My view of our quiet street early this morning, as I sipped my coffee
HELLO! it is 4:59am and I have been awake since 3:30am and could not fall back asleep.
This has happened to me several times this week, it’s always exactly between the hour of 3:30 and 4am. It’s so bizarre.
After tossing and turning for an hour, I finally gave up and grabbed my phone and decided to catch up on my Kelly in the City posts because I miss her deeply. After “Emma Twirling, Vol. 6” warmed my heart and made me feel slightly better, I clicked on a recent post called “10 things” which is a kind of random stream of consciousness type of writing that we both used to do back in the day and haven’t done for years. ????
The concept is simple, write the first 10 things that come to mind! I thought it sounded like a cathartic activity for this new insomniac, and also I loved reading hers, so, like I do often in life–I’m copying Kelly! Here goes. ????
10 Random Things
1. Project kitchen reno is resuming soon!
We obviously hit pause due to the Pandemic. (So thankful we hadn’t started yet. Can you imagine if we had a ripped up kitchen and couldn’t have done any cooking for months?!?!) Actually I think the countertop man is coming to measure today? I should probably figure that out. We’re doing Silestone’s Statuario Quartz countertops (we got them on major sale at Home Depot.) Big shocker: It’s what Kelly has in her kitchen. (See her post here!) She told me I’d go around in circles and end up coming back to this one. She was right. YET AGAIN, I copy Kelly.
2. Going to the lake.
We’re going to the lake house this weekend for Father’s Day! It will be the first time we’ve all been together in months and I can’t wait. Seeing family and friends again is definitely something everyone takes at their own pace and not a decision we came to lightly, but in the end, the mental health benefits of being able to see family (while still being cautious!) won out. We’re loading up on Mino’s steaks (“our steak guy” as he’s known on Instagram ????) to bring to celebrate my Father in Law! He delivers throughout Chicagoland and it’s the perfect Dad gift!
3. Birds chirping!
This is one of my favorite sounds that I miss so much during the winter. I’m grateful that I’m appreciating the little things like this even more this season. Right now, I’m sitting at the kitchen table with the door open. The city is so quiet right now and the sun hitting the top of the buildings with the birds singing is so lovely. I think I get this from my mom (and my mother in law!) we all adore birds!
4. Camping.
Did I tell you we booked a camping trip? This world has been so crazy that I have so many “little things” I’ve forgotten to tell you. Yes, me, camping. I know. It’s a jarring image. But really it’s more like “glamping” because we rented a fancy sprinter van on Outdoorsy.com (which is like Air BnB for RV’s!) and found this beautiful private camping spot in Michigan on Hipcamp (which is like Air BnB for camping spots!) We’re going the day after my birthday in July so I suppose this is my birthday trip!?
5. Spices.
I placed a big order from our favorite spice company, The Spice House (they have locations both here and in Milwaukee!) and we are obsessed. Spice blends make cooking so much more fun. (And easy!) Admittedly they took FOREVER to ship (so if you can do curbside pickup, I’d recommend that! AND a great, timely gift for Father’s Day!) but regardless, still worth the wait. I highly recommend the Lakeshore Drive Shallot & Herb seasoning, World’s Fair BBQ Rub, Back of the Yards Garlic Pepper Seasoning, Fajita Seasoning, Garden Herb Dressing mix––I mean, honestly, we’ve never had anything from them we didn’t love!
6. Everlane has so many good arrivals!
I’m overwhelmed! For starters, PERFORM BIKE SHORTS. Their leggings are so fantastic I have high hopes for these. (My other two pair of bike shorts are from Alo, which I love, but they’re all sold out. ????) Also the tie dye box cut tee (!!) and this smock dress!? I plan to order these three so I will report back! (Also see my latest Everlane summer item review here!)
7. Sangria!
Neal looked at me over the weekend and said, “Know what? We’ve never made sangria. We need to make some sangria soon.” ???? So, one goal this weekend is to make sangria. Seems like a very festive thing to do! Cookie and Kate has a great looking recipe that I’ve been eyeing!
8. Neal shaved his beard into a mustache last night. ????
So there’s that. I feel the need to provide no further commentary.
9. I should probably arrange a call with my dosage specialist.
I keep forgetting to try swapping my CBD dose and try taking my CBD softgel at night (vs. the drops at night) for this weird “waking up at exactly 4am” thing that’s happened the past few nights. (Softgels taken at night are more helpful if you need help staying asleep, which I never have, but now I feel like it’s probably worth a dosage call–my dosage specialist, Maia is always a wealth of knowledge!) Also, right now Equilibria is donating 15% of their sales to 5 social justice organizations that support Black lives with a commitment to donating $100,000 total! ???????? You get to select which organization you’d like your dollars to be donated to at checkout. You can read more about it here. (And more on my experience with CBD here.)
10. Plants.
When am I not talking about plants? Honestly, it’s a lot of plant talk for a plant killer. But I have what is basically a plant graveyard (i.e. a bunch of empty pots where plants used to live) on the deck and I need to actually put NEW plants in them. Literally just lonely terracotta pots sprinkled everywhere out there. (You don’t often see those because they’re always JUST out of the frame of my Instagram photos. ????) We almost went to buy new plants yesterday but then got too lazy and decided we’d rather grill instead. One day this will happen. Maybe I will take a bunch of pots to the lake this weekend and that can be my project! (My MIL is a plant professional.)
