Just before the holidays, Jon and I enjoyed a day in Rockport, inspired by a kind invitation from the Town of Rockport. Though we were there for less than 24 hours, I simply fell in love with this seaside town and know we will visit again soon! Just 45 minutes north of Boston (and commuter rail accessible!), Rockport is replete with awesome. And as we explored, I realized that I had a great Local Gems feature on my hands!

Today I'm featuring 14 picks I discovered during our little overnight trip. However, I am certain based on the reading material I reviewed that there is tons more to explore -- both in seasonal shops/restaurants and attractions more conducive to flip flop weather! Think of this feature as the Rockport winter edition; once I have a chance to explore further during the spring/summer, I have a feeling I'll have a lot more gems to share!

1. Blue Lobster Grille. Casual, comfortable, and bustling with activity, Blue Lobster Grille was our first stop when we arrived in Rockport. The food was hearty (and generously portioned!) and props to the availability of local beers. Be sure to hit the ATM in advance as this is a cash-only cafe.

2. Lula's Pantry. Foodies (and foodie gift givers) will delight in Lula's Pantry. Filled with pretty kitchen accessories and food gifts (including lots of locally made items), my only struggle was with the overwhelmed-by-awesome factor. I spent a considerable amount of time paralyzed in front of the gourmet salts and gorgeous tableware options. (Total first world problem, I know.)

3. Rockport Art Association. Rockport is clearly an artist's haven, with galleries seemingly at every turn; it reminds me quite a lot of Wellfleet and Kennebunkport. If you're looking for a starting point, head to the Rockport Art Association, which offers exhibits and educational offerings.

4. The Tuck Inn. Rockport's range of accommodation options shows that the town is clearly ready for visitors. And if you're looking for a homey, cozy option just steps from Bearskin Neck, head to The Tuck Inn. Owners Liz and Scott Wood make their guests feel like family, and if you enjoy baked goods, PREPARE YOURSELF. The breakfast buffet was bursting with fresh fruit, yogurt, an incredible warm homemade applesauce, and a truly crazy array of baked treats. Scott even sent us off with a goodie bag of delicious baked treats to take home to the girls. (My girls will love you forever, Scott.)

5. Toad Hall Bookstore. I adore indie bookstores and Toad Hall donates 100% of net profits to environmental charities (FIST BUMP, Toad Hall!). The entry floor is small but packed with titles and if you've got the legs to try the narrow spiral staircase, you can ascend to used and sale titles upstairs or children's books downstairs.

6. Brothers Brew Coffee Shop. Coffee on vacation tastes even better than coffee on a regular day and Brothers Brew doesn't disappoint. They also offer killer homemade donuts for 94 cents. I almost never buy donuts but here I couldn't resist. And it was hard to stop at one. (Now that I think of it, I'm wondering why I stopped at one.)

7. Milk & Honey. Milk & Honey is such a tantalizing gift store that I visited and shopped twice within an 18-hour period. Filled with gorgeous home goods, bath products, and specialty food items (e.g., fancy marshmallows, condiments), it was very, very easy to shop here (for others and, er, myself). I recently learned that 95% of the locally owned small businesses in Rockport are woman-owned (I don't know about you but this makes me want to shop there even more) and the woman who owns Milk & Honey (as well as a small clothing/accessories store across the street) has impeccable taste. Also, I loved that the owner's mom was working the cash register during our first visit. Hooray for moms!

8. The Paper Mermaid. The Paper Mermaid is a small shop offering a delightfully curated array of paper goods, gifts, and toys. As a former employee of Paper Source, it was fun to see some of PS's wares for sale there. I picked up some lovely kids' gifts there.

9. Rockport Music Shalin Liu Performance Center. The former semi-professional musician in me nearly passed out when we peeked into the Shalin Liu Performance Center. Rockport offers a truly impressive range of cultural programming year-round, and what blew my mind was the stage's oceanfront backdrop. Simply magical. I admittedly totally fantasized about playing my college recital programs in that space.

10. The Grand Café at Emerson Inn By the Sea. For a more upscale dining experience, head to the elegant Grand Café at Emerson Inn By the Sea. The stately 36-room seaside inn is on the Historic Hotels of America registry and The Grand Café conjured a similar feeling of grandeur, complete with live piano playing. From appetizers to dessert, the food was delicious (the seafood stew was amazing and seemed to include many pounds of seafood, which I devoured in entirety) and the cocktails delightful.

