Weekly Recap + what we ate: Good-bye February 2024!

Spring-ish!

Our last weekend in February was delightfully filled by a visit from my high school friend. She arrived on Saturday mid afternoon and was with us until Monday when I drove her to her hotel where she would be staying for her conference. She’s the only friend from high school that I still keep in touch with, and even though we only see each other every couple of years, we always pick up where we left off. She has children a few years older than mine, and she has such a chill approach to parenting that it’s so soothing talking to her about kids and life and how things turn out. She also used to date my brother so there are things that she just gets about me, even when she doesn’t know the details of my life ant any given moment.

Before my friend came in on Saturday, the 12 year old had a voice lesson, and since the voice lesson was closer to the airport than our house, we decided to have a little adventure in the two hours between voice lesson and my friend’s arrival. (The 12 year old had a hang out with a friend, so she didn’t come along). I remembered that the Gardens at Dumbarton Oaks are free during the winter months, and I had always wanted to visit. It was about 15 minutes from where we were, so we drove down to Georgetown, parked our car, stopped for some coffee, and walked down Wisconsin Ave to Dumbarton Oaks.

So funny story – the only reason I know that Dumbarton Oaks exists is because Igor Stravinsky wrote a chamber symphony called Dumbarton Oaks, which was commissioned by Robert and Mildred Bliss, who used to own the estate. The estate is now a research institute, library, museum, and gardens. Ever since I heard the chamber symphony in college, I’ve wanted to visit Dumbarton Oaks. So finally, twenty plus years later, we went. It’s so funny what random bits of information I know because it has a connection to music.

The gardens were quite extensive and there was lots to see, even though it was still pretty dormant. We played our “Find the Rainbow Colors” game. Though we didn’t really find blue because the sky, which is often our default blue, was pretty grey and cloudy. But there were these cool green-ish blue rocks in the pebble garden, so I took a picture of those. And I can never find indigo…

Red
orang
yellow
green
blue-ish…
purple.

The purple and yellow flowers always remind me of the passage in Braiding Sweetgrass where Robin Wall Kimmerer said she wanted to study botany to know why purple and yellow flowers always look so nice together. Turns out there is a scientific explanation for that – I can’t remember what, to be honest – but it’s always struck me, this idea of wanting to understand beauty.

We wandered the gardens until it was time to go pick up my friend. The rest of the weekend was pretty chill. I loved having a friend visit who didn’t feel the need to be a tourist, so we could hang out and not traipse all over the city. She just tagged along with us on our normal life things and we had great conversations and connections. Looking back, Sunday was a great day – it checked a lot of soul satisfying boxes:
-Connection – hanging out for 48 hours with my friend, including dinner at my favorite hot pot place.
-Exercise – we went skating together while the kids were in lessons. So not super strenuous, but we got our bodies moving for a good two hours.
-Creative – I had to finish my watercolour homework, so in the afternoon, I worked on that while my friend hung out and hemmed her pants. How wonderfully domestic does that sound?
-Outside time – We took the two little kids outside after I was done my homework and watched them while they rode their bikes around the block for an hour. Again, not as active as a hike, but still some quality sunshine and fresh air time.

I think the only box that didn’t get checked was some knocking some big household organization project off my list. But… you can’t do everything and the day overall had a nice leisurely pace. The Husband did do a lot of work in the garden, though, so maybe I can have him check off the “household task” box for us?

March is my last month at a reduced work schedule before I go back into opera mode. I feel like February wasn’t super focused. I was on an 8 hr a week contract at work so I could do some admin and stage management department duties, but I couldn’t get into a good rhythm of when to be at work. I wanted to be available for at least 30-60 mind a day to handle email and tasks, so then the questions became how to spend the other hours a week. I did take the weekends completely off, like didn’t-even-check-email-off, which was really nice. I did periodically have a sense of panic that I was shirking my job responsibilities, but then I had to remind myself that an 8 hour a week contract means I only have to work 8 hours a week. I wasn’t being paid to be constantly available, and there were certainly enough people at work that nothing depended on me alone. I ended up mostly working two three hour days – usually Wednesday and Thursday – and then splitting the other two hours between the other three days, working from home. But even though a three hour day sounds short, it breaks up the entire day in such a way that I felt like unless I was super focused – which I rarely was – I lost a lot of time in commuting and transitioning. I find transitioning between activities is when I loose the most time – it’s when I’m most likely to get distracted, start scrolling and then loose and hour or so. So then little tasks – especially little computer tasks – got dropped because the last thing I wanted to do after being on my computer for 3 hours at the office was to turn on the computer at home and pay the bills and do the kid sign ups, research how to get rid of my car, etc.

This week’s work from watercolor class:
First the homework from last week – the assignment was “sunsets”

Then the lesson was painting poppies. I didn’t love this one – I felt like it was a little un-refined. The lady who sits next to me in class makes such delicate paintings.

Anyhow, February 2024 is now past and we are onto March. I don’t always do a monthly reflection, but I did for February:
February highs:
– Starting water color classes.
-Getting back on my bike.
– Seeing the kids thrive in the activities we had signed them up for. I worried that it was going to be too much, but they truly love what they are doing – except piano, no one really loves to practice, though they say they want to learn to play…
– Hosting Super Bowl Sunday gathering with friends.
– Visit from my high school friend
– joining a women’s Lenten reading group. Having that connection, but also the daily readings, which somehow give me much to ponder even though I’m not Catholic like the others in the group.
-Making baozi. I want more cooking adventures!
-As a family, we made it to a museum, a hike and some gardens in February.
-The wonderful weather. Mostly.
-Watching Galavant with the kids. Only three more episodes to go! What should we watch next???
-The vocal recital that I did titles for. Such a beautiful program, beautifully sung.
-Lunches with the Husband. A good use of my lighter schedule.

February not so highs. (aka lows, but really, life is pretty good, so I don’t feel right calling them “lows” – they’re just life, the tedious, repetitive, papercut stresses of life. Or maybe I need a re-frame. Or more sleep.)
-Tantrums and chore cajoling. Ugh. When will this phase end? Though I ask that and my kids are all at different phases, so…. I guess never? When they move out? Also I realize chore cajoling could also refer to the pep talks I give to myself to stop scrolling and fold the laundry.
-Making little progress on some house chores, losing momentum and focus.
– The first grader and some communication issues with his teacher. Essentially he’s having accidents at school at least once or twice a month, either because his teacher wants him to finish his work first, or the teacher doesn’t realize he’s asking to go. I’m a little stumped by the whole thing. Also frustrated. Also trying to decide if it’s a problem because he doesn’t seem to mind…
-New duties at work that are surprisingly harder than I had thought they would be and not yet knowing how to make things better.
– Not finding/making time to journal and then not remembering or savoring the memories of what I’ve been doing with my days.
-Laundry. So much laundry.

Some aspirations for March:
-TAXES. This is the big one. If I do only one thing in March, it will be to assemble everything for our tax preparer. This is not an aspiration, but a MUST DO!!!!
– Figure out what to do with my car.
-Sort through summer camp sign ups. We registered for some second choice camps, but then first camp choice had slots open up, so I just have to take a minute to look at everything and sort it all out.
-Spring break adventures – getting through them.
-At work – some desk organization. I need to move desks – to the cubicle where the head of the stage management department usually sits, but I’ve been in my desk for over 15 years and I’m partial to it so this is proving psychologically difficult. Kind of like the car. Maybe I don’t need to move desks?
– Organizing a) my sewing corner, and b) the toy room.
– Lunch with my mom’s group.
-maintaining life habits – reading, yoga and exercise, journaling, writing here regularly, making 2 vegan dinners a week.
– sort out my county rec center pass, and actually using it. The County is once again giving all residents free passes to the rec centers this year. I want to get my pass so I can start using the gym and introduce some strength work to my life.
-continuing to find time for lunches with the Husband.
-Listening to more musicals. This is a fun one. I’ve been on a binge lately of those unironic big hearted musicals from the 90s – those musicals that were huge spectacles of stage and emotion. I’m currently obsessed with Frank Wildhorn and Nan Knighton’s The Scarlet Pimpernel. Up next, I think might be Titanic.
– Going to bed at a decent time. ie. before 11:30pm. Constant struggle.
-make some dentist and doctor appointments.
–maybe get a hair cut. I was realizing as I was writing in my 5 year journal that the last time I got my hair cut was this time last year. What?!?! I think I had a bit of sticker shock last time since my hairdresser had raised his prices. I’ve been with him for over ten years so I don’t know if I have it in me to find a new person. (Like my car and my desk at work….)

Grateful For:
-Sunny, warm weather. There have been some rainy days too, but the weather has been really mild. The hyacinths have come up along our front walk, and when I walk to the front door, their sweet peppery smell reminds me that it is early spring.

-Impulsive playdates and kids who can run free at the park without being watched. The kids had a half day of school on Friday, so I texted the mom of two of the 7 year old’s friends (they’re twins), and asked if they wanted to meet up at a park. They did and she invited two other kids from her bus stop to meet us there. We ended up spending two hours at the park. The kids ran around and did I don’t know what and I got to chat with the other moms. I don’t always find it easy to talk to other parents, but that wasn’t the case this time. We chatted about all sorts of things, and not just our kids, which is always nice.

