It is the March coffee date and I have something big to tell you:
I have officially switched over to iced coffees for the season! (Also, iced coffees with this coffee cake which I’ll be sharing soon? YES TO THE YES.)
I mean, if you want to get really specific about it, I still make hot coffee at home until about June at which point I start making cold brew in these cute little glass bottles. But my coffee shop order nowadays is a decaf iced soy latte with a half shot of vanilla, and it is the perfect springy sipper.
Are you onto iced coffees yet? Still holding out for hot drinks?
Today we are talking about:
- House Hunting
- Massages! (Like them or hate them?)
- My Favorite Random Thing in My Fridge
- Solvi Update
- New Work Space, Burnout, and Pressing Pause for a Minute
Settle in, grab a carrot cake energy bite, and let’s talk this month out.
House Hunting!
Bjork and I are thinking about possibly moving! How’s that for a wishy-washy, anti-climactic piece of news?
We aren’t in a rush, but we are looking at houses. We love, love, love our house, and would also love to have a little more space now that we’ve got a little squish on board.
Do you know what’s really hard?
Finding the very exact right place. Or maybe that’s just me.
You want it to match all your things: location, size, budget, layout, schools, but then there’s the most evasive one – the feel of it. Like, the heart. Know what I mean? I feel this so hardcore – like every place has its own vibe and energy, and I really want to end up in a place that has the right feel for us.
Okay, so talk to me about this.
How do you know when a place is right? Do you make the decision with your head? or heart?
Related / please share thoughts: we think we want to live on a lake. A LAKE. As a person who does exactly zero physical manual labor, what do I need to know about this? Tons of work? Reasons why it could be amazing? Teach me.
Massage
Okay, just a quick note to say that I recently got a massage because TREAT YOURSELF! and TAKE TIME TO RELAX! and all of that, and guess what?
I actually don’t really like getting a massage.
Am I the only one?
This Random Cool Thing
Know what this is? This is the FAT TRAPPER!
I’ve made several recipes this month with bacon (Breakfast Meal Prep Sandwiches and the Sunday Chili) and it has reminded me how much I love my little Fat Trapper!
Bjork got this for me (what in the world, honestly) a few years ago and we just always keep it in our fridge and it’s great.
The idea is that you need a place to pour hot grease when you’re done with it, so you pour it into this little heat-safe pouch that can handle hot oil, tuck it into your Fat Trapper, and then toss when it gets full, which, for me, has happened like 2x in the last five years.
Here’s a link to the Fat Trapper on Amazon. (This is an affiliate link.)
Solvi Lu
I was going to call this section Solvi’s Nursery, but then I remembered that it’s just forever half-done so there’s not much to share, and then I was going to call this Solvi’s Schedule, but then I remembered that it’s changing every two days, and then I was going to call this Solvi’s Sleep Update, but then I remembered that we are about to start a sleep training program because that whole sleep thing has kind of imploded. <- So, yeah. There’s her update!
Parenting mishaps aside, our lil Solster is straight Joy with a capital J. We love her so much and we are just having so much fun watching her personality bloom.
Six months is my favorite age yet. She still has some little tough spots, for sure. Last night we saw each other a few too many times between the hours of 10pm and 5am, and today I eventually just resorted to nursing her to sleep for her naps because… well, struggles.
But overall, wow. WHAT FUN. Smiles, giggles, and “dh, dh, dh” baby-whispered from the backseat.
Long, sunny spring days feel synonymous with a fog lifting on this baby chapter of our lives. I am so excited to get this sweet, soft-spoken, alert baby girl outside and adventure with her. You know, the kind of adventures involving park benches, squeaky chew toys, and iced coffees.
New Work Space, Burnout, and Pressing Pause For a Minute
Here, I’ll give you options.
Short version:
- We are about to begin the remodel on an office unit for our team!
- We have a new (temporary) kitchen space for me to work from!
- It’s all a lot of work! And I’m still getting the hang of mom life!
- I’m feeling a little stressed, so I’m going to press pause on new recipes for a week or two.
Long version:
The other day I came across these pictures of Bjork on vacation in California, and do you know what we were doing? We were attempting to record a Food Blogger Pro course. While on vacation. Like, we flew to California and went to the beach and we were like, here, mic me up, let’s use this day to teach people about blogging. On a beach. What in the actual.
In the end, it didn’t even work out (I’m not even kidding, birds started attacking me – it was a sign from the universe), and in hindsight, we should have just given ourselves some time and space to BE IN CALIFORNIA and not been so frantic to always get stuff done.
I’m getting older and wiser, maybe, so I’m now going to take that sentence and apply it to my current situation:
I should just give myself some time and space to MOVE INTO A NEW KITCHEN and not be so frantic to always get stuff done.
Here, you try:
I should just give myself some time and space to ____________________ and not be so frantic to always get stuff done.
That line we walk as ambitious workers and business owners and moms and dads and bloggers and humans – it is so thin. That push and pull of working harder than anyone you know, but also relaxing so you don’t burn out, all while constantly trying to create amazing things? Like, good luck with that. It is HARD. It was hard before kids, and it’s hard after kids.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten better at sensing burnout’s slow creep before it is in full-blown life takeover mode. And right now, while I feel so energized by projects around the corner, I can also feel the slow creep coming on. And my preventative measure for keeping burnout at bay is just giving myself some time and space.
So I’m gonna take some time and space. A week or two. And I just wanted you guys to know. The irony is that I won’t be resting, really. I’ll be just catching my breath. Doing the stuff that needs to get done that I don’t want to squeeze into the two hours post-baby-bedtime.
I can’t wait to bring you my best, organized, non-frantic self, and all her good recipes! ♡
This is a throwback, but yes, you need it.
Sage would like to remind you:
Whatever happens, you are enough. You are a human being of unsurpassable worth. You are amazing.
And you know you gotta listen when the dog with the bunny ears talks to you.