11. Halibut Point State Park. It was quite cold and windy when we were in Rockport, but nothing could keep us from exploring Halibut Point State Park. This oceanside state park includes breathtaking quarry views (no rails or ropes; keep back from the edge!) and trails that lead to the ocean. The ocean truly is my happy place and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was moved to tears by the beauty and vastness down on the rocks. Also, this may sound slightly crazy crunchy, but I was quite excited that the porta potty at this site is hooked up to a composting system.

12. Helmut's Strudel. Tucked away towards the end of Bearskin Neck and set back a bit off the road, I couldn't resist this strudel house. I mean, I totally applaud a baked good purveyor that wants to go narrow in a niche! And Helmut's delivered. The warm little cafe was a respite against the cold and offered quality strudel at an affordable price.

13. Bean & Leaf Cafe. Open year-round and offering cafe seating with a gorgeous view of the water, the Bean & Leaf Cafe is a good spot for families to refuel; plenty of kid-friendly offerings, coffee, and treats.

14. Motif #1 Rockport Harbor. There's a reason this red fishing shack/barn (known as Motif #1) in Rockport Harbor is one of the most photographed structures in the United States. I couldn't help but let out a happy little sigh when I saw it. And I immediately took out my phone to snap this picture.

Want more Local Gems? Check out the Arlington Center, Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Coolidge Corner, Huron Village, Easton, Jamaica Plain, Lexington, Medford, Natick, Newton North villages, Watertown, and Wellesley features. And if you'd like to pen a Local Gems guest post, contact Christine at editor@bostonmamas.com to check on availability.

Disclosure: The Town of Rockport kindly invited me to visit and I was invited to stay at The Tuck Inn and enjoy dinner at The Grand Cafe gratis. All opinions about these two gems (and the other 12 featured here) are, of course, my own.

Image credits: all images via linked websites or associated Facebook pages, with the exception of Halibut Point State Park, Motif #1, and the first thumbnail, via Christine Koh.

I had a teacher in fifth grade. She told us this story:

I had a cat when I was a child. Someone told me that cats always land on their feet.

I took my cat to the second-floor balcony and dropped it. The cat landed on its feet.

"Interesting," I said, "but not necessarily conclusive."

I took the cat to the first-floor balcony and dropped it. It landed on its feet.

"Interesting," I said, "but not necessarily conclusive."

I took the cat one step up from the ground and dropped it.

It landed on its head.

And so began my education.

*I do not believe this was a true story. But I'm 40, and I still remember it. Well played, Mrs. Crum.

Today's Lessons Learned essay (see submission guidelines here) on standing back comes via Kim Kalicky, author of Mothers Fulfilled and Away at a Camp in Maine. Thanks so much for sharing this essay, Kim!

The hardest thing we'll ever have to do as parents is stand back and let our children be who they are and who they are meant to be...especially if it happens not to be what we expected or hoped.

Oh, we thought when they were babies, toddlers, and middle schoolers that the physical aspects of clothing, feeding, and sheltering them was taxing and exhausting (albeit extremely joyful and enlightening), but that was just physical. To me, dealing with the physical is always easier than dealing with emotional.

It's a challenging balancing act coaching, leading, and teaching children how to be giving, thoughtful, kind, and productive citizens of the world -- yet competitive enough to survive in work and play on the long trajectory thorugh childhood and adolescence and then into college (if they choose to attend) and the work world.

So when have we arrived?  When do we step back, let go, glide, and hope the coaching, leading, and teaching has met some success?

I told my son at his 18th birthday that I thought it was time for me to stop giving him advice. His eyebrows rose slightly and his eyes opened a little wider in laughing question. I said I wasn't clear if it was 18 or maybe 22, after college...I wasn't quite sure. He said I'd never stop giving him advice -- to date, every day of his life had been a moral lesson. (Every day? I'm sorry!)

I decided it was probably 18, because at that point an adult's advice to an adult child becomes criticism, no longer advice. His character was formed by middle school; by 18, at his core, he was who he was meant to be. I said, rest assured, I'd always have advice (and a quote or two or moral lesson) and opinions, but I'd keep them to myself unless asked. If he wanted my advice, I was always there for him, but I needed, as surely as the sun rises each morning, to respect him and his decisions for who he was and love him for that and only that.

Allowing children to be their own people, apart from us, is the ultimate quest and the hardest part of the parenting journey. Understanding they are not "ours," but totally their own beings on their own journeys takes introspection to arrive at acceptance. We've just had the honor and privilege of coaching, leading, and teaching them on their quest...and standing back when they see for themselves who they are and what they want in this life.

Do you want to submit a Lessons Learned essay? See submission guidelines here.

Image credit: Drawing by Kim Kalicky's son, who is a student at Savannah College of Art & Design for game design/computer animation.

