Month: January 2026

Weekly recap + what we ate: Another museum, another birthday! And Snow.

Our world is blanketed with snow so thick and frozen that you can walk on it. We’re on Day Three of the schools being closed and they’ve already announced that they will be closed tomorrow (Thursday) as well. The kids were super excited. The six year old made this to do list:

For those who aren’t fluent in six year old pictogram, the list reads:
1. Build snowman
2. Throw snowballs at the snowman
3. Go sledding
4. Make snow angels
5. Build and igloo
6. Have a snowball fight
7. Shovel Snow.

The weekend featured the usual runs of voice lesson and a basketball game for the 14 year old. The two little kids were invited to a playdate so they didn’t come to the game. The 14 year old won her game so we stopped to get fries from McDonalds on the way home. Why are fries SO tasty? I had to work Saturday night, and took the Metro in, just in case the snow came early. The Metro costs $2.50 more than parking, and takes 15 minutes longer (though in rush hour, it’s actually faster to Metro). I figure the extra time and money is worth the stress I save from having to drive through the city. I got to read my book, and truth to tell, the walk to and from the Metro Station is always a welcome opportunity to move.

Sunday, we woke to several inches of snow on the ground, with more coming down. We hunkered, and shovelled a little. The two older kids and I walked down to the park- I live seeing it blanketed with snow. The snow was almost sand like, making it quite a workout to walk through it.

Sunday evening we had some neighbors over for dinner – our kids swim together, but since swim was cancelled, we thought it was a good opportunity to get together. It was a lovely evening- I made pasta with Marcella Hazan’s tomato sauce, foccaccia, and we had bagged salad. Our neighbors brought cookies and cannoli. Afterwards one of their daughters introduced us to Imposter. Have you played? It’s loads of fun; there’s an app where everyone secretly gets a word (the same word) except one person who is the imposter. Then everyone goes around and says one word related to the main word, including the imposter who has to try to figure out what word to add without giving away that they don’t know the word. There was a lot of laughing.

On the bummer side, the heat at my parents’ rental went out o n Sunday and since the Husband and I manage the property for them, we were the ones who had to deal with it. Monday morning we managed to get our car out and drive over to their neighborhood. They hadn’t been ploughed out yet, so we parked two blocks away and walked up to the house with space heaters for the tenants. I dropped the Husband and drove back home, and I’m pretty sure I burned the clutch on our car getting it back home over the unploughed streets. (We have two cars, but the van does not have all wheel drive, so we had to drive the manual Impreza). Later that evening, we headed to the rental house to see if we could troubleshoot and open the faucets since we didn’t want the pipes to freeze; the tenants had checked into a hotel by that point. Given the lack of parking at the rental, the Husband and I decided that the easiest thing would be to walk over. So the Husband and I walked the mile there, some of it on the road since the sidewalks hadn’t been cleared. I pulled on my wool and silk underlayers, bundled up and it turned out not to be so bad of a walk. The streets were pretty quiet and the sun was setting and the snow was still white and smooth. As we turned the corner to the house, I looked up and it was golden hour. The Husband said, “At least the light is beautiful.”

We finally were able to find an HVAC company that could come out on Tuesday – most places were saying Wednesday or Friday at the earliest. The heating and gas were fixed, thankfully and we could all breathe easier.

Before all that happened, though… the previous Monday was MLK Day and we went on a family museum adventure to the Renwick Gallery. The Renwick is a Smithsonian museum dedicated to the art of crafts and handiwork. There is currently an exhibit called State Fair: Growing American Craft. It features work that was created and displayed at State Fairs around the country from the early twentieth century to today. I loved this exhibit. It was a great reminder that art is not purely the domain of the artists whose work hangs in the big museums, who have highly publicized exhibits. Art can come from the farmer’s wife, who collects fabric scraps and sews them into a beautiful quilt after the kids go to bed, or the insurance agent who takes up knitting as a hobby, or the art student who is just learning how to throw pottery.

I think this exhibit was one of the most diverse exhibits I’ve ever seen – it celebrated the work of people from a wide variety of cultures and races and backgrounds. While I was going through this exhibit, I thought of the Amish Quilt exhibit at the American Art Museum I had seen a few years ago and how all those quilts were made by “unknown.” I loved that the pieces in this exhibit all were able to credit the creators.

Some of my favorite pieces:

This quilt was made by Grace Snyder (1882-1982) of Nebraska. She learned to quilt when she was six to keep herself occupied while she watched the cattle. The quilt is made up of 87,000 small triangles. It’s almost like a Grecian mosaic.
Butter Cow! by Sarah Pratt and her daughters Hannah and Grace. I’ve never seen one of these before, and this made me super excited.
Hair wreath by Josephine Daly (1860-1939). This was made over the course of eight years, from real hair. I find this beautiful and creepy,.
Pyramid of preserves, canned by Rod Zeitler of Iowa City. . All I could think about when looking at this was, that’s a lot of toast. Also – are they going to eat it all?
Seed art by Linda Paulson. This is art made by gluing tiny seeds one by one. So meticulous – look at the detail!

I picked up a few things from the gift shop. I don’t often buy things from Museum Gift Shops, but more and more I’m feeling like since our museums are free, I should support them in some way. Especially these days. I got a hand made bud vase – I don’t like cut flowers, but a sprig of something or a single flower could be nice. I also picked up this this beautiful book of stickers:

How beautiful are these stickers? I almost don’t want to use the stickers, they are so gorgeous, but I think it would bring people a lot of joy to see them, making them perfect for including in mail.

Afterward the museum, we walked up to Dupont Circle and had lunch at our favorite cheap Chinese restaurant. When the Husband and I started dating, he worked within walking distance from this place and we would often meet here for lunch, usually ordering the same thing – kung pao chicken for him, chicken and green beans for me. We order all that along with orange chicken, combination lo mien, and Mongolian Beef. It was all so tasty.

After lunch, we walked back to the metro, popping briefly into Second Story Books to browse. I mean with this sign out front, who could resist:

In other news from last week, it was also the middle child’s birthday. He is now 9 years old! Happy birthday to this imaginative kid who loves stories and puzzles and thinking about life. You can always find him reading – he’s recently really gotten Plants vs. Zombies – playing with his swords and nerf guns. He likes making up adventure stories in his head and enacting them with his little sister. He loves to build, be outside, ride his bike, kick a soccer ball, and play Mario Kart. He doesn’t like practicing piano, being told to put his book down, or when his sister takes his Lego creations apart.

Grateful for (The Snowy Snowy January Edition):

-The people in Minneapolis who go out in the cold and protest and protect and bear witness to the sad and heavy things happening there.

-The beauty and quiet of a world covered in snow.

-people who clear their side walks.

-Snow plough drivers. Our street didn’t get ploughed until Tuesday afternoon, and boy was I happy to see the snow plough when it arrived.

-The magical alchemy that is baking – flour, levener, liquid. Butter. All that combines to make magical cozy things that comfort us by the mouthful. In addition to focaccia I also made M&M cookies (this recipe, really good!), and thumb print cookies (from Cook’s Illustrated – a little bland, TBH), which I made with pepper jelly and blueberry jam.

-That our heat works.

-That our Metro stop is underground. A lot of Metro stops in the suburbs are above ground, which makes it very cold when waiting for the train. Our metro stop and the metro stop at my work are both underground so I can wait for the train without being exposed to the elements.

-Hot chocolate. When we heard a storm was coming, I told the Husband we had to stock up on butter, eggs, and hot chocolate. These are the important things.

-the back up electric kettle. Last week, our electric kettle meet an unfortunate fate when someone tried to move the cart it was sitting on without unplugging the kettle. There was broken glass and tears. For as much tea as I drink, being without an electric kettle is DIRE. Luckily we had an old kettle in our basement that I pulled out. It’s not ideal – it’s plastic, for one – but it will do until we get a new one. OR… I’m really considering upgrading to one of these electric water boilers. It would be a splurge, but all the Taiwanese people have them – it keeps water at a constant temperature. How many times have I been late to work because I was waiting for hot water so I could fill my coffee mug and take it to go?

Looking Forward to:

-Cool Blogger’s Book Club! Reading The Age of Innocence. This is a re-read for me, but knowing how it end, has made some things in the first few chapters really pop for me. I stopped at our library’s used bookstore to find a copy, and there is was! I also picked up a few other fun things:

I got the Far Side and the Get Fuzzy for the 9 year old – they were two of my favorite Sunday comics when I was growing up and I wanted to share them with him. He reports that Far Side is “funny, but scary.” Upon re-reading it, I can see what he means.

-This is more of a “Some day in the future” rather than concrete plans, but when we were in Dupont Circle, II was thinking that I would love to take a child-free Dupont Circle Day some day. I do love spending time with my kids, but they don’t really do leisurely meandering. If I had a child-free day in Dupont Circle, I would go to the Phillips Collection, then spend some time browsing the various stationary and book stores along Connecticut Ave., and then find some tasty food or a refreshing beverage (Maybe from the Afghan Chai truck??) and sit on the circle and people watch. I think I will put this on my list of fun things to do this spring.

