hi, i'm Ali
Photographer, boy mom, dog mom, chocolate-lover, reader, and wife to a busy maker. I'm the voice you hear and read at Life Outside the Shop. From new project how-to's and DIY home updates to the ins-and-outs of building a family & multiple businesses, Life Outside the Shop shares what is really looks like to figure it out as you go.
July 11, 2024
Snowshoeing into camp is one of our very favorite things to do. And doing it with an almost 11-month-old is a whole different ball game… especially in the middle of a snowstorm. In retrospect, it was too much. If we had Sunday’s 40 and sunny weather on Saturday (30 and heavy snow), it would have […]
April 1, 2024
Every “Saturday after the Saturday after Thanksgiving,” we dawn our winter coats, gloves, and hats, throw the dogs (and now, the baby) in the car, and drive to our favorite off-the-beaten-path Christmas Tree farms to make one of the toughest decisions of the year. I use “off the beaten path” lightly. It is still anyone’s […]
December 3, 2023
How do you even begin to write about something you love so much it feels like a piece of your heart exists outside of your body? How can an experience be so foreign yet so universal? What a huge change it is to go from the idea of bringing home a baby to the utter […]
January 14, 2023
Information overload: it comes from all directions when you enter a new phase of life and want to start gathering facts and opinions about whatever it is you’re experiencing. As a nutrition coach, I see it all the time with clients who come to me exhausted from Google searches and scouring social media for the […]
January 3, 2023
It’s official! We’re pregnant—baby Macy is coming in May, and we are so, so excited. Cue the blog posts about pregnancy and parenting! We started telling people relatively early. I told Sam, then quickly shot a text and pic of those two pink lines to my sister and my best friend. Then, we kept it […]
September 4, 2022
Camp is one of our favorite places in the entire world. You can read more about it HERE. We love sharing it with people we love. So, bringing our friends Lex and Sarah with us to hike, hunt, paddle, and enjoy the changing seasons was the perfect way to ring in Fall here in VT.
July 19, 2022
Building a sliding barn door for our walk-in closet has been one of the top priority projects on our list since renovating our house in 2017. Learn how we did it in our “How to Build a Sliding Barn Door” instructional YouTube video and with the steps we’re sharing today! Before the Barn Door: Our […]
July 12, 2022
And she’s DONNEEE! Our dream office is finished, decorated, and ready for us to get to (actual) work. Enjoy <3
July 11, 2022
Journal Series #3 It’s easy to get stuck thinking I’ve seen all there is to see around the home we’ve created for ourselves here in St. Albans. It’s also easy to get stuck in a routine and forget how quickly we can throw our paddleboards on the back top of Sam’s truck, text our friends […]
July 7, 2022
7:00 am57° & sunny≈ S 2mph94% humidityJournal Series #2 I wish I had woken up in a campervan this morning. Specifically, Actually, I wish I woke up on TOP of a campervan this morning, unzipping the sides of a rooftop sleeper to the cool air and the sounds of life: Birds calling to each other […]
