listening to : arlo requests michael jackson and izzy requests barbie so there is a lot of both happening right now

watching : love on the spectrum us s2 (finally!) and it was worth the wait!!!!

eating : cozy meals! i’ll share some recent faves below

wearing: JEANS! who even am i!? but wow they are way more flattering than my frumpy cotton pants

been a while since i’ve done a monthly post but here’s one! january felt like the longest month ever, as soon as arlo went back to school, poppy came to visit forever and it felt like a very long unproductive stretch of time where i didn’t get much done and felt bad about it.

i think every january, i get into a little slump because i’m terrible at transitioning back into full on productive mode and then i make myself feel guilty for it lol. but the month is ending and i’m finally starting to feel a little more in the swing of things. a little bit!

we all took arlo to his first musical, MJ — because gigi raved incessantly about it. we introduced him to some michael jackson prior so he’d know the songs and obviously he took to thriller! so for the first half of the show he just kept saying “MOMMY… WHEN IS THE THRILLER?!” lolllll. he was bored out of his mind mostly, and now having seen the show myself, i get why haha. the performers were amazing but the story was actual crap and they totally glossed over all controversy by having reporters say things like “gee, there has been a lot of controversy” and michael responding by singing “that’s the price of fameeeeeee”

it didn’t help that for some reason i decided to partake in a gummy when i haven’t partaken in like 15 years and was out of my mind high because my brother didn’t warn me to not eat the whole thing hahah. arlo was being very fidgety so i had to take him to the bathroom for a break and that felt like i was climbing a mountain hahah. i was like omg can we even go to the bathroom during a show? is this even allowed? how loudly am i asking gid this? then i said sorry 125 times as we rushed out and when i got to the lobby i noticed plenty of people use the bathroom during a show and it’s not illegal haha. during intermission arlo really wanted red vines and then hated the way they tasted (rightly so) and i held the red vine looking for a trash can for what must have been 200 minutes but probably more like 20 seconds. what a ride.

when i got home and still felt it, i was calling him asking how to get it to go away and he’s like JUST ENJOY IT 😆 oh ok sure i’ll just enjoy this with my two children sitting next to me no big deal hahah. anyway, i ate some soup dumplings in a fog and it finally started to fade — i won’t be doing that again anytime soon lol but it was quite a memory for the books.

TMI?

anyway, worked on the house a little bit more — finally got the coziest couch ever and it’s made our living room a place we all want to be at all times. it’s insanely comfortable!

now focusing my efforts on getting window treatments around the house, coming up with a plan for arlos room, and working on a tiny dollhouse for izzy!

i’m still exercising twice a week with a trainer, which is incredibly expensive, so i’m trying to decide if i’ll start back up with yoga sculpt soon instead but i’ll need to go with a friend or relative because i’m way too good at not going unless i have an accountability partner.

some recipes i made and liked this month:

braised white beans with greens : very good and nice to make something that isn’t dilly bean stew for a change! (we both prefer dilly bean still though lol) i used swiss chard and added mild sausage.

chicken rice with buttered onions : this was so cozy and so delicious, but took me a long time to make. her site says 70 minutes, it took me more like 90 to properly brown the onions which is a much longer dinner experience than i can usually handle. i also had to chop three onions which my eyes could really not handle. i’m thinking about getting one of these, anyone got one and think it’s worth it? the meal was so good, but i probably wouldn’t make again till i’m an empty nester lol. also, if you like this flavor profile, chicken rice-a-roni is really not a bad sub!!! haha

garlicky chicken with lemon-anchovy sauce : i’m in my anchovy era (i blame alison roman) but this was so good and quick! it has a piccata vibe, but elevated. very good for weeknight dinner!

i’m all about adding anchovies to my chicken now, despite what gid requests, because he’s wrong and it tastes amazing. the other day i did an air fryer chicken thigh with anchovy butter (just butter, garlic, anchovy mixed together) and it was just TOO GOOD.

