Currently #8

Mama Needs Her Seltzer Coozie

Good morning!! We are two weeks into our eight week #suburbsojourn living with Jeff's parents while we wait to move into our new house in Roscoe Village, and you know, I have to say, I'm enjoying it a lot more than I expected. What?! I know. But I mean, we're taking turns cooking and cleaning up the kitchen so half the time I don't have to cook or clean for dinner. There's two extra sets of hands to help with Mia (and very willing babysitters if we want to sneak away!). And there are new neighborhoods and restaurants and shops to explore while we're here! The one major downside is that it takes almost double the time to get Mia to and from her preschool pod downtown, but I've been listening to lots of podcasts to get through it - my favorites right now are Smartless, Bachelor Party, and Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!

Here's what else I've been up to: 

Buying

Shockingly little over here, partially because I don't want Jeff's mom to judge me too hard when 500 packages arrive at her door, and partially because I currently can't find my Old Navy credit card. I destroyed two pairs of skinny jeans while we were moving, and so I decided to let Gen Z win and bought this pair of demi-crops, and I've basically worn them every day for the past two weeks. They're comfy and relaxed but not too relaxed, and make me feel like I'm not a regular mom, but a cool mom ;) I also got a tall length so they aren't crazy cropped on my long legs. Highly recommend! 

I also was sent out on Mother's Day to run an errand with strict instructions to buy myself a present, and I ended up coming home with this adorable hydrangea wine tumbler. It's been perfect for hanging out in the back yard and chasing Mia around on her tricycle. 

Cooking 

I'm back on the cooking train and I'm very into it! You might remember I basically stopped grocery shopping and cooking and relied completely on Blue Apron and Amazon Fresh for meals while we were getting ready to move. Now that we're settled at the in-laws I'm back baby! I made this Hawaiian grilled chicken to rave reviews over the weekend, and also made my favorite vodka sauce again last week - yum! Jeff's mom asked for the recipe and I told her she'd like the pasta a lot less after she saw the recipe because it is not any semblance of healthy ;) 

Reading

I haven't had a ton of time for reading lately, but I just finished We Are All Good People Here and I was surprised by how much I ended up liking it! It opens with two young women going off to a conservative southern all-girls college in the '60s and becoming best friends in the dorms, wearing their matching twin sets off to rush a sorority. I thought it was going to be this fluffy college story, but it ends up being about the two women trying to navigate the politics of the '60s, and figure out how they can help work against racism, sexism, and the war in Vietnam. It follows their friendship through the decades and shows how they evolve as they try to be their definition of good people. 

Watching

I started The Baker and The Beauty on Netflix and it's a cute, fluffy romantic comedy - very into it (although it looks like it wasn't renewed for season two - wah wah!). I'm also almost fully caught up on this season of Below Deck Sailing Yacht and I'm so into it - might be the best Below Deck season of all the different spin-offs (besides the original boat's Season 2, of course ;). They managed to get a love triangle, guests with crazy back-stories, and of course some great boat drama. 

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Currently #7

(I had a few friends ask and no, this isn't our new house! I just finally started posting again to my Sweet Homes of Chicago Instagram again :) 

Oh hi there! It's been a looooong minute since I was posting regularly, and honestly, I'm not seeing regular posting starting up again any time soon, mainly because... WE'RE MOVING!! Since I stopped posting at the beginning of March, we fixed up our condo to list it, found a buyer, found a new house, and now are engrossed in contract negotiations on both properties and trying to plan for our move. It is freaking exhausting, and I keep singing to Jeff (to the tune of No Sleep Til Brooklyn) "No! Sleep! Til Close Date!" because one or both of us have been up in the middle of the night just about every night stressing for the past month. 

BUT I'm so so excited for everything to work out and for us to move into our new single family home!! We ended up finding a place in Roscoe Village (after coming this close to putting in an offer on a place in the North Shore) which I'm so excited about. Mia will be a stone's throw from her neighborhood elementary school, we're right by a playground and the Roscoe Village downtown, and we're moving into what we hear from friends is a vibrant, fun neighborhood that has a small town feel in the middle of the city. I always hoped we'd be able to be city kids for life, and am psyched that we're managing to do it. 