-Radishes. We had two bags of radishes passed along to us from our friend with the CSA – he doesn’t like radishes. So I’m determined to eat one a day so that they don’t go to waste. There are beautiful watermelon radishes that I’ve been slicing thin and eating with salt, pepper, red wine vinegar and olive oil for breakfast. There are also some black radishes that have a very spicy bite. I ate one sliced with salt and pepper and decided that I couldn’t eat them raw, so I cut one up and put it in congee. I might miso-roast the other black radishes.

-the kids going back to school. Monday was a grading day so we weren’t supposed to have school anyway, but now school has been cancelled through to Thursday because of the weather. On the one hand I’ve been enjoying the cozy time with the kids, and I dread going back to routine – it’s like having a second winter break.- , but on the other hand, it is really hard to keep up with the dishes and the house hold chores when everyone is home all the time.

-Just started this audiobook, a historical fantasy set in WWI; it’s just gotten a bit creepy…

What We Ate:

Monday: I was going to make Ethiopian food this day, but then I fell asleep after getting home from the Museum. So the Husband raided the freezer and assembled a dinner of dumplings, soup, and edamame.

Taco Tuesday: reheated the honey adobo chicken from last week. (I had to go to work this evening, so I wrapped some of the chicken in a soft tortilla and took it with me.)

Wednesday: Butternut Squash and Leek Za’atar Pie, Ottolenghi recipe for NY Times Cooking. I made this in an effort to use up some delicata squash, leeks, and chard that our friend had given us from their CSA when they were out of town. This seems like a fancy dish, because it’s all wrapped up in puff pastry, but it was actually pretty fast and easy to put together. Puff pastry makes anything feel fancy. I thought it was rather tasty – the kids didn’t care for the fact that I didn’t peel the squash beforehand, but once the Husband took off the skin (I was at work), they ate it. Made for good leftovers.

Thursday: Pasta and red sauce. Simple fast dinner for a night when I had to work and the Husband had evening plans.

Friday: The family had dinner out with a friend (I think they had burgers). I was at work. Can’t remember what I ate, probably leftovers.

Saturday: Pizza Hut (the 9 year old’s special birthday request) and The Music Man. The 14 year old got the lead in the middle school production of Music Man. I’m so excited and proud for her! Although after seeing the movie, she’s decided that Marian doesn’t make sense – she spends the first half of the show yelling at Harold Hill and then suddenly has a change of heart. It told her that that’s the actor’s challenge, isn’t it?
(I had to work. I think I had leftovers before heading to the theatre again)

Sunday: Marcella Hazan’s oh so easy famous Tomato Sauce w/ pasta, Turkey meatballs (This recipe, but baked instead of fried), potato and leek frittata, and salad (from a bag)

Hope those of you in the path of winter weather remain safe and warm. Here’s hoping there is sunshine and clear roads in your future.

Do you go to your State Fair? Have you ever entered anything into a State Fair? If you could, what would it be? What was your favorite Sunday comic growing up? What do you panic buy make sure you stock up for when bad weather is coming?

Books Read – October, November, and December 2025

Rounding out my 2025 reading, here are the books I read in the last quarter of 2025. Most of the reading for these three months were cozy, comfort reads – lots of romance and good people and happy ever afters. Life was busy and this was just what I needed in my reading life.

Whalefall by Elizabeth O’Connor, read by Dyfrig Morris, Gabrielle Glaister, Gwyneth Keyworth, Jot Davies, Nick Griffiths– This book is about the inhabitants of a remote Welsh island where a dead whale washes up on shore (hence the title), followed soon after by a pair of English researchers. Those two incidents are not related, but parallel each other throughout the story. The story is told through the eyes of Manfred, a teenager who lives on the island with her father and younger sister. Even as Manfred wants to leave the island there are many things holding her there, and the book talks a lot about that pull between life on the island and the world beyond. (Incidentally, this is the third “Island” book I’ve read this year, after Clear and Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries.) I thought this book was fascinating – I really liked the characters and learning about their life on the Island. I had to google some things, which I also like. I also liked that the parts of the book that were supposed to be from the researcher’s recordings, were engineered in the audiobook to sound like they were being played on an old gramophone, giving it a real sense of time and place. My one thing about this audiobook, though, is that the narrators’ voices and accents were so beautiful, that sometimes I would get lost in the lilting cadence of the narration and would lose track of the plot.

Consider Yourself Kissed by Jessica Stanley – well written novel that follows Coralie, an Australian writer who moves to London, falls in love and marries a single father Adam, and the domestic path their life together takes, all set against the backdrop of Brexit then COVID. On the scale of plot vs. character, this book solidly falls into the character driven. It’s not about big exciting developments, but about how the actions of every day can erode one’s sense of self. So much of what Coralie felt really resonated with me, and I found myself highlighting so many passages. I have to be honest, though, ultimately this book felt a little flat – I liked the parts more than the whole. Maybe it felt too much like my life?

for example:
“She was like a sandcastle, and Adam and the kids were like the sea, eroding her and flattening her with their proximity and demands. If she went for a walk, or listened to a podcast, she could begin rebuilding her ramparts, only to get knocked down again by wave after wave of needs.” p. 278

“It appeared she had breached the anger/sadness barrier. She’d become sad enough for Adam to care about her more than he hated conflict.” p. 74
As a mildly conflict avoidant person, I think I’m Adam in this scenario.

or this one:
“On Saturday, when Adam texted “Ready”, she let herself into the house, hurried upstairs, and threw herself onto Florence’s bed. Her children jumped on her, comb marks in their wet hair, hair beautiful faces shining. She read to them and cuddled them. She put them in bed, then back into bad when they got out. She shushed them when they chatted. She sat in the corner until they slept. This was shat she’d thought being a mother would be like. Doing one thing at a time, and kindly.” p. 311
One thing at at time, and kindly – I think that’s what I aspire too, and so rarely achieve.

The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa- The Professor can’t remember anything for more than 80 minutes. The Housekeeper comes to work for him, bringing her ten year old son along. The professor the housekeeper, and the son for a bond. I thought the premise of this book was charming – and it initially was, but I think I’ve come to the conclusion that I find Japanese Fiction a little cold and distant for my tastes. The characters all come to have great affection for each other, but when they are pulled apart no one seems to fight for the relationship. The Japanese fiction that I’ve read this year (and I’ve read three or four novels by Japanese authors), all read very fable-like, and the characters never seem to grow on me – they all seem to be going through the motions of living, checking boxes, even when they have existential crises. I’m happy to be proven wrong if someone wants to suggest a Japanese novel where the character have a little bit of self awareness.

Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz, production by LA TheatreWorks – I realized that many of LA Theatreworks’ recordings of plays can be found on Libby, so I’ve decided to listen to as many Pulitzer Prize winners as I can. I love plays, but I think part of what makes them come alive is the different voices, something that I don’t get when I jsut read them. Anna and the Tropics is about a family that works/runs a cigar factory. They hire a Lector to come in to read to the workers while they roll cigars. The play centers around how the lives in the family shifts when a new charismatic lector comes and reads them Anna Karenina. I remember when this play came out – there was a lot of buzz surrounding it, and Nilo Cruz. The audio version is a little hard for me to keep all the characters and relationships straight in my head, but ultimately it was a pretty gripping drama. Made me want to read Anna Karenina. I had read it once in high school, but I don’t think it really stuck with me.

The First Time at Firelight Falls by Julie Anne Long – I really love Julie Anne Long’s historical romance novels, so I thought I’d read one of her contemporary romances. This small town romance tells the story of single mom Eden and ex-Navy SEAL now school principal Gabe who keep running into each other and having cute and witty banter. It’s pretty typical small town romance stuff with a resourceful independent business owner (Eden is a florist), the competence porn school principal, and lots of fun side characters, some of whom turn out to surprise me in a nice way. I did find the “getting involved with the school principal” bit a little… icky, but I guess it’s a small town and the hot single school principal deserves love too. The plot itself is kind of nothing too exciting, but I thought the writing was pretty good. I’m on the fence as to whether or not I want to read the other books in the series as I wait for Long to come out with another Palace of Rogue book; this book was absolutely a solid read, but I think there is something about Long’s historicals that just feel more exciting to me.

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – Read for Engie’s Cool Blogger’s Book Club. This was a re-read for me, and I got behind and didn’t participate too much in the book club, though I had lots of thoughts. I think it was interesting for me to read this twenty years after I read it the first time. There are parts of it that seem a little dated, but also parts where I wondered if Tan (or her editors) felt the need to kind of dumb things down because a lot of Chinese culture wasn’t mainstream. For example, there is one part where one character talks about large grapefruits, and I knew instantly this was a pomelo. I feel that nowadays, you would just write “pomelo” and expect the reader to either know what that is or to look it up. Or an author would write something like, “grapefruit like pomelo.” It seemed like everything had to be written so that non-Chinese people could read it without feeling like the things were too foreign. Exotic okay, but not foreign.
The Book Riot podcast Zero to Well-Read just did a whole episode on this book. They gave a lot of context as to why this book has been so groundbreaking; the background on where the publishing industry was in the mid-late 80s was really fascinating for me. I don’t know that I agree with everything they say – I do think the book is more dated than they do, and also I think they see a bigger arc in the stories than I did – but it was interesting to hear thoughts about the book.