-My friend at our bus stop who invited me to the Lenten Women’s Group. I think it’s always awkward to invite someone to something new, but especially something that is based in religion. So I’m glad my friend had the courage to ask me to join. It was nice to get out of the house and talk to other moms about their spiritual background and how they try to incorporate it into their lives. I kind of feel like a fraud since I wouldn’t call myself religious – Lent wasn’t a thing when I was growing up. But religion is important to the Husband and two of the three kids are Catholic, so I do want to understand how it makes up the fabric of our life and support that. I also really like thinking about the group readings. The book looks at Lent through the lens of the Seven Deadly Sins. We’ve covered gluttony and lust so far. The readings have made me really think about what it means to have enough and what to do with my energy rather constantly accumulating/wanting more.

-That I don’t have to be in tech. I stopped by the theatre a couple days last week since the show that we’re currently producing, but which I’m not working on, is in tech. I love my job. I love making the magic of theatre and music happen. But once in a while, it’s nice to just sit and watch tech happen and not have the pressure of having to be the one to make it all happen. I find it also good to sit and watch tech from the house sometimes, just to remind myself what it’s like out front. When I’m in tech, I have a headset on and I’m communicating with all the other stage managers and I’m talking to the crew, so I usually know what’s going on. Sometimes, I forget, though, that the people out front don’t necessarily have the same voices in their ear as I do and might not know what is happening backstage. So what to me backstage might seem like a frantic scramble to get, say, a prop ready to come out onstage while the singer onstage waits for it, is, to the people sitting in the house, sometimes… nothing happening. Watching the process without a headset is always a good reminder to make sure that the people without headsets know what is going on. Anyhow, as much as I love my job, I’m grateful that sometimes I don’t have to be part of that stress. (and also jealous because the show is super cute and fun.)

Looking Forward To:
-We booked a trip to Maine/Acadia for this summer. We got a National Parks Pass and I very much want to make sure we use it this year. We’ve had passes the past couple years (including a free one given to all 4th graders when the 12 year old was in 4th grade – it’s a great program!), but I don’t think I use it to it’s full capacity. We go to Great Falls and Shenandoah regularly because those are all close, but I’ve always felt like I want to do more. So this year we are going to Acadia. I’m looking forward to sunsets and hikes and lobster. (I don’t think we’ll be doing sunrise at Cadillac Mountain because of where our airbnb is located, but I think it would have been a hard sell for the kids. Another time…)

-Theatre trips! I have tickets to a couple shows coming up! Yay. The Husband and I are going to see Company, and the dress rehearsal/ Opening night for the next opera (which I’m not working on, so I’ll get to see it! Yay!). And then the local high school is putting on Beauty and the Beast and I think that will be fun to see too. I feel like it’s good to see the professional shows and the high school ones – for a sense of perspective.

-I have a contract for my summer gig and I am SO EXCITED! It’s an opera I worked on six year ago, an opera written in 2017 about the Christmas Eve truce of 1914 during World War I. The opera is just. so. beautiful – in my top 5 opera jobs ever. And it’s very rare one gets to do a contemporary opera more than once, so I’m super thrilled.

-Listening to this audiobook:

I saw this audiobook recommended on the site Five Books, and I really enjoyed Alexis Hall’s book Boyfriend Material, so I thought I’d give this one a try. I’m very much loving it – it’s an amnesia romance novel where the amnesia victim doesn’t really have amnesia. How’s that for flipping a trope on it’s head? Amnesia romances usually aren’t my thing, but this one’s pretty great. And the audiobook is pitch perfect; it’s like an audio version of my favorite British rom com in the vein of Notting Hill or Four Weddings and a Funeral. Fluffy and and warm and hilarious. I’ve laughed out loud so many times.

What We Ate:
Saturday: Chicken Ginger Scallion soup from Deb Perelmans’ Smitten Kitchen Keepers cookbook. This was a super easy soup, and I even make it with frozen chicken, just cooking it a bit longer. Nice pantry type meal. Everyone loved it. We didn’t watch a movie because my friend was visiting, but we did watch and episode of the new season of Bad Batch.

Sunday: We went out to Hot Pot with my friend. Our favorite place with a conveyor belt and a robot that delivers the food for you.

Monday: Chickpeas braised in tomatoes. This was leftover from the week before. I added some water and it was more of a soup than stew, but still tasty. We had it with bread. Vegan.

Tuesday: Beet burgers and tater tots. The beet burgers were this recipe from Post Punk Kitchen. We had beets to use up, so I tried this recipe. The burgers were really tasty, and pretty easy to assemble, though grating the beets did take a while and then because my food processor is small and only does 1.5 cups at a time chopping all the ingredients together took a couple of batches. If you had a bigger capacity food processor then these would be much faster to whip up. I highly recommend this as a veggie burger. The burgers also heat up really well, so I had them for lunches the rest of the week. vegan.

Wednesday: Take out Vietnamese – buns and noodle bowls. We had an afterschool playdate with a friend and her father brought dinner over afterwards. Tasty.

Thursday: Pork and tofu stir fry with udon noodles. The Husband cooked.

Friday: Pizza and Galavant.

Random Friday Post: 9 Things I Love in a Public Restroom

The awesome hooks in the bathroom at the Amsterdam airport. I thought them so stylish that I took a picture.

Last summer, the restroom stalls at the rehearsal hall where I worked had a shelf. It was the perfect shelf, waist high and just wide enough for my cell phone. It made me so happy every time I went to the bathroom stall to have a place to put my phone and not have to worry about my it falling out of my pocket when I was peeing. It got me thinking of all the things I like in a public restroom. Which I know is a little random, but it’s been percolating, so here you go:

1) A shelf for my phone. As mentioned above. And, if not a shelf, at the verrry least a hook. Best if it’s a double hook. Or more than one. And it it’s high up enough that my stuff doesn’t drag on the ground. I don’t understand not having a hook in a women’s bathroom stall. Well any bathroom stall, but particularly a women’s. Because I always have a purse or bag or something with me. Or in the winter time, my coat. I want to hang that stuff up while I pee. Which also makes me wonder… where do men put their bags and coats when they use urinals?

2) Clean. I mean, it’s obvious, but had to be said. I’m partial somewhat to a bathroom that smells like PineSol, like the bathrooms of my elementary school.

3) Almond scented hand soap. This is my favorite public bathroom hand soap smell and it makes me so happy when I come across it. It reminds me of almond jelly, one of my favorite Taiwanese desserts. Also while we’re here – soap at every sink. How often do you go into a public bathroom and there is a row of sinks and one single soap dispenser all the way to the far side? And you have to “Pardon me, excuse me, so sorry!” your way past someone else to get to the soap and then back again to your sink.

4) A foot pedal flush. This might be asking a lot, but I do appreciate when there is a foot pedal. I will fully admit that I do use my foot to flush the toilet periodically. I have started just using my hand because when I think about it, it’s kind of an irrational germaphobic reaction to toilet handles since I’m about to wash my hands anyway. But then I think – If I use my foot to flush toilets, other people must, so maybe it is dirtier than I think…. I don’t know. I go back and forth on this one. Which is why I love a foot pedal flush because it takes all the overthinking out of it.

5) A changing table. Because I have kids and there are few things worse than changing a baby on a window sill. While we’re at it, I’m always delighted when there is a step stool for little kids so I don’t have to haul my kid up to wash their hands.

6) A trash can for my used period supplies. Maybe TMI, but there’s nothing I hate more than having to carry a balled up, used pad to the trash can outside the stall. I mean there are probably things I hate more – people who don’t use their turn signals, for one – but this one seems pretty unnecessary. Just put a receptacle for the used pads and wrappers in the stall, please! Ooooh, once in a while, I come across a bathroom that has little baggies for your used period product. I actually appreciate this quite a lot.

7) A full length mirror. And not opposite the toilet. I kid you not – the bathroom backstage at work has a full length mirror opposite the toilet. I do not want to watch myself pee. Makes me think that these bathrooms were designed for/by men. (probably true, given the demographics of the stage crew.) I mean I get the full length mirror in the single bathroom backstage – we often use bathrooms for costume changes. But…. there is a a whole expanse of wall. Put that mirror somewhere else. Or on the back of the door. Nonetheless, I do like having a full length mirror somewhere in my bathroom experience so I can do a quick once over before I leave.

8) Good soft lighting. Because while we’re at the above point, why have a full length mirror if the lighting is shit? Public bathrooms are awkward uncomfortable enough. Why aggravate it with bad lighting?

9) And to go along with #8 – warm. It’s nice when it’s warm. At Longwood Gardens, they have these bathrooms in trailers. They are soooo nice. Mostly because they are warm. Cold bathroom make things so unpleasant.

What are your favorite features to find in a public restroom?

(bi)Weekly recap + what we ate: Presidents and Valentines

A crisp clear day and the American Art Museum.

The kids had Monday off for President’s Day, but there were still activities that weekend, so we styed in town and did some in town fun things. Saturday there was snow and the 12 year old’s basketball game ended up cancelled. Since the morning opened up, we decided to take the Metro downtown to a museum. We chose the American Art Museum because there was an orchid exhibit in its courtyard. We got down there are 11:00am, only to find that the museum didn’t open until 11:30am. So we decided to go to the library, which was across the street.

The library was recently renovated and the new children’s section is huge. And there is a whole separate teen section which the 12 year old went to explore on her own. The children’s section has lots of tables and chairs and cozy nooks for kids to curl up and read and a huge section of picture books in different languages. There is also a slide from the 2nd floor, where the children’s section is to the floor below. What a fun idea.

