Happy Thursday, friends! It’s been a few months since I’ve done a “Three Things Thursday” post, so I thought it would be a fun exercise to do this week. How does “Three Things Thursday” work? I just choose 10 random topics and write three things about them—simple as that. Feel free to steal and do on your own blog; I certainly didn’t come up with this idea!
Three confessions
1) I’m pro-dogs kissing my face. I think you have to be if you have dachshunds. They are obsessive lickers! Chip and Lucy know that when I come to visit, they get a few minutes to climb all over me and kiss my face.
2) Here are five foods I don’t like: tomatoes, canteloupe, sushi, cottage cheese, and almonds.
3) And here are my five favorite Easter candies: Peeps, Snickers eggs, Robin eggs, Cadbury creme eggs, and hollow Easter bunnies.
Three websites I use daily
1) Gmail – Gotta keep up with all the emails I receive + all of my newsletters.
2) Feedly – I’m not always successful at reading blogs in a timely manner, but I am visiting Feedly daily to try to cut down on my unread blog posts.
3) Reddit – I mainly use Reddit to read comments about TV shows I’m watching in real time (like Survivor, The Bachelor, etc) and I also love the blogsnark subreddit, as they have weekly threads snarking about celebrities, podcasts, books, etc. (I don’t really care about their daily snark posts about influencers; I’m there for the other posts.)
Three recent purchases I made on Amazon
1) The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren ($13) – I don’t have Prime but I love free shipping, so whenever I’m buying something on Amazon that doesn’t quite make the free shipping threshold, I usually add a book to my cart. I have just about every Christina Lauren book in paperback, and I’m excited for this latest release from my favorite romance duo!
2) A new surge protector ($14) – I needed a surge protector with a longer cord (my current one is about 3 ft) and this one is double that, so I hope it works for me!
3) A replacement cable for my Kindle ($6) – My current Kindle charger has a pretty short cord and it means I have to read my Kindle at a very awkward angle if the battery is depleted. That’s when it came to me: Buy a longer cord, Steph! So I did. Now I should be able to read my Kindle in bed, even if the battery is low!
Three of the highest-rated books on my Goodreads TBR
1) Dear White Peacemakers: Dismantling Racism with Grit and Grace by Osheta Moore (4.76 stars – recommended by Kaytee of the Currently Reading podcast)
3) The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones (4.64 stars – recommended by Kaytee of the Currently Reading podcast; I listened to the podcast this book is based on, but Kaytee’s review convinced me that I need to read the book version)
1) A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus (4.63 stars – recommended by Meredith of the Currently Reading podcast)
Three things I really want to do at Niagara Falls
1) Zip-lining – How cool would it be to zip-line by the Falls? I hope we can make this happen because it would mean I’ve zip-lined in five different countries!
2) The Hornblower cruise – I mean, this is a “must-do,” isn’t it? We’ll be on the Canada side, so we’ll take the Hornblower cruise rather than the more popular Maid of the Mist, but I expect that it will be incredible to be so close to the Falls (not so incredible to get drenched, but you take the good with the bad, right?!).
3) White Water Walk – I definitely have my eye on this excursion, which is a boardwalk situated right by Niagara’s whitewater rapids. It looks incredible.
Three things that made me happy this week
1) My friend delivering a healthy baby girl – My dear friend Mikaela had her baby on Monday! (She’s the friend whose daughter, Olive, went through cancer treatment last year.) Her name is Eleni and she’s perfect. Mikaela is doing well, too!
2) A trip to the new office – I had to drop off some old equipment at the office this week, so I got to see our new digs. (We moved into a smaller office that will function like a coworking space.) It’s beautiful! There are a few rows of desks to dock a laptop, some couches and conference tables for collaborative work, a kitchen, etc. It looks really nice!
3) Time logging – I’m time-logging this week and I’m very much enjoying the process! It will be fun to see how many hours are devoted to work, reading, blogging, workouts, etc. (A detailed review to come next week!)
Three podcasts I recently listened to
1) A Patreon episode from The Baby-Sitter’s Club Club/Strange Bedfellows (right now, they’re recapping classic TV shows from the 90s like Full House and Family Matters)
2) The Cursed Wives Club from Lovett or Leave It
3) Run Nicole Run on Best Friends with Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata (Nicole’s five-minute synopsis of Forrest Gump was hysterical!)