Charm City Rocks: A Love Story, by Matthew Norman, read by Kristen DiMercurio – This novel tells about single dad music teacher Billy Perkins who gets to meet his rock-star crush, drummer Margot Hammer. His teenage son, knowing of his dad’s crush, tricks Margo into coming to Baltimore to meet them, awkwardness and romance ensues. The book takes place in Baltimore, which was very much a character in the novel; I wanted to go visit all the areas that are mentioned in this book. I thought this book was really charming. I liked the super niche glimpses into the world of rock music; I liked how specific each detail in the book is; I liked how I was rooting for all the characters, even the oblivious cheating ex-husband. I also really liked that the two main characters are older – Billy’s son is a senior in high school – and there are so many layers in their lives that they have to balance. Billy’s a very nice person. Margot is also a very nice person. I like romance novels about very nice people where there is chemistry from the start and they are just trying to live life and figure out how to be together and get over their baggage. And the book is funny. I laughed out loud many times as I listened. This book had such affection for it’s characters, for Baltimore, for music, and for music educators.

Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home by Stephen Starring Grant, read by the author – Back in 2020, Grant lost his corporate job at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. In order to get health insurance, he takes a job as a rural mail carrier in West Virginia, where he lives. I loved this book. I loved the fascinating minutia about being a mail carrier, the details he goes into about how mail is sorted so that it can be delivered efficiently and correctly, the chapter where he writes about what he carries with him on the route, the details like how Slim Jims become magical greasy goodness when left on the dashboard and how Frosted Cherry Gatorade is the flavor of choice of postal carriers. But also I loved how Grant writes about the things he learns, the wild stories of mail deliveries gone wrong, the people he meets, and the existential questions that he contemplates, about what divides us and what brings us together. Looking at America through the lens of the Postal Service offers a unique perspective on all the many layers of humanity in this country. Some of my favorite quotes that I read all year comes from this book, like when Grant has a truly awful day on his route and calls a co-worker to bail him out and his co-worker tells him (and I’m paraphrasing), “Don’t quit today. Go back, finish your route and you can quit tomorrow, but don’t quit today.” Don’t quit today. I want to engrave that on a pillow.

Also this observation about why he was never worried, during election season about people stealing the mail from him: “Why grab a few ballots when you can grab the whole US Capitol?”

The Finest Print by Erin Langston read by Mary Jane Wells and Will Watt – Will Watt! I didn’t love Langston’s previous novel, but then this one was narrated by Will Watt, so I had to give it a try. I ended up really loving this book. This novel, set in Victorian London, tells the story of Belle, an aspiring writer and Nathaniel an American journalist. Nathaniel inherits an printing press, but needs to make money fast in order to save it from being repossessed by creditors. He convinces Belle to write Penny Bloods (more commonly known as Penny Dreadfuls) which start selling like hotcakes. I really liked how the relationship between Belle and Nathaniel progressed, their easy banter, and their devotion to each other from the beginning. There was a mature kind of romantic tension between them which is refreshing in a romance novel – no coy will they or won’t they. They very much will, and do. I also loved all the details about the printing press and how Penny Bloods got printed – there was such a strong sense of place in this book – you could feel the effort it took to work the presses, smell the grease, see the ink smudges everywhere. Very much enjoyed this one. Also that cover is terrible. I get a back ache just looking at it.

Some Winter’s Evening by Erin Langston – I read this after finishing The Finest Print because I wanted to continue the warm fuzzy feeling of that book. This is a novella about Belle’s parents, Cora and Gavin. They meet one evening when snowbound at an Inn. Cora is on her way to start a new position as a governess; Gavin is on her way to her sister’s house. Surprise surprise, Cora’s new employer is Gavin’s sister. (That sister, also turns out to be the heroine of Langston’s first book Forever Your Rogue.) This book was .. fine. I mean I feel like shagging your employer’s brother in the conservatory isn’t a great thing to do, but hey, it’s a romance novel.

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston: This novel tells about Clementine who wakes up in her apartment one day to find there is a man in there. And not just any man, a man from seven years in the past. A cute, charming, man from seven years in the past. I really loved this book; I stayed up until 4am reading it because I just had to know how it ended. I didn’t used to think I liked time travel type books, but I think there is an element of angsty longing inherent in the plot device that I love sinking into. Aside from the romance, though, I just really enjoyed getting to know these characters and their friends and struggles with life, work, and the sadnesses with which they live. I want to read more by Poston now – I had previously found her supernatural elements in her novels unappealing, but her writing and her characters might have won me over.

Grace and Henry’s Holiday Movie Marathon by Matthew Norman – A second Matthew Norman book for me. Grace and Henry are both mourning the loss of their respective spouses. Their family tries to set them up, and while neither are ready to move on yet, they fall into a sympathetic friendship, bonding over holiday movies and the awkward social reality of losing a spouse. Like Charm City Rocks, this book takes place in Baltimore and Norman’s love for the city really shines through. I really enjoyed this book – it’s funny, fully of good people, and a vibrant sense of place. There is a little less conflict/ drama than in Charm City Rocks, so the plot isn’t as taut, but I still felt invested in the characters. It’s a cozy read, like hanging out in your pajamas with your best friend. And all the Holiday movie references were a lot of fun. (After reading this book, I finally decided to watch The Family Stone, and I have to say, what an awful movie! I don’t know why it’s on so many Best Holiday Movies Lists.)

Brightly Shining by Ingvild Rishoi – a slight novella about two sisters trying to survive the Christmas season (and life) despite their alcoholic father’s constant unemployment. This started off as one of those books narrated by a clear eyed and resourceful child surviving hard times and I was really rooting for good things to happen to them, then the ending went a little bizarre for me.

Taiwan Travelogue by Yang Shuang-Zi, translated by Lin King – I picked up this National Book Award-winning book to read while in Taiwan because I like linking my reading to my travel. This book is a little bit of a trompe l’oeil effect – it is told in the form of non fiction travel writing- there is even a prologue where a professor tells a little about the history of the “Travelogue”. But the book is very much fiction. (I read that some people were so taken in by the framing device that they thought it was indeed a non-fiction book and were upset to find that it wasn’t, leading to a redesign of the cover.). Beneath the descriptions of food — and oh boy the food writing is excellent – and places in Taiwan, there is the story of the novelist Aoyama Chizuko and her relationship with her translator and guide Chizuru. I think I liked the concept of this book more than the actual substance of it. The framework of writing a travelogue of Taiwan was interesting and I felt like I learned a lot about Taiwanese food and history. However, much as I was interested in what happened to the two main characters, I ultimately found their relationship one dimensional, which made that part of the book a little unsatisfying. I did really enjoy the translator’s notes at the end- another meta twist that I thought was really thoughtful and interesting.

On my Proverbial Night Stand:

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe – almost done this book. It’s been gripping and sad. The stuff that goes down after the Good Friday Agreement is wild.

Good Spirits by B.K. Borison – such a lovely cozy romance. On audio.

House of Earth and Blood by Sara J. Maas – Not my usual fare, but reading it because the 14 year old loves this series.

Weekly recap + What we ate: 2026 Gentle Aspirations

Well it’s been an odd odd week. The sleep hasn’t gotten any better. At this point I don’t think it’s jetlag. I think it’s just revenge bedtime procrastination and the revenge is super working. Work has been in kind of a holding pattern, which has made me incredibly restless. I keep checking my phone for news. One day this week, I logged 12 hours on my phone. TWELVE. There were a couple nights when I couldn’t summon the will to go to bed, only finally turning in when my phone and table both ran out of battery. This is not good. And on top of that, the events foreign and domestic continue to be shit – I’m sure that doom scrolling was part of the 12 hours of battery draining screen time.

In and amidst all that, I made a list. A list of goals and aspirations for 2026. I’ve been brainstorming the list for a while, and last week I spent some time living with that list and seeing if it felt true to what I wanted to do, who I wanted to be.

As I was looking at the list, however, I felt that some of my goals were focused on the wrong thing. I think some goals and aspirations are focused on an end goal, but many are really about the process or the inherent pleasure of doing the thing. A few years ago, I read “Midlife: A Philosophical Guide” and he talks about how activities can be telic or atelic. Telic are activities with and end point; atelic activities are activities without an end point. This idea has stuck with me a lot. One of my biggest takeaways from that book is that as we enter the latter part of one’s life = and, let’s be honest, once you’re past your mid 40s, there are likely fewer years ahead of you than behind – we might not see the end point of everything we do, so perhaps there is value in focussing on atelic activities rather than telic ones.

So for example, one of the goals I had originally written was “Read 70 books.” Yet when I really thought about this goal, I realized that I didn’t want to read more books; I wanted to spend more time reading. If I just wanted to read more books, I could read shorter books; I could just read books that were easy and fluffy (which I do love); I could skim more books. But looking at my goal, I realized those things aren’t how I want to read. I want to read books that make me feel and make me think. I want to read books that are immersive and that spin a longer tale. I want to read books that tell good stories, fiction or non-fiction. I want to read books to learn. I want to read prose that sings, that I can savor. And these things, don’t mean more books. It means more time. I will never read all the books I want; I will probably die with a very lengthy TBR. But hopefully I will die having been enriched by the books that I do get to read.