After the library we went to pizza at Ella’s and then headed to the American Art Museum. The Kogod Courtyard is one of my favorite places in DC – it is a bright and sunny oasis in the city, and usually quiet and peaceful. However, this day they were having a Family Day to honor President’s Day, so it was decidedly not quiet or peaceful. There were lots of crafts and activities, and at one point there was a Fife and Drum corps from a school in Virginia. The kids ended up making stovepipe hats at a booth sponsored by the Abraham Lincoln Cottage (one of my favorite museums in DC, by the way. Though it is out of the way and you have to pay to go, so I’ve only been a few times. But if I have to recommend a museum for people who have exhausted the Smithsonian, I always recommend visiting this one and the Frederick Douglass House in tandem.) And there was some dressing up, and a collage activity. Though by the time we got to the collage activity, the only president left was Andrew Garfield or Chester Arthur or some such.

Orchid sculpture. There were real orchids too, but the place was so crowded it was hard to get good pictures.
Abraham Lincoln, perhaps?

We did wander through the galleries afterwards. We took in the gallery of “Self Taught Art”, or what the museum calls Folk Art. I like these galleries a lot, seeing things that people create just for the joy of creating, not because they are artists and it pays the bills – ordinary things like quilts and lawn ornaments. I always like looking at this work, which is mostly made of cardboard and tin foil.

Tin foil art
quilts

The whole exhibit inspires me to make time for creativity in life.

All in all, not the museum visit I had expected, but still a nice outing.

Sunday we had Agility class for the four year old, church for the older two kids and then we went to the Dumpling House for a birthday lunch for one of my best friends. We ordered soooooo much food – dumplings and sauteed greens and noodles and cucumber salad and and garlic eggplant…. I think something got lost in translation and we also had a fried sweet potato dish (Snowfield sweet potato) that was almost like dessert – sweet potato, coated in crunchy rice stick and fried so that the outside was crispy and the inside soft and molten. So good! We always order the same thing when we go to the dumpling house, so it’s fun when something new shows up.

Monday we decided to go on a hike – we hiked from Great Falls north to Riverbend Park, about 5 miles round trip. This is farther north from the spectacular falls of Great Falls, but it’s a gentler hike with beautiful views of the Potomac. The kids have a game they play when we go hiking, called “Rock Kingdom” it involves each child claiming a rock to sit on and the oldest one calling for Rock Kingdom Counsels and then they gather and make plans on how to run their kingdoms. It’s super cute. I’m sure the 12 year old doesn’t always want to play with her younger siblings, so I really treasure these moments when she fully engages with them and leads them in such imaginative play.

Potomac

Art Class: The past two art classes were spent on clouds and sunsets. Clouds are fun – one of the techniques we learned was to paint the sky then, using a paper towel, lift away the colour to make clouds. I thought that technique was pretty high impact for very low effort. Also, the teacher had us make clouds of all colours and even since I’ve found myself looking at clouds and realizing how many colours they contain. They aren’t just white. Even still, I think my efforts at clouds came out much too grey. Also I’m having difficulties blending my colours. Getting the orange/yellow of the sunset to blend up into the blue of the sky without turning green is tricky.

First effort on top. Second on bottom. Hopefully there’s improvement.

This is my in class effort of sunsets, though I think they look more like moon rises.

This is my homework sunsets. The pink and blue sunset on the bottom left of the quartet was kind a disaster. Then the next morning I woke up and looked a the pictures without my glasses on and it looked so much better and suddenly I could see what was wrong with it – I hadn’t allowed the paint to blend from pink to blue slowly. So I thought I’d give that one a second try.

Also – the pictures look muuuuuch better from farther away.

One other thing I realized when doing the homework that one trick to making things look brighter is to also have darker things in the picture to create contrast, which was what I was trying to do with the picture on the bottom right.

I think watercolor is interesting because it seems quite easy in principal to create something beautiful. Just a simple wash of colour can be so elegant. But once you get past the easy stuff, the really detailed work requires a lot of care.

Valentine’s Day – I’m not a huge Valentine’s Day person, so the big win this year was that the Husband ordered the valentines for the kids. I didn’t even have to say anything about it to him. Awesome. I did spend an hour cutting up fruit for the 7 year old’s class party, only to see an email the day of that said the school was banning all consumption of food in the classrooms for Valentines Day. Apparently there was an allergy incident in another classroom the last time there was a class party. Which I respect that decision – I just wished I had realized that before I peeled an entire Costco bag of mandarin oranges. I apparently am not the most diligent reader of school communication. wump wump. I did go volunteer in the 7 year old’s class for the party. I’m always impressed by the level of French in his classroom. I know it’s an immersion program, so that is in the point, but to see seven and eight year olds who a year and a half years ago didn’t know any French, communicate with each other in full sentences is really amazing. Also – Teachers are heroes to spend all day with our kids.

The Best Morning This Week. So I wake up on morning from sleeping on the futon in the kids’ room because the 12 year old and I had a COVID exposure, so she and I are sleeping in one room for the week while the Husband and the other two kids sleep in our room. The 12 year old desperately wants to be sick to stay home from school, so while I’m downstairs making breakfast, she tries to doctor her COVID test with a red pen. I am simultaneously impressed by her gumption, but also trying hard not to laugh at how inept she is being at faking a positive COVID test. It was pretty bad. So I send her to school. Then move on with my morning.

At 8:15 – 30 minutes before we have to go to school, the seven year old tells me his Black History Month project is due that day. (Which, if I bothered to turn on the notifications in the class Slack channel I would realize because the panic I felt was reflected in the many messages from other parents about this project. Only those panicked messages were sent two days ago…). I originally go all “strict mom” and tell him, “Tough hooey, you can tell your teacher that you forgot to do it.” But then there were tears and I’m a softie, so ten minutes before we leave for the bus, he’s is drawing Louis Armstrong and taping it to an old can, which I had to pull out of the recycling on the curb – thank goodness it hadn’t been collected yet.

“What does a trumpet look like?” he asks me. And I open the page from Picturepedia of musical instruments and try to talk him through how to draw a trumpet with all its valves and what nots. Meanwhile the “school bus” alarm is going off. And I finally just say, “F*** that. Just draw a cornet.”

Louis Armstrong and a cornet.

So the follow up to last week’s laments on how I have no morning routine – this is exactly why there is no routine.

At any rate – yes, the 12 year old and I had a COVID exposure. It’s been kind of fascinating, and perhaps a little bit triggering, to pull the masks out again and swabbing our noses every morning to do the COVID tests, and to worry about whom we are spending time with. We personally haven’t had a brush with COVID in probably more than two years, and at first I was very self conscious about having to mask again. But then I realized that even though we aren’t masking all the time as we once were, it has become a very normal thing to do. And it’s the kind and prudent thing to do. So there we go.

Things I learned from This Week’s Crossword Puzzle: The playlist edition.
This week’s crossword puzzle discoveries were all musicians whom I had never heard of. So I made myself a little playlist of their music one evening:
– Tegan and Sara – (“Everything is Awesome” singers ___ and Sara) Okay, had heard that song, but didn’t know the group. Peppy, pop sound.
– Angie Stone – (Stone with the R&B album “The Art of Love & War”)
–Say It Ain’t So – (“___ It Ain’t So” Weezer Song). I knew Weezer was a band, one that was pretty popular when I was growing up. Could not name any of their songs to save my life.
–Ella Mai (“Boo’d Up” Singer). British R&B Artist. New to me. Actually R&B is a whole genre of music that I’m woefully ignorant on.

Watching:
Nai Nai and Wai Po. This short documentary film by Taiwanese American filmmaker Sean Wang was nominated for an Oscar. It documents the every day life of his two grandmothers. One is 94 and one is 83 and they have been roommates for years and live life with such a joyful pragmatism – they make music, they make dinner, they arm wrestle, the argue about farting, they talk about life and living a long one. From the first moment of the film, I recognized my own grandparents and my own parents, even. In less than twenty minutes, this little film made me laugh, cry, and feel seen and understand what it’s like to contemplate humanity with the perspective of nine decades.

Incidentally, there are two documentary shorts by Taiwanese Americans nominated for Oscars this year. That feels pretty special to me. The other one is about the Taiwanese Island of Kimen which is just off the coast of China. I guess now I can say I’ve watched at least two of the Oscar nominated films this year.

Watching, and a Rant:
Hallmark Binge Pass- I’ve discovered that with my Library card, I can get a Hallmark Binge Pass via Hoopla, which gives me access to a huge collection of Hallmark movies and tv shows – cue up the fluffy, heartwarming entertainment. It’s been perfect accompaniment as I wash dishes late at night or work on my painting homework. So far I’ve watched An American in Austen, a movie about a modern day librarian who finds herself living in Pride and Prejudice. The movie was cute, and as an ardent Darcy fangirl, it was hilarious to see their take on Darcy as an unbearably pushy and kind of annoying person. I’ve also watched a bunch of holiday movies because…. the heart wants what the heart want, right? Okay, but here is one huge vent though- I usually watch things with the subtitles on and I was watching a movie called Make Me A Match, a movie about ambitious Vivi, who works for a dating app. She meets an Indian matchmaker and strikes a deal with the matchmaker to learn about her methods so that she can distill the matchmaker’s success down into something she can use to improve her app. The matchmaker’s son Boom is tasked with helping Vivi. Predictable sparks fly… It’s a lovely movie and you know me, representation is my catnip, so I was really enjoying this one. Except, we get to the end of the movie when Vivi and Boom get married in a huge Indian wedding ceremony and when the officiant begins the wedding ceremony, the titles just say, “Chanting in foreign language.” Come on, Hallmark! You can do better. Tell us what language the guy is chanting in! Also… during the party afterwards, there are subtitles for the songs in English, but the songs in Hindi just say, “Singing in foreign language.” Why does the song in English get its words captioned and not the one in Hindi? If it even is in Hindi – I’m going to be honest, I’m pretty ignorant about Indian languages, which is why it would have been cool if the subtitles had told me what language it was and what was being said. I don’t know – maybe I’m being overly sensitive, but there are huge swaths of the population for whom this isn’t a “foreign” language and I kind of resent it being labelled as “foreign.” This is not how we normalize non-English languages and cultures, folks. AmI expecting too much of a Hallmark movie? I mean the whole thing might have been captioned by an AI bot for all I know. But in which case, surely the AI bot can figure it out without labelling something “foreign.” “Foreign” is relative.

