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Luc River

Chelsea HarrisonComment
Luc River

In the early hours of July 26, we welcomed our son Luc River into the world. Eight pounds five ounces and absolutely perfect.

The perfect water birth I envisioned turned into a nightmarish day of laboring with an infection that made each contraction more painful, fever, vomiting, and weakness, his heart rate soaring, him inhaling meconium, me hemorrhaging, him in the NICU for 8 days. Childbirth is REAL. More real than I anticipated. I have more respect for mothers than I could have ever imagined. While I have recovered physically (mostly), recovering mentally will take some time. 

But despite our rocky start, I've never been happier in my life. Luc is such a happy, healthy baby, constantly smiling and giggling. The spitting image of his dad. The love of my life.

 

 

Chelsea Harrison14 Comments

Coconut Rosewater Floral Popsicles

Nothing says spring quite like flowers.  I have been flower crazed lately.  So when I saw edible flowers at the market I couldn't resist.  I brought them home, not sure what I'd do with them, but knowing that I had to have them.  Then at Yoga Teacher Training we volunteered our time at Crack in the Sidewalk Farmlet, and we ended up harvesting edible flowers ourselves.  So by the end of the weekend I had more edible flowers than I knew what to do with.  Knowing they wouldn't last long, I decided to make floral popsicles to preserve their beauty.

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Coconut Rosewater Floral Popsicles
Chelsea Harrison4 Comments

Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Mint & Ricotta Salata

When you plan a wedding in Atlanta on the eve of the Summer Solstice, you know one thing: it will definitely be hot.  Despite the nearly 100 degree heat, I decided to have a dinner outside the night before the wedding.  We asked a few people to bring dishes and had an intimate potluck style dinner on the porch of a glass treehouse.  As hot as it was, salads were definitely the perfect food.  So I recreated a sugar snap pea salad from the dinner to share with you.  With mint and lemon, this refreshing salad is the perfect thing to eat when it is too hot to turn on the oven.

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Sugar Snap Pea Salad with Mint & Ricotta Salata
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6 Tips for Planning a Wedding on a $5K Budget

When Sam and I decided to get married, one thing was clear: We were not going to splurge on a wedding. I wanted to elope, but Sam wanted a wedding, so we began planning. The average cost of a wedding is about $30,000. We are incredibly practical people, so spending enough money to put a down payment on a house for one party was out of the question. We set a goal of spending $5,000 knowing that we would probably go over and spend closer to $10,000. But the more we planned, the more we realized how little we really needed and the more we got excited about proving that we could actually make a wedding with more than 150 guests (we have HUGE families) happen on a shoestring budget.  Here is how we did it...

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6 Tips for Planning a Wedding on a $5K Budget
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How to live in less than 500 sq ft and LOVE IT

Having lived in New York for a few years, I am very familiar with living in small spaces. Now that I am back in Atlanta, all of my experience living in tight quarters is paying off. My current home is 438 square feet.  Two of us plus 3 cats live here and we are completely comfortable. Scroll down to read some of my tips for making the most out of a small home.

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How to live in less than 500 sq ft and LOVE IT
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Travel: Joshua Tree

For our honeymoon we knew three things: We wanted to go somewhere warm and sunny. We wanted it to be somewhere completely different from home.  And we wanted to keep it affordable.

We decided on Joshua Tree after finding TONS of great Airbnb's at reasonable prices close to the entrance of the National Park. I couldn't make up my mind so we actually booked two different Airbnb's and split our time. We flew into Los Angeles, rented a car, and drove the 2.5 hours to the high desert. 

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Travel: Joshua Tree