Which is all to say, i think I’ve been going about some of my goals the wrong way. It’s not about what I want to accomplish, but about how I want to spend my time. I don’t want to do yoga every day so that I can check boxes off to have a streak – I want to do yoga every day because it feels good to move and stretch my body. I think sometimes when I make goals that are focused on hitting a number goal, I forget why I get enjoyment or growth or benefit from putting the thing on the list in the first place. In past years, I would say I want to do X Y number of times and then I would feel very disappointed not to get there. This year I want to flip the script – putting a number on certain goals is motivation to do it regularly, a reminder that these are things that fill my cup. It’s not about how many times I ultimately do the thing, but that I make time to do it.

So anyhow, here is my list of 2026 goals gentle aspirations. There are also things that I haven’t’ written out – mostly adulting things – not because they aren’t on my list, but rather because I feel like they are things that I do anyway, so they might not need special focus attention. Or they are things I don’t quite know how to articulate into a “goal”. Top on that list is that I would like to stop nagging the kids to do their chores. But, again, that is just the wearisome minutiae of day to day. And I think I wanted to focus on additive things and I don’t quite know what to add to my life in order for me not to lose my shit when my kids won’t pick up after dinner.

Anyhow, on to the list:

Physical Health:
–Take the stairs. Trying to incorporate more movement into my life, and this seems like a no brainer. I was talking to my cousins over the holidays and they said that being able to climb stairs is one of the first things that gets difficult as we age, but also that it’s really good exercise. So I’m going to take the stairs whenever possible.
– Daily yoga, with at least one 20+ minute session per week.
–Strength workout 2x a week. I know this is paltry, but I want to start somewhere, given that I’m past my mid 40s. I only have 5lb weights at home and want to get 7 or 10 lb weights to help with this goal.
–5 vegan dinners a month. This is a health aspiration, but also a creative one because I like the challenge and creativity of cooking vegan recipes that are new to us and which the family likes. (The 6 year old, always asks, “Is there chicken in this?” when I make dinner.)
–Set an alarm for bedtime and come up with a wind down routine. Sleep continues to be probably my worst personal health habit. But sleep feels so amazing. So I need to get myself there sooner.
–Find a PCP. This is probably second more egregious health deficit that I have. my gynecologist usually does my bloodwork and preventative tests, but I think I do need a proper PCP.

Family
–Date Night/ Activity with the Husband – Now that the kids can stay home on their own, I’m hoping the Husband and I will have more one on one time that isn’t at home in front of the TV. I think we do better when we have an activity to do together rather than just dinner, so I’m looking into some classes in the area.
–Go camping with the kids (and the Husband) – I would like to do a four night camping trip. I usually do three nights and I don’t feel like that is quite long enough to disconnect and reconnect.
–Road Trip. 2025 had a lot of international travel for us, so I think 2026 might be more in the realm of a family road trip.
–Go to the Philadelphia Flower Show. This is a big dream of the Husband’s and I would love to make it happen.
–Christmas at Home – after spending the past two Christmases in Taiwan, everyone has agreed that this Christmas will be at home.
–Weekly phone calls/photos to my parents – I’ve never gotten into the habit of calling my parents regularly. When we talk things tend to very often be about logistics – planning for trips, details with their rental, etc. However, on our trip to Taiwan, visiting my 100 year old grandfather, I realized that I want to know my parents better; I want my kids to know them better; I want them to know me better. This is somewhat hard for a variety of reasons that I probably need to unpack. But my family has been so supportive and I want to model good family relations for my kids as well.
–Family Game Nights, Family Reading Nights – mostly find ways to break out of the evening tv rut.
–Take more photos with the people I love and who love me. I realized when I was making a slide for my grandmother’s memorial service that I had only three pictures of her, and one of them was super blurry. While in Taiwan over the holidays, I tried to make sure to take photos with my grandfather and have my kids take photos with him – I think even when you can’t remember someone from your past, a photo can help you remember that you were loved.
–Set an alarm when I’m working to call the Husband to check in on my dinner breaks.

Social:
–Monthly Happy Hour with my Friends L and D.
–Monthly meet up with my friend K (who was my freshman year roommate!)
–Host one fun dinner party/gathering per quarter – Ideas for this- another soup party. Dumpling Party. Cookie Party. Invite another family for game night. Mom’s group reunion.

Work:
–Work ahead when putting calls and cues in my book. Put places calls in my score as we stage, so they are there before we move to stage.
–Come up with a timeline when I’m working on supertitles. And stick to it. I don’t like how last minute I am with my super title projects.
–Find more places to post when we are looking for interns. The past couple years we haven’t gotten a lot of people applying for our intern position. We’ve always filled the position with strong candidates, but I’d love to make more people aware of our internship because I think it’s a great program.
–Don’t Freak Out. Not really bloggable, but you might know about this if you’ve been following the arts news in DC. There is a lot of change happening for me at work. I’m going to try to keep focused and not freak out.

Home/Finance:
–Submit tax information to our tax person before March 31st.
–Track my spending. I’ve never done this, but I do want to get a handle on where our money is going. Maybe I’ll just start with one week.
-Monthly Financial meetings with the Husband.
–Declutter and come up with better organizational systems: Specifically the area under our console in the bedroom. My desk. The bathroom closet. My craft corner. The toy room and make it into a more usable guest room.

Self/Hobbies/ Mental Health:
–Less scrolling, more of the things below….
–Paint 26 pictures. I realized that 26 (as in 2026) is half of 52 (as in weeks in a year), so I thought a fun project to tie in to the year is to paint 26 pictures this year.
–Spend more time reading. I want to do this Classic Literature Challenge from the blog Tea and Ink Society.
– Write 52 haikus. This goal is about stopping to take time to notice things around me.
–Do the crossword puzzle every week. This is a goal to help me reduce my time scrolling. Also I like crossword puzzles.
– Write 64 Blog Posts. That’s one a week + 1 additional post a month. I think what I want this goal to be about is to be more disciplined in my writing. I would like to come up with a more regular posting schedule.
–Spend more time playing piano. learn some songs to sing with the family.
–Find time/routine for journaling.
–Go on 12 hikes. Take the kids and Husband with me on some.
–Visit ten museum, even if I have to pay.
–See 2 straight plays.
–Find a cooking project, TBD. Maybe bao again? Maybe croissants. I’ve done that once. Maybe revive my sourdough starter? Or some kind of stew?

Just for fun, here are three things that were on my list that I cut after contemplating what telic vs. atelic goals:
-Run 3 miles once a month. Okay, let’s be honest – I don’t love running. And now it is really cold outside. This is exactly the kind of achievement based goal that I realized didn’t serve me.
-Knit a hat – again, a telic goal that I feel like would just be a fail. I do have an enormous yarn stash that sits in my room (under that aforementioned area under the console table) and maybe a knitting project could be part of that decluttering. But putting a whole hat on my list seemed like an awful lot of pressure.
-Only pack meat for lunch if it is leftovers. This goes hand in hand with my desire to eat more plant based meals, but I realized mornings when I pack my lunch are really stressful times and this might just add to that stress.

Will I do everything on my list? I hope I can have regular progress at least. I read an interesting quote lately in the context of these yearly lists of goals – forgive me, I can’t remember where I read it, I think on some Substack:

“Failure is data.”

I think that’s a good way to look at when I don’t check off things from my 2026 list. Not doing something isn’t a sign of a weakness inherent in me; failure to is not objectively negative. It’s an opportunity to assess and see why things didn’t work, or if it even is something I want. If I don’t fail, I don’t have the information to move forward.

Grateful for:
-Fleece lined pants. The temperature has really dropped this week and will continue to do so. I had a conversation with a friend that went like this:
Me: What’s up with this weather. It’s so cold!
Friend: I think that’s called January.
Me: —
Which it’s true. It is January. I don’t know why I’m surprised that the weather is in the 30s. Anyhow, fleece lined pants for the win.

-Warm sunshine. Even in the bitter cold, the sun’s rays are still warm.

-That even though I messed up and booked my thyroid ultrasound for the wrong office, the people at the office I wanted to go to (because it’s five minutes from my house) managed to find a slot and get me in later in the day.

-My friend K. She came over for dinner and gave me a belated birthday card in which she had written the best message. We were college roommates and I love that we are still in each other’s lives, without judgement and without drama.

-My friend C – we had a lengthy coffee date of Saturday. I hadn’t seen her in a while and it was good to be able to be vulnerable for 90 minutes while sipping our hot drinks.

-That the 8 year old practiced piano. He does not like practicing piano. I bribe him with Switch time and he does it. I’m always glad when he does manage to practice because then I don’t feel like I’m throwing my money away on piano lessons.

-Free printing at the library. Our public libraries now have free black and white printing – up to 15 pages a day. We had to print some music for the 14 year old this week and it was so easy just to upload it online and then go to the library, swipe my library card and have the music printed. All for free. Well I guess my tax dollars and the cost of gas to get to the library.