Grateful For:
– COVID tests and masks. I’m glad we had a supply of masks and tests to use when we had our COVID exposure. It’s funny how the bin of tests in our linen closet that seemed like a lot, quickly can be used up. Luckily our library is still handing out free COVID tests, so I can stock up next time I go. Also grateful that we didn’t actually get COVID. Also grateful that we are no longer in the Spring of 2020.

-For the vocal recital that I got to do the supertitles for. A beautiful evening of music, plus getting to hear Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 performed live. It is usually performed with an orchestra; hearing it with just piano accompaniment really brought out the jazzy influences in the music – the piece had a certain swing that isn’t always apparent with orchestral versions.

-Museums and libraries and National Parks. Things I don’t begrudge my tax dollars at work for.

-Making it up the hills on my bike. And lower gears. Every time I brush my bike off after a pause, even of a week or two, I am a little defeated by the hills between home and work. This time was no different. However, by my second day of bike commuting, I could make it up those hills. I just put the bike in a lower gear and keep my head down and keep pedaling. I’ve also discovered that it helps to sit a little more upright in my seat when I go up hills. I’m sure there’s a scientific explanation for that.

Looking forward to:
– A visit from a high school friend. One of the nice things about living in DC is that every so often people come here for work and I get to see them! This friend is the only friend from high school that I still keep in touch with. Her parents, like mine, are from Taiwan, and we’ve always bonded over that. (This happened! this is what I get for being so slow to post. anyhow, it was a lovely visit – more later!)

– A cherimoya! My abovementioned friend brought some fruit from California among which was a cherimoya. My late grandmother loved cherimoyas and I always think of her when I have one. There are not very prevalent here – once in a while I’ll see them at HMart – so this was a nice treat and I’m looking forward to eating the last one. For those who haven’t had a cherimoya, it’s a fruit with a very soft inside that kind of tastes like banana-pear custard.

-Peak Bloom! Peak bloom forecasts are being released this week – I wait with eager anticipation. There are a few of the early blooming trees that can already be seen around town, a riot of pink.

– Lenten reading group. A friend invited me to join a Lenten reading group – we read a book that has a reading and reflection for each day of Lent, and then come together three times to discuss it. I’m not Catholic, so the invitation to join gave me pause, but I do like contemplating life and reflecting on my life choices, so I thought this group might be a nice social/spiritual activity.

-Cooking from these two cookbooks, which I picked up from the library:

What We Ate:

Monday: Crispy coconut rice. This recipe. Basically you crumble tofu into cooked rice, add curry paste and other spices and then fry it in a cast iron skillet until the bottom gets crispy. Wrap in lettuce leaf and top with mint to eat. Tasty and very flavorful and also comes together very quickly. The two little kids didn’t care for it as much, but I think it’s because it’s kind of a new concept. I would make it again – a great use for leftover rice. Vegan.

Tuesday: Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos. Roast diced sweet potato in a pan and then mix with black beans. We eat it with the leftover guacamole from SuperBowl Sunday. Quick and easy meal. Vegan.

Wednesday: Instant Pot Braised Chickpeas with Tomatoes. Since I was working this evening and we had an excess of dried chickpeas to use up, I was looking for an InstantPot chickpea recipe. The best part of this is the tahini swirl that you add at the end. Vegan.

Thursday: Pasta and meatballs. I had made and frozen meatballs in tomato sauce last December, so I pulled those out and we ate them with pasts. Thank you to past me for freezing meatballs.

Friday: Pizza (take out) and Galavant. I might have fallen asleep.

Saturday: Pizza (The Husband made) and Moana. I hadn’t seen Moana before despite making the middle child a Hey Hey costume for Halloween when when he was two. The kids, have seen it several times and love it. It is indeed a great movie.

Sunday: We didn’t actually have dinner this day. We were so full from dumplings and noodles at my friend’s birthday lunch that we just kind of weren’t hungry the rest of the day. There might have been popcorn or fruit or ample snacking.

Monday: Lentil Soup and flatbread. I’m trying to incorporate more lentils in our life because they are cheap and healthy and not terrible for the environment. I can’t for the life of me remember what lentil soup recipe I made, but I’m pretty sure I made this in the Instant Pot. To go along with it, I made this yogurt flatbread recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Tuesday: Celery Cashew with Five Spice Tofu. We got two bunches of celery in our produce box. We aren’t huge celery people – usually it goes in soups or we eat it with peanut butter. So I thought I’d try this recipe that would put the celery front and center, though I didn’t have 5 spice tofu, so I pressed extra firm tofu, dusted it with 5 spice powder and then pan fried it. I thought it was pretty good for being a dish based around celery. Vegan.

Wednesday: Egg Sandwiches on bagels. Sometimes on Wednesdays when the kids have early piano lessons, I will pick up some bagels for breakfast, and then also enough extras so that we can have breakfast sandwiches for dinner. One of our easy go to quick dinners.

Thursday: Meatball subs. We had some frozen meatballs from the store to use up.

Friday: Pizza (take out) and Galavant. We re-watched one of the episodes from last week since I had fallen asleep. We have a nice Friday night routine now- after basketball practice for the 12 year old, they come home with pizza. We watch two episodes of Galavant while eating pizza. The kids go upstairs and get into pjs and brush their teeth, without help from a parent (that’s key), and the can come down and watch one more episode. Not sure what we are going to watch when we are done with Galavant – there are only two seasons and we’re halfway through the second. Any recommendations?

Well, I just realized that March is bearing down around the corner! Wow. But we do get a bonus February day tomorrow – that is always a fun thought, even though in theory it is just another day.

Books Read in January 2024

The year got off to a slow reading start, but there were some really good books read:

Rosewood: A Midsummer Meet Cute by Sayantani DasGupta: Read this for the Mother/Daughter book club. It’s a YA modern day twist on Sense and Sensibility, set at a Jane Austen summer camp where the producer of a Bridgerton-esque show are scouting for extras. I’m always down for a Jane Austen adaptation, but I was actually a little confused when this book didn’t exactly follow the original source material. In the notes afterwards, the author said she didn’t want a faithful adaptation, so I guess that makes sense. I thought this book was fine, if a little improbable. The 12 year old said that the Pride and Prejudice adaptation was better – it’s called Debating Darcy and set on a high school debate team. I’m intrigued.

The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope, read by Shayna Small: Whenever I’m looking for an audiobook recommendation, I look on the Audie awards page and see if anything jumps out at me. This one definitely did. It’s a historical fantasy heist novel set in Washington D.C among the world of the 1920’s Black elite. Clara can talk to spirits, but is deeply indebted to one in particular. When she gets a chance to win her freedom by stealing a piece of jewelry, she assembles a team of misfits with supernatural talents to help her. I thought this was a pretty fantastic book – the historical elements were fascinating to me, especially since it was set in DC, and the story itself was well paced and engrossing. The story is inspired by the true account of a Black teenager who shot a white police officer during race riots in 1919. The audio of this book was pretty stunning, with Small embodying each person with a distinctness that made it easy to to keep track. I thought overall this book was pretty terrific, and I even borrowed the book and read chunks of it since I liked the audio so much.

Girlfriend on Mars by Deborah Willis: I stayed up late to finish this book by Canadian author Willis. It’s about Amber, who enters a reality show to compete for a spot on a mission to Mars funded by a tech billionaire. Meanwhile, her long term, slightly stoner boyfriend Kevin stays behind in their home in Vancouver, trying to keep their hydroponic weed business afloat while watching Amber on TV and wondering how to navigate life without her. This book starts out with a breezy satirical tone, but as it progresses, it asks some deep and probing questions about relationships, wealth, fame, and the ethics of science and exploration and reality television. I thought this book was beautifully written and really engrossing, though the end was heart-breaking. ‘

The Measure by Nikki Erlick, read by Julia Whelan: I 90% picked up this book because Julia Whelan was narrating the audiobook. (The other 10% was because I saw Stephany recommend it.). The premise of the book does make one ponder – one day everyone in the world over the age of 22 receives a box with a string inside. Come to discover that the string corresponds to the length of your life. This sets off a host of repercussions as people (and society at large) grapple with whether or not to open the boxes and what to do with the information inside. The book specifically follows the lives of several different people as they learn to live with this new world of strings. I don’t think you can read the novel and not think about what you would do yourself if you knew how long you had to live. There was something about this book that made it feel like it was an expanded fable rather than a novel for me. Can’t quite put my finger on what that is – it reminded me a little of The Midnight Library where it felt like the author was trying to force the reader to ponder their own life choices. Despite that, I really liked the characters and the way the stories intertwined, and I just might have cried at one point in the book. As always, though, Julia Whelan made this a really great listening experience.

On my Proverbial Night Stand:
My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante – for Cool Bloggers Book Club. I’m way behind, but very intrigued by where this book is going.

The Marquis who Musn’t – Historical romance by Courtney Milan. Love her books.

One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus – Mother Daughter Book club book, chosen by the 12 year old.

