Diane

Weekly recap + What We Ate: Good-bye, November! Hello, December!

It’s the final month of 2025! November felt like a blur – a rush of doing and not so much being and reflecting. This is what my journal/ habit tracker looked like for the month:

this is where I track dinners, movie/tv watching, and time outside.

It’s not like I didn’t make dinner, or go outside, or watch any tv/movies, or felt grateful, or brushed my teeth, or or or or whatever else I usually track. I just didn’t for whatever reason, take the time to write it down and meditate on it. Which, then makes me feel like I don’t really know how I spent my days. Oh I know I went to rehearsal, packed lunches, did laundry and all that day to day, but I have no recollection of what made each day specific. And taking that time to acknowledge the specifics of the day helps me to feel like life is less of a daily grind. It’s that whole “what made today unique/different” exercise I sometimes do in my journal.

But at any rate, things did happen. Here’s some of them:

November Highlights:
– Mom’s group reunion. When the 6 year old was born, the hospital facilitated a new mom’s group. We’ve kept in touch off and on over the past year – lunches, play dates, happy hour – and this fall, one of the moms hosted a gathering. It was such a lovely time to re-connect and share stories and tips and recipes. Most of our kids entered kindergarten this year, and to think that we/they had all met when the kindergarteners were squishy newborns – pandemic newborns too! What a wild time it was to reflect on.

-Soup Party. I hosted another soup party for colleagues at work. People brought soup, someone brough a fire pit, and someone taught us how to roast our own coffee in a cast iron skillet. A cozy, social evening.

-Tech/ Opening/Closing of my first opera of the fall. One of my favorites – I never got bored listening to all the beautiful music. The cast was divine, the director amiable, and the show was gorgeous.

-Starting rehearsals for my second opera. Working with some long time friends. I’ve known many people on this show for fifteen years or more; we all started in the business together, as assistants and interns. And now look at us! We get to be in charge! How did that happen?? There were days when I kind of felt like I was putting on a high school show with my best friends.

-Running along the Potomac while tech-ing and in performances for my first show of the fall. It’s always such a nice part of my day when we are at the theatre. It might be too cold to run next week when my current show moves down, but I need to remember to take some dinner time walks to clear my head. There is something so soothing about watching the water drift by.

-My parents came to visit. Unfortunately it was at a super busy time for me, so I didn’t see them as much as I wanted. However, they were able to fully embrace having grandkid time, picking them up from the bus, taking them to the library and to museums, and playing Legos and trucks and Uno.

-Thanksgiving. We had a small Thanksgiving – my mother was still here, and our choreographer joined us as well. She is from Italy and when I heard she didn’t have plans for the day off, I invited her to come have an American Thanksgiving. I always think it’s hard to be away from home on a holiday, even if it’s not your holiday. I love making a big Thanksgiving dinner. We had Turkey (Spatchcocked so it takes bout 90 minutes to cook), green salad, mashed potatoes (made the night before), gravy (made the night before), cranberry sauce (made the night before), soy-braised squash and mushroom rice (instead of stuffing), steamed green beans, Hawaiian rolls, and home made bread. Oh and Rainbow Jello Salad, which the 13 year old made all on her own for the first time. For dessert I had an apple pie and a whiskey chocolate cake. I usually also make a pumpkin pie, but I really wanted to make this cake recipe, so I decided to skip the pumpkin pie. I don’t know if we offered up a traditional Thanksgiving for our choreographer, but I hope she still had a good time – she told us so many stories of her life as a dancer and a beekeeper, and watched as the kids did their K-Pop Demon Hunters dance numbers for her. It was all in all a lovely day.

-Reading a really good book in one night. I hadn’t done this in a while. But I started The Seven Year Slip and it was so good that I just had to find out what happened and next thing I knew it was 4am. Now I know what the term “book hangover” means, physically and mentally.

-Getting our family photos back. – so much fun. here’s a little preview:

Yep, the photographer had my kids in a city planter.

Thanks to our wonderful photographer William Petruzzo! He’s taken our photos since the 13 year old was a baby and he is so much fun to work with – calm, adventurous, and engaging with the kids. I love how his photos are so full of light and personality.

November Lowlights:
-The continued stress of uncertainty at work. Not bloggable, but looms in the background every day I am at work.

-Long work hours and only four days off work the whole month. I feel like I’m dropping a lot of balls. Things are on the back burner waiting to be taken care of, discussed, settled.

-Blank journals. As I mentioned above, this is one aspect of my daily routine that has really been neglected, and I do feel it. When I have time to sit and reflect and brain dump, it helps me with feel calmer and like I have the space to make good decisions. There were a couple bad decisions made last month because I was feeling overwhelmed and didn’t have the mental capacity or time to think things through before I acted or spoke.

-I would also add the state of American and world happenings, but I’ve stopped reading the news. So it’s all pretty horrible, I just don’t know specifically why or how horrible it is.

Grateful For in November:
-Carpools. When the 13 year old got into my current opera, we knew that getting her to 4pm rehearsal would be a challenge. Thank goodness for friends who will drive carpool. Also she has figured out how to take public transportation from school to the rehearsal studio by herself.

-Coworkers and colleagues. Opera is such collaborative work; I’m always grateful for the kind and brilliant people who I get to work with.

-Working on two operas that are remounts. Also grateful for the stage managers on those shows who came before me. I was able to just re-create the prior stage manager’s book in my own score, copying the cue placements right into my book. Really grateful for those stage managers for doing all the hard work of putting cues in the book the first time.

-Hot tea and my Yeti mug.

-relatively mild weather for this time of year.

-End of daylight savings and the morning light that it brought.

-The Husband, always the Husband who keeps life moving when I’m at work until past the kids’ bedtime. He handles the evenings night after night, and that is Herculean.

Looking Forward to for December:
-Setting up my journal and calendars for 2026. I need to take a day after this show is over to just sit and go through the year. Maybe at the library or in a coffee shop.

-Trip to Taiwan to celebrate my grandfather’s birthday. It’s going to be a very large family reunion. I’m looking forward to seeing it, but also kind of dreading it. I don’t see my cousins a lot and our lives as County employees and workers in the arts is very different from their competitive, corporate funded, high adventure lives. I need to remind myself to remember what is important to me when I get envious of their lives and achievements.

-reading and watching movies on the trip to Taiwan. I actually love flying, love the sense of stepping away from the world and having nothing to do but what is in front of me. I am looking forward to 12 hours on a plane – it will be kind of like a retreat.

-TubaChristmas. Tuna Christmas. Longwood Gardens. We are not going to Christmas to the hilt, but we’ll enjoy a few events. I had written in October about making the most of the last quarter holiday season even when I’m in an all consuming phase at work. I went back and read that list and I think I’m incorporating a lot of those things into my life. I’ve eaten lots of apples, and already watched four Hallmark Holiday movies, with more cued up. There is Christmas music playing even now as I type this while watching the evening sky turn pink then purple then inky blue. This season is packed; there is so much joy and savoring to wring out of the end of the year even while carrying on with the regular everything else of life. But these quiet moments of being, listening, and paying attention are where I think I feel the holiday spirit the most.

-Lenten reading group. Okay, we’re into Advent now, but in my mind it’s always been the Lenten reading group because that’s when we started. The Husband takes umbrage that they are called “Lenten Group” in the calendar… I had to miss our last meeting because of work, but we will have one more meeting before Christmas and I’m looking forward to it. We are reading this book:

First, before all that, though, this coming up week is tech week . It’s going to be a long week in the theatre. I love the show, I love the work, but it will be exhausting. So today, my one day off, this is what is on my docket to make upcoming life easier:

Pick out my outfits for the week.
Boil eggs. These are my go to protein to have ready at hand for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack.
Finish the Christmas cards so that it isn’t looming over me for the rest of the week.
Pick up the house so we at least start from a tidy place.
Bake something so I have convenient easy snacks on hand for me and the 13 year old who will be at the theatre with me.
Make a big pot of something l so that there is food to pack for lunch and dinner. I’m thinking of this Korean soy braised vegetable stew.
Spend some time reading so I feel like I didn’t spend my whole day doing chores.

What We Ate – I worked until 8:30pm most nights, so didn’t get to join the family for dinner most nights. I do miss the chaos of our family dinners.
Monday: Kabocha squash and tofu with noodles. The Husband cooked. I met up with some work colleagues after work and had a burger.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday. It was my day off, so I made chipotle honey chicken tacos from the NY Times cooking website. . Very tasty.

Wednesday: Turkey Soup, made from Thanksgiving leftovers. I actually made this on Tuesday since I had the day off.

Thursday: Breakfast sandwiches. (I was at work and had sandwich and ate leftovers out of the fridge when I got home at 8:45pm)

Friday: Sandwiches from one of our favorite delis. A quick meal before the winter piano recital for the kids. The 13 year old and I were both at rehearsal until 7pm, zipping up to the 7:30pm recital just in time (the 8 year old played at the 6:00pm recital), so we kind of had snack dinner and cookies at the recital reception for dinner.

Saturday: Chicken wings take out as the family watched football on the couch. (I joined later after I got off work.)

Hope you had a restorative weekend!

How was your November? What are you looking forward to as 2025 comes to a close? Any favorite cozy meals that you can cook once and eat for the rest of the week? Anything you do to prepare for a busy season?

Weekly recap + what we ate: a week of tech meals

Well, since I last poked my head around here, I’ve teched, opened, and closed a show. And I also prepped and started rehearsals for my next show. I feel like we’re kind of in survival mode right now – long hours at work for me; the 13 year old is also in my upcoming show so has rehearsals several times a week – I’m really proud of her for getting herself to rehearsals after school; my parents have come to visit. And as always, the Husband is holding down the fort, keeping the kids fed, the house picked up, and my laundry folded. The hours are late because the opera I was in performances for is looong – 3.5 hours from orchestra tuning to end of bows. That’s long. It was a beautiful show, though. And I love the music – some days I feel so lucky that I get to live in Mozart’s brilliance for a living. It’s not always fun and roses, but there is a lot of beauty to be found in my job.

