Things that made me happy this week

Via Etsy

This week's things that made me happy list is sponsored by my new motivation to work my fucking ass off. And a few other things.


A guide to following your dreams. I love a good practical list.


This goal-setter is after my own heart. A great list to get you started thinking.


Looking for some new monthly health goals? You'll find 12 doable items right here.


Goals are dreams with deadlines.


And now for food: I would like this cookbook, please.


I'm going to bake these gluten-free muffins this week. I'll report back.


Finally, have you heard of Limetown? It's my newest podcast obsession.


Be well!
xo

Things that made me happy this week

 

It's Sunday, you made it through another week. Was it a great one? Did you make the most of August's last days? Around our house we spent a lot of time daydreaming about the start of school (only eight more sleeps!) while simultaneously trying to get every ounce of fun out of the end of summer.  I found myself working overnight doula shifts all week and now my brain is a bit off balance. This coming week will be featuring less work, more fun.

Here are a few things that caught my eye around the internet this week:

I always seem to be on a mission to get my shit together. But maybe it's okay to be a bit of a mess.

My love affair with peach season is no secret. Here are some ideas to keep the romance alive.


On risking your heart.


Salmon + arugula is a salad I need to eat.


Some tips for productive mornings.


Making life less convenient.


Do I make this DIY sunbutter for school lunches, or just admit defeat and send in Doritos?


Do you have a favourite links list? Mine is hands-down from Joy the Baker. I always look forward to opening her posts on Sundays. It's the little things.

Be well!
xo

It's Monday!

Hello again! It's a holiday here in Canada, so this Monday kind of slipped away from me. But then an hour ago reality hit and it was time to make my to do list. But first, how was your weekend? The heat wave broke and we had an evening of glorious thunderstorms with a lightening show that went on for hours. We spent most of the weekend working on projects at home, lazing around watching movies, and then last night I went out for drinks with some fellow midwifery students (it was exactly what I needed). 

I'm really excited about this week. Do you want to know why?

The girlies will be in nature camp all week long.

It's like a vacation! I have four straight days to work, write, nap, and (cross your fingers that I actually do this) start my yoga practice! The summer has been a bit bumpy so far because it turns out I have children who love the structure of school. The splash pads have lost their sparkle, the library makes them yawn, and I can't even get them excited about baking with me anymore. We need a bit of a break and camp is the answer (and thank you universe for having a camp with two open spots for the week, a summer miracle here in Toronto). After their week at camp we are starting "homeschooling" for the rest of the summer, something they are very excited about. They have enjoyed tons of unstructured time already, so the last four weeks will be filled with projects, field trips, and maybe a science experiment or two. I'll have a break from my job for most of August, so while it will be a lot of planning work on my part, I'm hoping I will end up hearing less about how bored my children are. Because if I don't hear that again I'll be a happy woman. 

Here is my list for the week:

• Finish grading my students' papers and calculate their final grades.
• Prep for my class this coming September.
• Work on my blogging course, which means playing around with photo editing and finally writing my About page!
• Planning for homeschooling week one: the theme of this first week will be the human body, because I am an anatomy nerd.
• Start my first week back at yoga, with classes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.
• Nap, because I can.

So that's my week. What does yours look like? I hope it's a wonderful one.

Be well.
xo

Things that made me happy this week

This.

It's the weekend! I hope you're enjoying every minute of it. I am spending most of my weekend avoiding the sun and heat (who needs the sunshine when the shade is so dreamy?), while visiting with friends and chasing the girlies around the house.  And I'm already looking forward to pancakes in the morning!

Things that made me happy around the internet this week:

Permission to be gentle with yourself, especially for us anxious list-makers.

If you're too tired, just go to bed already. (This was written for me.)

These cookies. Oh, Joy, you do it to me every time.

Pie.

Because we should all have a good blueberry scone recipe.

Inspiration for a summer craft project for the girlies. Friendship bracelets are the best.

A review for a book I'm dying to read. Congratulations, Jessica!

On writing.

Be well!

xo

A few favourites

It's cold now. Last Friday fall fought the good fight, and fought right alongside it in my ballet flats with no tights, but winter has bested the both of us. It is here now, the snow clouds are beginning to appear, and I've reluctantly pulled out my boots. I'm reluctant not because I dislike winter (because I love winter), but I hate wearing boots because I hate wearing socks. It's complicated. Maybe I just haven't found the right pair of socks.