-That the Chicago Bears had such a good season. Last night’s game was nail-biting and heart-wrenching. I don’t care much about football, but I do care about the Bears because the Husband cares about the Bears. The Bears had some magical moments during the game, despite ultimately losing. I know the Husband is disappointed that the Bears aren’t advancing, but this is the first season since I’ve known him that he has been truly hopeful for the next season. Being a fan is such emotional work.

Looking Forward to:
-MLK Day off with the family. We are going to go downtown to see a museum. Maybe in future years we can have a more service-oriented MLK Day.

-The 14 year old’s furniture arriving for her bedroom – bed, nightstand, and dresser. She can stop sleeping on a futon mattress. She can stop just shoving her clothes in the closet. And instead shove them under her bed.

-Walk with a friend next week.

-The 14 year old’s middle school basketball game. The first one is this coming week; the Husband will go to that. We can’t both go to the games because they happen at the same time as the bus drop off for the two elementary school kids. I’ll go to the home games. Last year I only went to one game and I want to go to more this year.

-Broadway Week! Last year the kids had a day off on a Wednesday in January, so we went to New York to see Hadestown. Well this year, we don’t have a mid week day off, but it is once again Broadway Week where tickets to select shows are 2 for 1, so as a birthday present for the 14 year old, I am pulling her from school and we are going to see Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Through New York). It wasn’t a show that was on my radar, but she loves the cast album for this show. I’m really excited! And train tickets for a Wednesday morning were less than $100 round trip. Something to look forward to in two weeks.

What We Ate:
Monday – Za’atar Roasted Tofu With Chickpeas, Tomatoes and Lemony Tahini from NY Times Cooking. I feel like this was very similar to the Masala Tofu and chickpea dinner I made last week, just with different seasonings, and made in the oven so it wasn’t as messy. Vegan.

Tuesday: Honey Adobo Chicken from NY Times Cooking. Taco Tuesday. This was actually kind of disastrous evening – one child made a really wise ass comment that was the last straw after a whole day of wise ass comments. I lost my shit and went into my room and proceeded to sulk and then fell asleep for three hours. When I woke up at 9:30pm, the 14 year old had fed the two little kids, cleaned the kitchen together, and put them to bed. I don’t deserve such a great kid.

Wednesday: Vegetable Soup and No-Knead Bread. A clean out the produce drawer affair. Vegan.

Thursday: Pork chops, steamed green beans and Greek Salad with Cannelilni Beans. Apple Pie. It was my late Father in law’s birthday so we had pork chops as we always do on his birthday. My friend K came over, but she is a vegetarian, so I added the Greek salad. She brought the apple pie. It was delicious.

Friday: Pizza (Take out) and movie night: Pride. It was my turn to choose the movie and I picked this 2014 movie based on the true story of a group of gay activists who, during the 1984 Miner’s strike in England, form Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM), raising money and awareness to help the miner’s. It is a predictably heart-warming movie – one of those earnest and funny British films full of wonderful performances (Andrew Scott, Imelda Staunton, Bill Nighy, and more), with an uplifting message of perseverance and connection. I loved it.

Saturday: We checked out a Taiwanese restaurant that I had just heard about. We had beef noodle soup, fried calamari, fried tofu, braised beef over rice, popcorn chicken, and tomato chicken over rice. It was quite a feast and did very much remind me of Taiwan. Afterwards we all got boba (tea for me and the 14 year old, brown sugar milk for the two little kids), and the Husband got a red bean smoothie, one of his favorite things he had in Taiwan, but which I’ve never seen before on a menu here in the States.

Sunday: Leftover (me), Sausage sandwich (the 14 year old), Tortellini with red sauce and Caesar Salad (the rest of the family.)

Did you make a list of goals/aspirations/intentions for 2026? Anything you took off your list? What service does your library provide that you think is wonderful? (Other than the obvious, books) For any of you directly coping with any of the awful things happening in our country, I’m thinking of you.

Weekly recap + what we ate: Jet lag, Art by Women, airplane films

Ouf, it’s been a rough week for re-entry. I have not been able to get onto a regular sleep schedule. I’m by mid afternoon, struggle to stay awake, and end up taking three hour naps and then staying up until 2am and then sleeping til 8am, which is pretty late in our house. Overall not good for my goal of improving my sleep hygeine in 2026. The house continues to be a mess, the kids run amok on their own in the morning. On the bright side – the six year old got tired of waiting for me to wake up one morning and packed her own lunch…

I did manage to go to work – definitely not bloggable these days – make dinner a few times, meet up with my Lenten (okay, I guess Advent/Epiphany) reading group this week. But other than that, it was a whole lot of sleeping.

Some good news (since so much of it is shit these days):
We found out which high school our daughter is going to. She got assigned to her #1 pick, which is great. The results are kind of based on home school/lottery/random assignments, so it was a little up to chance. The school she is assigned to is not actually our home school, but it is closer to us, which is nice – actually in most of the redistricting maps that have been drawn, it would probably be our new home school in the future, so chances are the two other kids will also go there. I’m excited because the school is getting rebuilt – so next year she will be at at a holding school that is a little far away, but the new building will open up her sophomore year. I can’t quite believe my baby is going to HIGH SCHOOL next year.

Speaking of my baby – it is also her birthday week. It’s been a little low key because her birthday comes so soon after the holidays that I’m always negligent at planning anything. Oh well – we’ll gather with some family friends and have cake, and I think we’ll plan something for her and her friends at some point. She’s on the fence as to whether she wants a big birthday party or anything, so we’ll see what she wants to do. But oh wow… This little baby made us first time parents and now she is 14!!!!

She was such an itty bitty thing! Born at 34 weeks, just under 5lbs – we were completely unprepared for her arrival. Some day I might get around to writing her birth story here.

And look at us now!

A Museum Visit– I went to a new to me museum – The National Museum for Women in the Arts, where aside from a few exceptions, all the art in the museum is by women or non-binary artists. The NMWA is in DC, but not a Smithsonian, so I did actually *gasp* pay money to go. It was well worth the $16 (They do have two free community days a month, and I was going to wait, but the exhibit I wanted to see was closing soon, so I figured I would just pay…. such a foreign concept for me. I feel so entitled.) I had known about the museum, though given all the free museums, this museum was never high up on my list of museums to visit. But during the last government shut down, when the Smithsonian closed, the NMWA was on a list of alternative museums to visit – they even had free admission for federal workers – and I made a note to check it out.

The exhibit that prompted me to visit was called Women Artists from Antwerp to Amsterdam, showcasing female artist from the time of the Dutch Masters. The exhibit was about to close and I didn’t want to miss it. 1600-1750 was such a prolific time for art, but all the artists you hear about from the time are men – Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc. I never thought to wonder fi there were also women artists, and of course there were. Many of them were sisters, daughters, or spouses of artists and they were mostly from upper middle and upper class families. The exhibit featured not just paintings, but also scientific drawings, book illustrations, and – most fascinating to me – samples of lace. The exhibit talked about how lace-making is such an art, but lacemakers are never credited by name or even known. It kind of reminded me of the exhibit of quilts that I saw at the Smithsonian a few years ago – the idea of handicraft as art, but art that does not credit the artist, likely because it’s done by women.

Another artform that was largely women’s domain was paper-cutting. It’s not really on people’s radar because the finished project is so fragile that it seldom survives to be passed down. Of course there are painting of paper cuttings, delicate mobiles with intricate designs. One papercutting adjacent work they had was this portrait – how amazingly skillful is that cutting?

I particularly liked the art by Rachel Ruysch – her paintings featured such detail and sense of life:

One detail from the above painting.

(Also – I just googled Ryusch, and she had ten children while being one of the most in demand still life painters of her time. I feel conflicted as to whether one’s identity as a mother should be part of an artist’s biography, but, man just thinking of her having ten kids is just as impressive as her paintings. Or maybe no – maybe she was a shit mom who left her kids with their nanny all the time. But still… she gave birth ten times. That’s kind of bad ass.)

After I saw the Dutch Masters exhibit, I wandered the other galleries – the main collection, was interestingly enough, arranged by themes (Red, Lavender, Domesticity), rather than by era. I thought that was a really interesting way to look a pieces in a larger context. I particularly was awed by these huge watercolor paintings:

Painting watercolours this large is amazing.
love the detail.

Then on the third level there was another exhibit called Tawny Chatmon: Sanctuaries of Truth, Dissolution of Lies, featuring work by Black photographer Chatmon. She embroiders her photographs with richly colored threads, making a striking textured visual. Her work seeks to reclaim objects that have been used to stereotype African Americans by restoring them to objects of meaning and significance. For example this photograph of a woman with a watermelon where the fruit is given a place of royalty rather than ridicule.

There is also her project “The Restoration” where she finds racist antique dolls and re-draws the offensively exaggerated facial features and dresses them in rich African textiles.

I left the exhibit awed by the courage and creativity Chatmon has to change the narrative that surrounds her. The whole museum, in general was pretty satisfying to visit. Highly recommend.

Speaking of consuming art– Here is a list of all the movies I watched on the plane on our flights to and from Taiwan, most of them foreign films. I like to watch international movies on international flights. I very rarely watch foreign language films at home, but something about being on a flight, being held hostage for hours – I don’t want to watch popcorn movies, I want to watch movies that feel a little challenging.

