Hey friends – how goes it? It’s been kind of a chaotic week over here – the kids are back at school (after being out almost all of last week with a stomach bug), but the time change has thrown off our whole routine and everyone is a bit grumpy and out of sorts.
Hoping we settle in soon… but seriously, can time changes go away already?! And also can we stay in the other time (the one where we have an extra hour of time and light in the morning, not this time)?!
Ugh. We did get to enjoy a very epic sunrise at the end of yoga yesterday morning, though, thanks to the time change – the class ends at 7 and the sun was just rising out the window as we wrapped up.
It was gorgeous – one of the best I’ve seen recently! This photo does not really do it justice, but I tried.
Anyway – here are some things I’m loving lately.
Things I’m Loving Lately
1) Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore (<-recipe)
Have y’all tried this recipe yet? It’s really delicious – even the kids actually ate it (shocking).
We enjoyed it earlier this week and I’ve been noshing on the leftovers since.
Another food thing I’ve been having on repeat lately is wraps stuffed with rotisserie chicken, black beans, cheese, salsa, spinach, microgreens, cilantro, and hot sauce. Sooo delicious and filling and really easy to throw together.
(Not the best photo, sorry!)
2) Zara’s new favorite snooze spot.
The stroller! Wes was delighted to find her in there the other day and started making all sorts of noise to get me to come over and see. So cute!
She sleeps in there almost every day now and apparently thinks it’s hers (we store our stroller inside as we don’t have a garage).
Also, how sweet are Wes’s little curls? His hair is getting so long!
It’s starting to get in his eyes a bit and I feel like he might need a haircut soon but I don’t want to cut off his baby curls! We’ll see…
Speaking of Wes, another thing I’m loving is that all of a sudden he started talking a ton last week! He’s been delayed on his words (pediatrician said to give it a couple more months before bringing in a professional), but suddenly within the span of a couple days he started saying all sorts of words (yes, Riese, light, beep, gentle, more, nana for banana, etc.).
It’s so cute to finally hear his little voice (he’s always made a lot of noises that sounded like talking, and he likes singing/humming songs, but there were no legit words until now besides mama and dada). When he says “Riese” it sounds like “eese!” So adorable.
3) We Can Do Hard Things Podcast
I love love LOVE this podcast, it’s so good. I have only listened to probably 40 of the nearly 200 episodes, but the ones I have listened to are always so good.
A couple recent favorites: Facing Your Fear of the Ordinary with Amanda Doyle (as a wandered/adventurer at heart, this one really resonated with me), and Five Criticism Survival Strategies (relevant for all women, but especially excellent for those of us working in the social media/digital realm).
There are so many good episodes it’s hard to choose just a few, but those are two recents I especially enjoyed. Older favorites of mine were the episodes interviewing Dr. Becky – love her – and one of their very first episodes called “Overwhelm.”
4) Spring flowers.
Kathleen and I did a run last weekend (I joined her for the first part of her long run – sigh, feeling really really sad I can’t do the half marathon with her tomorrow) and how gorgeous were these flowers with a view of the Washington Monument?
I felt really good for the 4.5 miles we ran together and was tempted to keep going with her, but knew it was smart to stop. My hip was a little sore after so probably for the best I didn’t push it and risk tweaking it again.
I’ll end this post with a request for book recs. I just finished the Court of Thorns and Roses book series (<- Amazon affiliate link) and am having a major book hangover – they were SO GOOD and I’m really sad that I’m done and don’t have reading them to look forward to at the end of the day anymore.
I need something new to read that’s fun and engaging and a nice mental escape at the end of the day. What’s the best fiction book you’ve read lately?
And/or have any of you read any of the Court of Thorns and Roses author (Sarah J. Maas)’s other books/series? Curious what you thought if so! I’m tempted to start something else by her since I enjoyed her writing so much!