Before we get to move in though, we'll be staying with Jeff's parents in the suburbs for two months! It turns out early spring is the perfect time to sell a condo in Chicago (particularly one with a roof deck like ours!) but not the perfect time to buy a house in a neighborhood full of families that send their kids to CPS, because Chicago schools don't let out for the summer until the end of June so no one wants to close before then. It took me a little time to accept that we won't get to move straight from one house to another, but now I'm game for two months of having built-in babysitters for Mia (and potentially some date nights?!) which after a year of quarantining sounds amazing. Hello adult time! His parents are also members of a pool, and Jeff's best friends just bought a house nearby with a pool, so I'm hoping for some warm weather so I can pretend we're on a two month vacation ;) Their house is also close enough to downtown that we can keep Mia in her preschool pod (and have an excuse to come into the city every day). 

In case you came here for some of my usual Currently content and not just a 500 word life update, here you go: 

READING 

I finished Leave The World Behind a couple of weeks ago, and if you were thinking you wanted to read something that's half dreamy vacation and half disturbing dystopian nightmare, than I found the book for you! I don't want to give the story away, but it's about a family vacation in the Hamptons where things all the sudden take a turn. The writing is very poetic and dreamy and almost made me put it down after the first page because I couldn't tell what was happening, but I ended up getting really into it - it makes you wonder if what you're reading is really happening or not. 

WATCHING

Jeff and I are two episodes in on The Great on Hulu, and I am loving it so much. It's a satire (very) loosely based on Catherine the Great, and was created by one of the writers of The Favourite and so shares a similar vibe. The show is hilarious and dark as it follows Catherine's attempt to murder her husband and become Empress of Russia. 

I also started Ginny & Georgia on Netflix, which I heard described as similar to Gilmore Girls, but only if Lorelei was a criminal. Ginny is a biracial teen who moves to a wealthy white suburb with her hot young mom. She thinks she's studious and conservative, but this new town shows her she might be a lot more like her mom than she thinks. The show has a similar mother-daughter bond to Gilmore Girls, but also lots of sex, drugs, and guns. 

PINNING 

Lots of pretty white bathrooms! Our new house was built in the '90s and parts of it really feel like they were built in the '90s, so we're planning on redoing the primary bedroom / bathroom ASAP when we move in. I've reached out to a few designers and all of them told me to start with a Pinterest board. I managed to nail down exactly what I want for a bathroom in about 30 minutes (contemporary, white, texture, interesting finishes that don't feel so "now" that it'll feel outdated in a few years) but am seriously struggling with what I want for a bedroom. There are really high, vaulted ceilings so I'm thinking some exposed beams and a four poster bed, but I also don't want it to feel too farmhouse. Although the kitchen leans toward farmhouse, so maybe I should just embrace it and put barn doors everywhere? Send help pls. 

EATING 

All of the Blue Apron meals! I decided when we started freaking out trying to paint and caulk every surface in our condo that something from my schedule had to give, and that something turned out to be meal planning and grocery shopping. We had done a meal kit boxes a few years ago when I had a really long commute but never really loved it and ended up skipping a lot of weeks because there was nothing on the menu I wanted. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Blue Apron has a ton of options to choose from and lets you make swaps in the meals (i.e., chicken instead of shrimp, a better cut of steak, etc.) as well as lets you choose from 2 person or 4 person meals. I don't think we'll be continuing after we move because honestly after 6 weeks I'm starting to miss meal planning, but it's definitely nice for getting out of a cooking rut and for saving time. If you're looking to start Blue Apron, google for promo codes before you sign up. Usually you can get $60 or $80 off your first month. 

