five things Friday: winner chicken dinner edition

Ever draw one of those dinner-planning blanks where you think, "what have I even ever cooked for dinner before in my life?!" That's definitely been me lately (winter + covid blahs, anyone?), but luckily I managed to remember a few winner (chicken) dinners lately that I have used in the past, and resurrecting them has rescued me out of this meal planning rut a bit. And in the process, I even found a new one that I plan to try out this weekend in the instant pot...

1. Chicken gyros: this feels like a bit of a summer meal because it's light and fresh, but I love it any time of year, especially because it is so easy. I chop up and marinate the chicken while Hendrik is having his after-school snack, and then when it comes time for dinner I just dump it all in the pan to cook in its own juices, and dinner is ready within about 15 minutes.

2. Pressure cooker salsa chicken: will report back, but I think this looks very promising and easy for dinner this weekend. All of the supplies are lined up and ready to go.

3. Panko chicken nuggets: talk about a crowd-pleaser. It takes a bit of work to dip all of the pieces in the panko, but worth it. For the grownups we like to make it slightly fancier by doing a "smoky ketchup" - a mix of 1/2 ketchup, 1/2 bbq sauce that just takes things up a notch.

4. Chicken tostadas: I'm sure I've mentioned this recipe because I've been making it for YEARS, though I had forgotten about it for a bit until a couple of weeks ago. It's delicious, and the other great thing about it is that if I plan it, it means I'm actually planning 2 meals - on day 1 we have 1/2 of a store-bought rotisserie chicken, and then on day 2 we have the remaining meat in these tostadas!

5. Za'atar chicken and couscous: this was in a Hello Fresh box we got at some point, and I saved the recipe card to remake it as it was so good. It requires slightly more specialty ingredients than the rest of the recipes on this list (but nothing super hard to get) yet it is still really quite easy to get onto the table. Don't skip the lemon crema (though I usually make mine with whole milk yogurt rather than sour cream), as it really makes the dish. Peter was especially pleased when I came back across this recipe card recently.

Okay, that's a lot of chicken, but chicken is so easy - a good compromise on re-introducing some recipes to change things up, without breaking my brain. Bonus though that there are a lot of different flavors here, from Mediterranean to Middle Eastern and Mexican and in between. Can't go wrong with any of these - bon appetit!

reading lately: rogue women

I know I've said it before, but I love when reading a variety of books brings up some interesting connections in themes among them, even in books that are entirely different genres. And here's another roundup of some commonalities that I couldn't help but notice - these three books might read nothing alike, but in my mind they all connected because the stories show women taking matters into their own hands, perhaps stepping outside of societal expectations, or going a bit rogue... 

 

The Whisper Network

Friends Sloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita have worked at a high-profile Dallas firm, Truviv Inc., for years, but suddenly things are going to shake up big time when the company's CEO dies and their boss, Ames, is likely to be promoted. They all have their own individual history with Ames and because of that have always kept quiet about the whispers of inappropriate conduct that have surrounded him. But when this promotion seems to be in the works and they see his interactions with a new young female recruit, they decide they're no longer going to just stand by on what has generally been corporate office status quo. Of course, taking down one man for sexual misconduct will have large repercussions all around - for other men in the local business community who are named in a secretly updated Excel list of accusations that is circulating among the female employees, and of course taking a stand will have repercussions for the four women at the center of the story, in terms of exposing their buried secrets, possibly hurting their career ambitions, affecting their family and friend relationships, and more. I found this a very satisfying read, with the juicy workplace drama combined with a bit of legal thriller feel. So many things in the past few years have been compared to Big Little Lies, so I hesitate to do it, but the marketing for this one did... and I actually think it fits. To me it's a workplace version of BLL - you know in the beginning that something big has happened, and you spend the story unraveling the mystery, through the relationships and lives and dramas of this group of female friends. Juicy reading with female characters who are relatable yet whose decisions you might question or cringe at - and in the end whose success and relationships you do root for. And making it an even better juicy page-turner, it's a smart page-turner: there's also a lot to think about in terms of #metoo, glass ceilings, working motherhood, female friendships, and more.

4/5 stars, a random Kindle buy after seeing that it was a Reese Witherspoon pick (she's hit or miss for me, but this was a good one!)

