Things I loved, learned, etc this winter

I’m considering winter over. It’s been sunny a few days in a row(!) here in Seattle, so hello, spring! My kids keep asking whether it’s summer. Sure the temps are in the 40s, but we’re in a summer state of mind in our house and I will not go backwards.

I wanted to do a monthly recap in 2021, but that was a bit too lofty of a goal, so I’m doing a seasonal recap, instead. Let’s see if I can keep this going for more than one season…

Now let’s recap winter.

Things I Watched/Listened To (and loved):

  • Pantsuit Politics podcast – one of my favorites of 2020 (leans democrat/liberal)
  • What Fresh Hell podcast – for motherhood entertainment
  • @SharonSaysSo on Instagram – to learn about our government/current events/whales (nonpartisan)
  • The Flight Attendant show on HBO Max – a thriller that was funny enough for me to get into
  • Hallmark Christmas movies – I had never watched a Hallmark movie before this past holiday season and now I’m OBSESSED.
  • Bridgerton on Netflix – I mean, you’ve watched this already, right?! I’m going to read the books as soon as I get through the library hold list.
  • Selling Sunset on Netflix – this was a true guilty pleasure. I don’t often watch reality tv, but when I do, it’s stuff like this.
  • Ted Lasso on Apple TV+ – this was a pure joy to watch and both Tim and I loved it and recommended it to everyone we know.

Things I Read (and loved):

** I gave these books all 4 or more stars on StoryGraph, which is what I now use instead of Goodreads

  • The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni (my first five star review of 2021!)
  • The Mothers by Brit Bennett
  • Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
  • Wintering by Katherine May
  • The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
  • The Nix by Nathan Hill
  • The Unlikely Adventures of the Shergill Sisters by Balli Kaur Jaswal
  • The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton
  • The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
  • Dirt by Mary Marantz
  • Nothing To Prove: Why We Can Stop Trying So Hard by Jennie Allen

Things I Bought (and loved):

  • Dear Kate period underwear. I bought a few pairs soooo ready to hate them, but now I don’t know how I lived without this product. I no longer wear pantyliners or pads during the day for DivaCup leak issues. I’ll leave it there, but this underwear is worth purchasing, and I prefer them to Thinx.
  • Girlfriend leggings – because all I wear are leggings these days, and I love this company. Also, they’re eco-friendly!
  • A coffee subscription to Camano Island Coffee Roasters – they’re local, which I love, but if you aren’t local to Washington, you should still be drinking coffee from here. Just my completely unbiased opinion (wink). I order a bag of their monthly coffee for Tim, and a bag of espresso for me. We are both huge fans and I wish I had done this as a birthday present!
  • A light therapy lamp – to help beat the winter blues.

Things I Learned:

  • How to drive our truck. We bought a Ford F350 in August and I’d been refusing to drive it because I’m generally afraid to drive big cars. Well, then ski season started and I had no way to get to the mountains without Tim driving me. That was the motivation I needed, and I did the dang thing. It wasn’t so much learning to drive as much as it was learning that I can do things that intimidate me. (And now I enjoy driving the truck, but I still can’t park it well.)
  • Changing the placement of apps on my phone will (temporarily) cause me to rethink whether I’m just clicking on an app out of habit or intention. I plan on doing this every few weeks.
  • To check the dang tea label. I was drinking caffeinated tea for months at bedtime and thought I was suffering from crazy insomnia. I was regularly staying up until 4am just completely energized.  Finally I realized it wasn’t insomnia, I just bought the caffeinated version of my favorite herbal tea and was chugging it in bed every night. I was so, so mad at myself. (Amazon sent me the wrong boxes. I wish I could say this was the first time this whole fiasco happened, but nope, I did this earlier in 2020 too… and it took me months to realize the mistake!)

My love language is giving and receiving any and all book/podcast/show/product recommendations, so if you have any, let me know!

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