Black Ghosts by Noo Saro-Wiwa – non-fiction about the history of Black people in China.

and a couple of other things that I’m a few pages into so I’m not sure if they will stick…

Weekly recap + what we ate: Art and celebrations

This year, Lunar New Year AND Super Bowl Sunday fell in the same weekend. I am a little abashed to say that the latter gets more attention in our household. However, I did call my father (My mother is in Taiwan with my grandfather), and the seven year old dressed all in red on Saturday (coincidentally, but my dad made a comment about it when we FaceTimed, so I’ll take it), and I made my first attempt at making baozi (pork filled steamed buns). We had dumplings at our Superbowl party, a nod to both San Francisco and Lunar new Year.

My parents also send us two boxes of oranges from their tree for Lunar New Year, including red envelopes for the kids. (Though there was a bit of a mix up and we got my niece’s red envelope, and my brother got the ones for our kids. Oops!) The oranges are amazing – really sweet and juicy. Our neighbors also gave us a box of pineapple cakes too, one of my favorite Taiwanese treats, and they brought red envelopes for the kids too. So I feel as if I haven’t totally neglected the holiday, though I can do better. Every year, I think I’m going to celebrate/participate more, but then Lunar New Year creeps ups on me. I do feel like I fail at being the good Asian daughter a lot of the time.

The weekend felt very packed. Saturday was a basketball game for the 11 year old, and then she had an audition for a children’s chorus. Apparently the audition didn’t go well – it was her first real audition experience and she said she got really “spooked” singing for the people in the room. I am feeling deeply conflicted as a parent about the whole thing – there is a part of me that is all Tiger Mom, thinking, “Well, she didn’t prepare adequately and if she had truly wanted to do this, she would have practiced more. She needs to develop a sense of discipline if she wants to do this again”, and there is a part of me that says, “Auditioning is hard! Good for her for going in there. Big Hugs.” I do want her to enjoy an activity and do things that serve her interests, and at the same time, I think there is a certain sense of discipline and determination that are a more long term takeaway from participating in activities. Or maybe I’m expecting too much? Or overthinking things? I think often of an interview I heard on Fresh Air with a lady who’s son was diagnosed with a fatal illness when he was still a baby, and she talks about wondering what is the goal of parenting when you know your child will not grow up to be an adult?

Super Bowl Sunday, there were classes and activities (agility class, Faith Formation, and skating lessons), a playdate, which I almost cancelled fearing it was too much to do, but which ultimately was quite nice because it was our only opportunity to go outside all day, and the kids got to ride their bikes to the park.

Then in the evening we had friends over to watch the Super Bowl. I thought the game was simultaneously slow and exciting. The half time show was a lot (as it should be). And there were some pretty great commercials. My favorites were the Ben Affleck/ Jennifer Lopez Dunkin’ Donuts commercial – hilarious!, and then commercial for Google Pixel’s new guided frame technology which helps people with impaired or low vision take pictures. I mean, if I was the type to cry during a commercial, that would have been the one. We sent the little kids to bed when the game went into overtime, though the rest of us stayed up to watch to the very end. Still a late night for all.

Other happenings of the week before:
I started my watercolor class! The day before the first class, I went to the art store to pick up supplies. Is there anything as exciting as the anticipation of new art supplies? Fresh paints, blank paper, and smooth brushes.

The first class was a lot of explanation of supplies. The teacher told us not to buy the very expensive supplies for an introductory class. Except for watercolour pencils. There is one inexpensive brand of watercolour pencils that she does not recommend – the colours are not saturated enough. “Did you keep the receipt?” she asked the students who came to class with that brand. I thought that was hilarious.

Our first in class assignment was to experiment with six different watercolour techniques. The homework is a repeat of the same techniques. Here’s how I did on the first try:

Things I learned from the week’s crossword puzzle – one of my favorite things that we did last year was get a Sunday newspaper. Hands down my favorite part is the crossword puzzle, that I work on through the week. I do them in pen, and I don’t look up clues. However, once I finish the crossword puzzle, or get the solutions the following week, I will google the answers that were new to me; I find it’s a fun way to learn random bits of knowledge. Things I learned from this week’s puzzle:
-Anne Meara (“Emmy nominated Anne”) – Meara was a comedian who had a comedy routine with her husband Jerry Stiller. I was particularly struck by the fact that they broke up their comedy act because they were afraid that the biting tone of their routine was hurting their marriage in the long run. I thought that was a pretty self-aware decision.
–Otoes (Native Americans based in Red Rock, Okla.) This Native American tribe was semi-nomadic, originally from the Great Lakes area but eventually settling along the Missouri River in the Iowa/Missouri/Nebraska area. They were decimated by small pox and the American government.
– Gaus sum (Gaus __, concept in algebraic number theory.) This is the method of adding consecutive numbers by adding the first and last, second and second last, and so on, and then dividing by 2. Quite neat and efficient.
–Adolph Rupp. (Kentucky coaching legend Rupp) University basketball coach with a storied career. Anytime I see the name “Adolph”, I wonder about the choice. Rupp was born in 1901, clearly before the name Adolph became practically taboo.
–Tealight (Candle originally used to warm a steeped drink.) Who knew? But makes so much sense. Tealights originally came from Japan and were used to keep tea warm, but also they helped tea brewers keep track of time since one knew how long they would burn for.

The hyacinths are poking their heads up. What the what???? It is alarming yet also how can I not love the hints of spring?

Hello!

The “I’ll miss this some day” moment: One morning, I was woken up very early – not sure how early, but it was definitely before 5:30am – by the four year old standing next to my bed bawling at the top of her lungs. Let take a moment to reflect on how freaky it is to be woken out of a dead sleep by someone standing next to your bed, even a small and cute someone. And she was clearly upset.

Eventually I figured out what she was sobbing.

“You didn’t play Let it Go when I brushed my teeth!!!!!!” she cried over and over again.

Backstory: the night before, I had let the six year old pick the music for clean up time, but then I promised that four year old that she could listen to Let It Go while they brushed their teeth. Then I forgot, and we played Chompers, as we usually do, no one said a word or reminded me of my promise for Let It Go. Everyone went to bed. I moved on with life.

But I guess not everyone forgot. Or rather someone eventually remembered.

This is one difference between the Husband and me: At 5am when a small person wakes you out of a dead sleep, grief stricken that we’d forgotten to play Let It Go – I try to console her and explain that I had forgotten and that she also had a responsibility to remind me. The Husband, reaches over, picks up his phone, cues up the Frozen soundtrack, and rolls over and goes back to sleep. I’ll let you guess which tactic got the four year old to stop crying.

An hour or so later, when we were both truly awake, I said to the Husband, “Wow, she has a mind like a steel trap!”

“It’s a rusty steel trap,” he says, “Because you never know when it’s going to snap shut and bite you in the ass.”

Perspective: So back in September, I wrote a post entitled “A Litany of Complaints”, of many of the things stressing me that time, and I thought it would be interesting to revisit those stressors:
–The cavity ridden state of the two little kids’ teeth. This has been more or less resolved to the tune of many many crowns. We’ve given up gummy candy and are more diligent about brushing. I just got a notification that they are due for their semi-annual cleaning, which I’m sort of dreading but also curious as to whether or not we are truly cavity free.
–Unflattering passport photos, and an expired passport in general. My new passport just arrived. Yay. I was genuinely worried that my grandfather would suddenly pass away and I would not be able to go back to Taiwan because I had no passport. So that’s all squared away. Morbid, I know. (I had one cousin who missed out on a huge family reunion in Taiwan because she had put her passport in storage and couldn’t get to it. The family still constantly brings it up. So I’m glad I won’t be known as the grandchild who couldn’t go to Agong’s funeral because she didn’t have a passport.) I still hate the picture. I tell myself I don’t have to look at it, but even still, I know that it’s a terrible picture. Can’t take that away from me. AND it’s going to be there for the next ten years. That’s pretty much until the youngest kid is in high school and the oldest is graduated from college. So I guess I’ll get a new photo in time for a celebratory international trip with the oldest child.
–Not planning the three year old’s birthday party until the last minute. It was fine. She had a party, which I wrote about here. Only now I have neglected to plan the seven year old’s birthday party – his birthday was three weeks ago. There’s always something. Same stress different kid.
–Keeping track of the 11 year old’s activities. I have them all pretty straight now, but it’s been a bit of a shuffle this month with her playing rec league basketball and the Husband and I both working on one of the nights she usually goes to basketball clinic. On another front, luckily we share carpooling to the pool with the neighbors so usually someone will remember if there is not swim clinic that week. Also – the twelve year old is in the school play, which rehearses directly after school so she has been totally responsible for that. I just have to remember not to panic on the evening when it gets to be 4:45pm and I suddenly realize I haven’t seen her yet.
–Window treatments for the living room. Aside from some abstract contemplation, there has been absolutely no movement on this. I’d like to just throw my hands in the air and give up on it, but this is the current state of things:

Very ad hoc and improvised. There are at least four different stages of window treatment contemplation going on here.

