Music Monday (on Tuesday!)

 

Lately I have picked up some consulting work remotely, which is great- it's flexible, can be done from home, and allows me to stop and take care of M and the million other tasks I have taken over since leaving my full time job. The only downside...it's a little redundant and can get boring. It requires just enough mental work that I can't listen to a podcast while doing it, but not enough to keep me excited/engaged for very long. And I am definitely a person who likes a little background noise when I'm working!

The nice secondary result of this is I've listened to more music than I have in years. It's been great discovering new artists, but even more rewarding has been jumping back into old favorite albums, bands, and playlists from as far back as high school (!) Yellowcard takes me back to driving around in my Grandmother's old volvo; there's one Band of Horses album where the opening soundtrack immediately brings me to the lush green peaks of our family roadtrip to Ireland right after college. 

So, here's my second re-remembered playlist. Hope y'all enjoy. P.S. you can check out the first one here.

Life Lately

 

I don't know why, but I always loved reading the life lately or ten things I'm loving-style posts on old school blogs back in the day. I still read the weekly updates on Cup of Jo and A Beautiful Mess and enjoy them. I wrote a few, but never consistently. I thought it might be nice to do a check in like this once a month.

- I was reading some heavier things earlier in the summer, and while I enjoyed them (Demon Copperhead was so good y'all,) I was definitely ready for something lighter. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches is definitely fitting the bill. It's got a very cozy vibe which I love

-  now that Peter is back at work, we're trying to come up with strategies to make weeknight meals a lot easier. One thing we've tried is baking protein and veg on a sheet pan and pairing it with a grain and a sauce. I became pretty obsessed with baked salmon sushi bowls during pregnancy, but we recently got this cookbook from the library to try some new recipes. Would love recommendations if you have any! 

-  since 'rediscovering' some old favorite artists I can't get this album out of my head. Absolutely love it and it brings me back to such a specific time in my life. Here's another favorite older playlist I keep coming back to. And if you have any more recommendations, please share! I'm always looking for new artists to get into! 

-  we had to get E an email for her global entry application, and I realized we could sign her up for Crumbl cookies emails and get her a free cookie for her birthday! Just a PSA for any other cookie monsters out there :) 

-  it's late in the season but we finally got through our first hurricane touchdown here in Florida. As hurricanes become more severe and intense due to climate change, it's so so important to be prepared for the season. Here's a good starting point on what should be in your kit, and a short read on how climate change impacts extreme weather events. 

-  I recently wrote out some personal and professional goals for the next 18 months and let me tell you, it felt so good to put some concrete plans (and boundaries) around the coming year. Mainly I'm focusing on raising my two little ones, but it feels so great to also have a clear plan to return back to work refreshed after some pretty intense feelings of burnout. I'm also carving out more time for self care via creativity which feels amazing. For something that took five minutes it was well worth the time. 

-  speaking of creativity, I submitted another work for publication! It's an essay on the intersection of medicine and motherhood, and I think it's a long shot, but I really enjoyed writing it and the writing process in general, so I'm going to keep at it. I find it to be such a relaxing outlet. In the process of submitting I found this beautiful essay by another writer so thought I'd share.

-  hard to believe but we're nearly a month into E's school year. It's been a learning curve for her, and she's doing beautifully, but I didn't realize how much of a learning curve it would be for us as well... I find myself scrambling to keep up with the school emails trying to understand the lingo (what's a PAC? PTA?) and trying to stop myself from volunteering for the recycling position I saw that was open (and trying to convince them it should be a sustainability officer...🫣) 

-  our garden is looking a bit sad, but earlier this summer our compost finally yielded some good nutritious dirt which is amazing! Hard to believe we need to start planning our winter garden down here already...I'm eyeing these sunflower rings for E and M. We did this once as a kid and I still remember it, I loved it so much!

-  E is really taking off on her bike and it's been so cool to see. She can be a little cautious so every time she overcomes a fear it's a thrill to watch her as a parent. We thrifted her bike, but it's very similar to this one. The balance bike method is new to me as we grew up using training wheels, and then having my dad take them off and shove us down a grassy hill screaming "PEDAL!" at us (nope, not exaggerating. Yes, it's definitely as funny as it sounds, assuming you're not the one learning to ride your bike.) I mean, whatever works, I guess? :) Are you a balance bike or training wheels family?