BUYING

A swimsuit (or two) for Mia! Last year I ended up with four or five swimsuits for her (thanks in part to a few grandmas who wanted to buy her gifts - thanks grandmas!) but ended up putting her in the same one every time because it had long sleeves and didn't expose her stomach, which meant a lot less sunscreen time for a wiggly little toddler. Mia seems a lot more amiable to sunscreen application so far this year, but I still wanted a long sleeve suit. I ended up ordering this cute one that's a rashguard and bottoms, but I'm still on the hunt for a cute long sleeved one piece. 

I also am allllllll about the cute spring dresses right now and just ordered this pretty white eyelet dress - hoping it will be similar to a shirtdress I wore on our honeymoon in Italy! I also ordered this dress in mint, I had it in white last summer and loved how comfy and easy it was. 

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Currently #6

Happy Monday!! I totally forgot that I get the day off today, so yay surprise three day weekend! Mia still has school this morning so I think I'm going to go on a hunt for a chocolate croissant and try to return a few things to Nordstrom that I've been meaning to take back for like four months. 

These posts are always fun to put together, hope you're enjoying them too. Are you obsessed with something I should know about? Let me know! 

Cooking

I recommended these silicon lids on Instagram and realized I had never shared here! They are heatproof to 550 degrees so you can use them when you're cooking to cover dishes that don't have lids. They can also be used in the microwave to prevent splatter instead of using a paper towel. And they create a full seal, so you can use them to cover dishes in the refrigerator instead of using tin foil or plastic wrap, or to cover serving dishes to keep food hot. I honestly wasn't sure how much I would use them, but Jeff and I use them multiple times per day and have saved so much plastic wrap / aluminum foil / paper towels! They also are dishwasher safe so we just toss them in at the end of the day and have a full set clean and ready to go the next morning. 

I went a little crazy cooking for the Super Bowl - anyone else forget they were just cooking for their quarantine pod? I planned the menu thinking it would be just me, Jeff, and Mia, and honestly I don't know what I was thinking besides that of course we needed dip but of course we couldn't just have one app for the game and of course we still needed to have dinner too. Luckily Jeff's parents ended up coming over to join us because otherwise my stomach might have actually exploded. We did these sheet pan nachos and oooooooooh my gee. So freaking good. Maybe just plan for these to be your full meal if there are only two of you though, the four of us didn't even finish them off. I also made Chrissy Teigen's onion dip (from Cravings) and knife and fork meatball subs (from Hungry For More) and like honestly I'm drooling thinking about diving into those meatballs again. 

I also thought it would be fun to make sugar cookies with Mia which was an exciting experience to say the least. Frosting in her hair and on every surface in the kitchen, sprinkles everywhere, and lots of poke marks on the cookies. Plus she coughed on a bunch of them 🙈Luckily the cookies were just for us! Anyway I followed this three ingredient sugar cookie recipe from Kelly in the City (I did add vanilla per the rec, and had to add a little water to the dough bc it was too crumbly to roll) but they turned out to be the perfect cookie for frosting - not too sweet! I come from a strictly sprinkles-only cookie decorating family so it was exciting for me to put buttercream on a cookie and they turned out so. freaking. good. I think we'll have to make them every year now, but maybe with less cookie coughing. For people who normally frost cookies - how do you store them? I tried stacking in containers and the ones at the bottom fused into a giant cookie cake. Not really complaining about the cookie cake situation, but I'm not sure how to avoid in the future when I might be sharing cookies with other people - lots of wax paper? 

Reading

Jeff always makes fun of me for picking the saddest books and honestly, I'm not sure how it always ends up happening. But anyway, I finished reading Betty last week and holy moly it was really good but so so sad and disturbing. The novel follows Betty's half white, half Native American family living in the hills of southern Ohio in the 1960s. Betty just wants to write stories, giggle with her sisters, have friends at school, and spend time with her father, but is continually faced with incredible racism, mental health issues, rape and incest, and "the curse" that must have been put on their family after moving into a house with a dark past. I had a hard time getting through some of the scenes but still had to see it through to the end. 