At the beginning of tech week, I thought it would be interesting post to capture what I pack in my lunch box during tech week. Lunch box is a bit of a misnomer because in it I also pack dinner and lots of snacks. Basically my formula is:

-Lunch
-snacks for rehearsal breaks
-Dinner
-Snack for drive home. I’m often driving home late at night so a snack helps keep me awake.

Sometimes if I don’t eat breakfast, I also pack breakfast. Usually it’s yogurt and berries with a swirl of honey. Sometimes it’s just a peanut butter sandwich.

So here is looking at Tech Week through the lens of what I pack for dinner.

Day one of tech – On the work schedule:
11am Set Looks and Spiking. This is where the set and furniture is put onstage and the director – and scenic designer, if there is one – gets the first chance to look at everything and tweak things that can be tweaked. It is also often the first chance for the crew gets to do each scene shift in order. They do it slowly, and not at all in time. “Spiking” refers to putting down tape marks where all the furniture will go. Our show was a revival of a show that we had done previously and the scenic designer was not present.
7:00pm Sitzprobe. A rehearsal where the singers get to sing with the orchestra, no staging or props or anything; everyone just concentrates on singing with the orchestra for the first time. Sitz is German for sit. Probe is German for rehearsal. We actually had a Wandelprobe – “wandel” means to wander – where the singers instead of sitting at chairs with music stands got to walk around an open set while singing. Note for future self, though – while in my stage manager mind, a Sitzprobe and Wandelprobe are similar in that we only have a reduced stage crew with us, they are very different for the singers. We had called it a sitzprobe on the schedule when really it was a wandelprobe and people were upset because they were expecting to just come and sit and sing. Singers prepare and dress differently for a Sitz vs. a Wandel.

Anyhow, what I packed to eat:

Pink snack box (Lunch): Empanada (from Farmer’s Market the day before), cucumbers, apple slices, hummus, a boiled egg.
Green Lid (Dinner): Smitten Kitchen’s One Pot Farro and Tomatoes. I often make one large pot of something to eat throughout tech week. This time is was this deliciously simple, filling, and versatile farro dish. I add a can of cannellini beans to bulk it up. Vegan since I leave out the cheese.
Orange snack box (Post show/ drive home snack): Trail mix (I make my own – pretzels, mixed nuts, M&Ms), grapes, apple slices, string cheese, cucumbers.
Extra snack: two clementines.

Day Two of Tech:
1:30p – 5:00pm: Piano Tech #1
7p – 10:30p : Piano Tech #2
Piano Tech is the first rehearsal onstage with scenery, and often lighting. We work through the show slowly, making sure everyone – performers and crew and stage management – can figure out what the traffic onstage and backstage is. This rehearsal is with piano not orchestra, hence the name Piano Tech.

What I packed:

Lunch box – Jamon Torta (wrapped in foil) – the Husband had gone to dinner at one of our favorite Mexican restaurants a few days ago and brought me back a Jamon Torta, my favorite thing on the menu. I didn’t have time to eat it then so I packed it for lunch. Apple slices, cucumber slices, banana muffin (I had found a bag of frozen muffins in the freezer! Nice treat)
Dinner: One Pot Farro with roasted delicata squash and a boiled egg. (Eggs are another of the things I always prep for tech week – fast, easy source of protein)
Snack box: Same as the day before. I didn’t finish it all, so I replenished it and packed it again.

Day Three of Tech:
morning – putting cues in my book, cleaning my book for the evening rehearsal
2:00p – 5:00pm – lighting session. Where the lighting designer sets lighting levels without any performers onstage. I have to be there to put the cues on my book and remind the lighting designer of when thing happen and where people are standing onstage.
7:00pm – 11:00pm – Piano Dress rehearsal. We add costumes to the mix. Still a piano rehearsal.

Lunch Box: Empanada (from the empanada run earlier in the week). Apples, cucumber and banana muffin. I think these were actually leftover from the day before. The torta was so huge I didn’t eat much of the other stuff I packed.
Dinner: One pot farro and tomatoes with roasted delicata squash
Blue Snack Box: apple slices, boiled egg, trail mix, sesame rice crackers from Trader Joe’s, Undercover Quinoa Chocolate crisps.

Then we had a day off!!!

Day Four of Tech:
Morning: putting spot light cues in my book. Spot light cues are the bane of my existence. They are fussy and a lot of words to say. For example “Spot 3 Standby to pick up singer in Frame X at 50%, head and shoulders as they come through the stage left door.” The Frame number tells them what colour to put in the spot light. The percentage is how bright to make the light. “Head and shoulders” is how big to make the light; head and shoulders means the spotlight should only cover the singer’s head and shoulders. There is also “full body”, which is the whole person, “3/4 body” which is about to the knees, “waist” open to the waist. The Assistant Lighting Designer writes the cue sheets for the spot lights, but I still have to put it all in my book to relay the information to the Spot operators.
Afternoon: Lighting session
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Orchestra Tech rehearsal. We finally add the orchestra to the mix.

What I packed:

Lunch (or dinner – it’s pretty interchangeable at this point):
-One pot farro, with delicata squash. Though this time I add arugula and eat it as a salad, dressed with some olive oil and rice vinegar.
-Green rimmed tupperware: Coconut chickpea curry with pumpkin. I had made it for dinner the week before, and it made good leftovers for tech week. Vegan.
Snack container: Trail mix, sesame rice crackers, undercover chocolate quinoa crisps, cucumber slices, string cheese.
Additional snacks: apple slices. Grapes and carrots.

Day Five of Tech:
Morning: Continue putting spot cues and fixes in my book.
Afternoon: Lighting session
7pm – 10:30pm: Orchestra Tech #2. Ran the show with the orchestra.

Lunch (or dinner)
-Round container: One pot farro eaten as a salad with arugula and raw golden beets and olives.
– Square container: Coconut chickpea curry with pumpkin, again.
Snack Container: Trail mix, cucumbers with furikake seasoning, boiled egg, sesame rice crackers, apple slices
Additional Snacks: aple slickes, grapes and carrots.

Day Six of Tech – Final Dress Rehearsal! It was Wednesday, which is when the nearby Farmer’s market is, so we went to get empanadas for dinner.

Day off!!!

Opening Night – Finally.

Just dinner this day:
-In the insulated container: Meera Sodha’s congee with celery and braised soy mushrooms. I made it for breakfast one day since I had a bunch of leftover rice in the fridge and had enough leftovers to take for dinner. I got the recipe from her latest cookbook Dinner, which features vegetarian and vegan Asian inspired recipes. This congee was delicious comfort food, and so simple and fast to make. The braised mushrooms magically had the consistency of pork belly – which for me is a selling point.
-In the snack container: cucumbers, grapes, sharp cheddar cheese, and a piece of apple cake. (About the cake – the day after final dress was a day off, and I was so drained that even though I had a laundry list of things to do, I just couldn’t do anything but sit in a comfy chair and alternate napping and reading a book. At some point in the afternoon, I felt the need to get off my behind and do something (not that napping and reading are nothing), so I baked an lemon apple cake with some apples we had that were past their prime. Baking turned out to be the right low energy activity. I need to remember that next time I am feeling in a post tech slump – baking is a good activity to bring me back into the world of productive “life-ing”. Not that I follow the cult of productivity, but I do think I need to have an activity that takes me out of the zoned out numb brain state that I’m in after teching a show. )
-Snack- carrots and apples for the drive home.

And that’s a tech week of food for me. There is something really satisfying about bringing all my food with me – I kind of actually don’t like to buy lunch or meals; it never tastes as good to me, and it takes too much time. I’d rather spend my time going for a walk.

Grateful For: I’ve been pretty lax about keeping up with my gratitude journal this month. I really want to get back to it because I find it really grounding. One day I sat down and did some aggressive gratitude-ing, and just did a gratitude brain dump, and I felt so much better after. So in that spirit, and given that it’s almost Thanksgiving, here is some off the cuff gratitud0ing, stream of consciousness style as I wait for the 13 year old to finish basketball.
-beautiful fall weather – cool, brisk, crisp and bright.
-the kid who just said, “Good pass!” To the thirteen year old at this basketball pick up game. Pick up is sometimes rough – right now it’s her and eight other middle school boys and, let’s be honet, boys can be kind of not nice to girls on the basketball court and there have definitely been not nice comments made. So it’s nice when a kid says something nice to another.
-being done rehearsal in time to be home to give the kids good night hugs and kisses.
-being done rehearsal in time to hang out with the Husband on the couch.
-My mom making dinner tonight and leftovers waiting for me at home.
-Friends who drive carpool.
-Will Watt, my current favorite audiobook narrator, and his expresive, silken voice, for making me almost look forward to my commutes.
-My portable bluetooth keyboard that allows me to type blog posts on my phone during kid activities.
-Whoever is in charge of the drop off line on Friday at the elementary school for blasting feel good tunes as kids are being dropped off. I look forward to walking the kids to school on Fridays, knowing that I’ll be greeted by upbeat music.
-That my kids walk hand in hand to school. I love watching them walk up to the doors together and disappear through them. I’m grateful that they always (almost always) are happy and willing to go to school.
-That I get to work on two of my favorite operas this fall. One is behind me and one has just started rehearsal.
-That I get to work on one of my favorite operas with my 13 year old in the chorus.
-That the prop guy at work retrieved the stage management snack box that I had accidentally left in our office at the theatre. I had meant to bring it back to the rehearsal studio, but it was so late when we left the theatre after the final show, I had forgotten. And the snack box is very important. I also didn’t want the mice to get to it.
-Butter, flour, baking powder, and buttermilk. Heat. And the strange alchemy that makes biscuits.

Looking Forward To:
-Thanksgiving. It’ll be a small gathering, but I’ll still be making all the food. Current plan for menu is: Buttermilk brined spatchcocked turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rice with kabocha squash, roasted broccoli (or steamed, depending on time), rainbow Jell-o, apple pie, chocolate whiskey cake. Maybe bread. Maybe a green salad.

-Thanksgiving leftovers.