–My 20 year old car. The car is still with us. We did however, get a new minivan back in October. By “we” I mean the Husband. I have yet to drive the minivan. Part of what we talked about in getting a minivan is that I would get rid of my car. But I’m irrationally attached to my car and have been putting things off. I had promised the Husband that I would take care of getting rid of the car in January. Then February. And now, the windshield wipers need replacing and we need to renew it’s parking permit and it probably needs an oil change. And I think – should I really do all that if I’m going to imminently get rid of it? Anyhow, change is hard, I’m having some kind of block against moving forward with getting rid of the car. The thing is – we could put more money into it and it would be okay, so it feels wasteful to get rid of the car. I’m investigating donating it to the high school’s automotive training program. This is still a huge stressor for me.
–Morning routines. Still feels like the mornings are interminable yet rushed. I came to a huge revelation about my morning routines last week. Part of the reason my morning routines are non-existent is because the kids are so erratic in the mornings. One kids is up at 6:30am, another sleeps til 7:00am, the other… something in between. Sometimes they want breakfast right off, sometimes they roam the house. Sometimes they will get dressed first, sometimes not til they’ve been up for an hour and a half. If they were more consistent about their mornings, I could feel like there is a routine – for everyone. Like maybe we would get piano practicing done, maybe we would put away some laundry, maybe I could get some journaling in… Maybe I’m asking too much. But it does seem like with almost 2.5 hours of awake time in the morning, I should be able to do more then, breakfast, pack lunch, get dressed. Work in progress.

Which is all to say – I feel like some of the things that were stressing me out in September are still stressing me out, some have been resolved, and some I’ve learned to make peace with. They’ve moved from stressing me out to just being irksome. I think this is a big component of adulting for me – managing stressors. Stressing about things until I manage them. I don’t know why I do it like this – it always feels better when things are resolved.

Grateful For:
– Superbowl Sunday with Friends. It’s nice to have people over who I don’t have to worry about impressing, who will bring tasty food, and who have kids that will entertain our kids.

–For the middle school teachers who keep the 12 year old (and all the students) safe: The 12 year old’s school had a lock down at school on Friday. Apparently there were some teenagers with BB guns who fi (or maybe there was more than one- it’s unclear), ran into the field next to school. The police came. Looking at the letter sent home the whole incident took about 20 minutes, but I’m sure it felt like longer to her in her classroom. All the nearby schools went into lockdown. It’s hard to conceive of what the real danger was to everyone at the school, but regardless, it must have been an incredibly stressful afternoon. Some part of my mind thinks, “Of course, everything turned out okay,” but I know I can’t take that for granted. Such is life in America. Sadly.

-Biking. It’s gotten warm enough (and dry enough) to bike places. I biked to work one day, though I did walk the bike up the big hill, and I biked to meet the Husband for lunch.

–Our neighbor for lending us a bamboo steamer: As I mentioned above, I wanted to try my hand at making bao for Lunar New Year. However, I didn’t have a bamboo steamer. I could steam in a regular metal steamer, but there is something about the bamboo smell that completes the bao flavor for me. So I texted our neighbor, and they had one which they dropped off that very afternoon. I think the buns turned out okay – they popped open a little when I steamed them, so I do need work on my folding technique. I also want to experiment with some vegetarian filling options.

Looking Forward To:
-A potential big trip. We’ve been doing some research for our winter break trip. One day over lunch, the Husband and I were to both come with three ideas to start discussing. I find planning for travel overwhelming, but just starting to research a destination (or three) is actually pretty fun.

-Long weekend adventures. Definitely a hike, and maybe a museum. (This all happened. It was a great weekend! More on that soon. )

-Reading more of Courtney Milan’s latest book, The Marquis Who Musn’t. Historical romance featuring an English village populated by Asian people? Yes please! I love Milan’s books – there are no idiotic people and her writing and plotting is generally very good. She’s also hugely outspoken on issues of race and inclusivity in the romance genre.

What We Ate:
Monday: Takeout from Chicken on the Run. The 7 year old had his first sewing class and I was going to make sandwiches for dinner when we got home, but sewing class is a block down from a really good Peruvian chicken place, so I called an audible and brought home chicken, and yucca fries and plantains and black beans and rice, and cucumber salad. No regrets.

Tuesday: Zucchini Boats. The Husband cooked. He stuffed the boats with ground turkey and covered it with cheese and diced tomatoes. Always a favorite.

Wednesday: Bacon and Egg pie. Recipe from Saveur Magazine. I used to subscribe to Saveur magazine and I loved it – the food writing was so evocative and homey, even when it was about far flung locations. I very rarely cooked out of it because the recipes often needed ingredients that I didn’t have on hand since a lot of the recipes came from other countries or cultures. Anyhow, I have a gentle aspiration to cook more from the cooking magazines that I own and I had bookmarked this recipe to try – it’s from New Zealand and quite easy – puff pastry, filled with chopped up bacon and eggs, drizzled with a sauce of Worchester sauce and ketchup, then baked. I think I overbaked it a little, though. The result, however, would be perfect for a portable lunch or breakfast.

Thursday: Pizza Takeout. It was the Husband’s birthday and he didn’t want to celebrate, but then changed his mind so he came home with pizza from his favorite place and a cake from his favorite bakery. We kept it lowkey, but the kids did make a sign:

Friday: Pizza (The Husband made) and Galavant. Friday night tradition. I don’t know what we’re going to do when we finish season two.

Saturday: Bahn mi (take out) and A Bug’s Life (the 7 year old’s turn to pick the movie). The movie was new to me, very cute.

Sunday: Superbowl Sunday. Lots of food! Our friends are both big griller/smokers. One brought brisket and one brought ribs. The Husband made guacamole. We ordered soft pretzels from the DC Pretzel Company. There was also dumplings, baozi, crudite, brownies, lemon cake, chips, fruit. I like having a good party spread and this one was pretty good.

Hallmark Holiday Movies 2024 – Part 2

I’m sure you are thinking, “Diane, it’s February! Why would anyone want to read your Hallmark Holiday Movie recaps????”

Umm… I guess the answer is that the post has been sitting in my drafts folder for weeks, and if I don’t finish them now, I will feel even more silly finishing them in June. So yeah. But also… I just realized that I can get a Hallmark binge pass through Hoopla with my library card, which, in addition to the awesomeness of being able to watch all six seasons of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, means that I can watch an huge-normous library of Hallmark holiday movies whenever I want. Ah-mazing. So maybe another recap of Holiday movies in June wouldn’t be so out of the question. I have a feeling, though, that I’m not that blogger and this isn’t a Hallmark movie blog. So I’ll probably spare you all that.

Anyhow, onward –

A Christmas Family Tree (2021)– Using one of those genetic tests, woman finds her biological father and is immediately embraced by his family. And the cute neighbor/family friend.
My catnip: None, really. We were at a hotel and this was the Hallmark movie that was on. Oh wait, Andrew Walker was in this one. I always like him.
My take: I liked that the romance was just one part of this movie, and that the relationship between the main character and her newfound father was also pretty central.
The ridiculous: I’m always surprised when people unexpectedly show up at other people’s doorsteps un expectedly? How do they know the person’s address??
Favorite bits: Andrew Walker.

A Sugar and Spice Holiday (2020): career driven Asian daughter returns home for Christmas. She has a big presentation due yet still agrees to participate in a Christmas bake-off competition with childhood friend.
My catnip: Asian leads
My take: So I straight up watched this movie because it was apparently one of the first Christmas rom coms to feature an Asian cast. (This movie came out on Lifetime.) I guess it’s good to know that movies featuring Asian families can be just as cliched and formulaic as movies with an all Whtie cast. This movie was fine.
The ridiculous: The Christmas bake-off was pretty ridiculous. Including a subplot about bribing the children who were the contest judges.
My favorite part: the heroine’s parents run a lobster bar. I thought that was hilarious and charming. My parent ran a restaurant when I was growing up too – it was not a Chinese restaurant, but rather a run of the mill family restaurant that served prime rib and burgers and what not.

Boyfriends of Christmas Past (2021): Career driven Lauren is visited by the spirits of past boyfriends who take her on a journey of her past, leading her to reflect on why she is still single.
My catnip: The 11 year old chose this one – she was really excited to see a movie with an Asian lead. Also – I am a sucker for a Christmas Carol adaptation.
My take: I thought the concept was actually pretty great – the visits by the boyfriends were funny – but Lauren was such an awful character that I ended up not liking this movie at all. She was just so mean to everyone around her. Which I guess was the point – redemption and all that – but I think there has to be something about that character that I want to like, but there just wasn’t.
The ridiculous: Lauren breaks up with all her boyfriends around Christmas time and never thinks to take that to her therapist to unpack?
My favorite bit: I thought that the best friend, Nate, was kind of cute. Bonus points for not being white. I think it’s a little out of touch when Hallmark couples always feature one white person, so it was nice to see a mixed race couple where neither person was white.

Holiday Road (2023) – 9 strangers stranded in Portland airport on Christmas Eve decide to rent a van to get them to Colorado in time for Christmas.
My cat nip: Road Trip Movie.
My take: I thought this was a pretty fun story – there were several story lines involved and I thought they were each touchingly cliche. We watched this for Family movie night and no one hated it. High praise, I know.
The ridiculous: When they got to Colorado, the van pulled up at a house that was covered in snow and decorated for Christmas, except the trees in the front yard were deciduous trees. And they were covered with snow! Like full on leafy green trees with snow on their branches. I know these films are shot in the summer, but come on!
My favorite bit: The storyline featuring the single mom and the crusty old man was my favorite bit – touching even though I expected each plot twist. Also – the couple from Hong Kong travel with a portable karaoke machine! I was debating whether this was to go under the “ridiculous” or “favorite” bit – and honestly it’s kind of both.

Not so Royal Christmas (2023)– Royal tabloid reporter snags an interview with and elusive Count of vague European country. But the truth is the real Count has gone AWOL and the “Count” is really the landscaper. Tabloid reporter and fake Count get close, canoodle, and do all sorts of Christmas-y things in the name of journalism and philanthropy.
My catnip: Royalty, Will Kemp as the leading man.
My take: I thought this was a charming twist on the somewhat cliched story of a Prince in disguise as a commoner. In this story, the commoner is disguised as the Prince.
The ridiculous: There seems to be a lack of journalistic ethics in this movie. Also the end scored high points in my “But they can’t just do that!” meter.
My favorite bit: Will Kemp. He’s just adorable. And he sometimes wears glasses which makes him even more so.

