1. *Sigh.* Mark and I had some exciting news in the works, and I really thought we were getting reading to announce to everyone that we were picking up and moving to Boulder, Colorado... until everything fell apart in a flash. Womp womp. The details aren't blog-worthy, and it wasn't up to us, but a move is not happening—even though we'd been given almost every positive sign just short of a green light. Think: "We'll send you an offer on Monday." Then, "Sorry, nevermind." We're both so disappointed, especially after spending last weekend looking online for apartments, dreaming about mountain life, and getting excited with Mark's sister (who actually will be moving to Colorado in 2016). Unfortunately, there aren't many alternative options that would bring us to Boulder/Denver at this point. So, it's time for the Plan B's, which are even less of a sure thing. I haven't felt this disappointed about something in a very long time.
2. I'm thinking ahead to Christmas, and I'm considering doing all homemade edible gifts for everyone this year (diet/allergy factors obviously taken into account). Think: jars of homemade jam, spiced granola, herbed nuts, a muffin or scone mix, maybe homemade crackers and/or flavored liquor, packaged up all cute in a basket with a tea towel. There are many reasons I'm considering this approach—we have 25 people on average to buy gifts for and the last few Christmases have been budget busters; I've become a manic-stress ball over past holidays trying to get gifts for everyone and this seems like one way to make it simpler (and I love to cook/bake); and many family members say each year that they don't need/want anything, yet it would be considered rude to forgo gifts for them. But are edibles too impersonal for gifts, especially for family? Is it rude to give everyone basically the same thing? Do other people like receiving edible gifts? I know I do, and I plan to avoid giving cookies/sweets because we all already get enough of that around the holidays.
3. Unpopular adult opinion: Homeownership is overrated. If I were to do my life over again, I would not buy, or at least not until I was sure I was settling into a home I planned to be in basically forever. Screw this condo business. My attitude isn't entirely do to the financial crisis, though we were certainly affected by it, having bought our condo in April of 2008 (and the crash happened that October). I won't blame our choices on anyone, but we were strongly pushed to buy instead of renting (and were told renting was "throwing your money away"). I think that advice was misguided. I've been thinking about this all lately, especially with the Colorado move we thought was about to happen. Who knows, maybe we will decide to list and sell our place and go back to renting, even if we are staying in Chicago for now. It's probably a smart approach anyways, since it will likely take months to sell the condo.
4. I bought a Moka pot! It's just one more way for me to pretend I'm European. Or just a coffee-styling Instagram hipster ;) The only problem is that I don't have any coffee in my house yet. According to my research, the Moka requires a specific grind of coffee—coarser than espresso but finer than drip-coffee. To make things easy on myself I might start out with the Illy Moka blend before branching out into grinding my own with beans from my favorite brands (currently Julius Meinl and Intelligensia). I decided to go with the Moka over any other method because I mostly drink single cups of cafe au lait/cafe con leche each day, and Mokas make a good strong coffee for the base. I don't think I'm enough of a purist for a Chemex, and I abhor Kuerigs and their wasteful, garbage-producing ways, so that was never an option. Fun Kuerig fact: If you use K-cups, you're paying upwards of $50 a pound for coffee.
5. I've been fighting through a reading slump lately. Funny enough, my reading has slowed down since starting a booktube channel. Filming, editing, and being involved with the community takes quite a bit of time. It's fun of course, but I have to manage my time a little bit better. When I sit down to read, I find myself so distracted lately. Ever since getting home from our Europe trip, I can't get through much more than a page before my mind wanders. And I haven't filmed any videos lately either, despite having a wall in my office literally covered with video ideas written on Post-its. But I've had a lot of personal things going on, and I'm reminding myself how important it is to carve out time for the activities that are important to me, even if it takes a while to get my mojo back. How do you get through reading slumps? Or, if you're not a big reader, how do you get back on track with anything you enjoy?
First off, I hear you about life disappoints with moving/new possibilities. Last year I was up for a job in Milwaukee & I was so ready to move- was looking at places to live, getting excited about new opportunities and so on. I didn't get it & I was really bummed, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because 3 months later my Dad passed unexpectedly-- had I been in Milwaukee, it would have devastated me to not be close to my family. I'm sure something else great will be coming on the horizon for you and Mark.
ReplyDeleteOn edible gifts- I tried this last year, but I didn't quite plan properly and ran short on time & energy, so ended up buying a bunch of edibles, which didn't have quite the same effect on my budget, but all my family really appreciated the lack of STUFF as gifts. This year my immediate family and I aren't doing gifts, but for anyone else ( besides my guy's son), we're doing all edibles and really trying to plan it out better so we aren't frantically making shortbread on December 23rd!
Thank you for the feedback on the edible gifts! I'm glad to know others like consumables rather than more STUFF. I wish we could get our families to opt for no gifts (which I've wanted to do for years), but even though people act like they're open to it, they end up uncomfortable with the idea and buy gifts anyways.
DeleteEven in my disappointment, I'm sure something else will work out for us too. We were just so excited about Boulder, and it was particularly harsh because Mark was told they'd send him an offer after the weekend, and then he got an email Monday saying sorry, they couldn't do it because of some issues with future projects. He had the rug kind of pulled out from under him. But we'll be fine :)
I love edible gifts! I say go for it. I thought about doing something similar, but don't feel comfortable enough with my cooking/baking skills yet, so it would probably just add stress. Maybe next year!
ReplyDeleteI was in a long reading slump after my son was born in January. Two kids takes a lot of time. When I had time to myself I found that I gravitated more towards doing crafts than reading. And that's ok. I've gone through slumps before and they always end, even though this is the longest one I've ever had. Sometimes it also just takes a great book to bring me out, so sometimes I look for one that is a fast, engrossing read.
Thank you for the encouragement :) I think I will go for it! I'm a little nervous about timing it all before Christmas, but I think a bunch of the ideas I have can be done in advance, so I just have to schedule my month on a spreadsheet or something. Which I basically do already :)
DeleteI think I might need to look for a quick and engrossing book. I know I've been putting some pressure on myself to read certain kinds of books for booktube, and that's probably part of what's causing my current slump.