-A day off that isn’t Thanksgiving, so I can get life tasks done.

-Track suits! I used to order the kids matching pjs for Christmas, but the 13 year old wears adult sizes now, so it’s hard to find something for all three kids. This year I ordered the kids matching track suits instead, something that’s been on my “want to buy them” list for a while. I’m really excited.

-Curling up with hot tea and a book. Not sure when this will ever happen this month, but I’m looking forward to it.

-This was just released on Audible – looking forward to listening to it on my commute. (After I finish my current Will Watt narrated book. )

It’s by the same group of people who made the audio play version of “The Mysterious Affair at Styles”, which I also really enjoyed. Peter Dinklage as Poirot was so much fun.
(Speaking of which – did anyone catch the broadcast of Shakespeare in the Park’s production of Twelfth Night on PBS’s Great Performances? Dinklage’s performance as Malvolio was brilliant – comic precision blended with strangely earnest pathos. I’ve always found Malvolio tedious, and this was the first time he seemed human.
The rest of the production – I have feelings. This was a star studded cast – Sandra Oh, Lupita Nyong’o, Jesse Tyler Ferguson – and I think there was some really brilliant ideas in the production – the Viola/Sebastian relationship was really well done; the music; some of the minor characters were really well portrayed; the curtain call was brilliant, but also flabbergastingly lavish. But… the production wasn’t romantic. I think Twelfth Night is a very romantic play – the sincerity and depth of feelings of all the characters is what makes the play funny, even as people’s hearts are breaking. The gender bending love triangles here are played purely for laughs, and I feel like that makes them come off as without depth. Despite some great performances, I never believed that Olivia or Orsino loved anyone except themselves. And maybe that’s the academic, esoteric truth about Olivia and Orsino. But I don’t think – I don’t want to believe – the characters are as shallow as all that. Viola is such a great character – probably my second favorite literary character after Jane Eyre – that you have to believe that Orsino is worthy of her love. And in this production, he just … wasn’t all that. It’s a tricky task, to be sure, to deliver an Orsino that deserves Viola, but I have seen it done before, and it’s disappointing when you come out at the end of Twelfth Night feeling like Viola could have done better.
Anyhow, that’s my five second review of the production. I’d be interested to see if anyone else caught the production and had thoughts. It’s available to stream until the end of the year on PBS)

Welp that’s a whole lot of brain dump (written over ten days) for one night, and I desperately need to go to not stay up too late, so I’ll wrap it up. No weekly dinner menu because a) I didn’t write it down the past few days, and b) the Husband did most of the cooking and I wasn’t home a whole lot for dinner the past few weeks. I think there was soup from the freezer, eggs, chicken stir fry. Taco Tuesday… all of it filling and tasty, I’m sure.

Anyhow, I hope those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving are gearing up for a lovely one, however you are spending the day!

Weekly recap + what we ate: Hallowe’en, Good-bye, October/Hello, November

And like that we are in November! The first week or so of November have been a blur as we got ready to move into the theatre. And I blink and look up and we’re almost half way through November by now! I’m trying not to think about it because I’m feeling very behind in life.

October Highlights:
-family hiking and contra-dancing in Shepherdstown WV.
-biking to work and biking with the 8 year old.
-family trip to the opera.
-It’s prime apple season. Going to farmers markets and getting apples. My favorite right now are Crimson Crisp and Arkansas Black. I like apples that are crunchy and the right blend of tart and sweet.
-Soup party at work.
-finished union negotiations finally.
– Starting rehearsal for my favorite opera.
-Some slow evenings at home with the kids – playing board games, reading, doing art.
-Lenten Women’s group meeting. We discussed a few verses in Esther about uncertainty and what to worry about and what God tells us not to worry about. (And is he telling us that it’s not worth the worry or is he telling us to trust him that all will be well?)
-tap dance classes with the 6 year old.
-Hallwe’en. Details on that below.

October Lowlights:
-The government shut down. UGH ugh ugh ugh. I know it’s now over, but the whole thing just dragged on and on and on. On the one hand I was happy that my friends had time to get together for random weekday lunches, on the other hand, it was such a time of uncertainty, not knowing what our elected officials were doing and when things were going to end. Incidentally, I don’t know if this is related, but I’ve been seeing a lot of For Sale signs on houses in my area lately. Late fall isn’t typically the prime time in our area for home sales, so I find it alarming that so many people are putting their houses on the market right now. I don’t know if that’s a sign of the current federal upheaval or what, but I can’t help but wonder.

-General uncertainty at work and some beloved colleagues leaving. I can’t write about it, but ugh ugh ugh.

-Getting back into the rhythm of working every day full time and in the evenings was hard. I think it’s always hard, though. I need to brainstorm ways to make it easier. Or just embrace the suck?

October Insights:
-“Don’t quit today.” One of my favorite October read/listens was Stephen Starring Grant’s Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home. There is one section where he finds himself on a really hard route and he’s messed up and doesn’t think he can finish and he calls a colleague and says he’s not cut out for the job and is going to quit. And his colleague says to him – and I’m paraphrasing badly – , “Don’t quit today. Finish your route, but don’t quit today.” That really stuck with me, the idea that when things are hard, just focus on what is in front of you. You can always quit tomorrow.

-People not things. I had written last month some reflections on where I am in my career, pondering if it’s okay that I’m not right now jumping for the chance to work on big complicated new productions. There were some really wise comments on that post. I think what I realized after writing that post and reading the comments is that for me, my job is about giving people the space and information they need to tell stories on stage. Shepherding a huge, technically complicated project through rehearsals to opening – that sounds really cool and I know if I did that, I would be so proud and exhausted. But you know, what I get the most satisfaction out of on the daily basis? It’s making sure the singers feel taken care of; keeping the director moving forward in their process; making sure my team is working together and communicating well. And these things I can do regardless of how technically complicated a show is. So every time I get sad that I’m not working on a fancy new production, I need to remind myself that I’m here for the people and the stories, not the machinery.

Hallowe’en recap:

The two nights before Hallowe’en:

All done just in the nick of time:

Costume details/ summary: I love making Hallowe’en costumes. My kids would probably be fine with store bought costumes, but they indulge my hankering to be creative. The two younger kids have wanted to be KPop Demon Hunter characters since they first saw the movie. I did briefly look for costumes online, but found it hard to find licensed Demon Hunter costumes, so it’s just as well that I was okay with making them. I wanted to write down the costume details because I think I made some fun discoveries as I made these costumes.

Flower fairy (13 year old): I didn’t actually make this costume, but I did help with the hot glue gun. Also I only had one stick of glue, so it was kind of a baited breath process, hoping that we had enough glue to attach everything that the 13 year old wanted. This costume featured a dress that the 13 year old already owned, a ridiculously expensive amount of fake flowers (dude, fake flowers are not cheap!), hot glue, gold ribbon, wings from last year, and the 6 year old’s flower crown from the Ren Faire.

Jinu (8 year old)– Thrifted ladies’ black button up shirt, with the arms trimmed to the right length. I crocheted the belt from yarn I had sitting around. The hat is ordered from Amazon. I thought for a minute of making the hat out of poster board, but I figured this would last longer and be less frustrating. Side note, while trying to figure out how to buy a gat hat- which was surprisingly difficult for something I eventually ordered of Amazon – I went down this deep youTube hole about how a genuine gat hat is made, and it is FASCINATING. The hat is hand woven from bamboo threads. If you are into in depth craft videos, check it out.

Zooey (6 year old)– this one took the most work of the three costumes. The shirt, skirt and sparkly shoes are thrifted. I went to four different thrift stores to find it all, but each thing was perfect for what I needed, so it all felt so satisfying. The glitter hightops actually light up, and the 6 year old LOVES them. I had to tell her she couldn’t wear them until Hallowe’en because I was afraid the batteries would run out. The skirt is a tennis skirt with built in shorts, so I’m sure we’ll get more use out of that too. Once I had all the base pieces, the 6 year old and I went to Michael’s and pick up almost every gold thing we could find so I could play with options for the embellishments.

The shoulder pieces were made from felt. I sized the felt with regular white glue to shape them. To do that, I cut the felt into the right shape. Then I covered both sides with diluted white glue and I sandwiched each piece of felt between wax paper. Next I molded the felt/wax paper sandwich over mason jars, using elastic bands to hold the pieces in place until the glue dried leaving the felt in its curved shape. After the glue dried, I sewed the shoulder pieces onto the white shirt.

The gold turned out to be a bit of an ordeal. I had ordered gold duct tape, but when I got it out to start using it, something was off and the duct tape was not sticky. In fact, it felt really oily. I had a moment of panic because I was going to use the duck tape for all the embellishments so that I would not have to sew anything. I ended up gluing the duct tape to the shoulder pieces and then looking for another solution for everything else. I had bought some heat transfer vinyl, the kind you’d use in a Cricut machine. It turns out, the stuff is just as easy to use without a Cricut machine – I just cut what I needed with scissors and then ironed it on to the shirt.
Friends – I have never used this stuff before, and it was like ANGELS SANG when I first applied it. It is SO easy to use and it looks amazing. And it’s better than duct tape because it will stretch with the clothes. Next time I have a project that involves putting designs on clothes, I’m going to use this stuff again. It was a game changer for me.

The rest of the embellishments: the tassels and the chain on the skirt were made from gold metallic braided trim. The gold studs on the shoulder pieces are gold stickers.

Striped tights – of the 6 year old’s choosing, something she already owned.

And luckily Zooey is the one Huntrx member without outrageous coloured hair, so I just put the 6 year old’s hair into Zooey buns to complete the look.

Hallowe’en Night – Our own neighborhood is very quiet on Hallowe’en, so we usually just put out a bowl of candy and go over to our friend’s neighborhood to trick or treat. Their neighborhood has an annual neighborhood decorating contest, so the houses are always so fun to see. This was one of my favorite houses – every year they have some kind of statement tombstones:

In case you can’t read them, the tombstone read, from left to right:
“Here lies America’s Reputation Abroad. Can’t get any lower than this!”
“Here lies the Federal Workforce. Death by 200, 000 cuts.”
“Here lies Co-Equal Government. It was a nice idea.”
“Here lies Freedom of Speech. Last Words: …..”