Ladies of the 80’s: A Diva’s Christmas (2023): A group of former soap opera stars reunite to film a holiday special. And oh yeah there’s a romance between the producer and the screenwriter. But that is totally back seat to the fabulous cattiness and comraderies of the women.
My catnip: I mean it’s there in the title – Ladies of the 80s – Morgan Fairchild, Nicolette Sheridan, Linda Grey, Loni Anderson. LONI ANDERSON!!!
My take: This movie is very much a good time, though I feel like a large part of that is because it brings together an amazing group of women. If, however, you did not grow up in the 80s, a large part of the charm of this movie might be lost on you. The plot was just a pretty thin excuse for getting these ladies onstage.
The ridiculous: Is this really how a tv special is made?
My favorite bit: Watching those ladies share the screen. The quips, the banter, the DGAF. May I be that awesome when I get to be that age.

Where are you Christmas (2023): Career driven Christmas cynic Addy returns home for the holiday. Christmas is annoying and inconvenient and she wishes Christmas away. The next day, she wakes up to find her wish has come true, and the world has been literally drained of colour – everyone is now black and white and no one remembers Christmas. She immediately regrets it and enlists the help of the local mechanic Hunter to help bring Christmas back.
My catnip: Michael Rady – I like him in all the Hallmark movies that I see. He’s got a “Man next door” air about him that I love.
My take: Okay, in the pantheon of whimsical, magical Christmas movies, I thought the premise of this one wasn’t terribly original, but having the non-Christmas believers be black and white and then burst into colour when the remember what Christmas was about – that was pretty beautiful and was one thing that set this movie apart. The other thing I really liked about this movie was that it was really thoughtful about the idea of “What does Christmas mean to me” and the divide between the people who believed in Christmas and those who didn’t. This movie didn’t feel like it could have happened at any other time of the year. Christmas cynics aren’t my favorite trope, but I really liked the way it was handled in this movie.
The ridiculous: Addy is in charge of marketing a Christmas Countdown app that has a Santa that tells you how close you are to Christmas. Let me tell you, this app is so annoying, I don’t know how anyone thought this a viable product.
My favorite bit: I loved all the bits when people changed from black and white to colour – it was just so well done.

Waking Up To Christmas (2023): Career driven woman electrocutes herself at the airport and wakes up to find herself living in a Christmas movie. She must
My catnip: Christmas movies about Christmas movies. I love that very meta trope.
My take: This was fine, if a little over the top and excessively Chistmas-y. I found the lead a little irritating in how adamantly anti-Christmas she was. Yes, yes, it’s all in part of the story, but it just made the end kind of not really believable.
The ridiculous: There is a character called Christophe Kringle. I mean I guess if you make a movie about living in a Christmas movie, it’s going to be pretty ridiculous. Also – when I tried to Google this movie, it came up under a different title – Just Another Christmas Movie. I have questions about that. Why would you release a movie under two names?
My favorite bit: The movie lampoons the genre perfectly with the dreamy widowed doctor with a precocious daughter, both of whom always appear out of nowhere ate the exact right moment.

Christmas on Cherry Lane (2023): Three couple celebrate Christmas on Cherry Lane.
My catnip: same sex couple – yay for inclusive story telling!
My take: Okay, I loved this movie – the way that all the storylines intersected was really neat. Spoiler alert – if you like This is Us, this movie might be right up your alley as well.
The ridiculous: The one couple is having their house renovated and when the movie starts, on Christmas eve, the kitchen is torn down to the studs. But their contractor says it will be ready for Christmas. And it is indeed finished by Christmas. What? That is definitely a contractor fairy tale right there.
My favorite bit: All those lightbulb moments when you saw how things were connected.


Checkin’ It Twice (2023) – Career Driven woman returns home to her small town for the holiday and meets hocky player who has recently joined her town’s minor league hockey team. Cute Hocky player is at a career crossroad, trying ot decide what to do with his life.
My catnip: Kim Matua whom I loved so much in 2022’s Ghosts of Christmas Always.
My take: I was pretty “meh” about this movie – everything about it seemed unoriginal.
The ridiculous: I feel like this movie was too bland to be truly ridiculous.
My favorite bit: I thought the two leads were very appealing, but other than that I was very lukewarm about this movie.

Round and Round (2023): Hannukah movie meets Groundhog Day. Rachel is stuck reliving the same day over and over again, including the meet cute with the nice Jewish boy her grandmother brings to the 7th night of Hannukah.
My catnip: I love a good Hannukah movie.
My take: I really liked this movie – probably my second favorite this year, after A Biltmore Christmas. It starts as kind of a gimmicky premise, but then as Rachel, the heroine, tries to break the cycle, there is some really thoughtful and hilarious plot twists. I also liked that this movie felt very holiday specific – this wasn’t just a cliched rom com that happened to be set during the holidays – Hannukah traditions were central to how the plot moved forward.
The ridiculous: I mean that whole wake up to the same day every day thing… but it’s the plot, so I guess I’m okay with it.
My favorite bit: Rachel’s dad is played by Rick Hoffman of the tv show Suits and he was a delight to watch. Also there’s a bit in a comic book store that is brilliant and hilarious.

So that’s a wrap on Holiday movies from 2023! I think that’s 21 movies all together. Whew. The movies this year seemed to me less diverse and more “Hallmark Formula” than last year, which was slightly disappointing. Well, we’ll see what happens next year! Only 9 more months until Hallmark movie season starts again!

(bi) Weekly recap + what we ate: Another Birthday week and a Museum

Visit to the Museum.

It’s February! January was a blur – there was a show for the first half of the month and then the second half of the month felt like I was picking up the pieces. I’m hoping the February will feel slower, more intentional and more balanced, less like survival mode.

Also – we’ve had weather in the high 70s and mid 30s, all in the span of a week. I cannot take this weather whiplash. On my walk the other day, I saw some crocus shoots starting to peak up. What? Not! And then I was talking to a stage manager who was coming in for our next show and she asked me what kind of weather she should pack for and I said, “I honestly have no idea what to tell you.” But… it got me thinking that she will be here until the end of March, which means that she will likely be here for peak cherry blossom season. I’m really excited – for peak bloom. (I just checked the website and it says it is yet too early to predict peak bloom… I wait with much anticipation…)

Anyhow – other adventures…

The big kids had last Monday off school (Teacher’s grading day), so the Husband and I both took the day off and we took the kids downtown to the Mall to visit the National Gallery of Art. There were two exhibits that I wanted to see before they closed in March – one exhibit was of the portraits by Dorothea Lange, and another of the works of Mark Rothko.

I thoroughly enjoyed both exhibits. The Lange was especially haunting as a large part of the exhibit was devoted to portraits that she took of families migrating during the Dust Bowl, including Human Erosion in California (Migrant Mother), the famous one of a Great Depression mother looking weary. (I just went down a rabbit hole and the story of the woman behind the photo is fascinating. She wasn’t actually a worker on the pea farm where the photo was taken; she was just stopped them when her family’s car broke down. Turns out the lady, Florence Owen Thompson, was quite resentful that the photo was taken without her permission.) There were also a series of photos she took at a Japanese relocation center that felt particularly poignant. I love how immediate and spontaneous and timely photography can be.

The other exhibit, works of Mark Rothko, was more intangible in it’s appeal, I think. Abstract art hasn’t always spoken to me – I like art of things and people and recognizable objects – but there is something about Rothko that I really like. Maybe it’s the bold unapologetic color? What I loved about seeing the Rothko paintings up close is that you can see how different blocks were painted with different techniques- some bold and rough, some quite smooth, some very orderly. It makes his work feel all the more deliberate. In addition to the familiar blocks of colour, the exhibit had some of Rothko’s early watercolors and they were definitely reminded me of the work of painters like Cezanne and early Picasso. Another favorite part of the exhibit was the giant easel that they had on display – to see where Rothko made his work really lifted to the painting for me, and reminded me that there is a person behind all this colour.

Close up of the brushwork.
Rothko’s easel from his studio.

Taking to the kids to a museum is always a tricky excursion. The 4 year old didn’t have a lot of patience for looking at art, but one thing that did capture her attention was all the paintings of Mary and the baby Jesus. Every time she saw a painting of Madonna and Child, she would run up to it, pointing with glee, exclaiming, “It’s Baby Jesus!!!” I guess it all goes to show that art speaks to us, when we find something familiar in it.

Baby Jesus!!!!

In the lobby of the East Wing, there was an easel set up with a giant screen that people could “paint” on. The kids LOVED this. They would have spent the whole day there if they could. I had a moment when I thought, “But they have art supplies at home! Why are they so much more excited about this?” Oh well. As I was walking out, though, I saw a grown up with a child who looked to be about eight or nine, and the grown up was teaching the child how to draw and they were sketching the Calder mobile above them. I thought that was actually a brilliant idea of how to get children to engage in art. Sometimes I think that we spend so much time looking at art that we forget to actually make it ourselves. (This is one of my beefs about the kids’ school specials – they spend all this time learning about Beethoven and the Beetles, and not enough time making music themselves. Similarly in art class – they know about Van Gogh, but not about making their own creations.) So yes, in the same breath I have been irked at my kids for their obsession with a digital painting canvas and bemoaned the lack of creative opportunities. It’s irrational. I’m going to sit with that for a little bit.

Art and art.

I also thought this was funny – this layout of a future exhibit. The circles say, “Not Trash” I feel like that could be some kind of very meta art in itself.