 

Outlawed

In an alternate-reality 19th century Wild West, the United States has come through some kind of pandemic that leaves everyone very religious and considering female fertility to be of utmost importance - which means that anything that doesn't fit their gender molds or (limited) understanding of childbearing, or indeed anything that causes sickness or death they don't understand, they assume to be the fault of "witches", aka women who are unable to bear children. In this strangely familiar-yet-not landscape we meet 17-year-old Ada, daughter of the town's midwife, who has just married and is looking forward to having children... but it just isn't happening. Even with  her mother's standing in the community and her own knowledge of midwifery, after a year of not conceiving a child she is pinpointed as the next scapegoat witch and must flee town, eventually ending up as an outlaw with the notorious Hole in the Wall Gang that (unknown to outsiders) bends all of the gender expectations she or we, for that matter) might hold. It's led by the Kid, an androgynous figure, and populated with a lovable and interesting range of queer characters who have all left home because they don't fit the standard female mold, or were infertile. They make their living robbing stagecoaches and such, but the Kid also has sights on establishing a real community that is a safe haven for outcast women. It's definitely a book you can read as a (female-led) Wild West adventure, with nail-biting scenes of shootouts and hold-ups, but it's also got a lot of depth to think about - it's a story of chosen community and family, of finding identity outside of the gender/sexual norms, and of what it means to be an "outlaw" when the laws/societal norms are set up in an unfair, sexist, or bigoted way. Overall, fun and feminist and fascinating!

4/5 stars, my January BOTM pick

 

American Spy

This story opens with quite a spy thriller action scene, in which the agent's past comes back to meet them violently - but in this case, that agent is a mother with young children living in the suburbs who now needs to go on the run with her sons to protect them. Flash back to the Cold War era, when Marie Mitchell was an FBI agent who was recruited to be part of a shadowy task force trying to get information about the revolutionary president of Burkina Faso, Thomas Sankara - and her job is to seduce him in order to do so. She is supposed to be part of the coup that brings him down, but the job is entirely muddied by her developing feelings of admiration for the work that Sankara is doing, and her developing feelings for him as a man... One thing leads to another and she goes a bit rogue on her handling officers, and those decisions are coming back to meet her in the present - where she'll clearly do whatever she can to protect her children. Focusing on a single Black mother who is a former agent, it's definitely a bit of a genre-bender - a literary, female-led twist on the spy thriller that also incorporates a family drama and a love story. So devotees of the spy genre might not love how it's a bit more literary (i.e., slower paced than expected for some, perhaps) or how it plays with the conventions of the spy novel, but I thought that putting a woman, and a Black woman at that, in this setting was really interesting, and the whole thing was very well thought-out and well written. Plus that made for just about the perfect amount of suspense for me - an actual spy thriller book or movie is often a little too much for me when it comes to the tension and the torture... (Also should note: Sankara is a real historical figure, so it was very interesting to learn more about this part of Cold War history that was admittedly brand new to me.)

4.5/5 stars, can't remember where I heard about it but later listened to her interview on the Bad on Paper podcast, which made me appreciate the book even more

Have you picked up any of these yet? They're all books I'd highly recommend, just depends on whether you're in the mood for modern-day soapy, thrillery drama or some rollicking Wild West or some literary espionage... Bonus that American Spy and The Whisper Network are a little older and therefore should be easy library gets!

Oh, and if you're looking for more books, thinking about female leads bucking expectations and taking matters into their own hands in this way also brought to mind One to Watch (romance), A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (YA mystery), We Ride Upon Sticks (modern-day witchcraft!), My Sister, the Serial Killer (campy thriller), and Circe (feminist mythology retelling).

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wearing lately: over it

With the acknowledgment that what I'm dealing with is nothing like the scary situation in places like Texas - just standard winter (well, along with quarentimes!!) fare over here - I'm just feeling over it. The snow days, the shoveling, the being cold all the time whether indoors or out...

 

To cope with being over being cold, I've been doing "over it" in terms of outfits: layering up with the cardigans and chambray. Works well because it's a bit warmer than just a tee under the cardigan (and actually, you can layer that tee under the chambray for more!). And actually feels reasonably put-together - if not rather bulky, as you can see.

