Category: Personal / Information / Etc.

What I’ve Been Watching

Posted May 13, 2020 / Media, Personal / Information / Etc. / 1 Comment

I did a post like this back in 2017 but haven’t done many since – I usually am watching wrestling and a few TV episodes in between everything, plus I have my monthly wrap-ups for things like this. Since life has been mostly the same and I’ve been doing more weekly “positive things” posts instead of monthlies, I thought it would be a good time to bring this back around. Here are some of the shows and movies we’ve been watching since I last updated you, or in general during quarantine! Watching Solo Virgin River I’m not fully in love with this one but it’s been decent background TV for when I’m cooking or dicking around the house. I know the whole point of the show is “big city nurse has to win over small down misogynistic doctor” but the doctor seriously annoys me here. I don’t know if it’s because EVERYTHING is annoying me lately? But I can’t stand him. I ended up falling a little more for the show once I got rolling though, so I’m glad I decided to watch. Outer Banks I am the first one to tell you how much I love watching so-bad-it’s-good TV shows and movies. We do this allll the time. I will say that this show definitely veered into this-is-actually-bad territory and I kind of hated it? I am not exaggerating when I tell you I wanted to punch EVERY single character in the face. Even the decent ones like Kiara […]

The Bright Side (5/8)

Posted May 8, 2020 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 2 Comments

As we’re all going through the same global pandemic with various levels of “stay the F home,” I thought it would be fun to highlight the good things in each week, instead of dwelling on the negatives, the unknowns, and the uncertain future. I tend to do some kind of wrap-up or rundown of my week/month/etc. on Fridays each week (often linking up with Friday Favorites/Currently) so this isn’t too much of a diversion from that. I’m back after taking last Friday off for my Bookmark Lit Bulletin monthly wrap-up, so here are two weeks’ worth of good things! ✨ Brad Leone / Bon Appetit I know I’m behind on the craze but our latest obsession of cooking-related YouTube has brought us into the wonderful world of Brad Leone and the Bon Appetit test kitchen. We were already watching Epicurious (under the same company umbrella) so this has added another fun element. Brad’s “It’s Alive” videos are SO funny and genuinely all we watch most Friday nights. His tomato ricotta toast is something I spotted a few bookish friends eating recently and was wondering where it came from… and now I know! I quickly added tomatoes and ricotta to my grocery order to test it out. It was so tasty! I can’t believe how much flavor tomatoes have when you cook them just a little bit?? ✨ Pickling Chris and I have really been diving deep into cooking shows lately and one of the main things we decided to try […]

Planner Streamlining

Posted May 7, 2020 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 2 Comments

I talk a lot about my planners and how I use each of them for various things, but it’s always a work in progress for me. I buy something with the best intentions and end up forgetting it, using it for something completely different, or half-ass the whole thing. I recently streamlined how I use my planners during this quarantine period because yes, there ARE still things to do. There are definitely less events out of the house, but I still need to plan (now more than ever!) meals, groceries, house chores, work, and reading. Here’s how I’m doing it all now. Artful Agenda: Blog/Books, Calendar-Based, On-the-Go Lists My online planner is the best place for me to include anything that I’d want to reference while on my computer or phone (on the go). I traditionally use it for easily adding appointments (like when I’m leaving my hair appointment and schedule my next while I’m there) or events when I’m with friends (determining our next holiday party or something). While this will be true again someday, right now it’s mostly helping me from a blogging perspective. If I have a few posts I want to plan out and complete, I’ll include them in the to-do sections. I’m able to leave this tab open on my computer and reference it whenever. The second thing this planner is currently helping with during quarantine is planning out my grocery shopping and lists whenever necessary. Obviously I’m shopping less often than the million times […]