Quarantivitying

I honestly haven't been blogging much lately (read: took almost a month off - whoops!) because I've been spending my blogging time either working on Cricut projects or my paint-by-number kit, and I finally finished my painting last week!! The kit says it's a 12 hour project but honestly it probably took double that, partially because I'm a perfectionist but also partially because some of the paint colors weren't very thick and needed multiple coats to cover the lines and numbers on the canvas. I loved doing it though, it was so relaxing and the perfect little break from work or momming. She definitely is a Monet though, looks cute from far away but don't get too close! I think I'm still going to eventually get her framed though and figure out a place to hang her! 

Buying

You might have seen on my instas that I picked up a few new arrivals from J.Crew (currently 30% off with code SPRING) and loooove them. Even if I won't get to wear them for a while because apparently we live in the arctic tundra now. I got this blouse and this blouse and they are so beautiful in person. I also picked up some new white skinny jeans because I pulled mine out of the closet to wear a couple weeks ago and realized they look terrible between being all stretched out and having quite a few stains. I have tried J.Crew's toothpick white skinny jeans in previous years and didn't like the fit (they were always too baggy around the knee/calf), not sure if the cut changed or my body changed but I love them now! And yes, despite what you may have heard on TikTok, you can still wear skinny jeans ;) 

I also am in the process of ordering Mia way too many birthday gifts! Will report back on what she actually likes, but we're trying this sensory kit, a couple of new books (I'm personally most excited about the second Escargot book - we got the first Escargot for Christmas and it is hysterical!), a bed for her Bitty Baby since Mia loves putting her baby down to nap, and lots and lots of puffy stickers. 

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Currently #5

Watching

It usually takes Jeff and I a long time to watch a show, mainly because we don't have a lot of time to devote to the binging. We often don't get time together at night outside of dinner because one of us will be working, and when we do have time it's only an hour or two before bed. That's a long winded way of saying, we LOVED Bridgerton and blew through the whole thing in a week. I'm always a fan of period pieces because I get drawn up in the sets and costumes and culture, but I really loved the drama and plot and cheese too. So perfect to binge if you haven't yet! I also am very into the new season of The Bachelor - the resort they're staying at really makes it feel like a fairy tale (as opposed to, you know, all the Spanish tile at the La Quinta where they were for Bachelorette) and I'm loving *most* of the girls so far. Who was your favorite out of the limo? I'm rooting for Kristin, Abigail, and Bri! 

Eating

I got the new Ina Garten cookbook for Christmas and have been loving it so far - the short rib beef stew is amazing (and leftovers are on the menu for dinner tonight!!) and I also made her crab risotto for NYE. Everything is a little fancier than I'd normally make, which is fun for low-key quarantine weekends. 

Reading 

Did you read the first book in the American Royals trilogy? Okay so I'm way behind, but I'm finally reading the second book, Majesty, and if you are not reading this trilogy then you need to get on it. The basic concept of the book is that George Washington decided to be America's first king instead of first president, and follows the teenagers in the royal family in the present-day kingdom of America. There's drama, extreme wealth, and lots of unsupervised teenagers. The series is YA but doesn't feel too young to me - definitely fluffy but fun! 

Buying

Allllllllllll of the loungewear from Old Navy. I just got these tie dye leggings, these ribbed leggings, these sherpa shorts, and this tunic sweatshirt in the mail, and I'm basically never taking them off. The legging quality is not super high (read: they are for wearing in your house only) but the fleece shorts are incredible, and the hoodie is great because it covers your butt so you can wear it with said leggings out of the house if you so desire. Like I said on Monday, the whole quarantine thing seems to be just catching up to me now that it's cold out, and I'm in pajamas all day mode. 

Quarantivitying 

I asked for an adult paint by number kit for Christmas after I saw Jill doing them during quarantine, and I may have found my new favorite hobby. Okay so it sounds weird to do paint by numbers, but here's the thing - I like to paint but it sort of stresses me out. Like having to come up with the concept, making it perfect.. it's a lot of work. But paint by numbers is painting without the stress because you don't have to think about what you're doing at all! I'm only like 1/25th of the way through this thing because it's surprisingly time consuming, but I've been loving turning on a podcast or putting on a show and painting for an hour or two. 