It seems like a very DC type display…

We ended up trick or treating from about 6:30p – 8:30pm. I loved seeing all the kids out in their costumes. Funny story, when we pulled out the Hallowe’en buckets, the 13 year old took the one that the 6 year old usually uses and wouldn’t give it back.
“Fine,” I said to the 13 year old. “you can keep the little tiny bucket. Your sister will trick or treat with a pillow case.”
Of course being reminded that she usually uses a pillow case, which could hold much more candy than the little monster bucket, immediately led the 13 year old to give the bucket back to her sister. Of course by then the 6 year old had figured out that, yeah really the pillowcase is the better option. So she went trick or treating for the first time with a pillowcase. Later hat evening, she discovered one of the perks of having a pillowcase to collect candy in was being able to stick one’s whole torso into the pillow case and inhale the candy. Literally, figuratively…

“It smells so good in there!” she said.

When we got tired of trick or treating, we went back to our friend’s house where the Husband had brought pizza for dinner. We then sat in the front yard around a fire pit and drank mulled cider (some folks added an extra something special in their cider). The kids stayed inside sorting and swapping candy. Our friends have tween/teens as well, but they always make sure the 8 and 6 year old are included when they hang out, which is nice. I might have fallen asleep in my camp chair as everyone talked around me. It was such a cozy way to end the evening. We’ve decided with our friends that we need more evenings around the firepit with mulled (spiked) cider.

Grateful For:
-The later bell time. In our school system there are two bell times – half the elementary schools start at 9am and the other half start at 9:25am. We are the later bell time, which is good because we need all the time we can get to get out of the house in the mornings.

-warm fall weather. And the morning light, though it does get darker earlier.

-Not having to work on Hallowe’en. I happened to have the day off work, and the elementary school was having it’s fundraiser run that morning so I was able to go cheer my kids on. I ran into a friend whose kids are in the same class as mine and we ended up having lunch between the kindergarten run and the 3rd grade run. Then I went home and had still had time to prepare for Hallowe’en. It was nice not to have to rush directly from work to trick or treating and to also show up for a school event.

-Also grateful that Hallowe’en was on a Friday night so that we didn’t have to get anyone to school the next morning. That was pretty awesome.

-Return policies. I spent a lot of money at Michaels last month – see Hallowe’en costumes. Thankfully they have a 60 day return policy, so I was able to return all the gold trim and embellishments that I didn’t end up using. So grateful that I could get that money back.

-That the 6 year old finally figured out how to ride her bike! I’m grateful for her siblings for giving her lots of advice, especially the 13 year old, whom I think did most of the coaching.

Looking forward to (the November edition):
-Visit from my parents.
-Opening my current show. Tech week has been going very smoothly, but the hours have been long.
-Then closing the show and moving on tot he next show. I’m excited because originally the 13 year old didn’t get a spot in the children’s chorus, but two days before rehearsal started, they had someone drop out and the spot was offered to the 13 year old. She was SO excited. She’s loved this show since she was really little and always wanted to be in the children’s chorus. It will be exhausting, but I’m looking forward to working on a show with her again.
-The staging staff coming in for this next show, all of whom are people I’ve worked with before and I’m really excited to work with them again.
-Thanksgiving. No idea what we are doing for Thanksgiving yet. Should think on that.

What We Ate – two weeks worth of meals here, because I’ve gotten behind in posting. The Husband was responsible for 95% of the dinners the past two weeks while I’ve been rehearsing late.

Monday: Cauliflower shawarma, Melissa Clark recipe from NY Times Cooking. I added red peppers and chick peas to this. I actually prepped the veggies snd tahini sauce in the morning before I went to work and the Husband put it in the oven when he got home. Apparently the kids had fun with this one:

Tuesday: Dinner out. The Husband and kids went to meet a friend for dinner. I had leftovers at work.

Wednesday: Chicken stir fry.

Thursday: Ramen with shrimp. I was working, so I’m not sure if the Husband or the 13 year old made dinner this night.

Friday: Hallowe’en – candy, pizza, brie, crackers. Maybe some fruit was eaten in there.

Saturday: leftover pizza and movie. I think they watched Lego Movie 2. I was at work.

Sunday: Sausage pasta for the family. I ate lefotvers out of the fridge when I came home

Monday: Lemony turkey white bean soup with greens. Pulled from the freezer. Note to self: this recipe freezes very well.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday. I think the family had beef tacos. Not quite sure.

Wednesday: Udon noodles and stir fried chicken.

Thursday: Coconut curry chickpeas with pumpkin and lime Melissa Clark’s recipe from NY Times Cooking. This was really tasty. And good for many dinners after. I made this in the morning before going to work so that the family could have something fast to eat for dinner since they were going to see the 13 year old in the school play that night.

Friday: I think the family had pizza and watched the Lego Flash movie.

Saturday: This was tech week, I was at the theatre all day – no idea what the family ate for dinner.

Sunday: One of the ladies from the Mom’s group I joined when the 6 year old was born hosted a get together. It was such a fun reunion to see how our kids and families have grown in the past six years. It was a potluck affair. We brought soft pretzels and fruit salad. Afterwards we went over to firepit with our Hallowe’en friends and had chili around the firepit. It was a very social day for my one day off. Usually if I have a free day during tech week, I want to just hide and sleep, and my inner introvert was screaming a little to have to be so social, but I did really love seeing everyone. Plus life does not stop life-ing just because one has been at the theatre all week.

Well that’s life lately here. This weekend I’ll work all weekend – we have a show Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so it will be a lot of time at the theatre for me. The family will come to the opening night performance. The opera is almost 3.5 hour long, so I’d put money on the 6 year old falling asleep before the end of the show. (Note to self: remember to tell her the story before she goes since she can’t read the supertitles.) Otherwise, the weather looks to be beautiful, so hopefully I’ll remember to get out for a walk or two to enjoy the sunshine.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! How was your Hallowe’en? Is a pillowcase an appropriate candy catcher where you are? How was your October? Looking forward to anything in November?

Cool Blogger’s Walking Club- week 5 + 3 takeaways

Rounding out Cool Blogger’s Walking Club – thanks again to Elisabeth for organizing this community effort.

I’ve been picking something to notice on my walks – past weeks, I’ve notice Hallowe’en decorations, and flowers. This week I picked fall foliage. End of October is peak fall foliage time here in Maryland. There seemed, though, to be a variety of foliage from some trees still being mostly green, to brilliant oranges, yellows, and reds, to some trees already all bare.

Monday 10/27:
-15 min yoga
-Walk kids to school from the parking lot on the path. Take a loop through the woods on the way back to the car. Took this picture:

It’s a picture of a leaf on my windshield, but I love how it looks like i was able to capture a leaf mid fall.

Tuesday 10/28:
-15 mins yoga
-Walk kids to school from the parking lot on the path. Take a loop through the woods on the way back to the car.
-Walk at lunch time. Saw some beautiful mottled leaves.

Wednesday 10/29:
-Ten minute yoga
-Walk at park during the 13 year old’s piano lesson. Saw this beautiful orange tree:

-Walk kids to school from the parking lot on the path. Take a loop through the woods on the way back to the car.

Thursday 10/30:
-10 min yoga
-Walk kids to school from the parking lot on the path. Take a loop through the woods on the way back to the car. It was a soggy day, making the colour of the leaves really pop.

-Walk in the neighborhood around work on my dinner break.

Friday 10/31:
-Yoga 20 mins
-Walked to pick up kids from the school bus. The late afternoon light through the trees was stunning, setting the leaves ablaze:

-Hallowe’en! Trick or treating for two hours.

Takeways from CBWC Fall 2025:

Walking, getting out, moving – I can choose to do those things. I don’t have to get out for miles and miles, but when I have a free space of time, a ten minute walk rejuvenates me more than if I had spent those ten minutes scrolling. I need to especially remember this when I get really swamped and can’t find the time to go for a run and start feeling sluggish. I can make the choice to move.
On the subject of choice- I feel so grateful that I have a variety of options on how I commute and travel. I can drive, take the Metro, or bike. So days when my schedule is a little more flexible, I can choose to take metro or bike instead of driving. It is a bit of a luxury, I realize, because not everyone has all those options. If my car breaks down I can still get to work. If I miss the bus, I can still get in my car.
I had a lot of fun choosing something to notice every week. Being on the look out for Halloween decorations really made the lead up to Halloween fun. Looking for flowers when the world was starting to go dormant brought little flashes of colour to a grey world. And I’m glad I took time to look for leaves because often fall is a very busy time for me at work, and I don’t get to go leaf peaking. I sometimes get to winter and realize I’ve missed the wonderful colours of fall, so I’m glad I took time to find the pops of fall that I could see this week.

(bi)Weekly recap + what we ate: What I wore one week in fall

I am feeling a little underwater right now. We’ve been rehearsing 11am – 6:30ppm, which in theory gives us the evening off, but I don’t get home until 8pm and the evening’s kind of over by then because my brain is fried. Plus I had some titles to do for an upcoming recital. And Hallowe’en. And the mornings…. I haven’t figured out my mornings. Conceivably the only thing new in the morning now that I’m back in rehearsal is that I have to pack my own lunch in addition to the kids’, which shouldn’t take that long, but somehow, any empty space in my morning pre -going back to rehearsals seems to be gone. I’ve been thinking about what of my own buckets I want to be filled in the morning, and how. This is what I came up with:

Body – yoga
home – make my bed
brain – read 15 minutes
soul – journal
family – check in with Husband before he leaves for work.

But then also, the MUST DOs in the morning:
-make lunch (two kids and myself)
-Get the kids’ breakfast. Often the Husband does this before he leaves for work. Really, the kids should be at the stage where they get their own breakfast.
-Supervise practicing piano for the 8 year old and worksheets for the 6 year old. (that makes me sound very Tiger Mom, but the 6 year old does worksheets so that she stays out of the 8 year old’s hair while he practices piano.)
-Supervise morning chores (unloading dishwasher, sweeping)
-Get myself dressed. (Sometimes shower, but very rarely. Meaning I try to shower at night. But even then I don’t shower every day.)
-Prep dinner (if needed) and pick up kitchen and make sure counters is clear.
-get the kids out of the house on time.