Aside from this, coping with my limited time outdoors by wearing 2 pairs of pants layered when walking Ginger or taking Hendrik to climb on the big snow pile nearby; then spending plenty of time indoors, beating the winter blahs with these coping methods:

• Tearing through books: I'm up to 24 already in 2021 - bonus lately on the weekends has been finding some good mysteries to devour, such as Jane Harper's new book, The Survivors, and the 3rd in a detective series I love, Shed No Tears (recommend starting with the first, Sweet Little Lies, if you like a Tana French-type mystery!).
• Loving my new treadmill: it's a treat to be able to do some walking without having to wear 2 pairs of pants (so much bundling up necessary lately!) but even better is finally getting to try out some Peloton programming (via the app on an iPad) and loving my favorite instructors guiding runs, walk + runs, and even hikes.
  
• Watching cheesy Netflix stuff: I'm making my way through all of the To All the Boys movies. I watched the first when it came out but now that the 3rd has just landed I realized I haven't done the 2nd yet. Very satisfying light watching.
• Enjoying my time while Peter & Hendrik enjoy their new hobby: the boys are so into sorting and organizing their coin collection right now, and picking up inexpensive grab bags of random world coins from a local shop, and I have been able to do plenty of walking and reading while they're busy...

Spring will be a while, but these things will keep me going for a while over here, as long as I wrap up in a blanket and warm up my heating pad to do it with. Hope you're staying warm and hanging in there too!

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five things Friday: 21 in 2021 list part 2 edition

With a little more time for ideas to percolate (and a little less of the post-holiday winter blahs feelings getting in the way), I've added a 2nd installment of 5 items too my 21 for 2021 list - a list of things for fun and growth and general life satisfaction that can give a little intentionality to a year. Admittedly, pandemic life made it a little harder to come up with ideas (and to complete my 2020 list!), but it's also a nice thing in quarentimes, to give myself some direction and ideas while we're still at home so much.

 

image 

Here are the original 5 + the new ones:

1. Give Schitt's Creek another try
2. Update the fireplace mantel decor
3. Do the RAD Reading Challenge
4. Continue the monthly family movie night tradition from 2020
5. Get a treadmill
6. Read 10 backlist books
7. Upgrade my robe and slippers situation
8. Create a recipe binder
9. Make a photo album
10. Spend $50/month with at least 2 local businesses
    

You can see more details on the first 5 items in my initial 21 in 2021 post - I've already made progress (and have been enjoying) all 5 of those: on season 4 of Schitt's Creek now; loving the candle insert in the fireplace for a cozy evening glow even if I haven't done the top of the mantel yet; checked off several on the RAD reading challenge with Under the Rainbow and Red at the Bone being two of my faves so far; had our family movie + pizza nights in January and February; and my treadmill is getting delivered today!

And as for the new ones, I've tried on this Barefoot Dreams robe (dreamy!) and some Everlane bootie slippers, and I may have found my winners. Have read a few backlist books already too (Solo, Words in Deep Blue) and am liking the idea of repeating this one from my 2020 list, to make sure I get around to some books that have been languishing on my shelf/Kindle/TBR because I keep grabbing the shiny new options. Also, I saw something on social media (can't remember exactly what, but it's the general thought) that if we could all spend $50/month at a couple of local businesses it would help keep many afloat as they struggle in the pandemic. Ours will end up being a lot of restaurants for takeout, I'm sure, but this month I also supported my local bookstore, and there are plenty of other fun shops to do curbside pickup from for various household items/clothes too, rather than always defaulting to checking Target...

How are your 2021 plans and intentions going? 

making lately: Zoom birthday party packs

As various family members' birthdays came over the spring, summer, and fall we would jokingly say, "everyone gets a Covid birthday!" - but it's just reality now. We're down to one family member not yet marking the occasion - and he'll be having his quarentimes birthday next week. (Now the main thing is to limit how many people have to have two of them!!) So we've all done plenty of Zoom celebrations over the last year, but to take things up a notch for my grandpa's 80th last weekend, my mom had the idea to deliver a party pack to each household's porch, so that we could all celebrate with the same decorations in our Zoom background, and enjoy the same snacks and treats while we gathered virtually. 