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Currently #4

Celebrating

That we have a new president!! I'm assuming that all of you spent last week in a similar state as me, i.e., refreshing the news every five minutes and then waking up to look at your phone in the middle of the night. I didn't quite realize how much stress and sadness I've carried the past four years, and it felt amazing to have it lift off my shoulders on Saturday. 

Eating

This incredible peanut butter cake! We had some of my family over on Saturday which happened to align perfectly with the celebrations mentioned above. Whenever I have people over dessert is what stresses me out the most, partially because I forget to think about it until the last second, and partially because I never know what to serve. I don't like anything with cooked fruit which takes out a lot of options, cakes always feel too birthday, and that generally leaves me with brownies from a box. But! I saw this snacking cake recipe last week literally right after I asked my sister to bring dessert, and knew I found a winner. It's a cake but it isn't layered and doesn't have buttercream frosting, so the birthday connection is gone. Word of warning though - the adults all liked it, but my five year old niece took one swipe of the frosting (dotted with sea salt) and pushed the rest away. So this one might fall in the "adults only" category of cakes. 

Reading

I finally read The Idea of You after hearing about it over and over, and this one was actually better than I expected! It's about a single mom who goes with her tween daughter to a boy band concert (ahem: a thinly veiled One Direction), and ends up in a relationship with one of the twenty-somethings from the band. This book is steamy, like basically a romance novel, but the love story and the look at fame really drew me in. 

Obsessing

Over this beautiful Christmas quilt. I keep going back and forth between "I NEED THIS FOR HER IT WILL BE SOMETHING SHE HAS FOREVER" and "this is overpriced and she's only going to use it a year or two and she doesn't care what her blankets look like." 

Watching

The Bachelorette - anyone else?! The past two episodes have been totally nuts and I was so drawn in. Normally I get a little bored during the episodes and end up double screening, but I was completely riveted with the breaks in formula and look at production. And then of course I had to recap with my favorite podcast, Bachelor Party. Jeff actually got me to start listening to the host Juliet Litman way back when we first started dating when she did a podcast about lots of reality television, and we both love her so much we seriously considered sending her an invitation to our wedding just to see if she'd come 😂Like that's the celebrity we're interested in lolol. Anyway, last week she did a podcast with Nick Viall and Rachel Lindsay to talk about their fantasy suite date the night after the 2016 election, and it was such an incredible look at the behind-the-scenes for The Bachelor. I highly recommend if you're a fan! 

Buying

Matching Christmas outfits for me and Mia. We have this top for me, this top for Mia, and this skirt for Mia so far, as well as a plethora of matching black watch plaid options. Watch out world. 

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Currently #3

Exercising 

By running and running after Mia! She has hit the phase where she's not so interested in being in her stroller any more for a long walk anymore, so if I want to take a walk with her I have to mentally commit to chasing her for a few blocks. Luckily she's stopped sitting down in the middle of intersections because she doesn't want to hold my hand anymore. We ran around the Lincoln Park Nature Walk last week, and stopped for a few photos in the Honeycomb. We had literally been there just a few days before for our family photos, and Mia cried the. whole. time. But with just Mommy she seriously just wanted to sit here and smile for fifteen minutes - how cute is she here?! 

Watching

I did a lot of theater in high school, so I convinced Jeff to watch Encore on Disney+ with me this weekend. The concept is so fun to me - take a group of adults and have them restage their high school musical, 20 years later. I was nerding out on the theater side of things because really, can you imagine trying to perform a musical after only a week of rehearsal?!? Jeff thought it was fun too and was not a theater nerd, in general it's a fun high school reunion even if you aren't interested in the musical part. 

