The January Edit

everything and nothing has changed

Since beginning The Weekly R. E. P. O. R. T. series, I think it’s time to reshuffle some of my categories in The Monthly Edit. Instead of “Loving Lately”, here are some monthly highlights. Also, you’ll notice the timing of this newsletter will lean towards the end of the month instead of the middle. I’m going to continue to tweak this format as the year goes on. Here’s to keeping things fun and fresh aka I’m just winging it and learning to lean into not having a plan all the time.

Books + Reading

• The Alex Stern series was a real highlight of my month. I finished Ninth House and Hell Bent by Leigh Bardugo. It’s the closest I’ve come to a dark academia novel that matches my love of The Secret History by Donna Tartt so far.

• Progress report: I finished Bridge to Terabithia as my first reread of the year! 1/12 done
  

  The Rereading Project

TV + Movies

• The Crown Season 5 and Sex Education Season 4 were my favorites this month. Both season finales had been on my to-watch list since they first premiered in the Fall. I cried multiple times throughout. They were so much heavier than I expected. I can’t recommend them enough if you’re eager to watch something new.

• My husband finished Ted Lasso this month and I have to admit I enjoyed half paying attention to it in the background while we ate dinner or I worked on other chores.

• Technically we watched this in the last few days of 2023 but I’m still obsessed with Saltburn. As a reader and art history major who very much grew up in the Indie Sleaze era, I can’t stop Geeking out over all the cultural references Emerald Fennell was able to tie into the story.

Tunes

• I haven’t listened to any new music in a while so I’d love to hear your recommendations. If you’ve got a good playlist link, send it my way.

Purchases + Wish List

• January was a fairly low-buy month in terms of wants vs. needs but I did purchase this acrylic desk stand for my work office on sale.

• Lucky for us, Kroger over-fulfilled some of my Clicklist items and we ended up with a slight surplus of meat. I finally bought a Food Saver vacuum sealer (also on sale) and I think we will get good use out of it. We have a side-by-side fridge and freezer which doesn’t leave much space for bulk. Being able to vacuum seal and flat store items will save us so much room and keep things organized.

• We had a milder cold snap than the rest of the East Coast but the morning lows in the teens left my nose completely dried out. After not being able to sleep one night I gave up and bought the cheapest humidifier I could find.

• One thing I’ve added to my wish list recently is this outdoor dining table. It’s been my vision to have an outdoor eating area since before we moved into our current home and this affordable option is exactly what I’ve had in mind.

Organization + Cleaning

• I’ve slowly been checking things off my New Year’s to-do list. In January I managed to clean out our bathroom cabinets and dispose of old/expired toiletries, put away all of our Christmas gifts, clean out our pantry and freezer, put away our Christmas-themed books for the season, unhaul some old ARCs, organize my son’s room, and fold countless mounds of laundry. It’s been slow progress but pushing myself to do one extra project each weekend helped me feel accomplished.

• We also made some progress in the yard by trimming back overgrown bushes and starting seeds indoors for our Spring garden.

• I’m still learning Notion but it’s so fun to play with. Since they introduced a new integration with Google Calendar, I switched everything over from iCal. I also created a few new tracking databases this month: a parcel tracker, a gardening dashboard, a home reset checklist, and a wish list. I’ve been inspired by Jules Acree and used some of her templates as a launching point for my own.

Yummy Bites

• The best thing we ate this month was German food, by far! My family loves going to Bierkeller after our zoo trips. This month we also stopped by World Market and I got more spaetzle and gravy mixes. My kids are fairly picky still but they’ll eat homemade schnitzel without complaints!

• French onion focaccia from a local coffee shop that my niece works at

• I’m trying to make healthier snack choices (i.e. eating balanced, whole-food snacks instead of convenience foods like prepackaged crackers) and the combo of crisp raw veggies and cottage cheese was a winner for me this month. This cottage cheese is my favorite.

Highs + Lows

• I’ve struggled a lot with parenting recently and I’ve let my temper get the best of me more than I’d like. Despite feeling like I’m a referee, there have been some very sweet moments this month. My 2-year-old son has started saying “I Love You” more frequently. As much as I like hearing it, it’s almost sweeter to hear him tell his sister. Sometimes I find myself just watching my kids in awe. My daughter has a real interest in art all of a sudden (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree) and my son continues to tinker. At breakfast one morning he was occupied for a long time by fitting a butter knife through the prongs of a fork.

• My younger sister lost a good friend this month and I’ve had a hard time watching her navigate that grief and figuring out how best to support her.

• Birds often carry a spiritual meaning and we’ve had quite a few visitors at our backyard feeders. I spent a good hour one Saturday sitting and watching them without distraction while my daughter baked bread with her Gigi and my son took his afternoon nap. Every time we see a male cardinal my daughter says it’s her Pops visiting and that brings me comfort and reassurance. In Katherine May’s book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times she says, “The starkness of winter can reveal colours we would otherwise miss. I once watched a fox cross a frosty field, her coat shining against the gloom. Walking in the bare winter woodland, I am surrounded by astonishing foxy reds.” The cardinal captures that sentiment for me.

If you enjoyed this post and want to see more, consider buying me a coffee and keeping me caffeinated during my writing sessions!

Cheers,

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