lemontree3...Coming Soon!

This Wednesday, June 30, I'm launching a new blog with two of my besties. It's called lemontree3 and we hatched the idea late one night in March. Now we're making it come to life. In fact, you already know these two friends of mine because I wrote about them here. I'm so excited to be blogging with them. They're both good writers and have interesting things to show and tell. I hope you'll be even more enriched by reading lemontree3 than you've been so far by a-lemon-tree. You can subscribe to our new blog here.

As it did with the name, lemontree3 will probably also take over a lot of the content of this blog, though I haven't yet decided what to do with www.a-lemon-tree.com. Dissolve it completely? Take it in a different direction? Any ideas?

Thanks for reading, friends. I am so honored that you'd share life with me.

XOXO,
Jocelyn

My Favorite Things for Summer

For one of my baby showers last fall, my sister (who is married without kids - yet) bought me a gift bag-full of her favorite things for fall. She told me, "I don't know about babies or what they need so I got you this instead." I'll never forget that gift. I absolutely loved it. It helped me stay fashionable and trendy as a new mom during a season when I didn't have too much energy to think about myself. Plus, I loved opening each and every item and hearing her commentary about each one. So here are a few of my favorite things for this season. Take them for yourself or as gift ideas if you so desire.

*nautical stripes on anything and everything

*boat shoes (If you decide to invest in a great brand like Sperry Top Siders, go with a classic color - navy - like I did.)

*color: coral! (I bought a pair of jeweled H&M hair clips; my friend Steph gave me OPI's new Hot N Spicy nail polish; my mom gave me a J.Crew cardigan for my spring birthday. Plenty of coral to saturate my summer.)

*black patent leather peep-toe flats (A classic that will span several seasons and an overall wise update for my wardrobe.)

*vanilla italian sodas with fresh lime (vanilla syrup + club soda + ice + fresh-squeezed lime slice = yummy and refreshing goodness!)

*Burts Bees shimmery body lotion with royal jelly (A pampering gift from my friend Brenda when I had a baby - I love this stuff!)

Happy summering!

How to Make Your In-Laws Happy

I had a sublime idea (if I do say so myself!) that I wanted to share with you all so that you can claim it as your own and reap all of the happy benefits. I call it: A picture a day for a month. I don't know where the idea came from. I guess God.

If you're unmarried or don't have kids yet, archive this one for future reference.

For every day this month, my husband and I are emailing one picture of our 6-month-old Howard to his grandparents (and my sister). Sometimes it comes with a little caption; it always comes with the subject line: A picture a day for the month of June. They LOVE it. They might even text you if it gets to 8pm and you haven't sent a picture yet. I seriously feel like the daughter-in-law of the year. And I'm really not. And it's so easy (especially if you have a smart phone) and really fun!

Disclaimer: Be selective and wise in who you send the pictures to; not many people can tolerate a picture of your little one (as adorable as he or she may seem to you) every day for 30 days straight.

Just to whet your appetite, this was today's entry:

Mom took me on a bike ride in our new bike trailer...