You guys, I made crepes for the first time! Or should I say, hubby and I did. I have been wanting to try making crepes ever since I had my first taste as a kid. My mom would whip up a batch on a Saturday morning and add fresh strawberries and homemade whipped cream – so delicious. Fast forward a few years later and I took my first trip to Paris, France where I tasted crepes fresh from a stand on the Left Bank. I was hooked. Now I seek them out everywhere and have found multiple options in Cleveland, Ohio. One is the West Side Market crepe stand, where the line often wraps around the other stalls with eager anticipation. The other is Brewellas in Lakewood, where you can savor delicious sweet or salty options in a beautiful space. Recently, I learned of a French tradition La Chandeleur, a Feb. 2 religious holiday sort of like Groundhog’s Day in the US but centered around crepes! I must celebrate next year. So I needed to know how to make them! Off to the kitchen I went…

First of all, what the heck is the KonMari method? It’s the term Marie Kondo uses (Kon + Mari) to define her method of tidying a home in her book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up”. Second of all, is it really life changing? Well, let’s see… I first heard about Marie Kondo about a year ago on NPR. The host was sharing examples of people who had tried the KonMari method and one was a gentleman who was holding onto a college textbook because his mom had passed away while he was taking that course. Once he sat with the item for a minute to determine where it still “sparked joy” (one aspect of the KonMari method), he realized he was keeping it to hold on to the memory of his mom. He was able to say “thank you for being there for me when I needed you but the memory of my mom is not in this book”. My husband and I were driving in the car listening to this story and both of us welled up with tears. Fast forward to reading her book and in 2019 seeing Marie Kondo now has a show on Netflix, meant it was time for us to really try this method. Here are the highlights of what I learned:

It’s almost that time of year again when sweethearts remember to honor their loved ones and singles question the value of this holiday? LOL. I prefer to think of Valentine’s Day as a simple celebration of love. Whether in a relationship or on our own, we can all agree that love is a many splendored thing, no?! But by love I don’t mean sappy, romance-only love. I mean the kind of love you can experience with friends, family, your partner, or your pet for goodness’ sake. So when celebrating love, why not buy yourself or that friend/lover a treat this year. I’ve curated a list of goods that I own or would love to own (hint-hint to my husband) from local to Cleveland makers and creatives; most items you can purchase online. I am not sponsored by any of these makers other than myself :, I just love their goods. Happy shopping!

When you first think of travel to New York City in the winter, do you think “oh no, it’s going to be gray and cold, what will we do?” I know, I know. Heading to the city that never sleeps doesn’t seem like much fun if you have to huddle in your hotel room the whole time! But maybe you don’t have to. Sometimes winter months are the only time you can get away. And it can actually be really great to travel during the winter. Lines at restaurants and events are shorter. Prices can be cheaper in the off season. And who knows, you might discover an activity you would never been able to experience had the weather been warm and sunny. Recently, I found myself in that exact situation. And I found more than enough to keep me busy and experience this famous city, weather be damned!

As I examined the tiny figurines curious to learn their story, the seller exclaimed “la fève, la fève, pour galette des rois”! I thought to myself “beans for cake”? My French leaves much to be desired, so luckily a fellow shopper noticed my confusion and explained in English that these figurines were small charms used in a traditional cake called Galette des Rois or King’s Cake. We were in France at the vintage and antiques market in Aix-en-Provence where the vendor we discovered had hundreds of these darling pieces.