May Currently

Posted May 6, 2020 / Currently, Personal / Information / Etc. / 8 Comments

I’m linking up with Anne In Residence for this month’s Currently post! I usually include these in a Friday post but I’m trying to spread the wealth with content when needed (and I’m working on my The Bright Side posts on Fridays)! What I’m… Making Ummm, everything?! Like everyone else in the world, it seems, we’re doing way more homey cooking and baking. This past weekend I spent Sunday making three meals from the Cravings by Chrissy Teigan cookbook, and we have a handful more to make right away too! I finally put the boxed cake mix I’ve had forever to good use by making snickerdoodle cake mix cookies too. Lots of home-cooked meals around here! Missing Oh man… aren’t we all missing juuust about everything right now? We don’t feel like much is different on weeknights since we generally stay home 3-4 nights after work, but we find ourselves more sad on the weekends. If we go out to run errands on a Saturday, we always wish we could spend time out at a brewery or restaurant. We picked up hard cider from a favorite place last weekend and were dying to stay in and do a tasting the whole time. Learning How to make pickled things! We’ve been obsessed with everything cooking-related online, like The Chef Show on Netflix and anything Bon Appetit/Epicurious have to offer on YouTube. We learned how to pickle the other day and put it to the test with pickles and onions. Both yielded very […]

The Bright Side (4/24)

Posted April 24, 2020 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 1 Comment

As we’re all going through the same global pandemic with various levels of “stay the F home,” I thought it would be fun to highlight the good things in each week, instead of dwelling on the negatives, the unknowns, and the uncertain future. I tend to do some kind of wrap-up or rundown of my week/month/etc. on Fridays each week (often linking up with Friday Favorites/Currently) so this isn’t too much of a diversion from that. ✨ Too Hot to Handle Good lord. We were inspired on Saturday to randomly start this show. Chris promised we’d watch ONE EPISODE ONLY and we immediately watched three. We essentially watched 2-3 per day until we finished up the show on Monday. Woof. It’s interesting and addicting like Love is Blind but it’s about singles who apparently just love having sex and can’t control themselves. They did a few workshops, which were fun, and tried to get them all to find meaningful relationships instead of just hooking up. Each time people hooked up, money would be deducted from the prize fund. It was so frustrating to watch people constantly fuck it up for everyone else!!! ✨ Erasable Pens for Planning I’ve been really trying to get better about using my paper planner. I still love the digital planner I’m using because it syncs my calendars and includes a lot of my blog-related to-do’s, which I don’t keep in my paper planner. This planner is more about meal planning, prep, and workouts. With everything in […]

Eating Lately via My iPhone

Posted April 22, 2020 / Food & Drink, Personal / Information / Etc. / 3 Comments

Like everyone during quarantine, we’ve been doing a lot of cooking and baking! It’s been so fun to find new meals, work with what we have, and bake tasty (well-deserved) treats. I was inspired by Communikait and her “what I’m eating lately via my iPhone” posts. They’re simple photos of meals she’s had and a little description about the recipe. We made deep dish pizza in a springform pan after watching a video on all the ways to make pizza – it was so fun! I used the classic WW two-ingredient dough (I had to do a 1.5 cup version, using that much flour and yogurt) to get the right amount to fill the pan. I baked the dough in the pan for about 20 minutes around 425 to get it crispy first. I then added my (already warm from the crockpot) homemade marinara sauce (fit about 1.5 cups of sauce too), mixed in chopped pepperoni, and topped with cheese. I put it back in on a higher temperature until the cheese was warm. So good! Yes, I went and made the whipped coffee to try! Without a hand mixer I definitely would never have bothered whisking forever and ever. I used vanilla almond milk on the bottom and the same ratio as everyone else for the top (2 tbsp instant coffee, 2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp hot water). The pictured coffee had less sugar to try to be healthy but that was a big mistake lol. I made french toast one morning because we had […]

The Bright Side (4/17)

Posted April 17, 2020 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 2 Comments

As we’re all going through the same global pandemic with various levels of “stay the F home,” I thought it would be fun to highlight the good things in each week, instead of dwelling on the negatives, the unknowns, and the uncertain future. I tend to do some kind of wrap-up or rundown of my week/month/etc. on Fridays each week (often linking up with Friday Favorites/Currently) so this isn’t too much of a diversion from that. ✨ Fast and Furious Movies Just when this was all beginning, Chris and I borrowed all of the Fast and Furious movies from my parents to watch at home. AND IT WAS THE BEST DECISION. I had seen the first 3-4 when they came out, got behind on a movie or two, and then never went back to watch them because Paul Walker’s death seriously upset me. I’ve only FINALLY been able to watch and it’s still so bittersweet. These movies are utterly ridiculous but so, so entertaining. The bond that they all share throughout the movies, the people in the crew that join them (Tyrese, Ludacris, Gal Gadot, and more!) — ugh it’s all so good and just perfect for this time in our lives. I definitely got sadder and sadder as we approached the seventh movie though. ✨ Pandemic-Related Meal Prep YouTube I’m not sure why but I always love watching meal planning and prep videos! This was probably sparked from my desire to find healthy YouTube channels and/or people who followed […]

