Monthly Recap | March 2023

Good Stuff

• Learning knife skills with Amber – I had such a fun time at Sur La Table’s knife skills class. I’m glad Amber came with me, as it was fun to experience this class with her! I really loved the chef who ran this class; she was so personable and helpful.
• Launching season 4 of the podcast – Season 4 of the podcast is in progress! I really love these episodes and it was fun to talk through different work stuff with Bri (who I first met at work, so that was extra special).
• Taking the dogs on shopping sprees for their birthdays – Chip and Lucy are March babies. Chip turned 5 and Lucy turned 2 this year! I decided I wanted to do something fun for them and take them to PetSmart for their own shopping spree. It didn’t quite work out as I had envisioned in my head as Chip just wanted to bark at people and Lucy was so timid that I had to hold her throughout the shopping trip, but ah well. I had fun at least?! Ha!
• Brunch, boards, and book club – Our book club meeting this month was so much fun! We came up with the idea to all do different types of charcuterie-style boards with brunch items. We had a bread board, a dessert board, a cheese board, a fruit board, a parfait board, and maybe one or two other boards that I’m forgetting. We were all so impressed by everyone’s creativity!
• Finishing my entryway redo – This was a very simple project, but it’s brought me an immense amount of satisfaction. I love looking at this little area of my home!
• Fun dates – I love when dating feels fun and romantic and exciting. And that’s what it feels like right now. I’ve been going on lots of great dates with a wonderful woman, and I am hopeful for the future. That’s all I’ll say about it for now. 🙂

Hard Stuff

• Ellie getting sick – I was really worried I was going to have to schedule an emergency vet appointment last month for Ellie as she had a few days where she vomited twice a day. She’s a frequent vomiter (usually it’s due to eating too fast), so I never get too worried about it, but the amount she was doing it last month was a bit concerning. If she had thrown up once more, I would have scheduled an appointment, but she didn’t and has seemed okay since then. She has her annual wellness check-up soon, so I’ll bring it up then.
• Sleeping poorly – I slept terribly in March. I’m not sure what was going on here – even taking melatonin wasn’t helping much. But things have seemed to get a little better lately, so hopefully it was just a weird fluke.
• Feeling blah – When I flipped through my One Line a Day journal to see what sorts of things I wrote about this month, I noticed a lot of entries about just feeling blah. It’s not anxiety or depression… it’s just this feeling of blah. Feeling unmotivated and uninspired. I was able to create some strategies for helping with this blahness: not being on my phone as much, prioritizing walks in the sunshine, etc. It has helped a little.
• A family member’s diagnosis – One of my family members was diagnosed with cancer this month, and it was devastating news. They have an aggressive treatment plan and we’ll find out soon if it’s working. Please send any prayers, good vibes, and crossed fingers for good news!

Stuff I Recommend

• Sold a Story – Lisa recommended this podcast to me, and I loved it! It’s about reading instruction in schools and how a lot of reading programs are not helping students learn how to read. The podcast delves into a few different reading programs, discusses the science behind how kids learn how to read, and speaks with parents and educators who have noticed that their kids/students are not learning how to read correctly. It’s super compelling, and you don’t need to be a parent to enjoy the podcast. For me, it made me so grateful that I learned to read “the right way” and that I developed strong reading skills as a result. Reading is such an important part of my identity and part of the reason I love to read is that it’s something that is second nature for me. When kids don’t learn to read correctly, they won’t want to read because it’s too hard and confusing. Anyway, it’s an excellent podcast and I encourage everyone to give it a listen!
• Old Navy summer clothes – I bought some great summer clothes from Old Navy! I returned most of what I bought but got a few pieces that fit so well, I want to get them in more colors! Here’s what I bought: leopard-print, high-waisted shorts ($27), mid-rise, 5-inch inseam jean shorts ($30), slub-knit tank top ($13 – this hits right at my waist and feels as close to a crop top as I’m willing to get), luxe slub-knit t-shirt ($14), and everywhere slub-knit tanktop ($13).
• AirPods – Does anyone remember the terrible story about my first set of AirPods? If not, I bought AirPods at the beginning of the pandemic, didn’t get insurance on them, and then right after the one-year warranty expired, one of the buds started getting staticky. To get that bud replaced would be almost the cost of a new set of AirPods. Instead, I bought myself a cheap pair of wireless earbuds and they’ve worked well for me for a few years. Well, now they will barely hold a charge and since my beloved AirPod Pros were on sale for $200, I bought a new pair. I am so happy to have them back in my life! (With insurance this time.)
• The Fetch app – My mom and I learned about this app while on our Niagara Falls vacation last year, when someone mentioned the app to the server at the restaurant we were at. It’s a simple app: you just take a photo of any receipt you receive and it gives you 25 points. Sometimes, depending on what you bought, you’ll get more points. (For example, my grocery store receipts are often more than 25 points, as certain food items tend to have a “special offer” and get you an extra 75-100 points sometimes.) You can also link your email and Amazon account and you’ll get points for online purchases, too. You can cash in your points for gift cards. In March, I finally had enough points to get a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble, which you can rest assured I will be putting to good use.

Bookish Stuff

• # of books/pages read: 10 books (3,488 pages)
• Favorite book of the month: The Last Train to Key West by Chanel Cleeton
• Least favorite book of the month: Our Missing Hearts by Celest Ng
• Books I abandoned
  • The Forever Girl by Jill Shalvis
  • The Gown by Jennifer Robson
  • Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig
• Format breakdown: print books (5), e-books (2), and audiobooks (3)
• Genre breakdown: Romance (3), fiction (3), thriller (2), nonfiction (1), historical fiction (1)
• Most recent book acquired: Love & Saffron by Kim Fay, True Biz by Sara Novic, Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan, and The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall (I had a bookstore gift card and went a bit crazy!)

Goal Stuff

• Go for a walk every day (15/31) – Oof. It was a bad month for this goal. I think the blahness meant I just didn’t have the energy to go for my walks, even though I am sure they would have made me feel better. Argh.
• Drink a bottle of water every day (13/31) – Better than last month, and on par with what I managed in January. Can I get to 15 days in April? Let’s find out!
• Complete 100 Peloton workouts (23/100) – I had a harder time fitting in my Peloton workouts last month since I was trying to complete an insane fitness challenge, too. I’m only 2 workouts behind my goal, though, so hopefully April is the month I catch up!
• Take a knife skills class – Completed this goal in March!
• Redo my entryway – Completed this goal in March, too. Look at me go!

What were some of the highlights of March for you?