 

With Target curbside pickup + a little session with my kitchen helper and our birthday-themed cookie cutters, here's what I came up with for the execution of said party packs. Each household received:

• a birthday banner for everyone to hang up behind them
• party hats to wear during the call
• festive napkins
  
• a beverage to cheers with: either my grandpa's favorite beer, or a cream soda for the underage participants
• a bag of colorfully iced + sprinkled cookies (classic family recipe great for all occasions!) made with birthday-themed cookie cutters
• 4 baggies of chips, labeled with numbers: we did a chip tasting, with everyone sampling the different numbers and ranking what they liked, before I revealed the brand of each (people were good at identifying the classic Lays, and everyone landed on one of the kettle chip options as their fave)
  

This was a fun way to make a Zoom gathering more festive to mark a big milestone - adds something special but also a little bit of an activity to enjoy together. A great way to celebrate safely with local family and friends that you would have otherwise had over in person. 

There are lots of other fun ideas for tastings you could do too! Of course there's the kind of stuff you might think to do for an in-person gathering that you can just do in porch delivery + Zoom format instead: beer or wine would be enjoyable for a gathering of adults, or a selection of cheeses or cupcakes/cake slices. Or you could go with various flavored chips (bbq, jalepeno, etc.) and have people guess the flavor. We even did a jelly bean flavor guessing game for Hendrik's Harry Potter Zoom party in October.

Happy and safe celebrating out there... Hopefully back to regular party programming soon though!

wearing lately: cozy roundup from winters past

Whenever I'm feeling a little seasonally uninspired in my wardrobe, I like to scroll through some old posts for some ideas - this time, I tracked down a roundup of cozy outfits from winters past, because that's just what is needed right now:

A cozy winter white sweater + jeans is a go-to for me, and these particular boots have been getting more use than ever this year, since my boot wearing is all about utility rather than fashion (i.e., I pretty much only go outside when I'm going for a walk or shoveling...). They're so great though - warm, waterproof, lightweight, super comfy.

This is a favorite color combo, especially for February - I think I need to recreate this one soon! Though this type of shoes is only for indoors right now, given the snow situation. It would be decidedly not cozy to wear bare ankles out there.

I've been getting lots of use out of the shawl scarf lately - goes over top of any outfit for a nice layer of warmth. And style too!

Black and tan is a great color combination too, though admittedly it gets to feel a little drab when you're in the depths of winter - still, I love the turtleneck + thick, long cardigan for warmth. And the current selection of buffalo check cardigans/jackets I found have some lightened up color palettes too - cute!

Again with the sneakers (what was I thinking?) but it does make a really great casual-cool outfit with black jeans and a pretty colored, cozy sweater, don't you think?

Only lots of weeks of winter left to go - at least I've given myself a few ideas of things to wear in the meantime. Hopefully you too!

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five things Friday: influenced edition

I try not to be too influenced into impulse buys for things I see posted on blogs or advertised to me on Instagram, but admittedly sometimes I give in to the temptation - and sometimes that works out rather well. Here's a random grab-bag of things the internet convinced me to buy, and not to enable you or anything, but now I'm going to tell you about them...

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

1. Beautycounter brightening oil: saw this on Jill's blog/Instagram and thought that my winter skin could use a little brightening, so I gave it a try, and I love how it feels on my face. Not too oily but some great extra moisture for the winter - bonus that if there's any left on my hands after applying to my face, I can rub it all around my dry fingers...

2. Mason jar cold brew maker: I saw this in a blog post by Jess last summer, when I had recently gotten really into buying Starbucks cold brew as part of my grocery order. Even better, I thought, to invest in a way to make it easily myself! This thing is pretty great, though I didn't have the chance to use it a ton, since summer soon ended. And who wants cold brew right now? But I'm excited to use it again when it gets warm.

3. Bombas socks: these have been all over the place, including many an Instagram ad and also I've seen Kait post about them, but what finally tipped me to order was a good old-fashioned mailer ad that featured some gripper socks. My yoga mat has been feeling cold lately, so I decided to order some, plus try out a variety of their other offerings: cycling socks, general performance athletic socks, and everyday socks. I love them all - soft, cushy, breathable, great. And Peter is a serious lover of socks; I ordered him some of the everyday ones, and he is thrilled with them - which is a big endorsement. Bonus: they're one of those "buy one, donate one" companies, which is great.