I feel like if some of any of the above doesn’t get done, we get by, but the effects of neglecting those things are cumulative and really pile up, making stress for future us and future me.

Which is all to say, getting my feet under myself the past few weeks has felt like a lot. In my journals, the second half of October has been blank. I can always tell when I’m in a busy season when I look back through my journals and there are a string of blank pages. And actually, funny enough, when looking at my five year journal, October/November seems to be the months every year with the most blank pages. Which I guess is itself telling.

Anyhow, before I got really swamped, I decided I would do a “What I wore” post because it take a little bit of daily effort to put together and I thought I’d be able to dash it off. Plus, it’s fall and fall is my favorite season for dressing – all cozy layers and deep colours. So here is a week in October:

Monday:

This was the first day of rehearsal. I have a jacket I used to wear to every first day of rehearsal, but when I put it on this time, it was a little tight around the shoulders, which makes me sad. So I wore this instead. Red Wool& dress. Striped sweater from a Teat & Cosset, a maternity brand that no longer is around. Yes, that’s a nursing sweater. But I still wear it because it is a comfy cotton/wool blend that keeps me from overheating and it’s neutral but not plain. The denim jacket is from Uniqlo – one of my clothing purchases this year. I always swore I’d never wear a denim jacket, but this one has a bit of stretch and a boxy, but not too boxy, silhouette, and is so practical and versatile that I’m growing to love it. Black jockey leggings (cotton with pockets!). Blue boots from Reiker. I actually liked this outfit so much that I work it for family photos later that week.

Tuesday:

I’m sure I wear this dress at least once every time I do a week of outfits. It’s a linen shirt dress that I wear throughout the year, regardless of season. It’s easy to dress it more warmly or less. Orange pocket leggings from Toad and Co. Grey wool sneakers from Geisswein. I used to have All Birds, but then they stopped having fun colours, so I found this other brand online. I actually find them more comfortable than All Birds.

Wednesday:

There’s the denim jacket again. I did probably wear that jacket every day this week. Butterfly sweater bought from Nordstrom Rack several years ago, before I stopped buying white clothes because of kids and messes. (I’m slowly introducing white back into my wardrobe.) Sweater is worn over blue Wool& dress. Purple scarf was a gift from a friend – it has the first page of Jane Eyre printed on it. Red Geisswein wool sneakers. I had ordered several pairs of Geisswein sneakers because I couldn’t tell from online which pair I would like best. I liked both.

Thursday:

My Day Off, hence the hastily snapped picture while I was at H&M. Snoopy sweatshirt and green joggers are all from Uniqlo. I bought the joggers for our trip to South Africa and these have proven very cozy and thick. I’ve worn this outfit on almost every day off this fall. Same shoes as yesterday.

Friday:

I had a different outfit planned this day, but then I didn’t do my yoga in the morning, so I decided to wear my very stretchy Duluth Trading Company NoGa pants in case I had time to do some light yoga at work. (I didn’t). I like the NoGa pants because they are basically yoga pants that I pretend are okay to wear at work. The purple sweater is from Uniqlo. The shoes are a repeat from yesterday. The hat was a gift from my bachelorette party sixteen years ago. The scarf is the same as Wednesday.
Later that day, I did change because we went to the opera. I have one nice dress, which I wore with a black blazer. I don’t really have pictures of that night, but I’ve probably worn it here before.

Saturday:

I’m pretty sure I wore this in last year’s “What I Wore” post. Sweatshirt dress, bought when I was pregnant – it has thumbholes! The sweater is a hand me down from my cousin. I was wearing my sneakers because I was coming from doing the13 year old’s voice lesson run and had gone on a walk while waiting for voice lessons. I had brought ankle boots to change into at work, but then I went directly from voice lesson to work and was slightly late to rehearsal so I didn’t change. The leggings are from Duluth Trading Company. They also have pockets. Everything I’m wearing has pockets. Except my underwear.

Sunday;

If I have to be at work on Sunday, I’m going to be comfy and casual. Fox overall and striped henley from Duluth, The same blue boots I wore on Monday.

Bonus Monday:

I took so long to write this post that I am back to Monday, so I thought I’d throw in this outfit too. Wide legged pants from Uniqlo. I feel like they are a little frumpy on me, but they are comfy and cool in the summer. (They’re actually summer weight pants). The shirt I’ve had for maybe 15 years, I think I got it at Nordstrom Rack or some such. I never want to wear it because it is a little short, but the new trend for high waisted pants has brought this shirt out of hiding. The orange sweater I love for the pop of colour. I think it’s another Nordstrom Rack purchase too. Or maybe Marshalls? I remember when I first saw it in the store, I put it back, thinking, “Oh, this is too orange.” But then I went back for it because I loved the colour so much.

So that’s my sartorial week one October week in 2025! I feel like I wear the same clothes over and over, but looking at this, I do see that I’ve made a few new purchases this year.

Grateful For:

-singers who close doors. So there are doors in our show. Three of them at one point. Something that is becoming really clear to me is that one thing seasoned singers do that younger/newer singers don’t, is they close doors behind them when they make an entrance. You cue them onstage, they open the door, walk through the door, and then close the door. A lot of younger singers don’t close doors behind them, just leave it gaping open because they are focused on the music they are about to sing. I think it’s just something that happens as singers mature and being onstage becomes more natural – they do things that are natural in every day life. When you or I walk through a door, typically we close it behind us. Another thing in this world is picking up things that fall onstage. In real life, if I drop a pencil, I will pick it up while going on with my life. Some singers don’t do that. Things will accidentally fall onstage and they just leave it there. And the audience is stuck wondering if someone is going trip over the thing. And afterwards, they will say, “I didn’t know if I should have picked i up.” Seasoned singers will just casually pick the thing up and move on with life. Anyhow, all that to say I really appreciate the singers who have been onstage enough years to close doors and pick up fallen objects without being told.

-Past me for freezing soup for an easy dinner for everyone when I’m not home and the kids and Husband have a million things to do. (I think I’ve been grateful for this a lot in the past, but Past Me is really clutch in this area.)

-five minute curtain holds. Here’s a secret at the opera: we always start the show 5 minutes after posted curtain time. So if the show says it starts at 7:30pm, we always start at 7:35pm. This was a very good thing because on the Friday before, we took the family to the opera. But the 8 year old had soccer practice until 6pm and the show was at 7:30pm. I had to work until 5:30 or so. The whole evening was precisely timed to get us where we needed to be -the 13 year old and I was supposed to meet the Husband at a Metro stop after I got off work – He would pick up dinner after soccer and pick us up at a nearby stop so that we could drive down in one car. But then as the 13 year old and I were walking to the metro, the Husband called and asked, “Can [the eight year old] wear his cleats to the opera?” OMG. The kid had forgotten to bring shoes. So the Husband picked up dinner, came home, picked us up, picked up shoes for the 8 year old and we got down to the theatre at 7:15pm, and ate our sandwiches in the lobby of the theatre in our fancy clothes. It was real classy. But that’s kind of how it goes when you squeeze in a trip to the opera after soccer practice. This is one of those times where we wonder, “Are we doing too much? or do we just suck at logistics?”
Which is all to say, thank goodness the show really started at 7:35pm and we had time to wolf down our sandwiches.

Looking forward to:

-Planners! My planners for 2026 arrived. I did order them off Amazon, which I feel a little guilty about. I usually order my planners from Jet Pens, but they were out of stock, so I waited a week to see if they would re-stock and then ordered from an Amazon retailer. But then… a week after I ordered them, Jet Pens had the planners back in stock. Bummer. Although I know if I had ordered them from Jet Pens I would have thrown another $100 worth of pens and stationary supplies in my cart too, so perhaps this is the more economical option. Anyhow – I love the delicious anticipation of empty planner just waiting to be filled.

-Getting our family photos back. We did end up going to the nearby downtown area and having our pictures taken against murals and plazas, and we even went into the Metro and had some pictures taken there too. I’m kind of excited to see how they turned out.

-light in the morning now that we’ve turned our clocks back.

-Tech week! It’s tech week! Yay moving into the theatre. I’m excited, but also already tired. It kind of sucks to have tech week the week after daylight savings ends. Last night we got done rehearsal at 10:30 and I couldn’t figure out why I was so tired, then I remembered that my body thought it was 11:30pm.

What We Ate – this is a really vague list because I wasn’t home most evenings for dinner. Shout out to the Husband. Also – this is kind of the typical weekly dinner rotation for those “How are we going to make dinner when we are down one parent at home” weeks. Which is all to say, sometimes we have complicated dinners loaded with lots of vegetables, and sometimes we feed the kids food that is tasty and low effort and it’s all fine.

Monday: Thai meatball soup, from the freezer.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday. I think they had beef tacos.

Wednesday: Mac and cheese and hot dots. The 13 year old made dinner.

Thursday: Breakfast sandwiches.

Friday: We got takeout sandwiches from a diner before the opera.

Saturday: Pizza and movie night – I think the family watched Spiderman 2, the second Toby Maguire version of Spiderman.

Okay, that’s the report from the week. I’ll give the Hallowe’en report next time – it was a good time. Happy November! I’m not participating in NaBloPoMo this year – October is just not when I have the bandwidth (see above about empty journal pages.) But I’m excited to read what other people are up to when I can.

Cool Blogger’s Walking Club – week 4: Flowers!

Thanks again to Elisabeth for rallying us walkers together!

I’ve been choosing something to notice on my walks. Last week was Hallowe’en decorations. This week, I decided to look for flowers on my walk. Not an easy thing because we are definitely in the part of fall where things begin to go dormant, but there were still some fall flowers to be seen in the yards I passed on my neighborhood walks:

Monday 10/20:
-Took the metro to work and then home. (24 minutes for the round trip, punctuated by a metro ride in the middle.)
-30 minute walk around the neighborhood on my lunch break, looking for flowers.

