Month: September 2024

Sunday Somethings No. 11

This past week feels like a blur. On Tuesday night at Will’s soccer practice Johnathan fell and broke his arm 😦 It was such an innocuous fall but he landed just right on an outstretched arm that he found himself with a radial head fracture. Of course these things happen the only night of the week Chris is at a dinner in SF. So I loaded the boys up and off to the ER we went. We ended up home and splinted by 10:30 pm. And then of course the next day was just adjusting to our new normal and getting squeezed into an orthopedist appointment and having a real fiberglass cast placed. So needless to say it’s hard to remember much more about the week than that glaring milestone.

But yet again kids really just remind us how resilient and how joyful they are. Johnathan isn’t wallowing in what he can’t do (like I know a lot of adults would). Instead he’s figuring out how to go about his days. He’s always been my little anchor when it comes to putting things into perspective.

This week I finished reading A Flicker in the Dark which I give 3.5 / 5 stars. The last 25% of the book was page turning for sure. I just found myself not really believing choices the main character would make at different parts. But overall it was an easy suspense read.

Last week I mentioned how I was starting and committing to another workout program and how it had been so long. Well, I went 4/5 days last week, which I am really freaking proud of. I was telling Chris how if I hadn’t committed there is no way I would have worked out that much or pushed myself that hard this week just given everything with Johnathan. So i’m very happy to be back doing what has worked for me for so long.

I took the one cool day of the week to make soup – I made our go to zuppa toscana. This is one of our favorites. I’ll share the recipe here. I usually skip the bacon and add mushrooms to it.

On Friday I hosted a play date for some of Will’s friends and it was so cute to have a house full of boys. I also made a fall / halloween themed snack board which they loved. And then Saturday I went to a “cook book club” where we all made variations of bruschetta. It was so fun!

I feel like this Sunday Something is a total brain dump and not very helpful with sharing links. But that was just the kind of week it has been.

Onward and upward lol.

Sunday Somethings No. 10

A recipe I tried this week was this Creamy Tortilla Soup – we finally had a cooler day or two so I took advantage and made soup. Definitely going to add this into the soup rotation.

We had a soccer filled weekend. It’s been so fun watching the boys & I’ve been using my DSLR to get photos of the kids playing.

I’m about 30% through Flicker in the Dark. I’m excited to finish it this week. And then my book club is reading Untamed for September. I read it years ago but it just became available on Libby so I’m gonna read it again after Flicker.

Last month I ordered these cord clips and they were the simplest upgrade that I didn’t know I needed. We have a little cabinet where we charge our laptops, theres a phone charger and a mini USB charger and the cords always get so tangled and drive me nuts and this was the easiest solution! For less than $10 this made such a big difference!

We celebrated Juno’s birthday this week. Our big girl turned 9! We made her a cheeseburger. and gave her all the love. She’s my first baby, my adventure buddy. Her and I would spend every days exploring golden gate park, spending time at the beach and she’s taught me so much about unconditional love.

This week I finallllly convinced Will to let go of his rocking chair that has been taking up so much space in his room. He’s my sentimental kid and he was so resistant. We actually just moved his rocking chair into Johnathans room since J still likes being rocked at night. And now his room feels SO spacious. I was worried he was gonna be upset but he told me he didn’t like it he LOVED it! lol. This was a huge win that I’ve been trying to get done for seriously 2 years.

The past two weeks I’ve been back on my meditation game. I’ve tried to make a really conscious effort to priortize some stillness each day. This is a quick 5 minute one I really enjoyed this week. I also passed 700 days of meditation recently and that re inspired me to get back into it. I use insight timer for my guided meditations.

I was chatting with one of my friends this weekend and I decided to start another work out program. I took a very big break from following a calendar and doing specific programs and I’ve just been bouncing around between bike rides, and making up my own workouts and I think I’m ready for some serious structure. So I’m started a new program tomorrow and I’m excited!! Although I do realize I’ll be starting a program when the kids have half days thanks to parent teacher conferences lol. But we’ll get it done! I also love it’s 5 days a week so I’ll definitely be able to fit in rest days.

Alright I’m spending Sunday at the hospital so time to pack lunches for the boys before my shift.

Sunday Somethings No. 9

This week started off pretty low key as I recovered from a 3 day work stretch at the hospital. So the first few days I spent giving myself grace and not doing too much. I’ve been a nurse for 12 years and I feel like I’m just finally starting to get into a routine post work that allows for rest and isn’t focused on getting as much done as possible!

Something I read: Bye Baby – I read this book in 2 days. It was SO good! 5/5 stars it was so entertaining. Then on the other end of the spectrum I suffered through a book for my book club only to then realize I read the wrong freaking book. ugh! luckily I read Bye Baby right after so I was able to rebound quickly. I also started a Flicker in the Dark which has been on my to read list forever it feels like.

I finished my first week of my No spend September! And it felt really good and has me excited for this challenge. Our relationships with money can be so complicated and carry a lot of ish. I know for me personally one of my fears is suddenly becoming responsible for everything and having no idea where to start. Then I should-ing all over myself that I “should” have been looking at my accounts. I “should” be paying more attention. I “should” be more engaged. And then I feel guilty and terrible and then I avoid it. Such a fun cycle. Iykyk. The truth is fear is just the worst motivator – and when you move from a place of fear you almost never get the results you want. So instead this challenge was a way to move from a place of curiosity and a way to reframe something that is stressful.

I’ve been making these high protein banana / graham cracker / vanilla yogurt cups that are delicious. I’ve been eating them either as an afternoon snack or as a dessert they’re about 38g of protein.