4. Ritual gin alternative: Instagram was very big into advertising "dry January" products this year, but when I saw this I thought of Peter being on call, but still wanting to have something fun for an at-home date night. I'm not much of a gin drinker in general, so I can't really judge, but this does make a tasty beverage for something different - Peter shakes up a gimlet for us, and it has just the right amount of bite to the flavor and froth to the texture. We've also tried the whisky alternative, which again doesn't exactly taste like the real thing, but adds a nice amount of zing to a "whisky sour."

5. Neck and back massager: a while back Rachel posted an Instagram story with this one, and I clicked "buy" fastest out of all of these, I bet. No real massages in pandemic times - and nothing can quite take their place - but in their absence, this thing is pretty great for a shoulder/back massage, plus it heats up. Peter and I have both used it a lot, and it's made a big comeback lately after all of the shoveling going on...

 

Have you given in to any of the internet influencers out there lately? I'm curious to hear!

reading lately: neighborhoods of New York

New York has got to be one of the most written about locations, don't you think? There's so much literary magic to be made from it, and also there's so much diversity to find in the various neighborhoods. Here I've got a roundup of 5 books that are entirely different genres, but they all give such a sense of their corner of the city:

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

This middle-grade story is set in Harlem, with a big, boisterous, loving family that is being forced to move out of their beloved brownstone right after Christmas because their landlord, who the kids consider kind of a boogeyman, has refused renew their lease. The kids decide to wage a sort of charm campaign to get him to change his mind, and the story is just so captivating and sweet. I loved the descriptions of their neighborhood and the close-knit vibe it gives off, with the upstairs elderly couple who are surrogate grandparents, the neighborhood bakery that the kids walk to frequently, and so on. Definitely gives you that feeling of a lovely little community in the big city. I can't wait to read more in this series - it's one of those wonderful quirky families (I loved the individuality of each of the 6 kids so much) and amazing homes/neighborhoods that you just want to be part of. It would make such a cute movie too! It reminded me a bit of The Willoughbys (which we recently watched on Netflix) - with the inventive, creative kids but minus the terrible parents - but also a perfectly updated version of some classic kids books with sprawling families like the All-of-a-Kind Family or The Moffats.

4.5/5 stars, and I'm going to have to read some of the rest of the series now too!

Red at the Bone

This short novel about multiple generations of a Black family in Brooklyn flows so beautifully, I was just captivated. I always say I like plot-driven stuff, but there are some character-driven books that are so compelling that you don't want to put them down, and this is one of them. Slightly hard to follow at first, since each chapter is from a different family member's perspective, but seeing family, love, generational trauma, racism, personal sacrifice, and more through each of their eyes really drew me in and made me think too. Like The Vanderbeekers, much of the story centers on the brownstone that multiple generations of the family live in, and it explores how they got there: from the Tulsa race riots that caused the family's migration to New York in a previous generation, to the unexpected teen pregnancy that brought together families from two different neighborhoods/social classes and "forced" one to move out of their original neighborhood, to the current-day gentrification of the neighborhood and the coming-of-age of the family's newest generation. It's a lovely book and packs a lot (but not too much!) into under 200 pages - and made a great bookclub discussion too.

4/5 stars, and I'm inspired to read more of Woodson's backlist (also adored Brown Girl Dreaming)

Astrid Sees All

This book definitely gives off a vibe of a particular era in a particular part of New York: the East Village in the 1980s. It's a very bohemian atmosphere, with artists and partying young people and apartments that sound gritty and cold. In it, Phoebe Hayes is a recent college graduate who has always been the good girl but craves more excitement - and after the unexpected death of her father, in her devastation she escapes her family, who wants her to stay home in Baltimore and recover, and heads back to New York with no money to her name and no real prospects but a hunger for the glamorous life she envisions. She gets wrapped up into this bohemian partying scene with her best friend and roommate Carmen, getting a job as a faux fortune teller in the hottest exclusive night club in town, which leads down a path of sex, drugs, and self-destruction - including destructing her relationship with Carmen. Overall I struggled a bit to rate this book because as an enneagram type 1 rule-follower I sometimes struggle with stories about people who are making self-destructive and just clearly poor choices when it comes to drugs, relationships, and more (it's billed as being for fans of Sweetbitter, Fleabag, and books by Patti Smith, which are not my genre) - but at the same time, the writing and the story were propulsive enough that they kept me reading, even while I wondered whether these characters could be redeemed for me... The themes of female friendship and finding identity as a young woman brought it all together in the end, but the overall feel was maybe a little more gritty than I prefer.

