Oops, I skipped this post again in May. I am telling you, the world is “on pause” and “time lapse” at the same time. Let’s check in with each other.

WATCHING | my tomato and cucumber plants grow. I should have gotten them a while ago, but I still hope to be able to harvest something this summer.

LOVING | our little patio outdoor space. I said it last summer and I’ll say it again, especially admits the Coronavirus pandemic: I am so thankful we have our own, private little outdoor space that we can enjoy this summer (especially as any travel is put on hold for now). We finally had our first BBQ this week and it was delicious.

READING | White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo (as does every other person right now, I hope?) 

HAVING | some really good conversations with family members and friends about what’s going on with the protests and BLM movement here in the US and I am thankful that people are not shying away from talking about it.

EDUCATING | myself as much as I can, watching videos and IG (live) stories and reading books and articles about white supremacy and racism. It’s a lot to take in, I won’t lie, but there is really no way around it.

FEELING | a lot of emotions right now that are connected with everything that is going on in the world. I am trying to process them and sit with them and work through them as best as  I can. I am sure many of you feel the same right now.

FRUSTRATED BY | the non-existent plan and guidance through this pandemic from this administration. It feels like there hasn’t been any coordinated, thought-through effort to protect the American population at large. The fact that many treat the reopening of many states as if the Coronavirus disappeared is infuriating, especially when you see the rising numbers of cases all over the place. 

HOPING | that 2020 will turn out to be an outstanding year for the history books, even if it doesn’t seem to be so outstanding while we’re “living” through it. 

EATING | Muesli with yogurt and strawberries for breakfast.

DRINKING | my morning coffee on the back porch. If you follow my personal Instagram account, you know it’s been my Corona-quarantine ritual since the beginning.

LISTENING TO | a couple of random podcast episodes that were recommended to me. 

CRAVING | ice cream, because of course. It’s summer.

ENJOYING | my early morning runs. Besides grocery shopping, it’s the only thing I currently leave the house for. How about you? Have you been venturing out more?

(extremely) BUMMED | that my family, who was going to come visit next week, is – for obvious reasons – not coming. We had a whole three-week road trip planned this summer and I am so sad that we won’t be able to spend time together.  The kids had been so exited about the trip! Sigh.

TAKING | this week off of work anyway, even if Jon and I can’t go anywhere. I don’t think I’ve ever taken time off of work without using the time for some sort of trip (visiting back home, or with my family), but since I anticipate that we won’t be able to make any plans for quite a while, I’ll just enjoy being home and puttering around the house and backyard this week.

LOOKING FORWARD TO | my now-regular FaceTime sessions with my family. I didn’t used to be into video chatting, but ever since I knew I wasn’t going to see my family this summer, I’ve been craving this online face-to-face time with them so much. 

TRYING TO | find the silver-linings wherever I can. (Where are my fellow glass-half-full-kinda-people? Raise your hands!)

And tell me: what is going on with you currently?

Another post I have completely skipped in March, because March felt a little crazy. But I am picking up my blogging habits again. We need some normalcy around here (or at least, I do).

ENJOYING | to experiment with the sourdough starter that I got from a friend. I have already gotten two friends to start their own and have seen others online experiment as well. 

EATING | homemade bread baked with said sourdough starter (not be confused with “sourdough bread”). If you’re wondering what the difference is, I will write a post about it.

DRINKING | coffee from my Chemex. Every day – which feels like a treat (and you’ve probably seen my new morning ritual on IG stories by now). Before Corona, I’d have coffee at work from a regular drip coffee maker during the week, and hand-brewed coffee was a weekend ritual only.

TAKING | a few minutes  in the morning to stand on my back porch, sip my coffee, breathe, and enjoy the  flowers and  the birds. I am thankful we have a small backyard during this time.

READING | The Bookcharmer by Karen Hawkins. My reading is still going pretty slow, I have a short attention span these days, but I am just rolling with it.

LISTENING TO | the birds in the morning.

WATCHING | nothing. I know a lot of people are on a Netflix- or Hulu-binge right now (I constantly see requests for new recommendations). Me? Not so much. I didn’t watch (m)any series before, and I haven’t started since *all this* began.

GROWING | all the things. I am trying to regrow leek, green onions, and potatoes right now. Just some little pet projects of mine. 