Reading

I'm currently reading 28 Summers (ha I knooooow it isn't summer anymore but I was on the library wait list for this one for a long. time.) and it's a cute, fun, easy read. The only thing... it's eerily reminiscent of The Blue Bistro by the same author. I loved The Blue Bistro, it's a way better story IMO, and it's currently in my rotation of fun, easy books on my Kindle that I pull out when my heavy reads feel too heavy or when I finish a book but am not mentally ready to start something new (other books on this list include The Devil Wears Prada and the Harry Potter books). And like, I knooooow the author basically writes a book a year about Nantucket so there's going to be some overlap, but there are characters with the same name, with the same backstory, they go to the same places, there's the same obscure disease, and they even talk about going to The Blue Bistro (it's a restaurant) in 28 Summers. So like I'm enjoying it and I'm going to keep reading, but I'm also annoyed. Long story short, if you want to read 28 Summers, just skip it and read The Blue Bistro instead.

Starting

A new Instagram account! I always love to take pictures of houses while we're out walking, and decided it's high time to give them their own account. And let me tell you, it's weirdly fun to start a new account and feel like I can share different things I love. If you like looking at pictures of pretty front doors and cool Chicago houses, give me a follow! 

Eating

This red wine spaghetti with pancetta from the New York Times and ohhhh my god. It's such an interesting recipe but is so good and satisfying, and I had almost all of the ingredients on hand already which is already a win. Plus there is a whole bottle of red wine in there. A WHOLE BOTTLE. Try it for your next date night, but make sure to get another bottle of wine to actually drink ;) 

Making 

Allllll of the things on my Cricut :) Every now and then I get in a mood where I want to make everything, so I had the machine out a bunch last week. I was experimenting with Infusible Ink which basically irons on actual ink instead of iron-on material - so cool! I say experimenting because I was doing it with my very old iron, which does technically work but takes forever. I also used it to cut out some fun Halloween decorations, which I think is how I'm decorating for all not-Christmas holidays from now on. It's fun and easy, and I don't have to store them since I'll want to make something new next year! 

Buying

More clothes for Mia. Even after I shared this. Send help. Coming our way: this jumper, this hat, this sweater, this skirt, these shoes, and probably more I can't even remember 🙈

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Currently

Planning

More trips to the zoo! I bought a membership for the Lincoln Park Zoo at the verrrrrry beginning of quarantine, mostly because it was something I'd been meaning to do for a while. I know, I know, Lincoln Park Zoo is free but with the membership I don't have to pay for parking. I can handle paying for a membership but I can't handle paying $30 every time we go to the zoo for parking and I literally would drive around for half an hour trying to find a free spot. I know, I know, my brain is weird. Anyway we went over the weekend. They have their fall decorations out and it felt so normal and cute! I made Jeff take a lot of photos haha. Mia also let Jeff and I sit and eat and have a beer without complaining and it was incredible. Thanks Mia! Of course she was being placated with a banana and potato chips, so we all know where the good behavior came from. 

Watching

I saw a meme from Emily in Paris and decided to give it a go. It's cheesy and cute and sometimes a little annoying, but it's also a nice show about a pretty girl wearing pretty clothes in Paris, so I'm on board. I mean really, I just really needed a fun new show, so I'm going to finish it even if it isn't the best thing on tv. I'm also rewatching Schitt's Creek to freshen up on everything before I binge the final season. It's so funny rewatching because I went through it the first time in the middle of the night while I was feeding Mia when she was a brand new baby, so I get "Ew David" giggles along with "awwww remember my tiny little squishy baby!!" 

Reading

I LOVED The Boy's Club, which is about a first-year female lawyer at one of the top law firms in New York City. The novel is a crazy rush through the partying, sex, sexism, and crimes that come along with a career in big law. It was so so so good, I flew through it. I also just finished The Jetsetters and ended up really enjoying it (not nearly as good as The Boy's Club though!). I was not so sure in the beginning because there was a little too much cheese + family disfunction, made me think it would be poorly done. The book is about a 70 year old mother who wins a contest for a Mediterranean cruise and brings her adult children along. The family dynamic was fun, but I also loved the description of the Greek Isles and Italy and Spain, and it's making me dream of when we can travel again! Jeff and I were supposed to go to Greece for our five year wedding anniversary this summer so I definitely have it on the brain. 