Tuesday 10/21:
-My step count notes a walk between 10am-11am. I’m not quite sure what this was…
-30 minute walk on my lunch break, looking for flowers.

Wednesday 10/22:
-Walked kids to school from the parking lot by the trail and then spent another thirty minutes walking the trail, taking the long way loop back to the car. Did not see any flowers. Makes sense since I was tromping through the woodsy part of the trail.
-30 minute walk on my lunch break. Saw this flower:

Still counts as a flower sighting, right?

Thursday 10/23:
My day off work.
-apparently I took 2700 steps at Target in the morning. Does that count for CBWC??? I mean I spent a hour wandering around – it’s a lot of exercise looking for what you need and not finding it.
-mowed the grass (20 minutes). I’m counting this because it does involve walking and being outdoors.
-the evening we did family photos and essentially spent an hour and a half walking around downtown.

Dahlias in our garden that I saw while mowing.

Friday 10/24:
-Walk kids to school from the parking lot by the trail today, and then spent another thirty minutes walking the trail, taking the long way loop back to the car in the parking lot. This time I did manage to see some flowers:

Saturday 10/25:
-Walk with the 6 year old to pick up breakfast sandwiches while the 13 year old was in her voice lessons.
-30 minute walk on my dinner break. I walked to the co-op to pick up some shampoo. But they were out of the shampoo I wanted, so I bought peanut butter, pita, and some olives instead.

Sunday 10/26:
-I worked most of the day, but managed to squeeze in a walk to coffee, which turnes out to be twice as long as I intended because the first coffee place was closed so I walked to another one. (20 mins)

Are there flowers blooming where you are?

Weekly recap + what we ate: The start of a new opera season and reflections on the last one

Where did the week go? I actually started drafting this post on Monday this past week, but I’m finding it hard to find time to write right now; I don’t think I’m adjusting well schedule-wise to being back at work. But anyhow here’s what’s going on around here – last week I started prepping for a new show. It’s actually a revival of a production we did nine years ago. Funny story, last time I did this show, I was five or six months pregnant with our second kid. I wasn’t telling anyone, just wearing lots of loose clothing. There was one singer, a dear dear mezzo I’ve worked with many times who had no boundaries in the best way (okay, that sounds terrible, but I actually adore her.). One night she was sitting backstage and she says to me, “Diane… is there anything you want to share with me…?”

I stammered and blushed and said something to the negative.

Months later, after the baby was born, I ran into her husband, who had also been working on that show with us, and he congratulated me on the baby. “Thank you, “ I said, “You can tell your wife she was right.”

He said, “Yes, she’s like that. I like to wait until the baby is out to mention it.”

Anyhow. Sometimes the only way I remember how long ago things happen is in relation to my kids’ births.

All that to say, I’m hoping this show is a pretty straightforward process. The singers are new (except for the mezzo I mentioned above- she’s back and as delightful and kind as ever.) but the sets, costumes, director…. They are all the same. So pretty much plug in new singers and repeat. I even took the sticky tabs I used to mark the scenes out of my score from 2016 and put them in my 2025 score:

Old score in the back. New one in front. Tabs are still sticky! What magic is in that Post It glue that it all still works nine years later???

As I was going through things in my office, though, I found the score for the opera I did last fall, and oh boy, I had to take a moment, because thinking on last fall unleashed so many thoughts and feelings. That show was one of the hardest rehearsal processes I’d ever been through in recent memories. There was a lot to figure out on that show and I never felt like I had time to do anything and I felt as if I was constantly behind and disappointing my colleagues. I accrued so much overtime on that show. Also my son was in the show and that made things really stressful for the family. When I think of last fall in my mind it is just endless weeks of get kids to school/ work/ work/ work/ drive home/sleep for a couple hours and then get up and do it again. I learned a lot last fall about what I (and our family unit) has the capacity for.

Looking at my score from last year, with all those Post Its and sticky notes… it made me realize that I’m really proud to have gotten that show open and that it was a very good show. I took a picture of my score to remind myself what a huge accomplishment that show was for me because when I think back on last fall and that show, I just remember how tired and overwhelmed I was the whole time. I do also need to remember how cool the show looked, how much, despite everything, I truly enjoyed working with the director, the designers, the singers, the crew, and my own staging team. I think it is important for me to remember the magic we made onstage, and not just how hard the show was. Each of those Post Its represent something that I worked with other people to make happen, and that was really cool.

That said, I never want to be as exhausted as I was last fall ever again. I’m too old for that. I do love my job, but it can be intense. I think fighting that exhaustion is a combination of steps I take for my personal self (making good choices in food, sleep, family, and connections) but also the career choices I make. Perhaps it means taking projects that I know will be less grueling, when I have a choice. And maybe stepping back like that will stagnate my career, but I think I’m here for the long game, so a little pause in moving up the ladder is fine as long as I’m not sliding back down. Where I am right now in life, if I spend the rest of my life doing revivals of small shows where I can just take the score out from last time and push play… well, is that so bad? This season, I’m doing two revivals and one new production, and to be honest, even though new productions are high profile resume builders, the new production is the show I’m least looking forward to. Look, if you’re reading this and you’re someone that hires stage managers, you’re probably thinking, “Well, I’m never going to hire Diane; she just wants easy work.” But you know what? I think there’s a difference between knowing your limits so you don’t burn out and looking to coast. Or maybe there isn’t. Coasting might be how you prevent your car from overheating. You know, like putting the car into neutral once in a while. (That may be a completely wrong metaphor… I’m not a mechanic.)

All to say, I’ve been feeling a little conflicted as I’m putting last season to bed – my desire to work on challenging projects battles with my desire to sleep and be home to make breakfast on occasion.

Soup Party Recap: Last week we had our annual soup party at work, and it was a huge success. We had five types of soup, home made sourdough bread, focaccia, cookies, chips and dip. There was so much food. The soups were: Zuppa Toscana (made by my work BFF – I love this soup), green chili chili, baked potato soup, lemony white bean soup, egg drop soup, and I brought vegan chickpea gnocchi soup.
The egg drop soup was made by one of our interns and when I asked her for the recipe – because it was delicious, even better than restaurant egg drop soup – she said, “I low key stole it from TikTok.” Which seems about right.
Things that I think made the party successful this year:
-inviting more people (I also invited people from the costume shop and a few of them came – it was nice to have a mixing of departments)
-bringing my extra crock pot so not all the soup had to be re-heated in the microwave.
-Note cards so we could label each soup.
-Specifically asking for people to bring ladles if they had them. A lot of the stage managers are from out of town and are at the mercy of their rental kitchen for utensils, so I made a point to tell people to bring ladles if they had them.
Note for next time: Ask someone to bring butter. Also maybe someone could bring a drink or two. I know soup is a liquid, but we still get thirsty eating it.
I wish I had taken pictures of all the soups lined up, but I forgot. You’ll have to take my word that seeing all the soups lined up in the break room was pretty warm and cozy.
I was so delighted with our work soup party that I now want to have a non-work soup party. This is something I say I want to do every year, and I never do. I have a pretty light January and February work-wise in 2026, so it would be a good year to do it. The one thing, though, is I don’t have a microwave, so people would have to bring soup in crock pots or something that can keep them warm. But how many crock pots can I plug in at our house?

Grateful For:
-Finding my office key and IDs. Not once, but twice. On Tuesday I went to the office and reached into my purse for my keys and the pocket where I keep them was empty. Cue panic. I need my ID to swipe into the building and my keys to get into my office. I couldn’t remember what I had done with them last night because I had left in a hurry at the end of the day. I got the spare office key, went to my desk, and OH THANK GOODNESS!!! my keys and ID were sitting on my desk. Such relief. When I left work that day, I mindfully clipped it to my purse. (It’s on one of those retractable badge holders.)
On WEDNESDAY, I went to the office and reached into my purse for my keys and the pocket where I keep them was empty. Cue panic. And also, Oh FFS, not again! Once again, I got the spare key, let myself into the office, but this time, my keys were NOT ON MY DESK, which I kind of figured because after the debacle on Tuesday, I made sure to be more mindful about putting them in my purse. I always put them in the same pocket. I tried not to panic for the rest of the day, but I did a little bit. That evening, I went to the 13 year old’s school to look for them, thinking they might have fallen out of my purse when I dropped her off at school. Nope. I was beginning to despair and I thought, “I’m going to search the car one more time.” I even got in the back seat and reached under all the front seats. First the driver side. Then the passenger side. And … there, under the passenger side, were my keys and ID. They could very well have fallen out when someone tossed my purse in the back seat of the car when they got in the front seat this morning….
Anyhow, all found. I’m grateful that I didn’t have to go get a new ID because that requires going down town and is really inconvenient.

-the Metro employee who told me exactly how to tap my phone. I’ve been tapping my phone in lieu of using my metro card when riding the metro lately, but I almost every time it takes me three or four taps to work. The other day, the Metro employee at the gate said, “Do you have an iPhone? Tap the top of your phone.” And magically it worked on the first try.

-Not having to work any evenings last week. I started prep for a new show and usually there are one or two evening music rehearsals to cover during prep, but there weren’t any last week so I got to be home most evenings by the kids’ bedtime.

-my sweet coworker who brought me Ketchup chips! I think there is only one place in the area to get Ketchup chips- it’s a Wawa that my coworker walks pst once in a while. And he always remembers that I like Ketchup chips.

-The PTSA. We went to our first PTSA meeting last week. Yes, our oldest is in 8th grade and we have never been to a PTSA meeting. We are massively neglecting our civic duty. We went to this one because the Superintendent of the School District was speaking/ slash taking questions. There is all sorts of agita going on with the schools recently. The school boundaries are being redrawn and magnet programs are being reconfigured and moved. The high school choice program that our 13 year old is participating in might be dismantled. A lot of people are upset, namely parents. The whole process has really made me think about the issues of equity and opportunity in schools when our county has such a wide range of socio-economic demographics. One thing the Superintendent brought up is that equity is not about making a school’s magnet program available to students all over the county, but rather to make magnet programs available in more schools. (There is an interesting statistic I saw recently about how most of the kids in one of our area’s STEM magnet programs actually are from a wealthier part of the county. I find that super fascinating…) Anyhow, it will be fine. Our younger kids might have a very different high school experience than the 13 year old, but all told, baseline we are in a pretty privileged part of the country. Everyone will be fine. (Though some will be finer than others…) Anyhow, that is all to say, I’m grateful for PTSA volunteers for stepping up and making these meetings happen and for giving us the opportunity to advocate for our kids’ education.

