nine fun things

I’ve always wanted to learn to dance so I decided that since I’m not going to get any younger than I am right now, I might as well just do it. So I signed up for two months of classes: hip hop and jazz, on alternating weeks. The first classes were frustrating and impossible. I felt (mildly) humiliated and enormously humbled and soooo out of my league, BUT.

I am working at it (read: practicing the choreography from the privacy of my home when no one is around) and gradually my arms and legs are moving more generally in the right directions. The whole thing feels like I’m learning a new language, but with my body, and it makes my brain feel like its exploding. 

So far, hip hop is my happy place, but I’m only just starting so we’ll see. 

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I found the perfect summer comforter.

Three-fourths of the year, we sleep with a down comforter, but once summer hits, it’s just too heavy. Blankets don’t have the same airy, light feel, and the texture is often off-putting, or too warm. So after I bunch of research, I ordered this blanket in mauve.

It’s a hundred percent cotton and machine washable, and the heft is the exactly right.

We liked it so much that I decided to transfer it to the guest room (we’re short on decent blankets of any kind) and ordered a second one for our room but in white because I love the clean bright feel of an all-white bed.

Both my husband and I agree, it’s the perfect summer blanket. 

(And no, in case you were wondering, we do not make our bed. It’s controversial.)

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That play I auditioned for? I got a part!

It’s raw and beautiful and deeply human. Getting my lines down has been all-consuming, thus my online absence (I can’t do it all, people!). It opens in August and there are eight shows over two weekends. Get your tickets here!

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One of my rules for summer: BUY THE WATERMELON.

A couple years ago, I gave myself permission to buy a watermelon (or two) every time I stepped in the store. We keep a stockpile of them (okay, okay, so just one or two, usually) in the back hall and then every few days one of us will cut a melon into cubes and pop it into the fridge. It’s the perfect refreshing snack — at any time of day.

Other summer staples include Café Bustelo for cold brew and cones for ice cream.

Drink suggestion: watermelon juice with seltzer, lots of ice, and a squeeze of lime. Vodka optional.

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My son and daughter-in-law — you know, the ones who live in a skoolie — have started a blog! 

You can follow along here.

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Right now I’m reading Remedies for Sorrow by Megan Nix.

It’s a beautifully written and gripping memoir about CMV (cytomgalovirus), a little-known, but enormously destructive (dismayingly) common illness. A must-read for everyone, but especially child-bearing women and medical professionals.

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Anyone else having trouble finding t-shirts that fit? I needed a few more sleeveless shirts for working out, plus a couple of plain t-shirts. But all the plain t-shirts in the store were short — either crop tops or they just fell to (upper-level) hip length. I finally ordered several from LL Bean thinking that surely their tees would be longer, but nope. I had to send them all back.

I finally found a few at TJMaxx when we were in NY, and then the other day I charged into our local thrift store — a topless lady (not really) on a mission (totally). Anything that looked like it might fit me, no matter how iffy, I yanked off the shelves and hurled into my cart. When I’d finally finished trying everything on, I had a pile of shirts — comfortable shirts that worked for me and that I could work in.

Here’s a sampling:

I’d come downstairs in the morning and my husband would glance at me and say, What inspirational saying are you wearing today?

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What are you watching these days?

Awhile back I started watching Never Have I Ever on my my own, but I didn’t like it — it felt too sappy/cringy — but then people kept raving about it so one night my husband and I watched an episode together. And we both really liked it! We’ve only watched the first season, so I can’t speak to the second yet. (Also we’re currently watching Unchained, the Tour de France documentary. It’s exhausting and terrifying and fascinating. Who are these people?!)

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Need motivation to just get it done already? Shia LaBeouf has you covered.

Or rather, my daughter-in-law does, since she sent this clip to me. (My husband’s taken to bellowing this to me at random times to pump me up.) 

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This same time, years previous: no matter what happens, yogurt: the water bath method, the coronavirus diaries: week whatever, happenings, hill of the martyrs, in the kitchen, injera and beef wat, story of a trusty skirt.