Eating

I went a little crazy over the weekend and made The Pioneer Woman's Pork Chops with Wine and Garlic and errrrrhmagerrrrrrrd so good! I say I went crazy because it was super time consuming (you roast the garlic first) but omg the payoff was worth it! The house smelled incredible from the roasted garlic for like a full 24 hours too. Oh also Mia saw my Pioneer Woman cookbook and thinks that it's full of pictures of me hahaha. So funny! 

Buying

More mums!! Someone send help because I decided last weekend to buy all of the fall flowers for our front balcony, and now that it's actually cold I'm heading back to the store for more mums to replace our herbs and tomatoes and pepper plants that have finally kicked it. It's so dumb because they're going to last like two more weeks in Chicago. But I just can't help myself! I also ordered this tassel wood bead strand which is super adorable, I'm planning on putting it in this bowl and keeping them on our coffee table as home decor that I'm okay with Mia taking off and throwing on the floor. Anyone else have a super destructive kid? Our coffee tables and side tables have been bare for a year now and I miss having stuff! 

I also bought these boots on a whim after deciding at the last minute that I definitely needed tall slouchy boots for our family photo reshoots and saw these were available for in-store pickup. They definitely aren't anything like suede (the outside is scratchy - how?!) but they actually pass my insane shoe comfort standards! Win win win. Oh also the family photos. So we went two weekends ago and Mia shouted no the whole time and then cried and was a general sourpuss. Our photographer was like, yeah, you're going to want to try again. We went for reshoots over the weekend and Mia was still pretty grouchy (she cried every time the camera came up to shoot!) but I think we managed to subdue her and trick her into a few good pictures with a combination of yogurt bites and playing the movie Frozen on Jeff's phone. Eighteen month olds are fun! 

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Currently

Thought I'd try a new post format today, just sharing a few of my favorites / what I'm up to this week. Let me know if you like this format, might try it again! 

One last summer dress!

Watching

I had to hop on the Selling Sunset bandwagon and man am I into it. I always say that reality shows are best when the cast all has something concrete in common, like a job. Who do you think is the worst one? I was thinking Chrishelle (also omg is that actually how you spell her name?!) might be an undercover mean girl, but after finishing season three Davina is like actually a sociopath right? Jeff and I also started Silicon Valley from the beginning, and that show is 100% my kind of humor, but also a little too much like my actual work life since I work in tech. And then we're a little behind but we just watched Always Be My Maybe on Netflix and it is so cute and funny, it had moments where we had to pause the tv because we were laughing so hard!! 

Reading

I just finished On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. It's the first novel by a successful poet, and you can definitely tell in the writing so it probably isn't for everyone. I thought it was beautifully written, but at times it gets really dreamy and it can be hard to figure out what is actually happening. The story is a Vietnamese twenty-something writing to his mother about growing up in America. 

Eating

Chicago dove headfirst into fall and I made a big old pot of chili to celebrate! Our recipe comes from my dad and barely has any instructions - brown 2 lbs of ground beef with diced bell pepper and onion, add beef broth, beans, canned tomatoes, diced green chilis, chili pepper, cumin, and pepper until it gets thick. I also made this veggie and sausage skillet that's one of my favorite weeknight meals - so easy! 

Drinking

After hitting cocktails hard at the beginning of quarantine I've mostly been sticking to beer and wine, but I opened some champagne on Friday to celebrate something at work, and ended up using the second half of it to make Aperol Spritzes. I always forget how easy and refreshing they are! By the way, if you like to drink champagne or prosecco but don't finish the bottle in one sitting, you need a champagne stopper! It keeps the bubbles bubbly for a couple of days. 

Buying

I may have gone on an online shopping spree on Friday that included Christmas stockings 🙈- I want to personalize ours with my Cricut so I thought I should plan ahead. I'm sorry for talking about Christmas in what is technically still summer. For one more day. Then I went on a Cricut binge and bought a bunch of infusible ink to try. Do I need an easypress? Halpppppppp!! 

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