I need a place every now and then to dump my thoughts and my camera roll that isn’t fancy and let’s me write and share for the sake of writing and sharing, but is outside of the performance of social media. So here we are. After a week of 50 degrees and sun, it feels like spring is upon us up here and it’s just downright nice. Moving in the middle of January was dark and cold and rainy and left my brain feeling heavy for the past few months so the change of seasons is a good physical reminder that these things are temporary. Although I think daylight savings time is a stupid concept, there’s something exciting about the first night where it’s light out during dinner time. I even watched a seal swim by as I was cooking the other night.

Here’s what I’ve been up to:

Making:

Crock pot chuck roast - On Sundays I’ve been making something in the crock pot that will feed us that night and a work night later in the week and my favorite lately has been chuck roast. I use a rub of kosher salt, garlic, rosemary, and oregano; chop up an onion; and pour in chicken broth, balsamic vinegar, and a can of diced tomatoes and voila! Comfort food. It goes with potatoes, rice, noodles, you name it.
Dandy Blend lattes - I can’t do caffeine and don’t do milk, but sometimes all I want in the morning is a creamy, frothy latte. Enter, Dandy Blend and Laird Superfood Creamer. Jake says “it tastes like something your square mom (not you, Cathie) would make you when she says ‘hot chocolate has too much sugar’” but I think it’s the bomb. Whisk 1 tablespoon Dandy Blend, 1 tablespoon Laird Superfood Creamer (cacao flavor for chocolatey goodness), and a splash of maple syrup with hot water and you’ve got yourself satisfying dairy-free, caffeine free morning drink.

Reading:

The Multi-Hyphen Life by Emma Gannon…my thoughts on this probably deserve a post of their own. More on that later.
Which led me to: The Ambition Collision by Lisa Miller and holy cow, someone put my existential quarter-life crisis into words.
A book on the history of Samish Island that a sweet old man gave me on my walk around the neighborhood. Him and his wife wrote it and he told me “people should know about where they live.” Word.

Watching:

Claire Saffitz’s Dessert Person on YouTube - I love her. That’s all.
Rewatching Game of Thrones with Jake. I forgot how dark this show is.

Listening to:

The Bridgerton audiobooks are a fun mental break that I’ve been listening to on my commute…the narrator cracks me up.
Good Days by SZA

Doing

Calm’s “Learn to Meditate” course, I think it’s called. I’m a tightly-wound person and know I need meditation, but it never clicked in my past attempts. However, Jake convinced me to do this 30 day program with him and it’s been awesome. Jeff, the narrator, makes it approachable and less “ommmm”.
Antique and FB Marketplace treasure hunting, trying to furnish this place!
Using iBotta…did you guys know about this? I love grocery coupons and this is next level.
Exploring around Mt. Baker

Round Up