Currently

Planning

More trips to the zoo! I bought a membership for the Lincoln Park Zoo at the verrrrrry beginning of quarantine, mostly because it was something I'd been meaning to do for a while. I know, I know, Lincoln Park Zoo is free but with the membership I don't have to pay for parking. I can handle paying for a membership but I can't handle paying $30 every time we go to the zoo for parking and I literally would drive around for half an hour trying to find a free spot. I know, I know, my brain is weird. Anyway we went over the weekend. They have their fall decorations out and it felt so normal and cute! I made Jeff take a lot of photos haha. Mia also let Jeff and I sit and eat and have a beer without complaining and it was incredible. Thanks Mia! Of course she was being placated with a banana and potato chips, so we all know where the good behavior came from. 

Watching

I saw a meme from Emily in Paris and decided to give it a go. It's cheesy and cute and sometimes a little annoying, but it's also a nice show about a pretty girl wearing pretty clothes in Paris, so I'm on board. I mean really, I just really needed a fun new show, so I'm going to finish it even if it isn't the best thing on tv. I'm also rewatching Schitt's Creek to freshen up on everything before I binge the final season. It's so funny rewatching because I went through it the first time in the middle of the night while I was feeding Mia when she was a brand new baby, so I get "Ew David" giggles along with "awwww remember my tiny little squishy baby!!" 

Reading

I LOVED The Boy's Club, which is about a first-year female lawyer at one of the top law firms in New York City. The novel is a crazy rush through the partying, sex, sexism, and crimes that come along with a career in big law. It was so so so good, I flew through it. I also just finished The Jetsetters and ended up really enjoying it (not nearly as good as The Boy's Club though!). I was not so sure in the beginning because there was a little too much cheese + family disfunction, made me think it would be poorly done. The book is about a 70 year old mother who wins a contest for a Mediterranean cruise and brings her adult children along. The family dynamic was fun, but I also loved the description of the Greek Isles and Italy and Spain, and it's making me dream of when we can travel again! Jeff and I were supposed to go to Greece for our five year wedding anniversary this summer so I definitely have it on the brain. 

Eating

I went a little crazy over the weekend and made The Pioneer Woman's Pork Chops with Wine and Garlic and errrrrhmagerrrrrrrd so good! I say I went crazy because it was super time consuming (you roast the garlic first) but omg the payoff was worth it! The house smelled incredible from the roasted garlic for like a full 24 hours too. Oh also Mia saw my Pioneer Woman cookbook and thinks that it's full of pictures of me hahaha. So funny! 

Buying

More mums!! Someone send help because I decided last weekend to buy all of the fall flowers for our front balcony, and now that it's actually cold I'm heading back to the store for more mums to replace our herbs and tomatoes and pepper plants that have finally kicked it. It's so dumb because they're going to last like two more weeks in Chicago. But I just can't help myself! I also ordered this tassel wood bead strand which is super adorable, I'm planning on putting it in this bowl and keeping them on our coffee table as home decor that I'm okay with Mia taking off and throwing on the floor. Anyone else have a super destructive kid? Our coffee tables and side tables have been bare for a year now and I miss having stuff! 

I also bought these boots on a whim after deciding at the last minute that I definitely needed tall slouchy boots for our family photo reshoots and saw these were available for in-store pickup. They definitely aren't anything like suede (the outside is scratchy - how?!) but they actually pass my insane shoe comfort standards! Win win win. Oh also the family photos. So we went two weekends ago and Mia shouted no the whole time and then cried and was a general sourpuss. Our photographer was like, yeah, you're going to want to try again. We went for reshoots over the weekend and Mia was still pretty grouchy (she cried every time the camera came up to shoot!) but I think we managed to subdue her and trick her into a few good pictures with a combination of yogurt bites and playing the movie Frozen on Jeff's phone. Eighteen month olds are fun! 

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