Three iPhone apps I recently downloaded
1) Sleep Cycle – I downloaded this app a few weeks ago to track my sleep and provide me with a gentle alarm that wakes me up in a much easier way. I had to buy the yearly subscription ($30) to take full advantage of the app, but I think it will be worth it. I love stats and graphs, so it will be interesting to see how my sleep habits evolve.
2) Habit – I downloaded this app to track some of the daily habits I want to implement like walking a mile and drinking water every day. It’s got a simple interface that I love. I’m using the free version right now, but the premium version is only $6 for a lifetime subscription.
3) Slack – My company moved over to using Slack recently (we were using a different type of messaging system) so I downloaded the app so I can quickly see if I have any notifications if I’m out and about. (I have all notifications turned off, so I have to open the app to see anything. This girl knows her boundaries!)
Three toys my cats love
1) Taco bus – My mom bought the girls a taco bus for Christmas, and I was hoping both of them would use it but it’s been Ellie’s domain. She loves sitting on top of the bus and using the scratch pad that forms the base of the “roof” as well as sitting inside the bus. It’s really cute when she sits inside it!
2) Hammock – This is Lila’s favorite place to nap, but only if her hammock is by the window. (I had to move it near the door while my Christmas tree was up, and she never used it!) She spends many, many hours snoozing in her hammock.
3) Tiny catnip toys – Ellie goes nuts for these toys and she’ll bat them alllll around the apartment. I’ve found them on my bed, under the coffee table, in a closet (she bats them under the door). Lila loves them, too, but she mainly rubs her face against the toys and kicks her legs. I love that they both love these kinds of toys and play with them in entirely different ways!
Three things I’m looking forward to
1) Bridgerton, season 2 – We’ve waited long enough, haven’t we? I am so excited about the new season of Bridgerton, even if it won’t have my beloved Rege-Jean Page (ugh). I think the casting in this show is excellent, and I can’t wait to see how they adapt Anthony’s story!
2) Working from my new desk – I did it! I bought a sit/stand desk! I’ve had my old desk listed on Facebook Marketplace for a long time and it finally sold last weekend, so I immediately bought a sit/stand desk off Amazon (I chose this one). This weekend, someone from TaskRabbit is going to come and put it together for me. I’m so glad I don’t have to do that myself.
3) Snuggling baby Eleni! – Is there anything better than newborn snuggles? I think not! I can’t wait to get the go-ahead from Mikaela to visit.
Tell me something that made you happy this week!
This was a fun post! It is funny how cats have such different personalities- we also have a stand similar to your hammock, and one of the cats loves it but the other won’t go near it. We also have something like your taco truck, except it’s a Christmas-y looking train that says “Meowy Christmas.” Again, one cat loves it. I do want to replace it with something though because Christmas stuff in March is kind of depressing.
Congratulations to Mikaela! That’s so exciting. I’m a little envious- I want to snuggle a new baby.
And- you don’t like almonds? They’re so good!!!
The thing that’s making me happiest this week is that I FINALLY convinced my sister to read the Harry Potter books and she became obsessed with them. So fun to text back and forth about various incidents. She’s now on the last book- I’ve warned her that she’ll be going through HP withdrawal for a long time.
Oh my gosh, there is nothing better than someone reading Harry Potter for the first time! There is such joy in that experience. I can’t wait to do another reread of the series!
I’m so happy for Mikaela! How exciting for them! Love the name they chose.
Something I loved this week was going to a restaurant with a good friend to belatedly celebrate her 40th birthday! We went to a place 2 blocks from my house where the menu is completely GF. I ended up splitting 4 vegetarian small plates with her as she is a vegetarian, but I didn’t feel like I was “missing out” by not having meat as they have so many great vegetarian dishes. The restaurant was hopping and it felt like pre-covid times which was nice to see. I’ve been worried about restaurants but this friend has been going to them for months and she said they seem busy which is good to hear.
How fun to go to a restaurant and not have to worry about your GF needs! I’m glad there’s a delicious restaurant in your neighborhood that offers that for you. Yay!
I do love that your cats play with the toys in different ways. Zelda doesn’t seem to be impacted by catnip, but she LOVES mouse toys with realistic feeling ribcages and we find those things all over the place. She’s also loves her turbo scratcher. She is obsessed with her cat tree in the mudroom and I think she spends eight hours a day there.