This is my strategy on international flights – I first go through the menu and favorite all the movies that look interesting to me. Some of my movie catnip: films set in Taiwan (or the country I’m going to visit), films in Mandarin (so I can practice my language skills. French also.), films with romantic story lines, films that say “Award winning performance”, films that don’t look too dark, heavy, or gory (I don’t need to watch violence on a plane… or ever, really), films with an ensemble cast on the poster, films with people looking happy on the poster, film with women and not just men on the poster, films that are set on planet Earth, period films, films that are less than 120 minutes long. Then after favoriting movies, I just see what speaks to me in the moment. I don’t put on a movie until at least an hour into the flight. I like to watch a movie with my meal, and then see what else I have time for.

Here are the seven movies I watched over 30 some hours in a plane to Taiwan and back:

*The Family Stone – USA 2005: This movie is on so many “Classic Holiday Movie” lists, but I had never seen it, so I decided to put it on. Let me tell you – The Family Stone will definitely not be on any of my “Holiday Movie” lists. It’s full of terrible toxic people, and not even in a good, fun to watch way. I mean aside from the one “Check all the DEI boxes” couple (gay, interracial, and Deaf), everyone is kind of just clueless and unkind, and that in and of itself feels cliched. Holiday movies are supposed to fill me with warm fuzzies and hope for humanity. I just wanted to read all these folks the riot act.

*OMG! Mom’s Big News – Malaysia, 2025: This movie is about a couple in their 50s, with grown kids who discover that the wife is pregnant just as they are planning for retirement. I thought this was a cute movie – funny, warm, and full of quirky characters. It kind of felt like a Hallmark movie in the best ways.

*Mumu – China 2025: A film about a Deaf man who works odd jobs while raising his six year old daughter (Mumu) only to have their life together threatened when his ex comes back for custody of the child. The movie starts out as a heartwarming, quirky almost-comedy about a father and his child, but then bam! Mumu turns real dark and becomes a noir thriller as the father, in order to make money, gets involved in an insurance fraud scheme that requires him to recklessly crash cars, and then… well no spoilers. (I do find with a lot of Chinese and Taiwanese movies they tend to have both light and dark moments. There is no one way to categorize a movie often.) Its the kind of movie that on paper sounds as if it will be peddling in emotional cliches – and it does – but the performances are so genuine and delightful, the relationships so real, that I was just sucked right in. Worth a watch if you can find it, I think.

Tic Talk – Taiwan, 2024: A teenage boy with Tourette’s syndrome dreams of being a singer and also of finding his mother. One day, he meets a travelling singer and hitches a ride on his truck, travelling throughout Taiwan and helping him with his stage and sound set up. The cynical singer and the shy teenager bond. A buddy road trip movie. I really enjoyed the music, seeing the life on the road, and seeing the scenery of Taiwan in this movie. Taiwan is a very outdoors country. This movie has catchy tunes and sweet performances.

Road’s End in Taiwan – Switzerland/Taiwan 2025: Swiss Damien receives a letter that his father – whom his mother had told him died years ago – has just recently passed away in Taiwan. He travels to Taiwan for his inheritance and meets Steve, his Taiwanese half brother. Damien and Steve embark on a road trip through Taiwan to find the other two people named in the will so that the will might be read. Yes, another Taiwan Road Trip movie, though this one travels down the East Coast, so a little different scenery. This movie was kind of sad and bleak (Spoiler – the dead father was NOT a good person), but I was pretty invested in the story.

*Montages of a Modern Motherhood– Hong Kong, 2024: New mother Jing struggles with balancing childcare, work, in-laws, and her marriage in this unflinching look at early motherhood. There were so many moments in this movie that I felt very deeply – the bone dead tiredness of having an infant; the sense of not knowing what to do coupled with undeniable instinct for what your child needs; the crying, constant crying. Watching it made me feel angry on behlaf of Jing, but also I felt so lucky that I had the post-partum support that I did. The movie is bleak, but also those first few months with a baby can be so isolating and intense that I’m glad this movie puts out there how hard it can be.

*A Family Knight-Mare (Sin cobertura – literally “no coverage”) – Spain 2025: Fed up with her family constantly being on their phones, young Rita asks a fortune teller at a Medieval fair to make their phone disappear. Before they know it, the family is transported to the real Medieval Times. Will the family be able to get home before they are stuck in the past forever? After watching two bleak movies, I wanted something lighter. This is the kind of family friendly live action movie that Disney used to make all the time. I thought it was entertaining, cute, and fluffy. Not the most memorable or subtle film, but still pretty entertaining.

Grateful For this week:

-The Bears having an unbelievable season. It makes the Husband really happy.

-The Husband for picking up the slack when all I could do was sleep.

-The people at church who acknowledged 14 year old’s birthday. At our church at the end of Mass, they take time to acknowledge birthday and anniversaries. The 13–>14 year old didn’t want to stand up, and instead sunk down even further in the pew, which I think the priest saw and realized something was up. He came up after and wished her a happy birthday, and so did a few other people. I think she didn’t want a public airing of her birthday, but the quiet individual wishes really made her smile.

-Good books and Libby. I just finished the Daughters of Shandong and could instantly have another book to read.

-Raincoats for the soggy soggy week we’ve been having.

-my colleagues at work.

-The now 14 year old. What a bright, kind, empathetic, unfussy human being she is. She makes me laugh by sending me silly YouTube Shorts, eats salad, looks out for her siblings, always tries to do the right thing and notices when people aren’t doing likewise, avoids drama, and is there for her friends. She likes cuddles, food, Coke, and music. I’m so glad she’s in our lives.

Looking Forward to:

-Bao buns. We went to a new to us Asian grocery store – a small little shop full of wonderful things. We were looking for a restaurant, but it was closed and this grocery store was next to it so we wandered inside, thinking maybe the restaurant was inside the grocery store. Well it wasn’t but the store was a little mom and pop affair so it felt awkward to just go in and leave again, so we wandered the aisles and picked up some fun things – curry puffs, canned rambutan, home made pork bao, tapioca flour, and some cookies for the kids. I noticed they have a boba counter in the back, so we’ll have to make a return trip some time!

-Fencing! We signed up the 8 year old for fencing lessons. He’s always running around with his light saber and Ren Faire sword, so we figured we should try to channel that energy.

-Figuring out how to get on a regular sleep cycle.

-My goals gentle aspirations for 2026. Two weeks into the new year and I’ve finally taken a moment to think about these things. I’m definitely of the “New year can start any time” school. I do think I need some adulting type goals, though – something financial. I need to sit with these for a bit and then maybe I’ll share them here.

-Just started this book. Interesting concept but pretty sad in the first few chapters:

-Listening to this audio book – Two of my catnips – Christmas Carol-inspired and Will Watt as one of the narrators! It’s pretty funny and charming so far.

What We Ate:
Monday: Half Price Burgers

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday – I made Tofu Chorizo from the NY Times Cooking. It was a little too spicy. Not sure if it’s worth my effort to make again – I have a recipe for soy ground beef that is easier and the family likes better. But otherwise we had tostadas instead of hard shell tacos, and those were well enjoyed.

Wednesday: Pasta with red sauce. I was supposed to cook this night, but I got home from work and fell asleep in our reading chair. When the Hsuband couldn’t wake me, he made dinner instead.

Thursday: Masala Chickpeas with Tofu and Blistered Tomatoes, from NY Times Cooking, served with Paratha (bought frozen from HMart and cooked on the griddle.) This was a huge hit. It was drier than I thought it would be – next time, I might add a can of diced tomatoes as well. Vegan (I used coconut oil instead of ghee.)

Friday: Pizza and movie night. Only we watched Indiana University football instead.

Saturday: We went out for Indian Food, the 13 (now 14) year old’s choice as her birthday dinner out.

Sunday: We went over to a friend’s house and they made pizza on the grill for us. We brought bagged salad and cupcakes.

Welp that’s some of what’s been going on here – hope you’ve had a great weekend and that the week ahead brings some wonderful things even when the big picture is bleak.

Do you have a method for picking movies on a flight? Or picking movies to watch in general? How many women artists can you name? (They sell buttons with this written on them at teh National Museum of Women in the Arts. I think I used to be just able to name Georgia O’Keefe and Frida Kahlo off the top of my head.. Now I have more!) Do you have any adulting financial goals? I need some inspiration.

Welcome Home and to a New Year. Hello, 2026!

We got back from Taiwan yesterday morning, leaving Taipe at 11:45pm on Saturday night and pulling into our driveway in Maryland at 7:30am on Sunday morning. International travel across the date line is kind of a mind warp, right? On paper, it only took eight hours to get home from Taiwan, but really it was twenty hours of travel. I mean we landed in Seattle, our connecting city, at 6:00pm on Saturday, which is before we left in Taipei. It’s almost like getting time back. But those hours gained are jet-lagged discombobulated hours; I can’t say it did us much good or that any of us were at our best…

The journey home was full of mishaps – we lost a beloved teddy bear and a travel pillow, the last leg of our flight (SEA —> BWI) was delayed an hour, and one of our suitcases came off baggage claim with a wheel missing. We were too exhausted to deal with trying to find someone to file a claim or a lost item report. The cost of exhaustion seems to be apathy mixed with helpless despair, it seems. International travel does not bring out my best ability to deal with a crisis. (Unlike my cousin, who didn’t realize until he was checking in for his flight that he and his family needed Visas for Vietnam. It’s a wild story, but they ended up in Singapore instead. I admire their sense of calm and ability to pivot.)