3.25/5 stars, received an e-copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review (publishes April 6)

 

Love Lettering

Meg lives in Brooklyn and makes a living doing hand lettering, and has become quite a hot ticket among among the it-crowd as the "Planner of Park Slope", designing fancy personalized planners for her wealthy clientele. She has a little secret though: sometimes she sees deeper into personalities or relationships and sees issues or warning signs, and when she does, she hides little things in her designs, like a secret message that spelled out M-I-S-T-A-K-E, signaling the doom she envisioned for the marriage of Reid and his fiancée in the invitations she designed for their wedding. A year later she is surprised to see Reid back in the (adorable sounding!) stationery shop she works out of, and even more surprised that he has found her hidden message and wants to know why she put it there. As the two get to know each other, they form a game, walking around Brooklyn and then other parts of the city, finding the best lettering they can in store and street signs that they can. Definitely gives off a love for being out and about and appreciating all of the unique and historic local flair of the area - good armchair travel when you're reading in a pandemic...  This was one of those romances that just sucked me in - something about the vulnerability of the characters and their dislike-to-friendship-to-love trajectory. Also I love when a romance has a fun and different job for the main character - I mean, a calligrapher? Fun. Based on the cover, I maybe was expecting something as just a general romance escape, but it ended up being in the realm of favorites like The Flatshare for me. Cover doesn't do it justice! A delightful escape with an overall very sweet tone, but with some serious aspects in the characters' backstories and current struggles that keep it from being overly sweet.

4/5 stars, learned about it from MMD's summer reading guide, and glad I gave it a chance despite questioning the cover!

 

Dominicana

This novel sees 1965 New York from the eyes of a young immigrant, Ana, who has moved from the Dominican Republic to a run-down 6th floor walkup in Washington Heights with her much older new husband, Juan. He is domineering and jealous, so she essentially never gets to go out and learns only to fear this new, big, cold city. But when Juan returns to the DR amidst rising political tensions there, leaving Ana in the care of his younger, free-spirited brother Cesar, she is finally able to come out of her shell a bit an explore the possibilities of New York, from Coney Island to Radio City Music Hall to the World's Fair, and her own neighborhood, from the church teaching ESL to the neighborhood bodega. Along the way she really grows up and learns independence and her own voice - and real love too. I'd categorize this as literary fiction, which means the writing is great, but it can be a little more work to get into and to read. But it's really well done as a coming-of-age story, an immigrant seeing both the possibilities and the pain/problems in New York story, and a history of the time both regarding American history (including Civil Rights) and Dominican politics (highly recommend reading In the Time of the Butterflies, set in this same era but actually in the DR, to learn more about this history in a really powerful novel).

4/5 stars, also interesting to read alongside modern Dominican stories like Clap When You Land

 

Some other New York neighborhood books I've loved, also quite a random grab-bag of genres, include: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (modern classic), Tweet Cute and Pride (YA), All the Greys on Greene Street (middle grade), A Good Marriage (legal thriller/mystery), Let the Great World Spin (literary fiction), Matchmaking for Beginners (romance), Happy and You Know It (contemporary fiction).

I'm sure I've missed a bunch - what are your favorite books with a real sense of New York place?

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wearing lately: sweat(er)shirt

As my usual jeans + sweater winter uniform has turned into a bit more of sweatshirt-wearing lately, it only seems like the logical conclusion that I've ended up here: with a sweater in sweatshirt shape.

This piece is a combination of the a great oversized hoodie and soft sweater - love it! And a whole outfit when paired with these new slippers from my earlier roundup of options that I ordered to try out. I like how warm they are and how they look like a cute suede bootie while actually being a cozy, sherpa-lined slipper - but not 100% sold on them yet because I'm not sure about fit (they don't make 1/2 sizes and I suspect that's really what I need) and about frump-level. I mean, they're cute, but I was initially looking for something a bit more sophisticated just to feel a little fancier when I'm at home never getting to wear actual shoes - perhaps in the end the answer is that one pair can't be the end-all-be-all, and I just need two?! Awfully tempted by this fancy pair...