The rest of these photos were taken yesterday on the way home from school. Our usual walk home was interrupted by hunting down a mailbox to send a card to Nana (why can't I ever find a mailbox?) and a stop for a victory hot chocolate once we finally tracked one down. This week I hope you, too, can find a moment for a victory hot chocolate. You could even put whipped cream on it, as Alyce and Shira did. I would not put whipped cream on my hot chocolate because not only do I not like socks, I also do not like whipped cream.

Here are some things that I do like:

If you celebrate Christmas with children and you're looking for an advent calendar, check out this homemade one from The Knitty Gritty Homestead. I adore the idea of spreading out all the fun over 25 days.

I sometimes (only sometimes) complain about waking up at 5:00 am with Shira. Helen Jane starts her day at 4:00 am on purpose. What I like the most is how she makes use of her day, even if her rhythm is a little different than most 9-5ers.

I don't know how to crochet, but I am going to make this for my girls. Just you watch me. P.S. Please send help. I really don't know how to crochet.

Vegetarians may want to avert their eyes!  Whole Larder Love had me reading for hours. I have no interest in living this particular off-the-land life, but I'm encouraged that there are such people in the world. I also wouldn't mind an invitation to dinner.

I love learning how other people find the time to make food in their kitchen. I also love it when they snack on a potato chip or two after baking their homemade bread. We can't all be perfect. Life is far more interesting when things are a little complicated. (I sound like a broken record.)


And speaking of eating, heaven is brussel sprouts and pecorino cheese.

I would like to make dinner in these.

Grilled cheese with pesto and applesauce.

And this grilled cheese, too. Brie and cranberries, you had me at grilled cheese.

It's not always about cheese, you know. This roasted squash salad also includes creme fraiche.

I must have squash on the brain, because I also need to share with you this squash and apple salad. Read for the recipe or just read to enjoy one my favourite blogs. I could read Molly's words all day long, and when her latest blog post pops up in my reader I save it for last, so I can savour it just that little bit longer.

I'm going to try this new pumpkin bread recipe tomorrow. I have fresh pumpkin in the fridge just waiting to become bread.

 P.S. Matt took Alyce to the her first ballet this weekend, the National Ballet of Canada's performance of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I'm not posting any photos from their date because he promises a guest post all about it. Let's hope he's not just all talk. But this last photo was taken last night as Alyce tried to recreate the ballet in drawings. She's been taking the photos torn out of the ballet program with her everywhere she goes, so I think they had a good time.

Friday is the new Monday

A little after school dress-up.

In honour of last night's post about time management, and my desire to create a to-do list that is both manageable and accomplished, I offer you my day's list, in no particular order (which might be part of my problem in the first place, but I digress):

1. Clean entire house. Just kidding. But do clean some of the house because a) the Shabbat deserves a nice clean house, b) Matt invited a guest for dinner, and c) bathrooms don't clean themselves.
2. But seriously: vacuum carpets, clean the bathroom, and wash the kitchen floor.
3. Give Shira a duster and encourage her to clean like the wind!
4. Spend thirty minutes on my course website reading more of my students introductions. There aren't many obligations for my students this first week of classes, but I do expect they'll introduce themselves. It's only polite.
5. Edit a birth story I've written for my first doula clients. I hope they'll find it useful. Have I mentioned already how amazing that was? Oh right, I did that here.
6. Come up with, bake, and (eventually) devour a dessert for tonight's Shabbat dinner. Alyce and Shira always have something special with their Friday night dinners and today I'm going to prepare a few chocolate covered strawberries for them. But I'm still not sure what to make for the grown-ups. Maybe chocolate covered strawberries.
7. Remember to actually prepare the strawberries instead of just talking about them here on this blog. 

And in honour of my renewed optimism, here are a few things that have inspired me this week:

She constantly reminds me that it is ok not to be perfect. Read this (and all her other words) and you'll see what I mean.

This post saved me from having my own meltdown a couple of weeks ago. It is really good to be good to other people.

Because I think it's important to sometimes write just for yourself, instead of the entire internet.

Have you answered this question yet?

What is on your list today?

Food on Thursdays: a series

I spend a lot of time thinking about food, and the internet gives me so many opportunities to indulge in this little obsession of mine. I think about food at night before I go to bed, coming up with breakfast plans the night before (and you thought I was a procrastinator). I plan pretend menus in my head for pretend dinner parties that never actually happen, and I slowly make my way through each issue of Martha Stewart Living, going back and forth on which scone recipe I will try this time (this month it will be the apple oatmeal scones). When I open my reader every day, its often the food blogs I look for right away. What I love about food blogs is not just the recipes they taunt me with (and do I ever love those), but the way they talk about food. I feel like we're fast friends immediately when I read how I'm not the only one who spends actual minutes in her day contemplating the kind of bread I'm going to make next, or how I will fit kale into my next meal.

