This weekend, we are driving to Nashville to visit Elsie! Hopefully the weather is nice and Oscar can go swimming with his cousins. My son turns 1-year-old this week—time is crazy.

Do all parents feel like this first birthday might be more about them than the kid? Lol. All I mean is, of course we are celebrating Oscar and all the growth he’s accomplished this year. But also, it’s my “one year of becoming a parent” anniversary and I sure have learned a lot.

Parenthood is not for everyone but it suits me and I can honestly say, while this year has been incredibly full and hard in other ways, being Oscar’s mom is the greatest gift and this has been the best year of my life. So, we’re celebrating this week for a lot of reasons.

Here are 10 things I’ve been loving lately:

1. We recently got a Big Blanket and it’s awesome! Great for couch hangs, picnics, and we actually have ours on our king size bed right now. You can see it in the background in the photo above.

2. Elsie told me about this non-alcoholic cabernet, so I gave it a try, and it’s really good. If you’re looking for that kind of thing, I highly recommend.

I also bought a non-alcoholic beer sampler pack. We haven’t tried all those yet, but I’m excited. I still drink alcohol—I just like having options and taking breaks sometimes.

3. Although we make Chemex coffee every morning, we wanted an easy espresso or single cup of coffee option, so we bought this Nespresso machine. Works great and it’s so cute!

4. Oscar’s birthday present is a baby electric toothbrush. His dad has an electric toothbrush and Oscar is pretty obsessed, so hoping he thinks this one is fun. Lol.

5. I’m currently reading this book and loving it. It’s a nice little murder mystery. I’ve heard the second one is even better.

6. I could not be more EXCITED for the Bob’s Burgers movie. I am a big BB fan.

7. Speaking of movies, if you haven’t already seen Everything Everywhere All at Once you NEED to. It’s so charming and different from anything else I’ve seen in a few years. Really cool.

8. Already working on my foot tan lines with this blog project from a few weeks ago. The leather paint is holding up well.

9. I’ve been carving out a few hours here and there to work on the novel I’m writing.

It feels like I’m never really going to finish, but every time I save another chapter, I try to remind myself one day it will be done. I might hold a hardcover copy of it in my hands one day. Dare to dream. Manifest.

10. It’s now bake season! Recently I made a batch of these cookies, and also these bars. I took the bars to my book club and they were a big hit. Lol.

Thanks for letting me share. If you’re looking for a way to support the families of the Uvalde victims, I highly recommend signing up for the @cookingwithfiona pasta class here. xo, Emma

P.S. Here’s a link to last week’s 10 Things Sunday in case you missed it!