I am a fellow blogsnarker! I spend far too much time on Podsnark and the daily off-topic threads. I wonder if we’ve crossed paths there! Most of my reddit time is on blogsnark and unresolvedmysteries. I occasionally pop in on some more pop culture-themed subs, but if I’m honest, I spend far too much time on those two subreddits!
Oh, that’s so funny that you’re also on blogsnark! For some reason, I had a feeling you were on that subreddit. I never post on there (I’ve been tempted to add to the weekly reading post!) but maybe one day I will!
I love 3 things posts.
Taco Truck – that is awesome!!!!
I almost want to watch season 1 of Bridgerton again just to get in the mood. I cant wait for S2
I think my jaw dropped that you dont have Prime – I felt like everyone had it – LOL. Good for you not falling prey to it. But man, that free shipping is worth it for as much as I buy there.
Kissing a dogs face or vice versa … I mean… dont parents kiss their kids face? & dont kids kiss their parents face? enough said. LOL
I used to have Prime but I felt like I was buying things way too frequently. It has helped me to buy less, I think! My mom has it, though, so anytime I need something super quickly, I just buy it off her account. But that very rarely happens! And I like that it allows me to buy more books to meet that free shipping threshold, haha.
You and I are on the same page re: tomatoes, cantaloupe, and sushi. YUCK. (I don’t mind cottage cheese, although I don’t eat it often. And I do like almonds.)
And yay for a new baby! How exciting for your friend and her family, and for you, because you get to snuggle a fresh baby!
I’m glad I have SOMEONE with me on the tomato-hating train. I think it has something to do with the texture. And the taste, lol. They just don’t work for me!
OMG congratulations to Mikaela!!! How fabulous!
Our cats love their Taco Truck. I really need to find a backup because two of them *cough, Starbuck, Ned, cough* chew on it.
I really hope you get to go ziplining on your trip!
Today someone told me my painted rocks “saved them” (from a really dark time) which felt dramatic to me, but I think they believed it, so that made me feel good 🙂
I don’t doubt that your rocks could do such massive good like that! You are doing a lot of good in the world and bringing a lot of joy to the internet, and you should be proud of that. <3
My daughter’s name is Eleni (she’s 31 now). I love that name so much!
Aww, I love that connection! Eleni is such a pretty name!
Congratulations to your friend! That is lovely news!
Ziplining is so much fun; ziplining at Niagara Falls would be absolutely incredible!
I can’t wait to zipline at Niagara Falls. It will be an incredible experience!
We did the Hornblower at Niagara Falls and it was INCREDIBLE! Highly recommend. We also did the giant ferris wheel type thing and that was another big hit (and nice to sit down after A LOT of walking).
And you don’t like sushi – GAH. It’s my favourite, but such a divisive food (I’m curious if it’s more the texture or flavour, because I know some people it’s all about the texture of the chewy nori that gets them… I’m with you on the cottage cheese, though, and definitely never go for canteloupe either.
I’m glad to get your stamp of approval on the Hornblower cruise. I’m looking forward to it! I also have the Ferris wheel on our list. I love a good Ferris wheel, especially one with sensational views!
For me, the sushi dislike is definitely a texture thing. I have told friends that I want them to take me out to a good sushi restaurant so I can give it one last try before deciding it’s not for me. I’ll have to report back once I do that!
I think it’s awesome that you invested into a sit/stand desk. I had one at my office and used it all the time – maybe, if I keep working at home at least part-time, I might have to invest in something similar for my home work area.
How you people not like tomatoes? LOL I love tomatoes.
The sit/stand desk was definitely a GREAT purchase! I’m loving it so much.
I wish I liked tomatoes! It’s a texture thing for me. I’m very weird about food textures, lol.
Oh, so glad that Olive’s little sister arrived safely. I hope you get those newborn snuggles soon!
Also? Thank you for making me smack my (metaphorical) forehead. I keep lamenting the short cord on my iPad (you know me, the one non-Kindle lover in the blogosphere…), and, you know, I could just *get a longer one*. (File this under “easy fixes that just never occurred to me”.)
And, oh, ziplining! How fun! I ziplined in a cave in … Kentucky? I think? On the way to Asheville. It was awesome but I think I’d like to do it outside in the sunshine, too!
Isn’t it funny when we inconvenience ourselves like that? It’s such an easy fix, getting a longer charging cord, but somehow it takes me forever to figure out that I just need to BUY A LONGER CORD. Sigh.