Things I Am Thankful For This Year

Happy Thanksgiving! This year has been a ride, let me tell you! It’s also the first year we are celebrating Thanksgiving as a family of four (four, because Astra counts, silly!). 

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and share a few things I am especially grateful for this year. God has been so good to us - always - and this year is no exception.

Health: Living in the midst of a pandemic and knowing many people who suffered from the effects of COVID-19, I am so grateful for health and protection this past year - especially while being pregnant. I never take health for granted, and the same is true this year. 

Husband: I’m always thankful for my husband, and this year is no exception, but I must say that he really went above and beyond this past year in showing me Jesus and being patient with me. I’m a little crazy, but then again, who isn’t? I’m so thankful to have his support, especially in this new season of parenthood we are experiencing (Also, PTL that he has a job with healthcare that allowed me to take the year off of work and focus on recovering from burnout and growing a tiny human!).

Family: I am so grateful that we could see our family this year, and that our own family has expanded with sweet baby Z.

Opportunity to travel: We were able to find a window of time to travel and see some family this past year, and I’m very thankful for that. We had a long trip and saw a lot of beautiful things and hung out with a lot of amazing people. We got back just in time for restrictions coming back into place and were able to get some of the stir-crazy out of our systems before nesting down. 

Friends: I’m so thankful for friends! It had really been a while since we were able to live close to people we called friends and it’s been really nice this past year to do so. I also am extremely thankful for friends who are further away too! Everyone needs friends!

I’m PREGNANT?!

I will just come right out and say it: we are going to be [human] parents! It’s kind of crazy to think about, and life has been mad crazy the last few months with preparations and figuring out this next season of life. Another reason I’ve been so silent around these here parts. And no, I didn’t mean for me to be 2 weeks away from the due date before sharing. Things have just been nuts.

A first picture from this Summer in Corsica at twenty-something weeks!

Experiencing pregnancy in the midst of a global pandemic has been interesting and strange added to the dynamic of not living near family. Nevertheless, we are grateful and anxious, and seriously just all the feels about what comes next. 

I’ll be sharing some more about how things are going/went. The baby gear has been rolling in, and final preparations are being made to welcome our new little bundle, and everything is still very much unbelievable, but we are happy nonetheless. 

5 Easy Pumpkin Recipes to Try This Fall

When I think of Fall, pumpkins automatically come to mind. You can put pumpkins on your doorstep, on your dining room table, mantle, every shelf….and you can also put pumpkins in a lot of dishes! I’ll be honest, I was not always a huge fan of consuming pumpkins. Especially the soup kind. To this day, I’ve not yet found a pumpkin soup I would crave, but I do like pumpkin in other things! Mainly sweet things, really. Here’s a roundup of the favorite pumpkin recipes here on the blog.

Vegan Pumpkin Spice Loaf

I started with my favorite! I love this pumpkin bread. Not only is it super easy and quick to whip up, but it’s also very delicious. Pumpkin loaf is perfect for sharing with friends and neighbors during the holidays as well. Not to mention it’s gorgeous! This loaf is also very versatile. You can have it plain or include different add-ins such as extra pumpkin seeds, nuts, or even chocolate chips (a personal favorite of mine!).

Apple Pumpkin Crisp

I don’t know what took me so long to add pumpkin to my favorite apple crisp! I’m glad I finally did. This crisp is the perfect fall treat. I am a texture person and love the crisp topping and smooth, hot fruit underneath. Top it with ice cream or whipped cream if you like. I vote that it’s even good for breakfast. Because why not?

Homemade Pumpkin Spice Donuts

These baked donuts are the perfect treat. Whip them up for dessert, or take them to share at your next hayride! I mean, these seem like they’d be great at a hayride with some apple cider, right?

Pumpkin Pie

I love pumpkin pie, and my dear husband loves it even more. This vegan version skips the eggs and heavy cream, but is still so smooth and has the perfect, firm, pumpkin pie texture.

Nut-Free Vegan Pumpkin Pie

Okay, so I kind of cheated and added a second pumpkin pie. However, this one is especially for my nut-free friends of whom I have a lot!

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What do you like making with pumpkin?

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Where Has Amanda Been?

Since starting Maple Alps in 2015, this is the longest it has gone silent around here! Some of you have been asking where I’ve been and what’s been going on. Now that it’s my Summer Break again, I finally have the time and energy to get back to it. But first some updates.

When J and I moved to MD two years ago, it was a huge shift for both of us. We both started new jobs in different positions. My transition was personally quite difficult. I struggled to keep up with the work and expectations required of me, so the blog went on the back burner. On top of that, my work environment was less than ideal, which exhausted me even more.

Then COVID hit.

A difficult job became even harder, as I transitioned to online teaching. Graduate classes during the summer didn’t leave any time for a break, and in the Fall, I was launched back into the online and hybrid teaching sphere.

This past January, after complete burnout, I decided to finish out the school year, but that I would not return to the classroom the next fall. It was time for a sabbatical. I put my all into finishing the year strong (and on a good note) and took a few months off once the doors were closed for the summer.

So after some much-needed vacation time, I will be back to the blogging world and some new endeavors that you will most definitely be hearing about soon!

Even though I’m not 100% sure what I will be doing now, but one thing is for certain: the silence in my corner of the internet probably won’t be as quiet anymore. God has taught me a lot these past 2 years, and I’m looking forward to sharing some new things with you. I’m feeling my creative juices start to flow again, and I can’t wait to get back into doing the things I love with new energy!

xoxo

Amanda

Creating Our Space Place - Basement Progress

The year 2020 held some challenges for us, as I’m sure it did for you too. March came, and all of a sudden, things were shutting down, our offices were moved home, I started teaching online, and while a lot of things were placed on hold, a lot of things also became busier. As a result, you didn’t hear much from me last year - especially as school began in the fall. 

Of course, this didn’t mean that home projects weren’t happening. As you know, we bought our first home in 2019 and last year gave us the great opportunity to work on a bunch of house projects that we wouldn't have had the time to do otherwise. 

One of the bigger projects (besides the kitchen, which I cannot wait to start renovating) was the basement. We had planned on waiting to update it, but it just sort of happened that we were able to begin on adding some personalized touches. 

We are far from finished down there, but we have definitely made some progress.

J, as you likely do not know, has a slight obsession with space and space travel. We decided that giving our multi-purpose basement a space theme was a no-brainer. No, it’s not going to look like a cheesy nursery when we’re done, but I’m already loving how it is turning out. 

Before

After!

First, we painted the walls black. Yes, black. We toyed around with this for a long time and thought about doing just one wall, but ended up completing the whole main room. It looks great. Perfectly moody and classy at the same time. We love how it turned out. Paint is such an inexpensive way to update a room, and this was no exception. It took us about two days to finish and we love the result. Even though the basement is still virtually empty, I still go down just to enjoy the atmosphere at times. 

Next we added some not-so-subtle pieces of art. For our main piece, Photowall came through for us yet again. If you remember, last year we ordered a wall mural from them for our master bedroom. This time, we went with a giant poster to go with our theme. It was pretty simple to assemble (took less than ten minutes!), and looks fantastic.

Photowall sent us this gorgeous poster and is offering our readers 25% off this month only when you use the code maplealps25. If you’re looking for an easy but bold way to transform your space, some nice wallpaper, a mural, or even a canvas print might be for you!

We are still waiting on some furniture to arrive for our new “Space Place” thanks to shipping and demand. It will take a few months for it to arrive, so be sure to stay tuned in for more progress posts.

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Do you have a custom or themed area in your home? Tell me about it in the comments below!

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