This all is veeerry necessary as our temperatures are well below freezing and look like they'll be parked there for a while - and I can feel the difference in my old house's draftiness!

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five things Friday: February TBR edition

For February's reading list, I'm taking on the two big themes of the month: Black History Month, and Valentine's Day. So the plans include a couple of romances that have been sitting on my Kindle for a while, along with a few books by Black authors that I think (and hope) will open my eyes to new feelings and experiences. 

 

The nods to Valentine's Day that I've got lined up are the rom-com When Katie Met Cassidy (I thought The Assistants, this author's first book, was a fun read, though not a romance), and the romance The Happy Ever After Playlist, which I got on a Kindle deal but then never read because I realized later it was the author's second book. But with romances, you might have some familiar characters popping up, but they can be read entirely separately, so why let that hold me back any longer? The happy pink cover is calling to me right now.

The books by Black authors that I have lined up also include a couple that have been languishing on my shelves - physical, rather than virtual. Peter gave me a copy of Girl, Woman, Other for Christmas 2019 and I admit that I have been too intimidated to pick it up - books lacking punctuation or quotation marks are often not my cup of tea, but it's time to move beyond that because I think this book will have a lot to say about the different experiences of a range of Black women (albeit British, but still I'm sure will be very informative to a reader like me as well). 

Then there's Solo, a YA book my mom handed to me ages ago and I haven't gotten around to yet. I'm much more open to novels in verse now thanks to Elizabeth Acevedo and Jaqueline Woodson, so I am looking forward to finally reading. 

Finally, a 2020 release that I heard a lot about on a couple of podcasts, Saving Ruby King, that takes place in black neighborhood in Chicago and sounds like it will have a lot about family and friendship but also race and a bit of mystery built in too.

And while we're on the subject of monthly TBRs, here's a quick recap of my January picks, which had some good ones!

• Outlawed: didn't know that much going in except that it was a feminist Western - but it was fun to see where it led me, because along with the exiting classic type robbery scenes (albeit perpetrated by a gang of outlaw women!), there was a ton about gender roles/expectations, misogyny, how women are valued in relation to their fertility. Fun, with unexpected depth - I will have to do a full review of this one later! ★★★★
• Red at the Bone: this short novel by Jacqueline Woodson about multiple generations of a Black family in Brooklyn flows so beautifully, I was just captivated. I always say I like plot-driven stuff, but there are some character-driven books that are so compelling that you don't want to put them down, and this is one of them. Slightly hard to follow at first, since each chapter is from a different family member's perspective, but seeing family, love, generational trauma, racism, personal sacrifice, and more through each of their eyes really drew me in and made me think too. ★★★★
• House Lessons: Erica Bauermeister's memoir of renovating a historic (and incredibly run-down - whew, what a lot of work!) home is one of those perfect combinations of memoir and informative non-fiction. Yes, it's the story of the nitty gritty of all the work that went into renovating the house (I live in an even older house, so I find this stuff interesting), but it's also the story of her family and their relationships and how their physical living situation has a hand in developing their family over the year. On top of that, it's also some history and philosophy of architecture and home-building and such, and an exploration of how architecture and enviornments affect our lives and relationships and outlooks in conscious and unconscious ways. The type of historical/factual stuff you might get in a Bill Bryson book (he has one about the home, in fact), but here, when woven with her personal stories, it makes for compelling reading that will get you thinking about your own space, and its effects on you - particularly interesting after a year (and counting) of spending so much time within the walls of our own homes. ★★★★
• The Lazy Genius Way: Kendra's whole philosophy is to be a genius about the things that matter and lazy about the things that don't - the key being the things that matter TO YOU. With this basic framework, you can structure a life, routines, organization, etc. that take the stress out of things, and most importantly, help you have meaning and purpose. Sounds kind of high falutin', but Kendra is super down-to-earth and practical, and the book lays out the specific principles that can lead you to the Lazy Genius life. It's self-help in a really useful way because it doesn't give you specific things to do that might not work for your life (like those magazine capsule wardrobes that say every woman should own a trench coat and a classic blouse), but instead gives you the principles to make things work for your life (like instead figuring out what clothes work for you, and how to streamline from there). All good stuff, and I enjoyed reading the book, but it's a little hard for me to review because I feel like I naturally have a lot of this covered. I don't feel particularly stressed by laundry or cooking or the like - possibly because I have only 1 kid who doesn't have a lot of extracurriculars, etc. and possibly because I am just an organized, efficient type of personality. So some of the practical suggestions are not things I necessarily need. However, Kendra also has this great emphasis on the point of all of this - which is that being a genius about getting things done in life isn't the whole point. Instead, connection with others is. Sometimes I can overdo the efficiency and routines at the cost of this, so I appreciated those reminders a lot. ★★★.5
• Snow: this was the disappointment of the month, unfortunately. It sounded like it would be kind of a classic whodunit mystery a la Agatha Christie, with the 1950s setting and everything, plus the atmospheric bonus of taking place during a snowstorm in Ireland. But it seemed like it couldn't decide what it wanted to be - a procedural mystery? a character-driven literary mystery? a whodunit? It felt like it was trying out all of these, which just ended up being unsatisfactory because it wasn't really any of them in the end, and it moved rather slowly. Plus there's a clergy sexual abuse element that while important to bring to light, really icks me out and I would prefer to know about this going in - I skimmed a couple sections because of this. ★★.5

