Rob and I have been so busy lately that it's a little silly--and I want to be the first to say how much I dislike using "busy" as an answer to "How are you?" I've been busy, and while I'm so excited about everything I'm working on, I think it's so important to say no to things and make time for a little bit of sanity (and maybe even downtime) here and there.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know that we got the keys to our new place yesterday! Our lease doesn't start until May 1 but our landlord is letting us start moving stuff in right away if we want to, which we will. We have our apartment until May 15, which gives us a little runway that we may end up using because of the other fun news I have--I'm writing a book!

The timing of moving while simultaneously writing a cookbook is probably not super ideal, but I am so excited about both opportunities and I couldn't pass either one up. I'll have more details for you soon, but for now I just want you to know that I'm on a super tight deadline, so if I'm a little more absent from the blog than usual, that's why. I'm going to try really hard to keep up with Freckled Italian these next three weeks though. As always, you can find me posting daily to Instagram; and my latest obsession is Snapchat (look me up with username flynnmd).

I can't wait to show you our new house and share even more details about my book with you guys! Thank you all so much for being here--your presence on this blog has truly changed my life and career for the better.

Lately I've been buying these huge bags of carrots from my local wholesale market and I can never seem to use them all before they start getting wilty. Ender's a big carrot fan, so they double as dog treats, but I still always end up throwing a lot of them away, so I thought I'd come up with some different recipes that use a lot of them at a time. I decided to start with roasting, because they're super easy and delicious and you can make huge pan of them (bonus points because they keep well as leftovers).

Ingredients: 

• One large bunch of carrots
• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:  

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a large baking sheet, cover carrots with olive oil and then season with salt and pepper.
3. Bake for 20 minutes.

Thinking about our new home! We found another house and signed the lease this week. We're officially moving in on May 1 but can start moving our stuff next week, and our subleasers aren't taking over our apartment until the 15th, which should hopefully make the whole moving process a little easier. I never know if fast and furious or slowly but surely is the way to do it, but either way moving is pretty much always the worst. We'll only be ten minutes from where we are now, but part of me is really sad to not be living in South End anymore. The other (larger) part of me is excited for a big bright kitchen, and office, and a fenced-in backyard.

Listening to On Being with Krista Tippett. What an interesting show. It is so incredibly thoughtful and I always walk away feeling like I've learned something really deep and important. I'm currently in the middle of this episode and it's really cool.

Watching Flaked on Netflix. I really like Will Arnett. We also just finished Cooked a couple weeks ago and it was so good--if you're at all interested in food, science, and/or cultural studies you might really like it. Watch the fourth episode about cheese and come back so we can talk about how cool that cheese-making nun is.

(Not) reading anything. It's terrible. I borrowed A Moveable Feast from the library but I still have to finish it--I just never make time to read anymore. What are some of your favorite books you've read lately? I need to start a reading hour every day. It's been too long since I read a full book--I want to hear your suggestions! 

Eating rice cakes with some mayo and sliced turkey. Oh my gosh. It's the simplest snack but for some reason it's delicious. I thought maybe I was just boring but I started making them for Rob as well and he loves them just as much. You have to try it.

Looking forward to this weekend! All of Rob's brothers will be here (all four of them are hardly ever in the same place at the same time) and I get to see my nephews, one of whom I haven't even met yet--everyone went to Arizona to see them last fall but I was in Virginia helping my mom after her first surgery. It will be so good to see everyone. I haven't seen my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and other nephew since our wedding almost two years ago.

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What does life look like in your world lately? I hope you have a lovely weekend!