No matter what I do, I never get people's addresses right on holiday cards. Then they start coming back, and most of the time, I'm all screw it, Christmas is over and we can stop pretending this is a fun thing to do.

Apparently holiday greetings make everyone ragey.

Especially people who live where my BIL and SIL used to.

*shakes fist in the direction of Cedar Rapids*

I have this metal, over-the-door snowflake/flower hybrid with a bunch of slots to hold holiday cards. Despite my bad attitude today, I do very much enjoy watching the flower fill until I can only see the pink epicenter. It makes me feel loved to have so many people in my life who want to show me what they and their children look like. (The letters, maybe not so much, but that's a personal preference.)

There's a flip side to this loved feeling, and that is the guilt feeling that comes from throwing them all away. I tried telling myself I was hanging on to them until Epiphany, but that was like, last week.

It's time. And that means it's time to let go of the six remaining cards in my little box, too. People can see what we look like again in eleven months.

Goodbye, carefully designed, rounded-edge, heavy card-stock lovelies! I can't wait to see what you all look like next year!

How long do you hold on to holiday cards?

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you had a great weekend! After a really stressful week, I was so relieved to recalibrate a bit over the weekend. Though I'm still in caregiving mode, I also was able to help celebrate a friend's 40th, engage in plant therapy, and experiment with some cooking. Amazing how restorative those simple things are! Anyhow, let's get rolling with a great week, starting with the Weekly Blueprint:

January 13: Mass General Hospital for Children presents a children’s health education day. (Boston)

January 13: It’s Toddler Tuesday at Legoland. (Somerville)

January 13 - 25: The Pied Piper of Hamlin puppet show world premiere. (Brookline)

January 14: Learn how to make your teeth happy!. (Acton)

January 14 - 19: Design, build, and explore a mini city constructed completely out of cardboard. (Acton)

January 14: Que Bueno! A storytime en espanol. (Boston)

January 15: Get up close and personal when the art comes off the wall. (Lincoln)

January 15: Just what does a distinguished scientist do all day? (Worcester)

January 16: An interactive musical performance with musicians From the Top. (Boston)

January 16 - 19: A film festival for the whole family. (Belmont)

January 16: Curious George storytime is back. (Cambridge)

Image credit: The Discovery Museums

Happy Friday everyone, I hope this week has been treating you well! It's been a very tough one for me personally, but I'm feeling a million times better after getting out for a run this morning (that line "I run to burn off the crazy" is no joke!) and I'm ready to tackle the day! If you're looking for something to do this weekend, enjoy this curated list of 18 picks via the Weekend Roundup. Also, I encourage you to collect winter gear to donate this weekend!

1. Especially for Me evening at the museum for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. (Acton)

2. Magic show with Rupayan Neogy. (Acton)

3. Stories from Snowy Lands puppet show. (Arlington)

4. A magic show for smart people. (Arlington)

5. Live performance by Voices Boston. (Boston)

6. All about penguins family day at the aquarium. (Boston)

7. Warm up in the tropics of the zoo. (Boston)

8. Time for breakfast with the gorillas. (Boston)

9. The final day to hold onto the holidays. (Boston)

10. Spend the morning with Debbie and Friends. (Brookline) 

11. The world premiere of The Pied Piper of Hamlin puppet show. (Brookline)

12. Boston’s Celtic Music Festival. (Cambridge)

13. Kids in the kitchen making chips and hummus. (Canton)

14. Snow shoes and stone soup. (Dover)

15. An MLK Jr day mitzvah project. (Framingham)

16. Meet wild animals from New England and beyond. (Harvard)

17. Make a winter nature journal. (Lincoln)

18. Spend your Saturday seaside. (West Tisbury)

Image credit: Downtown Boston

As I watched my Facebook feed explode with outrage over today's school closing, one thing was crystal clear: a major concern involves the fact that many kids lack winter gear suitable for walking to school or waiting at bus stops in the frigid weather. So let's do something about that, shall we? Here are 8 ways to donate winter gear to kids in need, in Massachusetts and beyond. If you're home with your kids, take 15 minutes to gather items for donation!

And if your kids need winter gear, check out pickup details at the linked sites below. I'm so grateful to these organizations for the work they do to help so many.

1. Room to Grow. Probably one of the most well know agencies in the Boston area, the mission of Room to Grow is to build a strong foundation for babies in poverty. Focusing on children aged newborn through three years old, donations of all gently used or new clothing and baby gear is accepted at their main location in Boston, as well as other various donation locations. Tax receipts are provided.

