Eye to Wonder

Going into November, I knew I wanted to have a better reading month. Being a reader is a core part of my identity and my absolute favorite hobby, so when my reading life feels meh, it is usually a sign that I’m stressed. I knew that with lots of “weird” weeks out of routine with school schedules being different or traveling, having a good reading month would help me feel more grounded. Focusing attention on this really helped solve the problem--I had a much better reading month after spending a little time listening to book podcasts, browsing all the bookish posts on NaBloPoMo, and putting in a bunch of holds at the library. Here’s hoping this trend continues in December! Favorite Reads This Month: * Homeseeking by Karissa Chen. This was my absolute favorite read this month. The story follows Sushi and Haiwen from Shanghai in the 1930s to the early 2000s in SoCal. When it’s done well, I love historical fiction with multiple timelines and perspectives. The pacing in this was excel...

After dropping my kids back at school after break, I decided to use my couple of hours while M is at preschool to enjoy the quiet house, exercise, catch up on laundry, and then spend some time planning the month next to the tree with Christmas music playing. Were there other things I could have done? Yes. Did we return home to a plumbing problem that will require appointments and reshuffling? Also yes. But while I waited for the plumber to call back, it was nice to take some time to look ahead to a month with all the festive things coming up and wrap my mind around what’s coming up. Big Events this month: *Feast of the 7 Fishes--we got inspired watching this excellent holiday movie and have hosted some friends over to cook way too much seafood after the kids go to bed. This year I think my friend is going to come down from LA to join, which I’m super excited about. *Hanukkah--we are an interfaith family, so we do Hanukkah and Christmas. Hanukkah is actually a relatively minor celebr...

I can’t believe this is the last day of NaBloPoMo. I’ve gained so much from reading lots of new blogs, writing every day, and getting inspired by all of your thoughts and ideas. It’s been fun to reflect more on our day-to-day life and keep a record of what’s happening. Thanks so much to San for hosting! Looking back at the month, I met many of my intentions and some things worked out differently then I planned. *My biggest hope-to for the month was having a nice family trip to Philly, which we did! We really focused a lot on hanging out with family rather than doing a bunch of big outings, and it ended up being really nice. *I’m hoping to reschedule the camping trip to Agua Caliente--it still seems like a really cool destination and a lot of fun. That said, having a little extra room in the calendar ended up being a good thing, and I am glad the kids were sick at home instead of Thanksgiving week with Joel’s family. *I stuck with my goal of strength training 3x weekly (except whil...

It was a big travel day today, so I'm switching photo of the week for today to make life easier and keep up the NaBloPoMo streak going. Here is M looking at the airplanes as the sun rose.

Happy Friday! Hope that everyone is enjoying a low-key Friday or some Black Friday shopping if that’s your thing. 1.) I woke up with a bad sinus headache, which was a bummer, but I listened to this Ezra Klein episode while I waited for the medicine to kick in. It was a replay from 2023, but I highly recommend giving it a listen if you haven’t. It’s called “‘The Quiet Catastrophe’ Brewing in our Social Lives,” and is all about how modern society structures undermine social connection. I’m thinking a lot about themes in the episode including control, frequency of interactions, third spaces, imperfect social interactions, and privacy vs. communal space. 2.) Speaking of third spaces, we visited a great library today! I love a good library + coffee shop visit, which was the perfect thing for a blustery day. We thought about heading out for a nature walk, but our kids are definitely not used to the low temps and elected to stay indoors instead. I loved all the things you could check out ...

We had a nice Thanksgiving! We usually do a Thanksgiving lunch, and since a family member keeps kosher, we don’t do turkey and instead have dairy. We’ve tried doing meat and no dairy, but this way is better. This year we did branzino, which was tasty, as well as some traditional favorites like stuffing and cranberry-raspberry sauce. There was also mac’n’cheese and a delicious chickpea carrot dish with an herby greek yogurt sauce. After lunch, we had a chill day with board games, a brief bit of time outside where M learned how to climb a small tree, and there were lots of silly sister shenanigans and games. I had a few spare minutes after putting M to bed and filled a page in my planner with a gratitude list. It was a nice way to reflect, and forced me to think outside of the more big picture things to specific things I was grateful for as I got further down the list. I hope that if you celebrate, you had a happy Thanksgiving and got a chance to be with some people you love. Thanks so...