What an exciting week! The past 72 hours have been a whirlwind. First and foremost, we launched our liturgical year eCookbook: Feast! and the response has been amazing. We had no idea what to expect and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the encouragement you amazing readers gave us during the writing process and the support you’ve given the book now that’s it’s out. 48 hours after it’s release, we had already sold 100 copies! You are amazing. It was such a fun project for Daniel and I to work together on from growing the food, to learning about saints, to creating recipes, photographing, writing, and now finally sharing the work of so many months with you. When we launched the book, it felt like I was inviting each of you over to dinner. Yay! Thank you for supporting us. It means more than you know when you share about the book on your blog or Pinterest or Facebook. And so many people have told me that they bought copies as Christmas gifts for friends and family members. I wouldn’t have even thought of that! Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can’t wait for the Feast of St. Andrew (the first recipe in the ebook) on the 30th so that I can hear about your feasting! And if you haven’t grabbed your copy yet, they’re on sale through Thanksgiving for $4.99 (then the price will go up to $7.99).
But that wasn’t the only exciting thing that happened on the blog this week! The brilliant Lauren Gulde of Santa Clara Design gave Carrots a whole new look and I couldn’t love it more! I’ve told Lauren this, but I’ll say it again, what amazes me about the redesign is that I couldn’t have verbalized exactly what I wanted, and yet, she knew just how to make it look like I’ve always always wanted it to look. I love the new logo!
And the design clean and fun and warm and cozy and I just want to snuggle up with it and drink a hot cocoa. It’s beautiful and I spent way too much time this week just clicking around my own blog like a big loser. If you’re in need a blog designer, you should know that Lauren is a brilliant genius. Aspiring bloggers, be sure to check out Viva the Blog, her blog consulting business. So awesome. If you’re seeing this post in a reader, you simply must click over to the actual site and see the brand new gorgeousness of Carrots!
Coming Up in the Liturgical Year: The Feast of St. Andrew on November 30th! You can find our Tahini Tilapia recipe (above) for St. Andrew’s Day in the ebook. And the First Sunday of Advent (Stir Up Sunday) on December 1st. I can’t believe Advent is really almost here! I don’t have a crafty bone in my body, but I made a crafty friend (hi, Jennifer!) and she helped me make an Advent garland out of felt. Now, I just need to decide where to display it since we don’t have a fireplace or a mantle (Florida problems).
In the Garden: Greens, greens, and more greens!
(Benjamin, King of the Crowded Backseat and Baby Entertainer. Yes, we fit all three kids in a Camry.)
The Quotable Benjamin (Age 4):
To Bass Pro employee: “Can you PLEASE take these Christmas trees down?! It’s not even Advent, yet! Ridiculous!”
Me: “Benjamin, how did your sword get on the shed roof?”
Benjamin: “I don’t know. It must have just fallen up there!”
(Doesn’t she look like Lucy Pevensie from Narnia in this one?!)
The Quotable Lucy (Age 2):
“Daddy loves me and Mama loves me and Jesus loves me and Pope Fwancis loves me! We have to pway for Pope Fwancis. He doesn’t have a good job.” *shakes head* (I had been telling her that we need to pray for Pope Francis because he has a hard job. Hilarious.)
Links:
Kendra has already tried my Slow Cooker Black Beans and Rice Recipe from the ebook and gave it a rave review.
Christy, Bonnie, Mandi, and Kaitlin gave Feast! a shout-out this week and Kelly included it in her post, Inspired Reading: Great Books from Great Catholic Women over at This Ain’t the Lyceum.
Here’s some recent links I really enjoyed:
A Love that Never Ends: Catholic Exchange
Grocery Store Evangelization: House Unseen
Handmade Jesse Tree Set Tutorial: Catholic All Year
Don’t forget to grab Feast! while it’s still on sale!
If you don’t mind me asking, why is Lucy’s car seat rearfacing? Most babies I know turn around to front when they’re close to a year. I don’t doubt that it’s probably safer, so I’m just curious.
That’s right, Lexi. It’s a safety thing. It’s recommended that car seats are rear facing until a child is 2 years old. Lucy just turned 2 and I’m just keeping it that way until she revolts. It’s 5 times safer than front facing!
Has she shown any signs of revolting yet or are you still winning? Haha it must have to do with the neck muscles then, right?
Not yet! So far so good 🙂 I’m not sure if it’s neck muscles or just height?
I’m so excited to watch all this unfold. It really is a great book! I hope you sell 5,000 of them. I think 5,000 people should own this book.
Thanks, Kendra 🙂 And thanks for the review!
My three are similar ages, and my almost five year old son is also king of the back seat/watcher of the rear facing sisters. In the same Radian. Forward facing make sure the straps are at or above his shoulders (they keep growing when you aren’t looking) and the chest clip is at his arm pit level.
I have a similar garland and it goes over our dinning room window. We have a felt ball one over our TV too.
Great reminder, Leigh! Since the rear facing straps for the girls should be at or BELOW the shoulders, I often forget that his straps need to be above his growing shoulders. It is probably time for an adjustment!
Oooo! We have doors that go from the dining room to the back porch. That might be a good place! Thanks for the suggestion.
Yay! I’m so glad your book is doing so well! I can’t wait to buy a copy for myself and start reading 🙂
Also, your kids crack me up haha.
Happy Saturday!
Thanks, Rachel! They are funny little munchkins 🙂
The site looks GREAT!
Thanks, Anne! Coming from a gal with a really fantastic blog design, that’s high praise, indeed 🙂
Hi Haley,
I’ve been reading your blog for the past year and I love it! Thanks for being so inspirational to women/families all over. I just purchased your eBook and I can’t wait to get started. My husband and I recently moved from southern California to Portland, Oregon and I think I’ll feel a little closer to home while celebrating/feasting through the liturgical year via your eBook!
~Kelly
Aw, thank you, Kelly! I hope you enjoy the book and I hope you settle into Portland 🙂
I love Lucy’s part about Pope Francis. 🙂
Just bought your book and SO very excited to read it! My husband thinks we should print it out and put it in a binder 😉
Also, love your site redesign–so pretty!
Happy feast of Christ the King!
Yay! Thank you, Danielle! And thanks for your sweet words about the redesign. Santa Clara Design! Hope this feast day is wonderful for you and yours 🙂
Bought the book… now I need to make that cute garland! 🙂
Thank you so much, Tamara! I hope you enjoy it 🙂
As for the garland, I did the very technical job of cutting out the circles (ahem) while my crafty friend sewed them together. It didn’t look hard for somehow who knows how to handle a sewing machine (not me.) 😉