BUYING | an office chair. Sitting on a kitchen chair for 10 hours a day for 7 weeks hasn’t been the smartest idea. 

REALIZING | how lucky how am that I actually enjoy spending a lot of time with my spouse. Haha. Others might not be so lucky. 

HOPING | that soon going into week 8 of social distancing, people realize that their sacrifices have been worthwhile, that we’re flattening the curve, but that we can’t give up on these efforts quite yet. Isolation is hard, but also still necessary right now. 

LOVING | snail mail (always, but right now in particular). Sending and receiving.

CELEBRATING | my (unofficial) half marathon PR. I finally ran a sub-2 half last weekend, in a virtual race, no less. With so many things canceled or postponed, following through with this seemed like one of the few things I can control right now.

What is going on with you currently?

READING | All the flowers in Paris by Sarah Jio.

EATING | fresh bread from the International Market, because #breadisnottheenemy. Can’t stop, won’t stop. 

DRINKING | Trader Joe’s Well Rested tea (peppermint + camomile, turns out is the combination of two of my favorite teas!). 

LISTENING TO | NRC Guided Runs. I am building up my mileage again and tried Nike Run Club’s Guided Runs for my long run last weekend. It was nice to have a ‘coach’ in your ear that would periodically check in with you and encourage you to stay focused.

WORKING ON | a more regular blogging routine. 

ENJOYING | some girl time with my friend Susi and our mutual friend Ute (who was visiting from the East Coast).

LOVING | the spring like temperatures that we’ve been having around here. I’ve been getting out the sandals and have been running in t-shirts already. But in all honesty, we need some more rain. This will be one of the driest Februarys on record, if we don’t get any rain this week (which right now looks very unlikely). 

WEARING | my Birkenstocks! February usually has a few warm days before it cools down again.

WATCHED | “Marriage Story” on Netflix (after I realized that I hadn’t seen any of the movies that were nominated for the Academy Awards).

KEEPING | busy at work (which is great) and I am really enjoying the project that I am working on right now. It’s a more visual task, which is a nice change from a lot of previous excel work (although I usually don’t mind that either).

LOOKING FORWARD TO | March, my birthday month (although I can’t believe  that it’s already March! Someone, slow the clock down!). 

What’s going on with you currently?

(super) EXCITED ABOUT | the girls’ weekend at Tahoe that I just returned from. It was so nice to get away and have some girl time with my friend Susi and some other (new) friends.

LOVING | that I got to hit the slopes on Sunday after a much too long break. Didn’t mind the view either!

ENJOYED | working on a puzzle (or two) this weekend. I had wanted to do a puzzle for a long time, but I never find the time to start one (and we don’t really have space to keep it up for a couple of weeks to work on progressively). But hey, isn’t this National Parks puzzle so cool??!

EATING  | soups and stews. My favorite during the winter months. Share your favorite recipe with me in the comments.

DRINKING | green tea.

READING | a couple of fitness and nutrition books that I picked up at Barnes and Noble. We had some gift cards that we needed to use and I am excited to dive in.

WORKING ON | drinking at least 60 oz of water every day.  It’s a constant work in progress, but I am doing pretty good right now.

TRYING TO | catch up on all the ‘new year’s posts’ before January is already over, ha.

GIVING | a new planner a go. I decided to ditch bullet journaling (for now) and go with a traditional planner again for 2020.  It was a spur of the moment decision, when I saw this pretty planner at Home Goods. With it being January already, I knew I didn’t want to delay the decision any longer, so let’s see how this thing goes.

SIGNED UP | for my first race this year. I’ve been pretty consistent with my workouts even through the holidays, but it was time to get some sort of  goal on the calendar.

What’s going on with you currently?

October disappeared on me. Anyone else? I am sure it had to do with the fact that we traveled for the first half of the month, but man, how is it already Halloween-week? 

LOVING | that I was able to spend some precious time with my parents, my sister, and the munchkins. It feels like it’s never enough, but I take what I can get. 

LISTENING TO | the wind outside my window.

THINKING ABOUT | the holiday season that lies ahead and how it’s going to be a busy, but also my favorite time of the year.

EMBRACING | fall with its cooler temperatures, longer evenings, and colorful leaves.

GETTING BACK | to making overnight oats and then warming them up in the morning for an easy, but tasty, warm breakfast.