It's a good kind of problem, but a problem nonetheless. Because I could spend hours in a given day thinking about cooking. And the photos! How do people take such phenomenal photos of the food they make? Artists.

Sometimes all this thinking about food comes out of frustration. I live with two very picky eaters (I'm looking at you Matt and Alyce) and I'm often at a loss for ideas. I think eating together as a family is crucial for creating healthy food habits, and while I gave up thinking that we could eat a family diner every night of the week, I still do try for three or four dinners as a family. So I'm often online searching for ideas of what to cook that will appeal to Alyce's firm no-vegetable rule and Matt's preference to eat a steak at every meal.

What I'm trying to get is that one of the things that brings me the greatest joy is food and cooking, so I am going to begin introducing a regular series about food and the food blogs I love. Food on Thursdays is a place for me to share my food crushes of the week, let you know what's happening around here (and what we're eating). For today I will begin with a few links from the week. I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do.


This photo reminds me why I need to buy fig preserves.

I, too, have a granola problem. But it really is the perfect breakfast food, paired with cold yogurt.

If you are interested in starting your own starter, start here.

Do you think Alyce will eat green pasta? Stranger things have happened. 

I will be making this chicken salad before the week is through.

She should start charging me for the number of recipes I've tried from Smitten Kitchen. (That chicken salad I just mentioned a few seconds ago? That, too.) Buttermilk roasted chicken? Yes, please.

I'm not much for hiding vegetables in food (I tried and was very disappointed by Jessica Seinfeld's book), but I think Alyce will be eating more beets in the future. No one turns down a chocolate cake with pink icing.


It's almost the weekend. May it be filled with food, eating, and more food.

P.S. I'm also a sucker for food memoirs of all kinds. Have you read this one? Hands down it is my favourite. I'm currently reading The 100-mile Diet, but I haven't found myself taken by it the way I am by others. I think I'm a tough sell when it comes to such a structured approach to eating (and no matter what anyone says, denying oneself coffee on account of the distance it travels, makes me uncomfortable). I'm only at the beginning, so maybe there's hope for it yet. 

Good thing I'm always hungry

It's no secret that I think about food a lot. I mostly blame the internet, though, with all its temptations and good ideas. Here are this week's offenders:

-Chicken Pot Pies are a weakness of mine. These individual pot pies are inspiring me to eat them more often.
-A soup made with roasted, caramelized cauliflower. My Sunday afternoon should be filled with this soup, except that we got hungry and ate the cauliflower for Shabbat dinner on Friday. We have no one to blame but ourselves.
-I was on the hunt for a good blueberry muffin recipe and found this one. I'm often disappointed with blueberry muffins, but these were not too sweet, the good kind of crumbly, and worked well with my frozen blueberries. I used whole wheat flour and no one was the wiser. Now if someone can please tell me how to store my muffins so that they aren't all gummy and sticky on top the next day, I will love you forever.


I'm looking for some good ideas for meals that store well in the fridge over the week. I've been in the habit of making a batch of something on Sunday that I can take to work for lunch a few days that week. So far I've made chili and a chick pea stew. I think it's time for something non-tomatoey. Any ideas?

Sometimes I hoard the internet

I spend, ahem, a lot of time online. I steal little moments from my day when I can find them: nursing, waiting in long lines, standing in the kitchen waiting for water to boil. Maybe this sounds familiar? I know it does to my husband, who I will almost always find standing in the middle of a room, iphone in hand, scanning Twitter or Google Reader for some monumental breakthrough in sports analysis.

Because I'm often accessing these gems of the internet here, there and everywhere, I usually want to keep something for later, when I will have more time to think about a recipe or if I just want to let someone's idea simmer around in my brain for a little while before I read their post again. These are the reasons I'm offering for the fact that all my phone is constantly filled with open tabs and bookmarks, threatening to drown all other data from my phone (I don't actually know if this might happen, but I'm a worrier).

So in an extraordinary act of cleaning house, here are the interesting things that have caught my attention in the last couple of weeks:


A knitting tutorial on how to weave in your ends. As a novice knitter, this is perfect!

This raspberry scone recipe had me at hello.

Kale and honeydew? Yes, please.

A post about restarting your engine when things feel heavy.

It's also good to remind yourself (for the first or tenth time) about some very important lessons.

Sometimes I start nagging myself about my lack of Phd-completing. Then I read this.


Good. I feel a bit lighter now.