I completely admit to not being a big meat eater. I eat my fair share for sure, but ribs are an occasional treat. William uses this super simple recipe and the ribs come out juicy with a crispy outside every time. Here’s how you make them: salt and pepper ribs on both sides. Place on a baking sheet with a rack and cook at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, turning over half way through. Remove from oven and generously add BBQ sauce, place under broiler for a minute or two, repeat for the other side.

Something as simple as ribs is a welcome treat after the complicated last few months we’ve had. We moved to the country and everything that could go wrong, did. You know the feeling, when simple things are super complicated? Like calling for the cable installation 6 times. And our cell phones dropping calls, so much so, we had to switch carriers. We also moved during Mercury Retrograde, which I would highly recommend against! Everything is all fixed up now, and we’re quickly replacing our rolodex of chic Manhattan restaurants with home repair professionals. This move was a major culture shock for us, but one thing I can tell you is: we love this house. It’s totally worth it and once we get an in ground pool, I just might never leave.

Here are some funny transition notes from a city slicker:

– We now have a membership to Sam’s Club. What the whaaat?! I’ve never seen anything like this and we were completely confused on what to buy. Finally we settled on pecans and toilet paper.

– We still don’t know how to have a conversation about which bedroom is where in the house. We’ve named one bedroom the ‘west wing’ and still have no name for the other rooms. The third floor is a distant joke when it comes to verbally giving someone a location. We’re used to living in Manhattan, having one bathroom, one bedroom and everything on one floor. Now we have 8 bedrooms, and three floors and 4 bathrooms. Walkie talkies? I admit to calling William while we’ve been in the house at the same time. Nero started crying when we left him on the third floor and we had to go get him. He was just standing there confused and crying. LOL. Poor thing.

– This joint is muddy. And I mean muddy. I’ve worn my Hunter boots way more in the last month than I ever did in the city. Now I know why we have a ‘mud room’.

– I never knew about sulfur in water, it smells like rotten eggs. Now, I’m a total prima donna about this and wanted it fixed ASAP. Nope, a water softener won’t do it. You have to get this super fancy water filtration system that has multiple layers. I felt like we were civilized people when we had clean smelling water.

A little link love:

– I’m obsessing about which colors to paint out house and browsing Farrow and Ball. Hopefully we’ll have a color story next month.

– Nero was included in the calendar designed by Kelly over at Design Crush. I always know I like someone when they are passionate about animals. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Kelly because not only is she passionate, but she acts on it. During natural disasters Kelly will take in homeless animals and volunteer at shelters. I’ll say it like it is: buy this calendar, it’s for a wonderful cause.

– Check out our Thanksgiving table over at Design*Sponge. This was a fun photo shoot because we had to figure out a way to deal with our less than perfect walls. The same weekend, my high school girl friends were visiting and they were great sports about the photo shoot and removing two layers of wall paper.

– Amy at This Heart of Mine featured us in her Maker column. It was an honor to be featured! It was fun to share a little behind the scenes.

– Check out our Instagrams of our holiday decorating. It’s the first time. We’ll step it up for sure next year.