Anyhow, we got home and, despite my best intentions to unpack and try to get us back on Eastern Time, we all fell asleep around 11am and slept for several hours. I did get up before the others and started unpacking the suitcases. The rest of the day, between us, the Husband and I did six loads of laundry (folding most of it!), I made waffles for dinner, the Husband did a quick essentials only grocery shop (did you know Lemon Oreos are essential?), we watched Indiana play basketball before pouring the kids back into bed. Despite having taken that enormous nap in the middle of the day, they were so very tired by 10pm. (Which was 11am Taiwan time).

Of course, not so very tired that they weren’t up at 3am, coming into our bedroom.

“I’m bored,” the six year old said.

“Go play in the toy room,” the Husband suggested groggily, half asleep. 

She went away.

Around 5:15am, there was some kind of sibling squabble. One child wanted to play, one child wanted to read. (The 13 year old slept on… teenagers and their sleep…) I told the 6 year old she could come cuddle in our bed.

“How long?” She asks. 

“Until six o’clock,” I say, snuggling her down and going back to sleep. 

Then every five minutes she sat up to look at the clock. Until… 

“It’s six o’clock!” And she springs out of bed.

“Go see if your brother wants to play,” I murmur sleepily. 

Off she goes and I go back to sleep. In my dreams I hear them playing with the 8 year old’s new chess set – are they really playing? Who knows? And foot steps up and down stairs. And no more fighting.

Some indeterminate time later, I hear some one shout, “Bloody nose!!!”

Then the 8 year old: “Go to the bathroom! I’ll help you!”

And he did. When I woke up another indeterminate time later, there were bloody tissues in the trash can and on the floor in the bathroom and the Clorox wipes sitting open on the counter. I did step on a gob of blood, but you know… getting to sleep through a bloody nose is kind of a win in my book.

And then it was morning. Going to school 24.5 hours after getting off an international flight is hard, so I drove the 13 year old to school instead of having her walk. And 90 minutes later, I took the 6 year old and the 8 year old to school, though we were pretty late, squeaking in just as the doors were closing. The 8 year old has school testing this week, and we were a little concerned about him being able to stay awake and focus in class, so we wrote the teacher and she agreed to let him take the test on the make-up days. (Who schedules school testing for the week after vacation???).

I, on the other hand had grand plans of setting up my planners and journals, logging a few hours of work, picking up the house, and folding more laundry, and hanging out with the Husband since he had taken the day off. But… I got home, had breakfast and then ended up taking a three hour nap on the couch. I do feel a little guilty that I made my kids go to school while I came home and napped, but that’s a perk, of being a semi-employed adult. We’ll see how long it takes to get people back on schedule. We went out to an early dinner tonight since it was half price burger night, and the kids ate half their burgers then were like:

Trip Highlights
Here are some photo highlights of our time in Taiwan, in case I don’t get around to doing trip recaps (My track record for trip recaps is pretty paltry.)

*Sunset at Tamsui, a coastal suburb of Taipei. It’s at the end of the trainline, and where my cousin lives.

+So much food! Dumplings on Christmas Day:

*Visiting the cemetery where my grandmother’s ashes are buried.

Night Market – this one in Chia yi, where my family is originally from:

Lucid red tracksuits!

*View from our boat tour of the coastal waters off Tainan, where we learned about fishing, and spoonbills:

*Fish Market in Kaoshiong:

*Dragon Fruit at a produce vendor’s stall:

*More Night Market Food – this one also in Kaoshiong.

*Selfie with my grandfather – he is 100 years old and the reason for this family reunion:

*We took a two night trip to Bietou, where there are hot springs and hiking. (Though it ended up being to wet and windy to really hike.)

Thermal Valley.

And on our last day, we followed a string of red lanterns and found a moment of calm in the gardens of a Buddhist Temple:

Photo taken by the 8 year old.

The photos don’t really capture how full each an every day was – full of family, full of new sights/smells/tastes, full of new discoveries of how life on this island nation work. Also, though, full of chaos and noise, full of long bus rides, full of feeling lost in a language that I don’t quite speak, a culture I don’t quite belong to. Yet ultimately, full of love and bonding, meories and conversations, and that kind of discomfort that opens my eyes to other ways lives can be lived.

Oh so fittingly of the universe, this poem by John Updike showed up in my apoemaday feed yesterday:

How beautifully Updike captures the return to the mundane – I, too, feel like I’ve put the yoke back on, even while knowing that the world is not so small as it once felt and sometimes still feels.

Return Trip Gratitudes:

-That the kids kind of slept on the flight home, and that they are pretty good travelers in general.  I feel so lucky – they didn’t complain, went where we asked them too, didn’t get lost, carried their own backpacks, pulled their own suitcases.

-Airport play areas. I am so grateful for these areas for kids to run off some energy while waiting for flights. (The play area in Taiwan has a baby’s area attached that comes with a hot water dispenser, a fully stocked wipes warmer, and extra diapers!) I think the eight year old is technically too tall for the play area, but we let him play there until there were too many toddlers as well. And in SEA, they made some friends and played tag and said “Six seven” to each other.

-Wifi at the airport. The 13 year old definitely is not into airport play areas, but luckily in each airport she had wifi and a comfy seat so she was well occupied.

-That our fruit didn’t get taken away when we got home. Before we went to the airport, we bought a bunch of fruit and snacks for the trip home, remembering the time last year when we were stuck in Seattle for nine hours. Taiwan is super strict about letting fruit and vegetables into the couttry, so I half expected that the US would be the same. I declared them and everything, but no one took them from us. We came home with a bag of bananas, three passion fruits, and six or seven wax apples. Wax apples are one of my favorite Taiwanese fruits, and you can’t get them in the US. I cut them up for a late night snack last night, and the crisp juicy slices were a wonderful reminder of our trip. The 13 year old ate the rest of the passionfruit this morning. I’m a little annoyed I didn’t get one of the last two, but I reminded myself how much I love it for her that she easily slices and scoops out and eats this fruit that was so foreign to her a week ago.

-The Mobile Passport Control app, allowing for easy re-entry into the country. We don’t have TSA Pre-Check or Global entry or anything like that, but I found that airport security lines are pretty streamlined these days and moved pretty fast. The nice thing in Seattle, too, is that even though we submitted our info via the app, there was still an agent who directed us to the right line and scanned us through and said, “Welcome home.” Having someone say, “Welcome home” is one of my favorite parts of international travel.

-That the Qdoba in the Seattle airport is open 24 hours. After that nine hour at SEATAC episode last year, when were were in a tiny terminal without any food, I was really glad we decided to stay in Terminal B where there was a Qdoba and it was still open at 7:30pm. I don’t know if it was the two weeks away from America or what (seriously, I think we had cheese maybe twice the whole ten days), but the 13 year old declared Qdoba “even better than Chipotle.” This is quite a statement from her.

-That the Husband had the foresight to pack the kids’ winter coats in the car for the ride home. Also – he went to pick up the car while the kids and I tackled baggage claim, so that when we got in the car with our luggage, the car was toasty warm. In Taiwan, the 50 degree weather was considered frigid, so coming back to 30 degree weather in Baltimore was quite a shock.

-That it didn’t snow at home, so we didn’t have to shovel out the driveway or anything to get back in the house.

-That the house was clean and the fish were alive when we got home. Our cleaner was scheduled to come while we were away, and it was so nice to come home to a clean house – which admittedly was not the state it was left in when we departed two weeks ago. Also, our friends came over to feed our fish and also played Santa. The Husband, like he did last year, left our friends with a box of Christmas presents and some holiday decorations, and while we were gone, they decorated the little potted fir tree we keep in our living room, and put the presents out. The look of delight and wonder from the 6 and 8 year old when they realized that Santa still found a way to us was absolutely precious.

-That eggs and buttermilk keep for up to two weeks in the fridge. Before we left we had two dozen eggs and half a container of buttermilk in the fridge I contemplated throwing them out, not knowing if they would keep. I’m glad I didn’t throw them out. They did indeed keep and we had waffles for dinner. There is definitely stuff in the fridge that didn’t survive the two weeks, and throwing it out will be a project for tomorrow.

=That we even got to go on this trip at all (BIG thank you to my parents) and that we went to the other side of the globe and back safely. I mean I believe in science and physics and all that, but sometimes I look at air travel and think, “Oooooookay… I’m just going to have to really trust that this is huge hunk of metal is going to stay up in the air.”

Looking Forward To:

– All the planner, journalling, and 2026 goal setting that I meant to do today, but napped instead. I’ve started Susannah Conway’s Find Your Word 2026 workbook – I’ve never really been one about having a word for the year, but I see a lot of chaos and uncertainty coming up, so I do find my self drawn to creating grounding principal for myself. (Conaway also has a 2025 end of year/2026 monthly reflection workbook that I really enjoy working through – I discovered them last year, and they are free to download.)

