m purely obsessed.

Stephanie Rita

creative life in New England