Hello, Sunday.

Happy New Year!

It took me a second to realize that I needed to sit down and do my somethings today. You know, the last two weeks of the year are some sort of odd time portal where you forget the day and the time, and one day feels like Wednesday and the next, Sunday.

I spent the last week working, watching a lot of TV, eating not that much while feeling like I have eaten way too much and generally getting ready for a reset in 2022.

And that brings me to my word of the year: RESET.

If you’ve been following me from the get-go, you know that my friends and I pick a word, rather than a resolution for the year. Last year, my word was SURPRISE, picked because after 2020, who could predict anything?!  Well, a surprise it was. I unexpectedly bought a house, went on a last minute vacation, saw my family through health issues, got a promotion, and generally flew by the seat of my pants.  While 2021, was better than 2020, it was still….less than ideal.

With that, I’m looking into 2022 hoping to reset to a new normal.  Is that COVID? Seems to be, at least in the near future and so it’s really learning and accepting what that looks like in a way that is less the roller coaster existence we’ve been used to as far as outbreaks and mutations, waves and lockdowns and isolation. With a job that is 100% remote, I’m hoping to take it on the road a bit more. In essence, trying to figure out how to do all the things I used to love in the before times and figure out how to incorporate that in the best way possible into the now times. Does that make sense? I don’t know how else to really say it- other than to say it was actually pretty hard to do my board this year and I think it’s because I don’t really know what that reset looks like.  I guess I’ll find out!  

I have just a few tidbits that I wanted to share. No heavy lifting today!

Do we really know what the new year will look like? Here are some predictions.

If you are a Harry Potter fan, I would highly recommend getting a month of HBO Max to watch the Return to Hogwarts. I laughed and cried and it made me want to reread all the books and re-watch all the movies all over again. Love, Love, LOVE.

Oh, Betty.  Celebrating an icon.

2021 in pictures.

Who’s jumping back into the dating pool in 2022? I mean, after reading this, SIGN ME UP. Kidding…hard pass for me.

Target, does it again.

I know we’ve been sparse with recipes this year, but I have to say that this soup and these cookies are two of my faves. I think I also just really love fennel.

That’s what I’ve got. Happy New Year!

LFG.

Hello, Sunday.

I don’t have any witticisms to share this week.

We’re at t-minus five days until Christmas and I don’t feel like I have anything left undone. The few presents I needed to buy are bought and wrapped, work is decently tied up and I’m ready for a few days of friends and family time and to garner some hope as we’re looking into the new year.

I’ve got one more stocking stuffer sweet treat to share before the holiday (did you try those nuts yet?) and we get to some semblance of (much-needed) normal food around here.

Until then, I hope you’re okay. This time of the year (in normal times, much less 20 months to a pandemic) can be stressful, and more than one person I know is warm-close-to-boiling on the inside.  My advice?  Movement and music is medicine so whenever you’re close to blowing, put on your favorite tunes (Britney for me, 4evR) and throw yourself a spontaneous dance party.

No doubt it’ll make you smile.

As will this.

Have a great week!

It’s baking season! Well, for some, when the pandemic started all those months ago, baking season started and well, never stopped. It had the opposite effect in my house and besides the slew of cookies I made a few weekends ago, the oven has stayed mostly off. However, I remembered these coconut & fennel oatmeal cookies that I made last Christmas and knew that they needed to come out of the vault!

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