TRYING TO | get back into my running routine. I feel like I’ve said that a lot lately, but it’s mostly because I took some “unintentional” breaks in the last few months. I mean, I still ran, but I wasn’t following a plan or working toward a goal and that always makes me feel like I am not in my routine, if that makes sense.

EATING | homemade apple pie (including homemade whipped cream – screw that bottled stuff). This was so easy and quick to make. Will have to share this recipe soon!

DRINKING | peppermint tea.

ENJOYING |  all the candles and lights around our apartment in the evenings now. They always make the darker season a little bit brighter.

LOOKING FORWARD TO | going to a play at the local theater. We haven’t done this in forever. 

CELEBRATING | a bunch of October birthdays, including my Mom’s (on the 3rd) , Jon’s  (on the 18th), and Greta’s (on the 21st). 

WEARING | skinny jeans –  all day, every day.

HOPING | for the winds to die down and the fires to be put out here in California. Last year was devastating and it’s been a tough fire season again this year. While we haven’t been impacted by planned power outages and/or threatened by the fires directly, it’s always a scary time living in California when wildfires are raging all over the state. 

FEELING | overwhelmed by the fact that there are only 2 months left in this decade. Let that sink in, friends. 

EXCITED ABOUT | NaBloPoMo. Yes, it’s that time of the year again, where I blog my way through November. Are you joining in?

What’s going on with you currently?

LISTENING TO | This American Life. I downloaded a few podcast episodes after catching a few minutes on NPR the other day and it’s been nice.

MAKING | a fall bucket list. I can’t wait for all the things “apple”.

HOPING | to spend a few more weekend mornings in our backyard. 

THINKING ABOUT | which race I can put on my calendar next. I need something to look forward to. It’s probably going to be a Turkey Trot.

(still) FEELING | a little frustrated with my work situation. I am still kinda low on work, which in itself is fine and not a problem, because it happens, work ebbs and flows for everybody (I assume) and I know how to keep busy, but if you have to charge every single hour to a project, but you didn’t have any project work, it becomes a bit nerve-racking. 

ENJOYING | the time we spent with some good friends this month.

EATING | a BALT. So good. The avocado on the classic BLT is everything.

DRINKING | coffee. 

READING | in bed. Way to start weekend mornings.

WEARING |  my New Balance sneakers. 

EXCITED ABOUT | leaving the windows open and shutting off the AC more! It’s been so damn nice around here. Warm during the day, cool at night and I am loving it.

LOOKING FORWARD TO | my cycling class on Tuesday mornings.

LOVING | the first hints of fall. I enjoyed the heat, but now I am ready for cooler temperatures, the occasional rainy day and scarves and sweaters. We had a couple of rain showers already in September (which is kinda early for where we live), but they were so nice! 

KEEPING | a secret, will fill you in soon. 

What’s going on with you currently?

Phew. August has been a month. Let me give you the scoop about what’s currently going on over here.

HAPPY ABOUT | the weekend trip that J and I took to the North Bay. We hadn’t gotten out for an overnight trip in a while and it was good that we did.

EXCITED ABOUT | my first tomato this year finally (!) turning red. It took forever. I got the tomato plant a little later than I had planned in mid-June  and this is the first tomato to actually ripen. I hope it tastes good!

FEELING | a little bit off this month. I took three weeks off of running after my half marathon and I’ve been slowly getting back into the swing of things, but I have not been feeling 100%. Not exactly sure why, but I am just hoping September will be better.

TRYING TO | stay motivated, because work has been really slow the last few weeks and there is nothing more frustrating than sitting around with not much to do. I’d rather have too much than too little work, because man, 10-hour days can get really long if you’re just constantly trying to create busy-work for yourself.

EATING | milk rice. So tasty, so satisfying. 

DRINKING | more water. (Always a work in progress.)

LOVING | our backyard  and just hanging out there on Saturdays mornings. I cannot  tell you how happy that space makes me.

READING | You think it, you’ll say it by Curtis Sittenfeld.

WEARING | my favorite boyfriend jeans.

HOPING | for some moderate temperatures. We had a few nice days in August, but also also some really hot days (and nights, where it didn’t really cool off at all) and I can’t believe I am saying this, but I am kinda ready for fall.

LOOKING FORWARD TO | the four-day weekend. Do you get Labor Day off?

What’s going  on with you currently?