– Firepit date with friends. 

= Lenten Reading Group happy Hour.

-Cooking food, doing laundry (not in a laundromat), Taco Tuesday, Family movie night, Sunday night football… basically all the every day things that we didn’t get to do in Taiwan. I asked my cousin what she was most looking forward to when we got home and she said, “Doing laundry when I want and not having to drag my clothes five blocks.” So true

– enjoying all the snacks I brought home from Taiwan.

-A New Year! Yay 2026!

A List of Some Good Things from 2025

There were certainly a lot of really hard things about 2025. News along the international front. News along the domestic front. We’ve had some really perplexing house issues. Work hasn’t been the most joyful of places at times; I’ve had a lot of well loved colleagues leave, and everyone is doing the job of three people. So I wanted to acknowlege that 2025 was a banner sucky year for many people in many ways. And it seems like the hits keep coming. But I am grateful there were also many things that didn’t suck for me. I fell lucky for good health, and my family, and a roof over our heads, and relative security.

Here are some other specific good things that happened in 2025, in no particular order:

-ringing in 2025 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This was the last leg of last year’s Asia trip. The food, the people, the heat, the rain. Some day I will finish my trip recaps.

-Taco Tuesdays – we’ve had tacos either home made or at a restaurant for almost every Tuesday in 2025. It started off with one Taco Tuesday, and then everyone loved it so much that the next week when we were meal planning, it was asked for again. And then again. And then again. When I look back at my dinner list in my journal, most of the dinners I marked with a heart – meaning the family really liked it – were Taco Tuesdays.

-Contra Dancing as a famly. Thank you to the Husband for encouraing us to go and for dancing with the kids, even if it’s awkward to dance with three kids at a time.

-Silly car games- Cows and Cemetaries. Punch Buggy (We used to play with Teslas, but there are so many of those around now, it’s not as fun.), Bonkers (Every time you see a yellow car, you yell “Bonkers!”, a green car is “Bankers!”, and an orange car is “Bunkers!”)

-New to us Board/Card Games that the whole family can play: Sky Jo, Happy Salmon, Dixit, Bohanza.

-Watching New Girl with the 13 year old, and Glee as a family.

-Rose Buds and Thorns – in January I started a special journal to record our Rose Buds and Thorns. We don’t do it every day at dinner, but maybe once or twice a week. One of my favorite things is to see how each member of the family changes/ understands the ritual. At the beginning of the year, the youngest always had the same rose (“I’m here with my family.”) Literally that was her response every time. But lately she’s been thinking of different roses, and that’s been kind of neat to see.

-The running track at the kids’ elementary school

-WhatsApp calling – lets me call my friend who lives in Oman, and also when we are travelling internationally, it’s how I am able to make phone calls. It’s not new technology, but I’m a bit of a luddite so it’s new to me.

-Finally getting rid of my 22 year old Subaru. Not a “good” thing, per se, but a necessary thing that had to be done, and which I found difficult. I donated it to the local high school’s technical program, which seemed like a good place for it to go.

-K-Pop Demon Hunters. Gonna be gonna be Golden!

-Hallowe’en, and making the two younger kids KPop Demon Hunter Costumes. Specifically, discovering Iron On Vinyl was amazing.

-Family Meetings. We started having weekly family meetings at 7:45am on Saturdays. They’re not the most enjoyable part of the week, but from a planning perspective, they really help get everyone on the same page for what is ahead.

=Being able to leave the kids at home alone. In Maryland, kids have to be 8 to stay home by themselves, and 13 to babysit younger kids. We hit those birthday milestones this year with the two older kids. So nice not to have to take the kids with us all the time when we just want to run a quick errand. Also, the 13 year old is enjoying making a little bit of money for watching her siblings.

-South Africa with the 13 year old. Trip of a Lifetime. I will finish the recaps some day.

-Working on The Little Prince with the 13 year old in the chorus.

-The Secret Garden at the high school – one of my favorite musicals. A beautiful production. Makes me excited for the 13 year old theatre kid to go to high school.

-Kunene and the King. Hey, I saw a play! With talking, and no singing or dancing. I haven’t seen a straight play in years. And it was beautiful. Not just the play itself, but the beautiful intimacy of two people on stage with just words.

-Small Wonders Exhibit at the National Gallery of Art – a fascinating examination of the intersection of art and science.

-The Duck Decoy Museum – new to me and delightfully niche.

-New York Transit Museum – also new to me and delightfully niche.

-A new afternoon bus stop that is walking distance from home and next to a playgroun.

-Tap Dancing Lesson, and learning something new.

-Lenten Reading Group. This year we started meeting monthly, or at least trying to – I think we met maybe eight times over the year. A lovely thoughtful community.

-The youngest starting Kindergarten – no more day care payments!!!

-Visits from my parents and seeing my kids

-Our new shoe rack. Trying to tame the foyer chaos.

-Finally getting new window treatments. I love that they are top down/bottom up. They look a little plain, but I’m calling it “neutral” or “versatile”.

-Injera from the Ethiopian market.

-Will Watt. Audiobook narrator of my dreams.

=getting my taxes done the first week of April, rather than at the last minute like I usually do.

-A good year for reading – I read 63 books this year – a new high for me.

-A good year of working on opera with really great colleagues, old and new. Feeling like I’m growing as a stage manager, even though I still make lots of mistakes. Feeling really supported at work, even when sometimes it feels like a dumpster fire.

-The two younger kids mostly being able to swim.

-Learning how to dive. The 13 year old taught me and her siblings.

-My Snoopy Sweatshirt. I bought a few new articles of clothing this year, but this is by far my favorite. I wear it almost every day off, and sometimes to work too.

-(almost) daily yoga. I managed to fit in at least ten minutes of yoga almost every day. Even days when I was travelling, I discovered videos of “standing yoga” that I could do while waiting for flights.

-The 6 year old figuring out how to ride a bike

-The 13 year old making dinner periodically.

-A New Pope!

=A new, less fussy sign in sheet process for the Chours, Supers, and Dancers at work. The sign in sheet we had before was full of symbols and hieroglyphics to indicate lateness and took like a 30 minute training session to teach new stage managers to use when they had to check attendence.

-Cany Cane Beets.

-Colevita cutomizable multi-pens. These are amazing! You buy the barrel (they make them for three, four, and five colors), and then can load it with your choice of colour and pen thickness.

-The youngest finally getting baptized. The middle kid’s first communion.

-a new chair for the living room- just the right size to lounge and read, either alone or with a companion.

-Some good TV: The Gilded Age (watched all) . Poker Face (watched all). Derry Girls (only watched the first season, on a plane. We don’t have Netflix, so I have to figure out how to watch the rest of it.)

-Down Cemetary Road on AppleTV. Okay, grisly crime/ mystery shows aren’t really my thing. You know, the kind that ratchet up the tension with weird camera angles and twang-y music. But… I will watch anything with Emma Thompson in it. The Hsuband has graciously offered to pre-watch the episodes to tell me if there is enough of Dame Emma in each episode to make it worth my trouble.

-Fun family photos on the Metro and in the downtown area.

-Audio plays. LIke Audiobooks, but shorter and more dramatic.

-Day trip to New York City with the two older kids to see Hadestown; a very good use of a random Wednesday off school. Also Hadestown was amazing – beautiful, bold, gripping, makes you think and makes you feel.

-Lucid red track suits. I finally fulfilled my life long dream of getting the kids matching tracksuits. An added bonus – the colour I got, Lucid Red, which is an almost neon colour, making is super easy to keep track of my kids at the airport and at playgrounds.

-printable labels. I’ve embraced typting up my cues and printing them on labels to put in my score. I used to think people who printed their labels were fussy, but I’ve discovered that if I have the cue list ahead of time, it’s actually faster for me, and it looks neater.

-Closing out the year in Taiwan, celebrating my Grandfather’s 100th birthday and the 10th anniversary of my Grandmother’s passing. Everyone in the family made it for at least some portion of the five day gathering- 5 uncles and aunts (+3 spouses), all 13 grandchildren (+8 spouses/partners), and 16 great grand children. We needed two buses to get everyone around.

-Six- seven. Was it annoying as heck? Yes! But it was also hilarious how second nature saying “Six Seven” became among my kids and how much joy they got out of saying it. Every day life became kind of a treasure hunt for them trying to find sixes and sevens out in the wild. There was something really awesome about how a meme that meant nothing could make people laugh so much. Maybe there is a lesson there about how we can find joy and connection in life even in nothing-ness.

I’m sure there were many more things that brought joy, delight, or added value to my life in 2025, but those were some high points. I was going to add pictures and links to past posts and make this post all pretty, but I’m trying to blog from a mobile device in a foreign country, and that feels a little beyond my mental capacity right now. So here you go, just words on a page. Here is a slight preview of where we are, though:

Bietou, Taiwan, famous for all its hot springs. Our hotel room features Tatami mat floor.

I hope everyone got to close out 2025 with some good memories, and that 2026 will bring good things too!

What made 2025 not suck for you?