Good morning, friends!
Lately I’ve been really missing sharing some of the behind the scenes stuff on this blog like I used to do back in my F&F days, so I’ve decided to bring a little of that back. I will be sharing a monthly “Coffee Talk” post where I tell you guys what’s going on in my life lately, share some articles I think are worth the read, and basically just chat!
Just pretend we’re sitting down in a cute coffee shop having coffee together. 🙂 Here’s what I would tell you:
First, that Tim and I are officially homeowners!
We had been casually looking for houses since last spring, but decided to go all in with the house hunting this fall. We totally lucked out with our situation because it was the first offer we put in! Several of our friends have had to put in 10-15 offers before one was accepted, so we were totally not expecting this at all. I wrote a letter to the seller explaining why we wanted to live in this house, and she said she was so touched by it that she wanted us to have the house! Aside from that, Tim and I are attractive buyers because we didn’t have any contingencies with our own property to sell.
Everything moved very quickly over the past two months, and we officially moved last weekend (on the day it was snowing, of course!). We’re still unpacking and getting settled, but that’s to be expected.
We are so excited to start this new chapter of our lives and in a place that’s so close to so many people that we love. My best friend, cousin, and goddaughter will all be in the same town as us, and we’re about 15 minutes away from my parents and brother.
I also want to give a shoutout to our realtor, Courtney! We couldn’t have done it without her, and she was so patient with us, helping us every single step of the way.
I’d also tell you that I got a new fitness teaching job!
A couple of weeks ago I was scrolling through social media and saw a post on the Fit Revolution Instagram page about their open spin instructor position. I decided to try out on a whim and am so excited to announce that I have officially joined the Fit-Rev instructor team!
They currently have a location in North Reading and will be opening their second location in the Lynnfield Market Street shops in January. I’ll be teaching FitRide (spin) and FitTread (treadmill/bootcamp combo) classes at the brand new Lynnfield location. So, so excited to join this community!! Local peeps, would love to have you try a class. Message me about it!
I’d share some of the fun stuff I’ve done in the past couple of months.
Like Friendsgiving with my besties, for tradition!
Like the engagement party I went to for our friends Steph and Andy. It was the first night that I laughed really hard in what felt like a long, long time.
Like the Light Up Seaport Event downtown. Tim and I really wanted to do something festive together this season since we opted out of our annual Portsmouth getaway because of the timing of buying our house. We saw the Seaport tree lighting and then went to celebrate our new house with a nice dinner together at a new restaurant, Oak and Rowen. Highly recommend!
Like the Beacon Hill Holiday Stroll with my friends Bridget and Slesh. We enjoyed some shops, drank wine in the streets, and grabbed dinner together after at The Tip Tap Room. It was one of those nights I could have sat there talking and catching up forever.
And like getting to dress up last week for Tim’s work holiday party. It was held at The State Room with beautiful views of the Boston skyline.
On the not so great news front, I’d tell you that my website was hacked this week.
Yep. By an actual legit hacker. I came home from the gym on Thursday afternoon, opened my site, and to my disgust, there was this nasty, scary-looking picture staring back at me telling me that I’d been hacked.
I’ll spare you the details of my panic about losing five years worth of blog posts, lots of crying, and many hours spent on the phone.
Instead, I’ll share a couple of lessons that I’ve learned from the situation:
First, have backups in place. I am so, so thankful that when I signed up for my hosting provider, I included a backup add on where backups of my site are made every day, every week, and every month. Because of this, I was able to get everything back except for any pictures that I’ve uploaded to my site since June of this year. In the grand scheme, I’ll take it.
Second, don’t buy the first security package that you’re told you needed. When I first called my hosting provider, they were not the ones to inform me that I had backups in place! Instead, they connected me to their partner security company, and said company tried to sell me a plan for $99 per month with a required year commitment that would find and clean up the infected malware files, put some future preventative measures in place, yada yada. Something about it didn’t feel right to me, and I’m glad I didn’t just jump on that in my state of panic.
Instead, I reached out to Collin, the web designer I hired about a month ago, to ask him his opinion and to see if he’d be able to help me in anyway. He got to the bottom of everything, cleaned up everything, and had my site back up and running, with newly installed backup and security plug-ins, within 24 hours. Amazing. If you are looking for someone who can help you with not only web design, but internet marketing, security, speed of your site, the whole package, Collin is your man!
Finally, I’ve learned that hacking can happen to anyone. My first thought was, WHY ME? What good would it do the hacker to have MY website? Now he has all my recipes and workouts?
But Collin informed me that hackers attack smaller site to show they can, to gain access to saved passwords and then use them elsewhere (like bank logins), to try and turn your site into a virus, or to hold your site for ransom. The ransom hack is what happened to me. They shut it down and put their own message up saying I could pay thousands of dollars to have it released. Ridiculous!
I’d also share some links that I love and that I think are worth the read!
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Making a to don’t do list versus a to do list is an interesting take on productivity.
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“Self care is not all salt baths and chocolate cake, it’s making the choice to build a life you don’t regularly have to escape from.” Best article I’ve read on self care in a long time.
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This holiday survival guide for sad people is everything, especially the last few lines. “I will always be sad about it. But I’m not limited to sadness. Our happy selves and sad selves can live side by side.” For anyone going through any type of loss, hardship, or grieving, definitely sit down with this one and know that you aren’t alone. <3
And finally, I’d tell you that I’m thinking about my sister every day.
Readers, let’s chat! If we were sitting down for coffee, what would you tell me?
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