and — izzy loves barbie. it’s the first thing ever she’s actually wanted to watch on tv, and she hands me the remote and i say do you want to watch something? and she nods and i say “barbie?” and she nods and patiently twiddles her thumbs while it begins haha. it reminds me so much of arlo with mamma mia. she is genuinely obsessed (but she whines for me to fast forward when they’re in real world). i put on kid stuff but barbie is the thing that she wants to watch. and dance to! luckily arlo seems to enjoy it too now, it’s pretty cute how they both sit and watch together.

izzy is walking and saying “hi!” to everyone she sees now. she’s growing up so quickly!!!

ok i guess that’s about it, happy february!!!

hi! it’s been a while since i’ve done a catch up here on the blog and i totally fell off from doing my monthly update posts for the last few months of the year. it’s mid january but i’m here now!

we had thanksgiving here at our house, a last minute change because of a plumbing issue at my moms, so i got to do my favorite thing — SET A BIG PRETTY TABLE 🙂

the holidays were very low key for us because almost everyone in my family ended up getting sick so we got to celebrate hanukkah with everyone but spent xmas entirely alone.

for my little hanukkah party i hosted for my family, i made the most incredible roast chicken i have to share with you guys. you proabably know i’m an alison roman stan, well this is the best chicken i’ve ever cooked. it has anchovies, if you have a problem with that, well you gotta change. everyone in my family was fighting over the last pieces and when i revealed the secret ingredient they’re all super squeamish about, they kept eating it because it was just too good!!

for winter break, arlo and i had lots of fun doing all the christmasy activities. making the best ginger snaps, watching holiday movies, being generally just very cozy.

christmas at home alone was reminiscent of 2020 but we are really good at being on our own now, and now that we have izzy it barely feels like we’re alone. the four of us have a very good dynamic where i think it’s genuinely fun to hang, just us.

we had our favorite din tai dumplings on xmas eve (we always get like 3-4 orders of the kurobuta pork xiao long bao), and for xmas morning we had a leek quiche that turned out really good! i made it the day before and i had NO idea that you can actually get a store bought pie crust out of the foil after you bake it — i used a butter knife around the edges and put it onto a plate the way you do with a cake. FYI!

we aren’t sure how much longer arlo will be into santa for, but on christmas eve he suddenly started cleaning the house like a maniac, organizing all the shoes, folding the dish towels up nicely… the house was spotless hahah it was the sweetest thing.

after xmas izzy ended up getting sick herself, so our trip to costa rica didn’t happen after weeks of packing and prepping! in the end, i think it was for the best and actually wild of us to think that was gonna be a fun trip. izzy is in the phase where she is loving her newfound freedom of being able to walk but very clumsy so she’s constantly falling and hurting herself and getting mad if she’s not in complete control and she’s just a handful right now so an international vacation to a tiled house with a pool is probably not the move until she’s a bit older.

instead, we spent a few days at the la quinta resort and we had the best time. super low key, we stayed at the resort almost the whole time, they have a few restaurants there so you don’t have to venture out, and lots of cute holiday events like an outdoor holiday movie every night with hot cocoa and popcorn. we would definitely go back!

arlo and izzy are SO SO SOOOO cute together. it’s crazy how strong their bond already is. she’s becoming a kid so quickly and they already play together everyday. they both genuinely enjoy each other so much, i talked and cried a lot about their age difference during the years i was trying to have her, but it’s really been good. obviously every age gap will have its pros and cons, but i didn’t realize how beautiful their relationship would be with a 5 year age gap.

i say this a lot, but i love the holidays SO much and wish they didn’t go by so quickly. ever since becoming a mom, i’m always so nostalgic that i sometimes get sad about how fleeting everything feels. the last christmas that arlo will ever be 6 for, etc. i know i gotta just enjoy the memories in the moment, it’s just all so special and magical that i miss it while it’s even happening!!!

ps — i posted about this on IG, but we swear by this nasal spray now from keeping us from getting super sick. anytime your kid seems sick or you feel slight symptoms coming on, spray it after blowing your nose a couple times a day. it really has kept me fairly healthy considering all the germs in our house!