In flipping through photos from the past couple of weeks or so, I thought I’d share some of them as a peek into parts of our daily life around here in January – mostly on weekends. I am still working from home, and some days Ted is working from home and other days he’s on the road, and there isn’t much to share from or about work photo-wise, but I have been intentionally focusing on “doing less,” outside of work, which sounds like a strange thing to say during a pandemic when we already spend approximately 90% of our time at home doing less than we normally do.
In a future post I’ll share more about it, but I’ve always been a busy person – I like to keep active and go on adventures and participate in a million things and be involved and be social and I find myself with a full schedule fairly often (usually in a good way, but sometimes not). Interestingly, this hasn’t decreased too significantly with the pandemic. I definitely go less places (well, I go no places, really, especially now that winter has set in), but I still *do* plenty, and while some of my tasks or regularly scheduled events have fallen away, a few have simply transformed, while some have grown, and others have required a different level of thought, time, energy, or intention. I’ve been reading a book that’s been hugely illuminating and inspiring about this very topic. All this is to say, I’ve been focusing more on doing less and enjoying the simple everyday things. This may be totally normal for some, but takes a bit of practice for me, the Type A planner, So, most of these pictures are quite ordinary, and that makes them really special.
Trekking the World (an excellent game for when you can’t travel, but don’t want to stop exploring the world). Super fun mix of luck and strategy and highly recommended! Popcorn, hot cocoa, and movie nightsWool slippers with actual support for those of us with painful problem feet that need help with temperature regulation. I’ve been needing something like this for years, and more so now that I’m always home. They are heavenly! Where have these been my whole life?Date night with myself – sushi, bubble tea, seaweed salad, and FrozenSurvival kit for a snowy and overcast winter: toasty comfort food (in this case, cheesy lasagna and warm brownies), layers upon layers upon layers, heat and fire, plenty to read and write, hot tea, and long, hot baths with chilly cocktailsMy new green weatherproof outer-layer for our outdoor morning walks and runs (this morning the windchill was -9˚, but we still got out there!). It has a whole bunch of awesome and functional features specifically for women, and has a built-in face mask for keeping warm and any accidental encounters with other humans along the trail during covid times.Homemade Texas kolaches with sausage, cheese, and jalapeños. I cannot exaggerate how much of a difference freshly baked bread makes in a recipe. It’s so, so good.Ted snacking on a sensible head of cabbageSunriseA day of Zoom meetingsBath bombs, with their fragrant and uplifting scents and gorgeous colors, have been a major staple around here lately!Just look at that bath water! It smells amazing and I feel like a glam sea witch!Warm and gooey chocolate chip skillet cookieSparkling, glittery winter wonderland just after sunrise. We see lots of bunny tracks in the snow these days from the litter of baby bunnies that we hosted in our side yard this summer. They were such a joy to watch grow! Cajun shrimp AlfredoWarm cinnamon buns and boozy hot cocoa for a pefect post-walk Sunday morning breakfastAnother bath, another book, another bath bomb – this one turned the water the color of a beautiful sunny egg yolk with a hint of shimmer, and smelled citrusy! I’m pretty sure I stayed in this bath for 3 hours.Tostadas on Taco Tuesday!Breakfast tacos Baking a couple winter spiced blueberry mulled wine piesDonuts from my favorite donut shop on a (rare) day when I actually needed to go somewhere for work – in this case, a museum exhibit! I haven’t been to a museum since well before the pandemic began, so while I didn’t get any photos of the masked & socially distant Changemakers exhibit tour at the Rochester Museum & Science Center that I did with about a dozen of my co-workers (Other people! Culture! It was lovely!), it was a really great day and I did manage to get a picture of the donuts, at least.Lots of football – most of it very good.A rechargeable hand warmer – Ted and I both have one and they are spectacular for cold hands from typing and winter hikesHomemade bubble tea – I love the stuff, so it’s great to have all the supplies on hand to make my own whenever I get the craving. I’m sure I’ll especially appreciate this in the warmer months to come.And last, but not least, crafting this winter wreath, which took most of January
Cheers to celebrating the ordinary, which makes life extraordinary.