-sweet sibling moments. The 8 year old found the copy of Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons and decided to try to teach his little sister how to read. Also they were wearing the (sort of) matching striped shirts that I got them, which makes me smile.

Looking Forward To:
-mom’s group brunch. I always feel bad suggesting Friday lunch with my mom’s group since I know many of them have jobs and can’t get away at that time. At our last lunch, one of the moms offered to host a weekend gathering. I’m excited to see everyone. We all met in a mom’s group in the months before COVID and that was an especially bonding experience, but we don’t see each other as much as we’d like anymore.

-Hallowe’en. Gotta get a move on finishing the costumes. We have plans to trick or treat with friends – it’s basically an excuse to hang out by their firepit and eat lots of candy.

-The Act Two finale of the Marriage of Figaro. Sublime. Can’t wait to work on it.

-My parents are coming to visit at the end of November.

-My latest audiobook. This memoir is written by a man who was laid off from his marketing job during COVID and gets a job delivering mail in rural Virginia. It is by turns fascinating, hilarious, and heart wrenching. I’m learning I really like memoirs that take a deep dive into a profession (like this book and also What the Dead Know that I read earlier this year.)

What we ate: I have to admit, I haven’t been spending time in my journal lately so I have only a vague memory of what our dinners have been. Also I’ve been working til 6:30p or so every night so haven’t been making dinner. But here’s my memory of dinners the week before….
Monday: Gnocchi chickpea soup. I made a double batch of my soup party soup and the family ate it for dinner. Except I didn’t put in the

Tuesday: Soup Party at work – see above. The family had ground beef tacos at home.

Wednesday: Breakfast sandwiches.

Thursday: Mac and cheese and hot dogs. The 13 year old cooked.

Friday: Pizza and … I’m sure there was a movie, I’m just not sure what. Our friend was out of town so he gave us his CSA. There were three heads of lettuce and a radicchio. The 13 year old made a salad and threw in 1/2 the radicchio. I rather enjoyed the bitter crunchy of the radicchio, but the little kids did not care for it.

Saturday: Dinner out at Yu Noodles after the 8 year old’s soccer game.

Sunday: Pasta and red sauce and salad. Again, using the lettuce from our friend’s CSA.

Well that’s some of the news from here last week. Or last last week… Next week I have a “What I wore” post planned. Which, I’m realizing, is what I do when I’m feeling swamped at work but still want to blog.

Are there things you are proud of that you never want to do again? Who’s ready for Hallowe’en? Ever had an awkward conversation with someone at work? What kind of soup would you bring to my soup party? If you have a work ID, how to you carry it? Retractable clip? Lanyard? Clip?

Cool Bloggers Walking Club October 2025- week 3

Thanks again to Elisabeth for organizing Cool Blogger’s Walking Club.

We’re over half way through October! I started back working full time this week, so I did not have as much time for running or biking, but I did get walks in when I could. A lot of walks this week were trying to just incorporate walking into every day life.

I’ve decided that each week for the remainder of CBWC, I’m going to pick one element to look for on my walks. (H/t to Rob Walker’s book The Art of Noticing – this is one of the exercises he recommends to flex noticing muscles.)

This week, I decided to look for Hallowe’en decorations on my walks. We don’t decorate for Hallowe’en – our street is very quiet on Hallowe’en; we’re in a weird location that doesn’t get much traffic and we trick or treat with our friends in another neighborhood. Also – I’ve just never really been into seasonal decorating – the thought of putting something up just to have to take it down seems like a lot of work. We do put up lights at Christmas, and I do like the cozy look of that, but the rest of the holidays don’t really make me want to decorate. The children might change my mind some day, but for now, I prefer enjoying other people’s Hallowe’en displays.

Here are some of my favorites that I saw this week:

I saw so many delightful decorations that I made a picture collage.

I enjoy the irony of the Orkin truck in the background,

Now onto what I actually did:

Monday 10/13
15 minutes yoga.
Walked to lunch and back (10 minutes each way.)

Tuesday 10/14:
15 minute yoga
30 minute walk on lunch break

Wednesday 10/15:
10 minute yoga
Walk kids to school along trail from parking lot. I had to park in a farther than usual because there was construction along the parkway that parallels the path. (20 minutes)

Thursday 10/16:
15 minute yoga
20 minute walk at lunch break

Friday 10/17:
20 minutes yoga
2 mile run/bike/ scooter with the 8 year old and 6 year old. (This took an hour because twice we serendipitously met friends along the way and stopped to chat.)
Walk to Metro/ to Work. And then walk to metro/ to home. (24 mins)

Saturday 10/18:
20 minute walk while waiting for the the 13 year old who was at her voice lesson.
45 minute tap dance lesson – parent child class with the 6 year old.
15 minute evening yoga.

Sunday 10/19:
15 minute yoga.
60 minutes ice skating
20 minute walk on trail next to the ice arena – I hadn’t dressed warmly enough to skate for the whole time the kids were in lessons, so I went on a beautiful fall walk.
20 minute walk with Husband mid afternoon.

And I’ll leave you with more Hallowe’en decorations:

This neighborhood really leaned into the skeleton scenes.

I don’t even know what these skeletons are up to…

This house always has the best skeleton scenes.

What are your feelings about decorating for Hallowe’en? Do you prefer Hallowe’en decorations to be festive or macabre? Or maybe it’s both when Hallowe’en is concerned???

Weekly recap + what we ate: Four random things I’m bursting to share

Four random things that popped into my head/ into my life last week that I thought I’d share:

1) We have discovered that the first nine tracks of KPop Demon Hunters lasts just short of 30 minutes. The first nine tracks is where all the hit songs are. The tenth track is the Korean ballad Love, Maybe, which I like because it reminds me of the Taiwanese songs that my parents listen to, but which the kids declare is “boring”. But the real point of this is that 30 mins about the amount of time it takes to clean up the kitchen in the evening. So I make a deal with the kids: We only have to clean the kitchen for the duration of the songs on the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack. When we get to Love, Maybe we can stop cleaning. If they stop cleaning before we get to Love, Maybe, I turn the music off. It’s been working remarkably well, and I love the synchronicity of it all. You know that feeling of great satisfaction when something just fits perfectly? like when you get to the end of a song as you pull into the driveway? Or when the gap in your suitcase is just big enough to fit that one last thing that you wanted to pack? Or when you realize that you can drop one kid at activity A, and turn around and pick up another kid from Activity B and be back in time to get the first child? Or when your document fits exactly on one page? Well I get that same really satisfied feeling when I put the last dish towel in the wash bin as Love, Maybe starts.

2) We went to a new to us Indian place! Funny story – as I was driving to the thrift store a few weeks ago, I passed our favorite Indian restaurant. This was the place from which we ordered trays of saag paneer and chana masala for our rehearsal dinner. (There might still be a portion of that chana masala in our freezer. We got married 17 years and an whole other house ago.). But… the Indian place was no longer there. I texted the Husband – “Did you know Red Chilis is closed???” He texted back, “Yeah it closed two years ago.” Wait, what??? I guess it had been a while since we had been there.
Anyhow, since then, I’ve had a hankering for Indian food, and so this past weekend, we tried a new to us Indian place that had lots of good reviews. It was a bit out of the way, but we decided to make an afternoon of visiting that part of the county – we ran errands in that direction, found a church near there with a 5pm Saturday Mass, and after Mass we went to Dosa and Chaat, which was located in an unassuming strip mall as any good restaurant would be. The food was amazing. We ordered Samosa Chaat – a samosa smothered in tamarind sauce – two kinds of dosa, two curries, and the goat biryani. Everything was so delicious and flavorful. We had intentionally ordered a lot of food so that we would have leftovers, but at the end there was just one little spoonful of butter chicken and one serving of the biryani to take home. I sort of regretted eating so much because next door was a vegan bakery that looked really good, but I was too full to get anything there. Ah well, next time. 10/10, would eat there again, even though the waiter did roll his eyes at us when we ordered the food mild. (for the kids’ sake. I like my food spicy. Even still, the biryani was pretty spicy.) I don’t always like going out to eat – it’s expensive and always such a production to go to restaurants with the kids – but getting good Indian food is always worth it to me.

Paneer Dosa. I didn’t get pictures of the rest of the food because we were too busy eating it.

3) There is a preschool nearby that twice a year has a huge consignment sale. I like to go because it’s a good way to stock up on clothes for the kids, but I have to admit the selection for kids 6+ is kind of slim. I think we might age out of this sale in another year or two. But anyhow, last week, I went and I picked up some long sleeved clothes for the kids, including this assortment of tops:

Two things, looking at the picture –
1) I have a weakness for red shirts, and
2) I was really excited to find some sort of matching tops for the 8 year old and the 6 year old. The 8 year old always complains that he never gets to match with his 5 year old sister. The 5 year old and the 13 year old used to have lots of matching outfits, and he felt left out – because heaven forbid that his older sister gets to do something that he doesn’t get to do!- so when I saw red and navy striped shirts in both their sizes, I put them in my basket. Don’t say I never do anything for you, kid.
Also – my other thought at the sale is I am baffled when people sell Cat and Jack (Target brand) clothes here for $4 or $5. I can get Cat and Jack leggings new at Target for $6 – why would I want to pay $4 for them at the consignment sale when there are other sturdier brands I could get for $4 or $5?
Oh – and my last thought on the consignment sale – I could not look at an item that was size “6/7”, without hearing my kids’ voice in my head saying that addictive, pervasive sing-song-y six-seven thing that is so popular these days. It was ridiculous. I even might have found myself muttering it under my breath at times.

