It’s Friday! Never have I ever been sad to see it arrive but this week felt like even more of a crawl toward it. Cheers to you if you’re happy about it too!
This week’s tiny victory: I’m off work today for one last day of fun before our son starts kindergarten on Monday and my child who usually makes a move on the ipad before breakfast made it until something like 3pm before asking for some screen time. Who is this kid?!
This week I’m grateful for: A rock star team at work who always make me laugh and has made a tough few weeks survivable / getting to meet Jacob’s kindergarten teacher (in a masked up drive through school supply pick up) / that vacation day that happened today – so needed.
Things of note that I’ve enjoyed lately…
How pretty are these linen headboards?! Dominique shared them recently and I have them saved in case I ever decide to step up my home decor game.
Late night Etsy shopping and I want all the vintage style jewelry. Beauties like these 1 / 2 / 3 catch my attention and I’m currently obsessively tracking an order for one I bought like the third one but with Jacob’s birthstone.
My husband will watch just about any sport on tv which more often than not can be a little annoying (like world championship darts?!), but sometimes he comes across some entertaining stuff. A replay of the death diving world championship is one. Yes it’s a thing if you want to check it out too!
Ordered my second one of these dresses, in black this time, and yes I will be living in it.
Second coffee is always necessary in the early afternoon and with this contraption I’m taking some sweetened condensed milk and then brewing coffee into it. One of the things I miss about physically going into work is being close enough to plenty of places to walk and grab a latte so this feels like a nice little treat.
Peaches! Quite possibly my favorite thing about summertime. Every year we get a 25 pound box from The Peach Truck and that’s my fix for the year. The best way to eat them is to just slice one right up and eat it fresh. This peach mango salsa recipe is one I go back to year after year, nothing beats a peach crisp, or a galette – like a pie, but easier!
But my favorite way to put them to use them is to drink them, in the form of a peach margarita. I’m loose with how I make my drinks with a little of pour in a little of this, dump in a lot of that kind of approach. If you prefer something a little more direct, this recipe looks pretty delicious! If you like to wing it like me though, then here’s what you do:
– peel and slice a peach and put it in a blender with tequila and a little bit of limeade, blend until it’s nice and smooth looking
– pour it in a glass until the glass is about a third full and throw in a little bit of simple syrup
– fill the rest of the class with more limeade – jalapeño limeade if you like a little spice to your drink and live near a Trader Joe’s.
Then grab your sunglasses and head outside to enjoy it in the sunshine! Cheers!
Then if you’re ready to head back inside into the kitchen, here’s some other peach recipes I have my eye on but have yet to try:
The most neglected section of my closet since March is undoubtedly my jeans. If I’m home all day, I just can’t bring myself to put on something that involves buttoning around my waist. Can you? I hope someday when we’re back to whatever version of new normal a post pandemic world allows for that they’ll forgive me and we’ll be reunited again. But for now, I’m sorry loves – you’ll just have to wait.
This dress was a Target clearance find and an impulse purchase for sure. It’s a piece though that I can throw on if I want to feel like I stepped up my game just a little bit all while staying as comfortable as I would have if I stayed in my pajamas. When it’s back to the office, I can easily see this belted with a woven belt (like this one – or this can be a good item to thrift!) and a pair of mules like these. Still comfy, still cute!
Exact dress is sold out, but same brand and similar style available here!
My favorite recipes are the ones that are so easy to tweek along the way that you can barely call it a recipe. Guidelines, more like. This quinoa and brown rice salad one is exactly that. I’ve put it together several times, often with leftover rice and quinoa mixed with a few staple ingredients in our kitchen before being finished off with whatever is currently in our pantry. That last part seems especially helpful during a time where a quick grocery store run for just that one more ingredient you want feels irresponsible. Cooking in the time of corona I guess.
First part, the foundation if you will:
¼ cup quinoa
¼ cup brown rice
2 tbsp lemon olive oil
2 tbsp honey
Cook the quinoa and brown rice together, using whatever method you feel most comfortable with. Stovetop, instant pot, go wild. Our favorite way is with our Zojirushi rice cooker, one of those great never knew we needed it and now we don’t want to live without it type gifts from my dad.
I can’t find the exact model we have, but this one looks close at a price point that doesn’t make me cringe. In case you need some convincing, here’s Bon Appétit making the argument for you along with some good information on which settings to use for cooking mixed grains. Quinoa and brown rice? Cook on the white rice setting!
Throw the rice in a bowl with the lemon olive oil and honey and mix.
The fun stuff:
½ cup dried fruit – blueberries and cranberries are my favorite
¼ cup seeds & nuts – sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, pecans, pine nuts to name a few ideas
½ cup diced cucumber
2 tbsp feta or goat cheese
your favorite seasoning
parsley (if you have it, no big deal if you don’t)
a pinch or two of sea salt, preferably the big flaky kind (Maldon is always stocked at our house)
This is the part where you get to just throw in whatever you happen to have or get creative! Blueberries and cranberries are my go to favorites for the dried fruit. I’ve used sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, pecans, and pine nuts for the seeds and nuts, just to name a few options. Don’t have a cucumber in the fridge? Leave it out this time! The seasoning is important, but exactly what it is might not matter much. Most recently I just grabbed our Grillmates sweet & smoky rub out of the spice cabinet and threw in a few shakes of it.
