Meg 
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. This holiday used to be a much bigger deal to me back when I was at Boston College (duh… for many reasons), and David and I even got in the spirit by running the 5k race they hold in Southie. This year, though, not so much. I spent the day in a low-key way with my sisters, with wine and apps, not even beer. But it was delightful.
Here’s what I’ve been reading and enjoying this week:
My parents are in town, and we’re celebrating my birthday week with some quality time and dinners together. My sisters and I are taking turns hosting, and tonight we’ll head to Waypoint, a small-plates restaurant. Its our first time having a babysitter come watch the kids, which I know is a bit ridiculous because of how old Charlotte is. We’ve managed to squeak by with my sisters helping out primarily, but maybe it’s also a sign that we don’t get out enough.
Here’s what I’m eating, reading, and enjoying this week:
A few new podcasts have been on frequent rotation for me, including By the Book (a podcast that lives out the self-help advice of best sellers and comments on how helpful or not these books are – it’s hilarious and warm and open) and Best of Both Worlds (about loving our work lives and our mom lives). Highly recommend.
This post on invisible older women.
Looking in to getting a new teapot (and drinking more of the Earl Grey tea I loved when I was younger). Currently thinking the Denby ones are nice but I’m still undecided.
Sunday: Kale and chicken pasta bake
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Leftovers (seriously, Sunday’s recipe made so much)
Wednesday: Chicken piccata over spaghetti with green beans (highly recommend!)
Thursday: Pesto chicken with white beans and roasted carrots
Friday: Hosted by my sister, she made a walnut-crusted salmon
Saturday: Hosted by my sister, she made a garlicky pasta with baguette and salad
Title: Lethal White
Author: Robert Galbraith (aka J. K. Rowling)
Date: 2018
Format: audio book
I’m a fan of J. K. Rowling and a fan of this series, and I’ve streamed all four books as audiobooks, which I’ve really enjoyed. As exciting and entertaining as this latest book is, it also isn’t her best in the series. The pace was noticeably slower than the earlier books, although not at all boring. Instead, much of the focus was on the detective work, the conversations, and of course the relationships that became so muddled in book 3. There were far fewer close calls and cliff hangers.
I’ve had a lot of fun reading some mysteries and thrillers this winter, and I’d recommend all of the Cormoran Strike books. I also noticed the size and length of this fourth novel was pretty long. It seems she’s repeating the pattern of ever-longer novels and backstories as the series progresses.
We’re at the start of a long weekend, and I’m hoping to take it easy with the kids. I’m intentionally trying to slow down and not feel compelled to work on the weekend. Instead, I baked some pear bread to nosh on, and of course, there’s loads of coffee.
I’m also trying to get out and do something intentional with Charlotte in one of the blocks of time surrounding Will’s nap schedule. Up this week: a trip to the library. Last week, we signed up for Cambridge Public Library’s program 1000 books before kindergarten. We head to the stacks, and I basically let her pick up whatever she wants. I don’t always love all her choices, but it is interesting to see which books are her favorite once we get home. Some of the books she pulls off the shelve remain relatively untouched, while one or two are repeated frequently during the week. I feel like the frequent trips and the free-for-all in selection once we get there is helping me learn a bit more about who she is.
Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:
It’s chilly, and the river is freezing over. In Boston, we usually have gorgeous fall weather. Now, we’ve got two or three months of chilly, sloppy, winter weather ahead of us, and this reality is reflected in my menu choices. I’m leaning hard on hearty fare: baked dishes, soups, pastas.
Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:
It’s been a bit of a week here, with some very high highs and some bumpy, clunky lows. Some of the good bits included connecting with friends and colleagues to catch up on life and share ideas and enthusiasm for the projects ahead of us. Some of the lows included a few medical appointments, including one unexpected trip to the ER for stitches to a nasty cut David got. It threw us for a loop when it happened, and I’m now on double diaper and dishes duty until it heals up a bit more. Everyone’s OK, though, and that’s what counts.
On the bright side, I got to spend time with my sisters to go see Lindy West kick off the Museum of Fine Arts’ speaker series. She was fun and funny, insightful and scintillating, and it felt great to laugh as much as we did. She spoke about the #MeToo movement and the often-talked-about fear that men might accidentally sexually harass someone without knowing it. She had a list of strategies for this, such as “Come on,” and “Don’t talk about genitalia at work.” She went to clarify that some workplaces, like urologists’ offices or piercing studios might actually have to talk about genitals at work, but at this point “you should know if your workplace is genitalia-themed or not.” There were so many other lines I thought I’d remember with clarity to retell later on, but I feel like I can’t quite do them all justice.
Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:
Welcome to the weekend.
It’s been a full week, and I’m glad for the break and time with family. My parents are still in town and David’s birthday is coming up, so there’s a lot of celebration and shared meals. The days, though, have been intense. We’re navigating busy schedules and commitments, but it feels like we’re getting calls from daycare or preschool a few times a week to come pick up a sick kid, either throwing up or feverish. Looking back, I shouldn’t be surprised: Charlotte started a new preschool last month, so it makes sense that there’s a flurry of new germs and exposures, and it sounds like there’s a nasty summer cold going around in general. I’m so grateful for the help of my parents: while I’m sure it’s not how they envisioned their trip playing out, it’s been an enormous help.
Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:
It’s a rainy Sunday morning, and my family is in town to visit. We’re doing a lot of shared meals together this weekend then heading in to the work week tomorrow just as we usually do.
We also recently got a new rug for the living room floor, much bigger and fluffier than our old one, and so David and I are spending a lot of time getting on our hands and knees on the ground with the little ones. It’s so strange to notice how what’s in a room can change the feel and use of that room so much. This new rug just invites play time at their level.
Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:
It’s so nice to be in the middle of a long weekend. I’m loving this unstructured time with my family. Daycare was closed Friday, too, so it’s been a four-day weekend for us. We’d originally planned to visit my family in the midwest, but that felt like just too much to wrap my head around (especially a few weeks ago, when Will’s sleep was all over the place and he was up for hours at a time in the middle of the night). He’s still an early riser now, waking up at 5:30 or 6:00 for the day. This weekend, we’re taking advantage of the pleasant weather to take walks along the river and pickup doughnuts for breakfast.
The water fountains are also on for the season. While it’s chilly today, yesterday was warm and sunny, so we all went to the splash pools.
Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:
The week felt like summer should be peaking through, but it mostly has been chilly and rainy. The colleges throughout the city are all holding graduations, and the streets and sidewalks are correspondingly packed with confused and frustrated parents trying to figure out Boston traffic.
It’s been a fairly low-energy week for me. Will’s been throwing us a curveball with mid-night wakings and then staying up and energized, crying if we put him back in the crib, for an hour or two afterwards. It’s painful. I don’t think it’s a sleep regression so much as just what he’s like right now.
Here’s what I’m eating and reading this week:
