I spent some time working on our Christmas cards then Chris came home and we had a traditional tree-decorating meal of Thai noodles. After a break: Christmas music and decorating Wee Piney.
I'm trying to strike a balance this year between doing too much and getting stressed out and doing nothing and being completely underwhelmed by the holidays. It's hard because my default is to shoot for the stars then get fed up and drop everything.
I hesitate to claim success before the big day itself but the things I am making time for are making me happy and I can't ask for more than that.
Posted by beth at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
squashroom risotto
Made with our usual division of labor: I prep, Chris magically makes prepped things turn into dinner. In this case, dinner was risotto (made with the leftover stock from shortrib stew night) with roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, spinach and sage.
I'm particularly proud of my squash prep though because, and I don't know if you know this, the butternut squash is a son of a BITCH.
Posted by beth at 10:53 PM | Comments (2)
ramblin woman
Back in Brooklyn, back at work, after a week of traveling back and forth from Rhode Island to Westchester, I am semi-exhausted, partially disoriented and completely happy. We are slowly filling the house up with the things we need to live - towels, soap, trash cans, chairs - and hopefully by the end of this month, when we both have the time between Christmas and New Year's off and will be able to spend the whole week up there, we will have a spare but fully functional home. The most important part, besides someplace to sit, is a functioning kitchen since we can't keep eating crappy pizza and TGIFs every time we visit. We're going back up again this weekend after a birthday dinner for Chris's dad on Friday night.
And thus ends my November Blogiversary Extravaganza. I missed three days and completely forgot to mark the actual anniversary on the 11th but I'm going to try to continue this new, old trend of frequent updates as at least I got something out of it. Here's to 10 more years of navel gazing!
Posted by beth at 10:55 PM | Comments (0)sunday dinner - 11/29
I made the bread again.
Posted by beth at 10:12 PM | Comments (0)
thank you, thank you, thank you
Listening to Chris describe all the changes we've made in the last month, his coworker joked that it sounded like we had signed up for The Grownup Starter Kit. We bought our first car in 10+ years, got renter's insurance, bought a house. Even our wedding was only a year ago.
It feels like a lot of huge changes to us even as many of our friends crossed the real estate barrier years ago and now are having second or third children. It's hard not to compare your progress or lack thereof to that of the people around you. Luckily New York makes it easy to surround yourself with a wide spectrum of life situations. A lot of people are discouraged by this phenomenon; they focus on the envy that sometimes results from rubbing shoulders with people who have more - more money, a better apartment, a better job. While I've certainly experienced that envy, I've never felt as uncomfortably awkward here as I do when I'm with people who all have a similar lifestyle.
That sounds like I value certain lifestyle choices less but that's absolutely not the case. It's not the life choices themselves at all; it's the feeling of being the odd man out. I may just be incredibly unusual or lucky but I rarely feel the odd man here, having friends who are married with kids in the suburbs, married with kids in the city, married no kids, in a relationship, totally single; in houses, in condos, in apts; managers, freelancers, dads, moms.
So I'm thankful not just for this wonderful year- our first year of marriage, finding our awesome current apartment, my sister's move, the two family pugs - but for the previous dozen I've spent in NYC. I'm so grateful to this amazing city for letting me grow up at my own pace, giving me the confidence that I'd eventually get there even if I didn't always know where there was.
Thanks, New York, I do ♥ you.
Posted by beth at 09:14 PM | Comments (0)