And that’s it! Mix it up, serve it, throw any leftovers there may be in the fridge.
*Side note: I’m the only one in my house who eats this and this works as a side dish for me for about 3 or 4 meals. Double it up if you’re feeding a group!
Parenting in a pandemic while we work from home means that for a long time now, my only way to get true alone time was to head out for a long walk. My favorite way to do that is headphones in and getting lost in my head for awhile. And in my head lately? Learning about racism – the blatant and the type that slips right by your radar if you’re a white person not really paying attention. So I’m trying to do better about paying attention because when you know better it makes it really hard not to do better.
So here’s a list of my favorite podcast episodes I’ve found that are helping me do that and some additional resources I have bookmarked after listening and will be working my way through. A note though: yes, all but one are shows with a white host and I’m not sure how I feel about that. They’re great episodes with fantastic content, but I am mindful that I can be more intentional to bring podcasts created by Black content creators into my regular listening.
I’m learning some valuable lessons and hope you are (or already have!) too!
Resmaa Menakem is a therapist and trauma specialist and his description of the generational trauma that is passed down biologically was fascinating. Think like this, the stress hormones produced by a mother’s body while pregnant are released into her body and can contribute to whether her baby has a sense of safety and security even after birth. Just think of how important that is to a newborn! He talked about how our bodies are always asking first am I in danger or am I safe, and I understood after listening that a black mother in this country will feel less safe far more often than a white mother.
Buy his most recent book, My Grandmother’s Hands, here / Take his course here
Ibram X. Kendi a bestselling author and Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University. He talks about racial disparities, like the ways in which we generalize the individual negativities of people of color while we individualize the individual negativities of white people. He defines the difference between not being racist and being anti-racist and it was a pretty big eye-opener for me. His voice is an important one to pay close attention to in order to learn more about what is wrong with policies and understanding how they contribute to continued inequity.
Surprise, surprise – another Brené Brown episode but I can’t help it, I’ve loved her work and the conversations she’s having for a long time. This episode is with Austin Channing Brown who is a writer, a speaker, and a media producer championing the work of racial justice. Her description of anti-racism broke it down real simple for me: “the work of anti-racism is becoming a better human to other humans”. Yep. Put like that, how can you not feel compelled to learn more? Listening to her made me realize that yes, I consider myself a good and kind person, but I can and should do better.
Buy her book here/ Check out the show she co-hosts, The Next Question, here
I feel like people either love Dax Shephard or they can’t stand him, but I’m in the love him camp. (Being a huge Parenthood fan may have something to do with that!) In this episode he talks with Jennifer Eberhardt, a social psychologist who is a Stanford faculty member. She goes into detail about the negative impact racial bias can have on us, the factors studies have shown contribute to racial disparities within the criminal justice system, and her work in police reform.
Buy her book, Biased: Uncovering the Hidden Prejudice That Shapes What We See, Think, and Do here/ Listen to her Talk Talk, How racial bias works – and how to disrupt it here
This podcast was a favorite of mine a few years back when I was introduced to it, I think when it was newer. Phoebe Robinson and Jessica Williams are two hilarious Black female comedians and best friends hosting a live comedy show in Brooklyn where no topic is off limits, for real. They talk sex, romance, about their hair, and race just to name a few and for me it’s been an education on what black women deal with daily (and so many WTF moments caused by stuff white people do/say). Language and content warning though for sure! Put those headphones on and be the person laughing to themselves if you have kids or co-workers in your company.
I tune into this one when I need a good laugh and know I’ll always learn something too. Sadly their podcast is done, no new episodes anymore. But their old seasons will give you lots to listen and laugh along to!
Buy Phoebe’s books: You can’t Touch My Hair: And Other Things I Still Have to Explain here, and Everything’s Trash, But It’s Okay here
Hello! I’m having some fun and kicking off this new blog where we can talk about all the little things that happen right here in the ordinary of every day because it’s my absolute favorite thing to do.
Life’s big plans are fun and I want to hear those too so I can live vicariously through you, but I’m just as interested in the smaller scale every day stuff. I love to hear what the best book you’ve read lately is, what you’re currently in the middle of learning and experiencing, what the most inspiring/irritating/funny/concerning/etc thing you’ve heard today is. Or what’s stressing you out about life right now (there’s a lot right now, isn’t there?!) and I absolutely want the scoop on that new favorite top/dress/purse/piece of jewelry, whatever is it that you’ve found. Give me the details please!
If that sounds like you too, then good! Let’s be friends! I’d love to have you visit again soon.
Life in the Ordinary 