not necessarily in this order

 The Mr and I have been together for 19 years. When we began celebrating holidays (a whole other journey that we went on) in like year 3, we did this elaborate Thanksgiving for 2 in our first house. It was the first time I had spent Thanksgiving away from my parents. We made so much: a full turkey, cornbread stuffing, roasted green beans and crunchy onions, apple pie, and a pumpkin pie cheesecake.  I was sure the Mr would love it - pumpkin pie was his favorite. But the next day we ended up giving it away to friends because it was good for a piece but not for a memory: he wanted pumpkin pie like on the can . It’s what he had growing up and it WAS Thanksgiving to him.  Now, I don’t eat pumpkin pie (nor any custardy or cream pie, to be honest), but I am specific about recreating my food memories so I totally got where he was coming from. From then on, I made the pumpkin pie on the back of the orange Libby can and hoped for the best. Now, we’ve had our ups and downs with figu...

Welcome to performance day 1 of Lil Momma’s Elf Jr . the musical! We’ve had a wild few months; 7 days a week of activities, a messy start to school, tween girl dynamics challenges… it will be so nice to check this show off our list and get Friday nights and Saturday mornings back and find a better family rhythm.  LM’s call time (the time she needs to be at the theater, which is the black box small theater in the building she takes lessons in) is 12pm and she has shows at 2pm and 5pm (and we have to do it all over tomorrow). The Mr and I are seeing both shows today (I’m seeing both tomorrow while he’s only seeing the 2pm - it’s a lot of Elf , yikes), so it’s been a long thinking about what she can eat between shows, what I can eat, can the Mr run home and feed the dog between and still find parking, etc   6:45am: I woke up because my body doesn’t understand sleeping in and read for a bit.  8;15am: LM wakes up so I wake the Mr up to wake Bella up. LM takes a shower while th...

Pictured is what I just picked up from the library and below are some thoughts on what I’ve read recently! Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore 3.5 ⭐️ I found this book while cleaning and then read it all in one go. I’m a sucker for a bookstore setting and I enjoyed the movement through time and perspectives; however, the characters all felt like characters, if that makes sense. They were there to connect a web vs being messy and dense and complex. It felt too planned out when what I wanted it to was breathe. Still, a fun enough read to fly through on a lazy afternoon.  Bobbie Faye’s Very (very, very, very) Bad Day Toni McGee Causey 3⭐️ It kind of reminded me of how I felt about the Stephanie Plum books. Crass but not gross, purposefully messy heroines, and a wacky cast of friends, enemies, and families. I don’t think I ever felt like Bobbie Faye was centered enough - she felt like more a plot catalyst than a character.  We Solve Murders Richard Osman  4⭐️ I was ready t...

When Lil Momma was a tiny thing and it was winter, one of our favorite things to do was to pack up a snack-heavy picnic lunch and drive somewhere just the right amount of far away. We’d go for a chilly walk in the woods or we’d go stand near the ocean and just freeze to see the water and jump back in the car and go grab hot chocolates. Then, we’d park in front of a beautiful view and have a car picnic with some fun tunes on the radio. (For LM’s younger years, the rotation was very Taylor Swift heavy, haha!). We’d chat and eat and warm up and sip our fun drinks and it was just this little moment of joy and good bit of distraction during those toddler and preschool years.  I’m in the position, like I have been in recent years, of having to burn vacation time during the last two months of the year. Note, being more intentional with my paid time off is one of my birthday goals for next year . I try to stay out of the house while the Mr. is working and it’s been a really fun challenge ...

I’m a -ber month person ! September, October, and November are my favorites – and even our recent unseasonably less frigid Decembers can be added now.  Walks in the woods! Bike rides to peep leaves! Hiking when it’s not ridiculously hot! Usually,  it’s the brr months that get me down ; January – March can be pretty miserable, all dark and cold and wet. I have to motivate myself to get out and be present in the chill.   But this year in the prime -ber months, I am just  grrr .   When I hurt my right arch back in May, I thought I’d be out of the slogging (slow jogging) game for a few weeks but back on track by the time school got out.    When I hurt my left arch in August because of the inserts I got because of the misguided post-walking boot instructions from the podiatrist, I figured it would be sore for a few weeks, but I’d be back on track by the time school started.   When my right ankle began to swell in October during and after PT appointment...

alternate title: NaBloPoMoFOMO I really considered joining this year. I boomarked San’s post ! I made a list of prompts. I started writing in advance. I felt both excited and scared.  Then, I considered how life had been the past few weeks / months. My mind spiraling from work. Navigating so much school drama with Lil Momma. This ankle injury literally dragging me down.  In meeting myself where I’m at, I think my energy may be better placed as a super consistent commenter / informal cheer squad .   My November goals are to: - Comment on 5+ NaBloPoMo posts each day trying to spread the comments to different - and new! - blogs along with those already on my regular reading list  -Use some of my prompt list to try out some short form posts here 2x a week to help me get in a better flow in 2025 - Look for some glimmers in November . Take pictures when something brings me joy. Be a present person.  I love NaBloPoMo! It’s what made me want to start blogging and leav...