2. Cradles to Crayon. Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12 living in homeless or low-income situations with essential items such coats, clothing, shoes, toys, books, and school supplies. All clothing types, including winter gear, are accepted and appreciated. The main donation location is in Brighton but there are many others around the state and the online tax receipt makes it easy to claim the donation come tax time.

3. Catie’s Closet. Catie’s Closet provides a unique solution to kids in need by setting up “stores/walk in closets” right in schools so children in pre-K through grade 12 have immediate access to what they need.  Catie’s Closet's drop off location in Dracut is open the first and third Saturdays of each month from 9am – 12pm. In addition to clothing and winter gear, they accept toiletry items. A most wanted items list is listed on their website.

4. Second Chances. With several drop off locations in Somerville, Cambridge and Watertown, Second Chances makes donating gently used clothing and winter gear really easy; as long as it is wearable, they’ll take it. The openings of their donation bins are only 2 x 2 so make sure to place your clothing, shoes, and accessories in a small or medium-sized plastic garbage bag (no hangers and no boxes). Second Chances does not provide tax receipts for items donated.

5. Boston Medical Center Grow Clinic. The Grow Clinic at Boston Medical Center in Boston depends on donations in order to assist their clients. Food, supplements, toys, and clothing for children ages 3 – 8 years old is highly needed and appreciated. Call a few days before your anticipated drop off, or if you’d like a tour of the location, a few weeks before.

6. Burlington Coat Factory. Until January 19, families can donate coats for men, women, or children at most Burlington Coat Factory locations via BCF's Warm Coats & Warm Hearts Drive. Drop off boxes are found at each location and once your coats are dropped off a greater will present you with a 10% off store coupon. Coats do not need to be dry cleaned beforehand but should be in good condition.

7. Gifts to Give. Gifts to Give is housed in a former golf ball factory and focuses its giving primarily to the south coast of MA. They accept most gently used clothing and toy items for newborns through school aged children, though there are some things they don’t take, so be sure to check this list before heading to their main Acushnet drop off location or any of their other locations.

8. One Warm Coat. One Warm Coat is an aggregate site that lists donation locations by state (just pop in your zip code to find donation locations). While it may take a bit more digging, you’ll surely find a coat donation location somewhere close to you.

UPDATED 1/8/15 TO ADD #9. There are likely options right in your neighborhood! Check with schools in your town about donation/pickup options. Also, sometimes police/fire stations or other community organizations will host donation drives.

Image credit: Christine Koh

Kizzy's been begging to be taken outside on his harness every day. He doesn't care that it's cold. He doesn't care that people keep asking if we got a dog when they see us from across the street. He doesn't care that he's a pussy (SEE WHAT I DID THERE) when it comes to loud noises.

Or maybe he does now.

Usually it's me that takes him outside, but the other day I went to pick up a prescription and some stuff for spaghetti and came home to this.

I stared at Beloved. "How?"

Him: "There was a loud noise. He freaked out at the garbage can."

Me: "But ... how? There's no blood. No cut."

Him: "I know. Um? I don't know. He's magic."

HOW?

Though I'm a huge proponent of public transit (I used to take the bus into Harvard Square and then the train all the way to Forest Hills alone as a third grader!), I fully realized the utility of cars when we were struggling to hold onto our one-car status after Vi was born. Juggling a stroller, bags, carseat, and two kids to the Zipcar station was truly onerous! I've since viewed cars in a new light and am excited to head to the Boston Auto Show next week as an ambassador with Chevrolet and SheBuysCars. Now, a few things about this event:

1. Want to come to the Boston Auto Show? I've got a pair of tickets to offer up to one lucky winner! The two (2) tickets are good for any one day of the show (January 15-19). I will be on the floor January 15 if you'd like to come meet up with me -- I'd love to meet you! To win the tickets, email editor@bostonmamas.com with "Boston Auto Show" in the subject by noon Friday, January 9, 2015.

2. I'm going to participate in a design salon the evening before the show starts and I'd love to bring any car design concerns you have to the table. Specifically, we'll be talking about where design inspiration comes from and how our experience and needs as consumers and parents impact design. So cool. As a designer, I dig this sort of thing! E-mail me or comment below if you have questions or concerns you'd like me to raise.

3. One of the cars that will be the focus of the day is the Chevrolet Trax and -- having finally entered the world of SmartTV and the ability to sync up the TV to my phone (#mindblown) -- I can't wait to check out their phone connectivity system (again, #mindblown).

4. I'll primarily be sharing live from the event next week via Instagram if you want to follow along there!

Disclosure: I'm serving as a compensated ambassador for the Boston Auto Show via Chevrolet and SheBuysCars. All thoughts and opinions resulting from my coverage are, of course, my own.

Image credit: Chevrolet