I pulled down all the boxes for Fall and starting taking down my summer things. I’m ready to swap the seasons but it’s so hard when it’s still 100 degrees to get into the fall mood. Next week I think it’s finally gonna get below 90 so my goal is to decorate for fall!

We had a packed weekend – the boys had their first halloween party / movie night at a friends house, we had the start of soccer and we went to a block party. The block party felt like old school summer, everyone in the streets, kids riding bikes bare foot. The weather perfect. I decked the boys bikes out with glow sticks for the ride home and it was such a perfect night. I’m tired just typing it all out. As busy as it was it was also so filling.

Right now we are very much in a season of transition and a world of unknown. There are a lot of unknowns with what my work will look like in the next 4-6 months, same for Chris. At times it feels so unsettling and it can be really easy to spiral into all these unknown possibilities. This feeling of unknown isn’t new to me, it comes with the territory of start-ups. What I’ve learned is that when the future feels the most uncertain and suddenly the road has all these turns you can’t see around, it is in these seasons where grounding yourself in the here and now is the most powerful and most impactful. This week I really prioritized my morning routine of mindfulness (meditating, journaling, eft tapping) and it makes such a big difference. Rather than allowing myself to dabble in the future I focused on what was right in front of me. The little hands that interlock with mine when we walk to school. The cold, wet grass on the soles of my feet. The steam that billows from my morning coffee. The soft steady breaths of the dog that lays beside me. The sound of the squirrels chasing another in the trees. These moments, these glimmers are right here for the taking. So if you’re in a season of unknown, of change, of uncertainty know that it does not last forever. And I try to remind myself of the idea that an essential requirement for growth (be it spiritual or personal) is coming to peace with
pain. No expansion or evolution can take place without change and periods of change are not always comfortable 

❤

Sunday Somethings (returned) No. 8

Ah, kids are back in school, the mornings are crisper, autumn is around the corner & I thought it was time to bring back my Sunday Somethings series. It’s a fun way to stay connected, share recipes, updates, or things I’m loving.

  1. This summer felt like the perfect length – we did a ton, we travelled to Mexico, we had beach days, the boys swam day in and day out, we watched movies, we celebrated birthdays. And now summer is coming to a close. I’m trying to be really intentional about not wishing seasons away and instead savoring it. As much as the cooler mornings feel nice, I’m trying to enjoy the days that still feel long with light, the evenings where we can comfortably play outside, the trees that are still holding on to their leaves. It’s so easy once school starts to skip ahead to fall and halloween and pumpkin spice. And don’t get me wrong I love all those things – but I really struggle with the short days, gloomy cold weather, so this year I’m really trying to just absorb the season we are in rather than wishing it away.
  2. The kids are finally on overlapping school schedules (HALLELUJAH!) Last year their schedule overlapped for 40 mins 3 days a week…. barely enough time to take a deep breath and start a load of laundry. This year – they are both in school by 8:30 and I get multiple hours of time four days a week! I can’t tell you how happy and excited I am about this.
  3. We took the kids to a monster truck show last weekend. They loved it. And it’s been all monster trucks all day long since. They’ve also gotten back into watching Blaze & Monster Machines on paramount / nickelodeon – and this is one show that I feel like they actually learn a lot from. They’ll be talking about force and friction and acceleration.
  4. I made a batch of dry mix of “cream of ___” soup mix. Basically you add a cup of broth or milk to this dry mix and it turns into a can of “cream of”. My mom used to make casseroles with cream of but the OG cans have so many perservatives and contain soy & gluten which are no’s for us so I was thrilled to find this recipe for this dry mix. I already used it. Scroll to the bottom and I’ll add the recipe for the dry mix (I had found it on instagram but now of course can’t find it to link it)
  5. Earlier this week I posted all my puppy essentials – Toby is officially in his adolescent era & so I rounded up all our favorite puppy items and shared them! You can read it here.
  6. It’s officially September! This month I decided to do a No Spend September I love a good challenge & I decided this would be a perfect month for it. I wanted to do it in August but I knew with back to school there would be things that popped up that I needed to get. So this month I’m really trying to hunker down & save!
  7. This week I finished Book Lovers which was such a cute easy read. It was book 22 this year. I had originally made a goal to read 50 books this year but I recently decided that goal was just not attainable. When I made it, it didn’t really sink in that it meant I would have to read a book a week, which is honestly just not possible in the season I’m in. So I pivoted and changed the goal to 40. We’ll see if I can make it. I read 36 books last year so I think it’s possible. We’re also entering fall / winter which are seasons that I tend to read more (aka football season). Take this as your sign if you made an over ambitious goal for the year, it’s okay to change it.
  8. I made this raspberry crisp this week & it was SO good. The recipe calls for fresh raspberries but I had two bags of frozen raspberries in my freezer & I’m trying to use things up. It turned out great even with frozen raspberries.
  9. This weekend I’m doing my longest work stretch in a while – and I’m dreading switching from going to bed at 3am to having to wake up at 5:30-6am to get the kids ready for school. I’m already planning for this week to be a strugggggle!
  10. The boys soccer season finally kicks off next weekend and I’m so excited. Baseball season brought so much joy. I loved watching them play so I’m excited to be back on the sidelines cheering every Saturday!

Hope everyone has a great long holiday weekend ❤

Dry mix soup of ingredients:

  • 2 cups powdered milk
  • 3/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup bouillon powder
  • 2 tsp onion flakes
  • 1 tsp parsley
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp black

To use:

Combine 1/3 cup dry mix, 1 cup broth or milk & 1 tbsp butter in saucepan and stir until thickened!