Have a great day y'all. 

Our Hurricane Kit

 

Well, our first big storm came and went, and while it didn't come near to our county, it's a been a very good reminder that we need to make sure we're prepared for this type of weather event. It may sound weird, but growing up we looked forward to hurricanes- we were lucky enough to have solid housing and be far from the evacuation zone. Preparing involved making sure you had what you needed to complete any school assignments and helping my parents put up the shutters around the house. As an adult, of course things aren't so simple. Here's a list of what we keep in the house to prepare for storms. 

- first aid kid. My brother actually got this kit not long after the start of the pandemic, and then gifted it to us when we moved (thanks, Luke!) At minimum it should include a few different types of wound dressings (the Red Cross recommends this list), antibiotic ointment (avoid Neosporin as it tends to cause skin reactions,) and some tweezers. I'd also include any medications anyone in the household takes regularly, plus Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen, and Cetirizine. 

- food. It's not uncommon for hurricanes to cause power outages and limit access to drinkable water, so you'll want some cans and packets or non-perishable food that's easy to assemble and eat. As Trader Joe's fans, we just stocked up on some packets and cans from their nonperishable aisle, but you can also add things like ramen, snack bars, fruit leathers- pretty much anything that requires as little prep as possible. We have a gas camping grill so we just make sure we have a propane tank to heat stuff up on if needed, ideally long before the hurricane panic buying starts. Another note: go through your supplies annually to cycle out anything that's coming up on expiration dates and replenish with newer items. 

- water. As above. You generally want one gallon per person and pet per day in case the water is not drinkable for an extended period. Obviously no one knows how long the power will be out (the longest power outage we experienced was two weeks!) but 3 days is a good start. You can either buy and store gallons of water, or fill containers in your home before the storm hits. There's also purification tablets you can buy and use in a pinch. 

- flashlights and batteries. As a kid, hurricane night meant going to bed with a flashlight on my nightstand in case the power went out (as it often does in hurricanes.) We upgraded to headlamps, and use our camping lantern to as needed. Make sure you have the right unexpired batteries for whatever lighting you're using as well. 

- Important documents. Less of a hurricane kit thing than a life kit thing. Many disaster relief organizations will recommend keeping important documents such as passports, birth certificates and relevant medical information in a single place in the home. Fireproof safes are expensive, but you could also zip them into a water proof bag to keep them dry in the event of flooding. 

- The rest of the stuff. The list can get very long very quickly and depends a lot on individual circumstances. If you are at risk of evacuating having a change of clothes or two packed in a designated spot is also a good idea, as well as supplies, documents and food for pets if you have them. The CDC also recommends keeping a fire extinguisher in the home (which should honestly be an item every household has in working condition.) 

Other things to note:

- follow official guidelines. The national weather service is a great resource, but please check in and follow along on local official disaster preparedness pages. If you are being told to evacuate PLEASE evacuate. Not only for your own safety - you are endangering others' lives if you get trapped in an unsafe area. 

- Hurricane season runs from June to November, but in general it's a good idea to be prepared year round, as you can use this kind of kit for other emergencies as well. It's also a good idea to check in on everything once a year and make sure replace expired or broken items. 

- if you have any medical devices that require power to run, make sure you know where you can go if you lose power. This was something that happened in Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico that led to some pretty tragic outcomes. It could be as simple as figuring out if any local friends or family have a generator or solar and battery system you can hunker down with or the nearest hospital that operates as a shelter. Many folks will not have to worry about this but if you use a nebulizer or other respiratory machines or rely on dialysis regularly it's important to look into this. 

So that's pretty much it!. What do you think? Anything you would add? 

PS. The CDC has some really great articles on this stuff that you can find on their website, linked here

Music Monday

I feel like there needs to be a word out there for the feeling you get when you hear a song that you used to love and haven't heard in such a long time that you pretty much forgot all about it. Is this a thing? If not it should be! 

Anyways, music Monday is back. With my writing flurry has come a significant dip in my reading (natural I guess, but I'm still kinda bummed.) On the flip side it's been replaced with listening to lots of music, some of which I haven't gone back to in over 10 years. Of course I had to make a playlist. 

I posted on Instagram too but friends, what's your favorite song at the moment? I'm loving rediscovering old favorites but need to add some new stuff to rotation too. 💙