Welcome to Hot Chocolate & Holding Close, a personal growth blog about wellness, relationships, parenting, pets, home maintenance, and writing.
Recent Blog Posts
Winter Date Ideas: Covid Edition
Finding ways to get on dates during the winter is hard enough. Add in Covid-19 and your winter date options become even more limited. Especially if you focus heavily on social distancing. My husband and I have not been out to eat in a restaurant since probably...
Choosing a Word of the Year: 2021
Many people like to start the New Year off by setting New Year’s resolutions. I have never once felt the need to do that. Instead, I have recently started selecting a word of the year. This was inspired by one of my favorite podcasts, Happier with Gretchen Rubin. I...
Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 4
Week 4 of the Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge was by far the most difficult week so far. Not in that it was hard to do, but it was just extraordinarily dull work. Sorting through papers is by far one of my least favorite tasks to do in keeping up my house. Nonetheless, I...
Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 3
Week 3 of the Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge focuses on books and magazines. The way the days are split up on her website really splits the week up significantly for books. Again, I didn’t keep to the exact day splits that she has, but this week, I did do the challenge...
Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 2
Week 2 of the Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge focuses completely on clothes. On her website, Marie Kondo recommends splitting the tasks up into individuals days. On the first day, you are supposed to take out all of your clothes and pile them into one place. I could not...
Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 1
Since having a baby, my house has felt increasingly cluttered and disorganized. Often, over the past two years, I have considered doing a Marie Kondo tidy challenge to get everything in order. I even tried starting it a few times, only to lose steam and give up after...
All About Torticollis and Plagiocephaly in Babies
Learning about torticollis and plagiocephaly in my newborn was something I never thought I’d have happen when I first was pregnant. I had never heard of them until I started asking questions at the doctor’s office when I noticed some strange things in my daughter...
What is a Radon Mitigation System and How to Replace It
Replacing a radon mitigation system is something I never thought I’d be doing. Honestly, when I first bought the house we live in now, I didn’t even know what a radon system is. The realtor kept making a huge deal out of this radon system and how great it was that the...
Christmas Gift Ideas for Pets
Thinking of Christmas gift ideas for your pets can be tricky. You just never know if quite what your pet will like or how well the toys will hold up. For the longest time, my pets were my “kids”. In true pet parent fashion, I love to spoil them with gifts during the...
Signs of Anxiety You May Not Have Noticed Before
Determining whether your anxiety is normal level anxiety or borders onto anxiety that needs treatment can be difficult. Signs of anxiety can vary in every person, so determining if you have enough or severe enough symptoms to get treatment can be difficult....