Quarantine Goals and Habits

Posted April 15, 2020 / Goals & Planning, Personal / Information / Etc. / 6 Comments

I shared on Twitter the other day that I downloaded an app (Habitica – feel free to check it out but that’s not what this is about, nor is it my favorite thing. It works though.) to track some of the daily habits I really want to accomplish. Habits, goals, and little to-do lists all rolled into one. Everyone is approaching this weird time in our lives in a different way. Chris works in manufacturing and, as of right now, is still considered essential. I am thinking there will be some time off in his future (fingers crossed), but right now I’m alone in quarantine, working from home each day. He doesn’t get to join in in the craziness of actually being home 24/7, which sucks for both of us frankly, but there are still some quarantine-ish things he has to deal with anyways. Daily Habits I thought I would break my goals down into some categories, expand on them to include broader “during quarantine overall” kinds of things beyond the daily habits I want to keep. But, the main things I plan to do EVERY day are: Get outside If it’s nice out, this means spending some genuine quality time on the porch, going for a walk, or on the front step. Even if it’s horrible, rainy, and cold out, I need a minute or so of outdoor time still. That could be greeting Chris on the front porch under the awning or walking to get the mail. Be […]

The Bright Side (4/10)

Posted April 10, 2020 / Personal / Information / Etc. / 0 Comments

As we’re all going through the same global pandemic with various levels of “stay the F home,” I thought it would be fun to highlight the good things in each week, instead of dwelling on the negatives, the unknowns, and the uncertain future. I tend to do some kind of wrap-up or rundown of my week/month/etc. on Fridays each week (often linking up with Friday Favorites/Currently) so this isn’t too much of a diversion from that. ✨ Someone Great I’d been really good about watching the Netflix rom-coms as they came out (Chris doesn’t care about watching them with me), but I kept putting this one off for no reason. I LOVED the chemistry of this cast! I decided to watch right before work one morning and it was a great way to start the day. It was a bright spot of the week; I laughed and smiled throughout the movie (a little less so at the ending but that’s okay). ✨ Spotify and YouTube I’ve always enjoyed music but I haven’t been as focused on it post-college. I got back into reading and started listening to audiobooks, and then I added podcasts to my routine too. Music fell by the wayside except for during work hours. Now that I’m home all day, I can listen to music loudly when I’m not on calls. I can also keep some casual YouTube videos on in the background! Usually these are about fashion/Amazon, meal prep, ASMR and other lowkey videos. The playlist […]

A Day in the Life // Work From Home (3/18/20)

Posted March 20, 2020 / Currently, Lifestyle, Personal / Information / Etc. / 2 Comments

I thought given the current situation of staying home and isolating, I’d share what my day looked like once this week! I’m bad at remembering to take early morning pictures so I apologize we’re missing the coffee-and-Kindle situation from when I first woke up. I fell asleep super early last night so I was really hoping to wake up around 5:30 to finish my book and relax with YouTube. As usual, I forgot to press snooze and woke up naturally at 6:15 instead. My boss and I had worked from home the day before since I had a cough in the morning. We were planning to kind of play it by ear since our office has two people in it and we could easily work from home. I expected to go in this morning when I woke up. I got out of bed to make my coffee, eat some pistachio loaf, and go to the bathroom. Chris left for work a few minutes before. He works as a machinist so he has to go in. I spent the morning finishing up SUPER ADJACENT for a blog tour coming up in early April. I also watched Book Roast’s announcement for OWLS, which I’ve been meaning to do for a while, and hopped in the shower. While showering, my boss texted that she would be working from home again today. I was surprised and a little mad I rushed myself in the morning, but overall happy to stay home for now. I got […]