What's on your February reading list? I admit I dropped everything to first read The Survivors, but I didn't need to put that on the February list because I knew I would 100% get around to it! Finished within about 24 hours...

currently

 

loving: the candle holder insert I got for the fireplace, with flickering flameless candles on an auto timer - such a nice replacement for the twinkle lights of the Christmas tree when that came down, because the nights are still just as cold and dark in January and need this bit of cozy!

reading: I've got a February-appropriate TBR planned with some romance reads (already hit Happy Ever After Playlist, so good) and some black authors (excited especially for Saving Ruby King), in celebration of Valentine's Day and Black History Month. But my pre-ordered copy of Jane Harper's new book just arrived, and everything is going to have to wait till I'm done with it - so looking forward to a good mystery!

remembering: our wedding day... 15 (!!) years ago, tomorrow. No opportunity for a big day-of celebration this year since with Covid there's no dining out, babysitters, travel, etc. for us. But some fancy takeout actually seems fitting for celebrating a marriage that feels very nicely settled-in and enjoys its time together at home. (Though I am still bummed about the lack of Hawaii vacation we would have planned - and reminiscing hard about prior anniversary trips: take me back, Bahamas, Palm Springs, even just a simple overnighter down the road in Grand Rapids...)

sharing: my all-time favorite ice cream flavor, Buckeye Blitz - reluctantly. I special ordered some pints of Graeter's from Cincinnati (pandemic treats are necessary and this stuff is the best), and it turns out that my fave is also Hendrik's top pick out of our selection. Hmph, shoulda gotten more of this flavor. But I guess I can't blame him - I did eat a lot of it when he was in utero, so he can't help but have developed a taste for it...

wishlisting: slippers and robes. I decided that I want to upgrade these items in 2021 - with how much time we're spending at home, they get tons of use, and I want to feel a little snazzier in mine if I'm going to use them that much. Have been contemplating some options for slippers that I rounded up here, including these, but would love suggestions if anyone has any favorite slippers and/or robes!

 

 

What are you currently up to? Link up a post below, and then come back on Wednesday, March 3, to chat about what we're currently choosing, imagining, making, recommending, and wearing.

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wearing lately: sporty casual

In this phase of serious hibernation (winter weather + pandemic combo is making me hit it hard this year!), I think I might end up with a whole series of sweatshirt posts... Last week's outfit was all about sweatshirts for casual rather than athletic wear - but that's not to say that I haven't got a current fave the sportier sweatshirt category too. So this week's is more of an athletic look, which I guess I'll dub "sporty casual" rather than "casual cool" for sweatshirt wear:

This cozy quilted number from Target's All in Motion line (which has impressed me, the few things I've tried) is unfortunately sold out in many sizes, but it is a great dupe for some more expensive versions I've seen out there this winter. Maybe you'll luck out and find it in a size available at your local store for curbside pickup though. (Love that Target curbside pickup - so easy, and a good way to stay healthy and warm!)

I've been wearing this sweatshirt + leggings pretty much non-stop, because when your gym is in your home and so is pretty much everything else you do, why the heck not?