9 July 2024
We’re back from a week in Michigan with our extended family (35 people in total!), and what a delight it was. Further thoughts coming in a recap post soon! Until then, here’s what we have on tap for July. I’m also prepping a midpoint-of-the-year goals post, so stay tuned for that next! On my calendar:— Celebrating Annie, John, and Shep’s birthdays! July is a celebratory month for our family!— Sending June to sleepaway camp for two weeks! (Eep!) — Hosting the second annual Cousin Camp for my niece and nephew! What I’m loving right now:— This interview with married summer camp directors from the Raising Boys & Girls podcast was the encouragement I needed as we gear up to send our oldest to sleepaway camp for the first time. Both the practical tips and the big-picture reminders about why we’re doing this in the first place were welcome.— The “Fresh Additions Fully Cooked Chicken Bites” from Costco have been a staple in John’s lunches since we discovered them a few months ago. The 2 oz packs come in a set of 8. I throw them in the freezer and he pulls them out one-by-one to add to his salads!— This essay! In addition to being a tender look into the heart of a mom of a grown-up daughter, allowing me to imagine the day I’ll be in those shoes, it also changed my approach to communication with my own mom right now. Grateful! As a reminder, you can find allll the things I’ve loved over the last few years neatly organized right here! What you’re loving right now: This is where I highlight a few items here that have been popular in the last month with fellow readers, based on my analytics. Here’s hoping this will help you find something you’ll
4 June 2024
Friends, thank you for all your generous thoughts on the project management musings in my last goal update! They were so interesting to read – we span a wide range of practices and preferences! – and helped me find my own best solution. Here’s where I landed. At the beginning of May, I transferred my to-do’s into Asana (but kept the daily schedule for my days off in my Google Doc). Though I wasn’t scratching the surface of Asana’s capabilities, I liked being able to organize to-do’s by project as well as due date, and I found I liked having the to-do’s separate from the schedule. Then, each Wednesday and Friday (my days off), I would consult Asana and move to-dos into the next few days of the daily schedule, as needed. While I’m not sure this system will work forever (May and June are unusually full), it’s working right now, and that’s good enough. Here’s what else is on deck in the month ahead! We went to an NC symphony concert this past weekend – a John Williams salute – and it was magical. I have the best memories of evening outdoor orchestra concerts when I was a child – I hope my kids feel the same way some day! On my calendar:— Swim meets! Our neighborhood swim season has begun and it’s a fun vibe to spend many of our evenings at the pool surrounded by friends and neighbors.— Father’s Day! I’m organizing a pastry bar from a local favorite cafe for the men at our church, and celebrating my own wonderful husband, Dad, and father-in-law. (Details at the end of the post–dads, don’t peek!)— A lot of travel and visitors. My sister and her fam and my in-laws are coming on separate weekends, and we’re traveling to
3 April 2024
We had two wild and completely unexpected events in March, and their ripples affected almost every one of my goals and updates today. These events required a lot of conversation between John and me (and others), and left me feeling scattered and anxious many days. And so, for example, we spent more of our evening walks talking to each other instead of listening to Outlive. We didn’t have time to take the Birds & Bees course. I opted to turn out the light instead of read many nights. My deep work cratered and I made minimal progress on the audio course. These events weren’t disastrous – one had to do with a house we were considering buying – but they were disruptive. Seeing this month for what it was helps me to have compassion on my lack of progress. Because I’ve been doing this for so long, the transition from frustration to compassion is almost instantaneous, but it’s still only possible by pausing to notice and reflect, and by adjusting expectations along the way. There is one March goal I feel total peace with as I look back, and it’s the most important one: wholeheartedly enjoying and being present with my family in Connecticut as we celebrated my grandmother’s life. Really, really grateful for that. On my calendar:— A week in Texas for work. I was nervous about this same trip last year, since I’d never met most of my coworkers in person, but this year it feels more like returning to see old friends, and I’m grateful for that.— Finance meetings with my younger sister. She recently started a new job (very exciting!) and John and I have been helping her roll over and set up various accounts, reimagine her budget, and set new goals, all of which has
5 March 2024
When I shared earlier this year that posting frequency would slow down a bit here as I began posting weekly on The Connected Family, I worried that things would feel… slow at EFM. But thanks to your generous participation and maybe a little of the old quality v. quantity tradeoff, I was delighted by what we were able to talk about in February. You all are so good to me, and I’m excited for what I have planned for this month, too. Writing here feels particularly like a gift right now as I work to find my TCF voice. It’s a new audience and brand (and purpose), and the trial and error feels a bit foreign! While I’ve got pretty much everything (voice, tone, perspective, format, length, angle, etc.) nailed down for EFM and CWM (since I’ve written for both for over a decade!), I’m still figuring all those things out with TCF. Thanks for coming along for the ride :) The first of my fancy daffodils have bloomed!! On my calendar:— Easter basket shopping with all three kids. I’ll go on individual mini shopping trips to Target with each kiddo to choose items for baskets we donate through a local program. One of my favorite traditions! — Primary voting. I would never miss a chance to add my voice, even if it sometimes seems inconsequential.— Spring break. We are returning to Jekyll Island! What I’m loving right now:— Ocean BINGO, an unexpected reading practice tool! Shep and I have been playing it together and, since he loves to be the caller, he finds himself sounding out things like “spotted eagle ray” and “wandering albatross.” I’ll take it :) These BINGO games are really beautiful and great quality – I want to collect all the versions (birds! cats! trees!) even