4) I’ve recently discovered a new breakfast toast. Well, English Muffin, but still… the idea’s the same. English Muffin topped with peanut butter, honey, and apple slices. On the heels of Rosh Hashanah, I’ve been eating apples and honey. I’m not Jewish, but I have many friends who are, and they introduced me to this combination. Anyhow, I was having my usual English muffin with peanut butter and honey, when I realized – apples go with peanut butter. apples go with honey. So apples must go with peanut butter and honey! I was so right. It was delicious and now in regular rotation for English muffin or toast toppers.

5) Okay and one frustration – why are there so many things to log into for my kids’ school? There’s the website you log into to see their grades. There’s the site you log into to put money in their school lunch account. There’s the site you log into to pay for field trip and what not, because heaven forbid it can’t be the same site as what you use to pay for lunches. There is the site you log into to see assignments – which might be the same as the website for grades, but they have different names. I can’t keep up. This all came to a head for me when the 13 year old’s PE teacher wrote us a very nice email about how well the 13 year old is doing in PE class. It was the sweetest email to get. I wanted to write him back to thank him for the email. So I hit “reply”. And rather than just opening up a new email, I was taken to the log in page for ParentVue. Which, I don’t remember the log in information for. I just gave up. So, I’m very sorry Mr. PE Teacher – I wanted to let you know how much I appreciate you, but I can’t seem to just be able to hit reply. Well, I hope you know you are appreciated. Maybe I’ll just send a note via carrier pigeon. I know the answer is really just to install a password manager. Sigh.

Grateful For:

-Pollinators and pollinator friendly plants. And the Husband for growing said plants – they are beautiful and useful. I don’t know what this plant is called, but it is such a cheerful addition to our front walk. The butterflies and the bees love it too.

-The library being open until 8pm. One evening, the Husband and the 13 year old were at a high school open house, so I took the two younger kids to gelato and the library. I appreciate having a safe quiet place to hang out with the kids in the evening.

-A bonus week! My number didn’t come up for jury service, so I didn’t have to report. I had originally blocked out this week for jury service just in case I had to go in, so I suddenly had a week open up for me. I got to have lunch with friends (twice!), go to the final day of union negotiations, visit a farmstand for apples, and all sorts of things.

-Apples! It’s apple season. So excited for all the different kinds of apples!

-That my chorus is small. I just started on my next opera and the chorus is just 12 people. The other show that we are producing, but which I’m not directly working on, has 60 people in the chorus. I love each and every member of our chorus, but I will fully admit, my job is a lot easier when there are 12 people, not 60.

Looking Forward To:
-Starting rehearsals. Can’t wait! One of my favorite operas.

-setting aside time to finally work on the kids’ Hallwe’en costumes.

-Family photos. We’re getting those taken next week. We haven’t had photos done in almost three years, but figured that the youngest going to kindergarten was a good reason to have fresh family photos taken. We’re trying to decide between taking them in an urban setting or at a park. The urban setting – downtown by my Husband’s work – has lots of interesting architecture; the park will probably be at peak fall foliage. Decision, decisions.

-Lenten Women’s group. We are reading, among other things, a passage from Esther. I’ve always loved Esther. Maybe because she is one of the few women who has her own book of the Bible.

-Mammogram and well woman appointment next week. Adulting. I’m not looking forward to the appointments, though I do really like my lady doctor. But I am looking forward to not having to think about it for another year.

What We Ate:
Monday: Sausage and steamed broccoli. The Husband cooked.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday – leftover pulled pork from the week below. Sliced cabbage, pickled onions, sour cream, cheese, and avocado for toppings.

Wednesday: Mac and cheese, hot dogs, and steamed green beans. The 13 year old cooked.

Thursday: Lemony white bean soup with turkey and greens. A Melissa Clark recipe from the NY Times Cooking. This soup was delicious and easy to put together. And it had lots of vegetables. I had enough leftover to freeze for future me.

Friday: Pizza (the Husband made it) and The Game Plan – movie featuring the Rock as someone who accidentally is saddled with a 9 year old daughter, he never knew about.

Saturday: Indian food at Dosa and Chaat.

Sunday: I had to work; The Husband made pasta with red sauce, and I ate the leftovers along with the leftover steamed broccoli from Monday.

Well, that’s another week, as we creep towards the end of the year! But first, Hallowe’en.
Do you have a weakness for a certain colour when you are buying clothes? Anyone want to weigh in on our urban vs. park family photo location? Do you have a soundtrack for any of your chores? What are your favorite things to eat on toast? Do you use a password manager? Tell me all about how awesome they are.

Books Read September 2025

September was a solid reading month. One very “meh” book, but lots of entertaining reading otherwise. I’m looking ahead to my reading for the rest of the year and I think I would like to focus on fun reads since it’s going to be busy. Maybe some holiday reading. And also maybe something really fun/engrossing/immersive to read for the plane trip to Taiwan.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, read by Ray Porter. This very popular novel is about a scientist/ middle school science teacher, Ryland Grace, who gets involved in a plan to save the world from destruction and is sent with a team to the far reaches of the galaxy to carry out said plan. Along the way, his fellow travellers do not survive so he has to carry out the mission on his own. Or maybe not on his own. I didn’t know what the book was about when I first picked it up, only that it was getting a lot of raves. Science fiction/space travel really isn’t my thing, but I really loved this book. The science really went over my head, but there is such a human element to the story telling. I’ve read a few books the past few years – this is one, Ministry of Time is another – that have made me realize that I really like books that try to explain what it’s like to be human to an outsider, in all it’s contradictory, messy, fragility. I though Ray Porter did a really good job reading the audio version.
Funny story – the 13 year old noticed I was listening to the book and she got so excited because she had listened to it a few years ago and also loved the book and couldn’t wait for me to finish it so we could talk about it together. Also there’s a movie coming out next year… I’m so intrigued about how they make the story work!

Fat Ham by James Ijames, production by Audible Originals. I’ve recently discovered that Audible has a large selection of plays in their collection, many of which they produced themselves. I like listening to plays because they are shorter than books, but pack just as big of a wallop. Also – I don’t get to the theatre very often and this is like bringing the theatre to me. Fat Ham, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022, is a modern day re-telling of Hamlet, set against the backdrop of a Black family’s BBQ empire. I really liked seeing where the story paralleled Hamlet and where it offered a twist on the Shakespeare. It was kind of irreverent and fun but also thoughtful and emotional. Listening to Fat Ham has prompted me to try to read/ listen to all the Pultizer Prize winning plays of the 2000s. Maybe this will be my reading project for next year.

Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg. I read this after reading Nelson Mandela’s biography and this books was fascinating. All the infidelities and violence and family drama that gets glossed over in Long Walk to Freedom are detailed here. Winne Mandela’s life in particular was really fraught. While Nelson was in jail, she had to raise her two daughters, was constantly unemployed. She was banned to a rural part of South Africa, she assembled a group of bodyguards under the guise of being a football club that carried out some truly violent acts, all the while trying to advocate for the end of Apartheid. Reading this book made the Mandelas more human, framing their fight against apartheid with very human struggles that we all face- looking for love and friendship, making ill advised choices, financial difficulties, temptations, protecting the people you love, work life balance…. Of course, there is something extraordinary about the context of their struggles – I don’t imagine I’m going to have a spouse in jail for thirty years, or that I’m going to be under house arrest – extraordinary situations make for extraordinary choices.

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett – This book is told in diary format, as Professor Emily Wilde records her experience researching fairies on a remote Scandinavian village. I have to be honest, this was not a book for me, even though I pushed on to the end. I thought the diary format was not really well executed, and the story stretched the limits of the diary device. At one point, another character starts writing in the journal, which just felt forced. The world building was really hard for me to follow and I still don’t really understand what all was happening. I did like the gruff village inhabitants and the dog, though.

Heartwood by Amity Gaige – This novel details the search for a lost hiker on the Appalachian Trail in Maine. It is told through three main perspectives – the lost hiker, the Maine Warden who is leading the search, and a 72 year woman living in a retirement home. This book has been billed as a “thriller”, so I wasn’t really sure if it would be for me because that’s not really my genre, but it’s been getting a lot of buzz and I kept reading about people loving this book, so I decided to pick it up when I saw it at the library. I will say, it didn’t come across as a thriller to me – rather I felt that the mystery of whether or not Valerie would be found, while gripping, took backseat to the characters’ personal stories. I was really sucked in by that character driven aspect of the novel, each character seemed to genuine and well drawn to me and I really liked that.

Be Ready When the Luck Happens by Ina Garten read by the author- This cozy memoir is a perfect autumn read. Garten recounts her life from growing up in Brooklyn to working in DC government to buying The Barefoot Contessa in the attempt to escape her career in bureaucracy. Listening to Garten talk about food and friends and dinner parties made me want to invite a bunch of people over for an impromptu dinner party; the descriptions of food were mouth watering. Garten also talks about the challenges she faced personally, professionally, and financially as she builds her empire. I really liked hearing about how she made certain choices about Barefoot Contessa and projects she was willing or not willing to take on. I do always take memoirs of very successful people with a grain of salt, though, because I think even though it’s clear that Garten is super smart and driven and savvy, she clearly had a lot of support when crafting her career. Sometimes memoirs make it seem super easy to become wildly successful, like good things just happen, but it does seem to me that people who are successful entrepreneurs have a lot of personal and financial connections that they can leverage. I still really enjoyed this book, though.

On my proverbial night stand:
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan – Cool Blogger’s Book Club read.

Say Nothing by Patrick Radden Keefe- 2018 non-fiction book about the Troubles in Northern Ireland during the 1960s and 1970s. I guess reading about civil conflict has been a theme of my non-fiction reading this year.

Say You’ll Be Mine by Naina Kumar – Romance novel featuring the fake engagement of two people who are introduced through the matchmaking efforts of their Indian parents.

Do you like reading memoirs? What are you looking forward to reading to round out the year? Have you ever listened to a play in audio?