Every time we go down to the National Mall, I’m struck with gratitude and amazement how all these great museums and works of arts are less than an hour away by train. This year I want to be more intentional about going down and making time for the the exhibits that I want to see. There is a show in September called Paris 1874: The impressionist Moment that I want to make sure to catch. But also there is an amazing permanent collection too that I should also remember to see – We walked by Degas’ sculpture Little Dancer on Monday and I had forgotten that this sculpture was even here. Such a lovely piece of work and I can walk in and see it for free anytime the Museum is open!

Also super fun was we saw two white squirrels on the Mall as we were down there! I heard that they are rare, but there were two frolicking about, so maybe they aren’t as rare as I would think? After the Museum we went to have dumplings and noodles and then went home. What a lovely day.

The week before we celebrated another birthday! The middle child turned seven. I can hardly believe that he’s already seven. And… he lost his first tooth the day before his birthday. Milestones all around! I bought some balloons, including this giant Grogu balloon that has weights on the bottom and an attached ribbon so you can pull it around like a pet. I realized afterwards that the same balloon without the weighted bottom and ribbon leash was five dollars cheaper. Did I really pay an extra $5 for a ribbon and weights? I guess I did. Well, the 7 year old loved it, so maybe it was worth it? The Grogu haunts our house now, floating around, peeking around corners in the evenings. It’s a little creepy of one isn’t expecting it.

Grogu watching me clean the kitchen late at night. Maybe he needs a cookie…?

I made a red velvet cake and we FaceTimed with my parents that night, singing happy birthday and blowing out candles.

“They just keep growing” moment – I’ve been trying to do some closet cleanouts and I had two bags of clothes to take to Goodwill. The bags had been riding around in my car, but then I realized that the 4 year old’s agility class is right next to a Goodwill. Yay! I love when errands line up. So after class one day, we I headed over to the donation center. Just as I was pulling up, though, I remembered that the 12 year old needed pants, and last fall I had put four pairs of pants that no longer fit me into the bag. And actually, those pants would probably fit the 12 year old. So I pulled them out of the bag before dropping the donation off at Goodwill and took them home to her. It turns out that they fit her pretty well. It was just such a moment for me to realize that the path of clothes that no longer fit now don’t automatically have to go into the donation pile.

A charming picture book and story from my past:

So funny story – when I was growing up in Canada, there was a radio show on the CBC called Basic Black, hosted by Arthur Black. I don’t remember much detail of it, but I remember it was funny and that my brother and I would listen to it every week. Arthur Black had a book in which he wrote a essay about how Winnie the Pooh was named after a bear named Winnipeg, because the bear was from Canada. In sixth grade, my best friend Gail was a huuuuge Winnie the Pooh lover. She one day told me that Winnie the Pooh was named after a bear named Winnie at the London Zoo. I said, no, actually it’s named after a bear named Winnipeg because Arthur Black said so. No, you’re wrong, Gail said. And back and forth and back and forth we went.

I eventually wrote to Arthur Black and asked him how he knew that Winnie the Pooh was named after a bear named Winnipeg. And he wrote me back!!!! Anticlimactically, he said, “I wish I could give you chapter and verse of where I heard about the bear named Winnipeg, but I don’t remember.” I’m paraphrasing, but that bit about “chapter and verse” is a direct quote – for some reason that stuck in my head.

Anyhow, fast forward thirty-five years and we borrow this book, Finding Winnie, from the library, mostly because I love the art of Sophie Blackall. And guess what? Winnie the Pooh was indeed named after a bear in the London Zoo. So Gail was right. BUT… the bear came from Canada and was named Winnipeg. So Arthur Black was right too. The story of how the bear named Winnipeg got to the London Zoo is actually quite a lovely story and I might actually have almost been close to tears at one point. And to have a 35 year old argument resolved… that was lovely too.

Cleaning out the Tupperware drawer I have a huge list of aspirational decluttering that I want to do and the list is overwhelming. Cleaning out the Tupperware drawer and Tupperware overflow seemed like low hanging fruit, so I tackled it one day. (I do note that I use “Tupperware” like “Kleenex” or “Xerox”. I don’t actually own any true Tupperware per se.) One of my pet peeves is when storage containers do not get put away with their lids. It irks me to no end when I go to use a container, fill it up, and then turn around and discover that there is no lid. ARRRRRGH!!!! Anyhow, the jumble was getting out of control so I pulled everything out, matched lids and then threw out anything that didn’t have a lid. And then I went to our basement where we have “Tupperward overflow” and did the same, also throwing out all those old crappy free water bottles that I had been collecting down there. I also threw out/recycled a bunch of sippy cups – made me a little wistful remembering the days before my kids could drink from a cup. Isn’t that crazy to think there was a time when drinking out of a cup was hard? Another thing in the “They just keep growing” category. Anyhow, organizing the Tupperware was a very satisfying task. Also – in our previous house, we kept all the Tupperware in a cupboard, and I have to say the deep drawers for storage in this house – I really love them. It would never have occurred to me to have storage drawers instead of shelves beforehand.

Grateful For:
–The Metro worker who filled up my metro card. On our way home from the museum, when I tried to tap out the 6 year old’s card, it didn’t have enough fare on it. Good lesson for me – always tap out after the kid so he’s not stuck on the other side of the gate. The machines at the gate you use to to refill metrocards only take cash. Well, the kid needed 0.15 on his card to make up the rest of his fare and as I was digging through my purse for change, the station worker came up behind me and put money in the fare machine for me. I know it was just 15 cents, but that little bit of generosity really brightened my day. And then on the way home, we took the bus and the bus driver told us not to tap our cards so we rode for free. Not sure why, but it always warms my heart a little when I get to ride for free.

–A Co-worker’s keys – One day I was working in my office all alone and I started packing up to get ready to go pick up the kids from the school bus. I went to the bathroom and then got back to my office and realized that I had left my keys inside. Panic! I had my car keys, and I thought maybe I could just go get the kids (without my coat or purse or phone). The building was pretty empty and I was starting to despair, but then I ran into someone who works in the costume department. She saw that I was clearly stressed and distressed and asked me what was wrong and I said, “I’ve locked my keys in my office and now I’m going to be late to pick up the kids!”
“I think my key opens your office,” she said. “Here take them and see.”
And her keys worked. And relief flooded me. And I wasn’t late for the bus. Well, I was a little late, but the bus was waiting for me when I got there, so it was okay.

–Wool Baselayers – I’ve gotten back into running, but some days it is just so cold – like in the 30s. But I also hate being too hot. I’ve been able to find some not so expensive wool baselayers on sites like Backcountry or Sierra Trading Company. They’re great for cold weather running – keeps the heat in, but doesn’t weigh me down or make me overheat.

-A beautiful Vocal Recital – I had one show to do supertitles for last week. There was a bit of kerfuffle a couple hours before the recital where there was an added song so I had to put together the translation slides very last minute. But it was all good. My favorite piece was a setting of Jamaican songs.

–The six year old who is now seven – What a creative, cerebral little guy he is turning out to be! He can make anything into a rocket ship; he finds endless possibilities in sticks. He loves to sit and think and ponder the world. He’s a little bit of a rule-follower, maybe too much. He’s learning to read and loves to read books and comic strips and the side of cereal boxes and the gps directions from the back seat of the car. He loves music and dance parties. It can’t be easy to be the middle child, but he loves his sisters and gives them lots of hugs. I’m so grateful that he’s part of our family!

Looking Forward To:
–Galavant – This is an enormously fun tv show is a fairy tale musical about a knight on a mission to rescue his lady love from an evil, yet misunderstood tyrant. I had vaguely heard of this show when it came out in 2015; I might even had watched an episode or two. But this was still back when network/cable tv and watching episodes as they were released were a thing, and I was working in Colorado without at tv that summer and couldn’t keep up. Now the show become part of our Friday night routine. Fridays used to be tv and pizza night, but because of the 12 year old’s basketball schedule, we don’t have time for a full movie, so we’ve been trying to find tv shows to watch instead. I’m finding that family friendly tv shows don’t really exist anymore. Either they’re super sophisticated or moronically infantile. This manages to be a bit of both and much more. There is lots of tongue in cheek humour and “spot the star” guest appearances – John Stamos! – but also sword fights and musical numbers. Very much recommend.

–Watercolor classes – Start this Tuesday! I got the syllabus last week and I’m excited to have homework again!

–Knoxville: Summer of 1915. I have another recital coming up the second week of February and I just received the program and texts/translations to prepare the supertitle slides. I am so excited because on the program is one of my favorite pieces of music ever – Samuel Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915, a gorgeous gorgeous piece of music, all about the sad beauty and nostalgia of childhood. (I may have mentioned it here before…) I’ve never had a chance to hear it perform live and I’m so looking forward to this recital.

What We Ate:
Monday: Orzo Salad with Peppers and Feta from NY Times Cooking. I had a whole bunch of red peppers in the Hungry Harvest box so this was a good recipe to use them up. I’m reminded yet again that I don’t actually like orzo that much. It’s just too small to chew satisfyingly.

Tuesday: My mother’s chicken wings, steam green beans and tater tots. Red Velvet cake. It was the middle child’s birthday, and this was his birthday dinner request.

Wednesday: Tofu Stir fry. I think the Husband made this.

Thursday: Not quite sure – for some reason I didn’t write down this dinner.

Friday: Cabbage stir fried with noodles from Tenderheart. I have a few heads of cabbage in my fridge to use up. (Though the 12 year old likes to eat cabbage raw and gets annoyed when I actually cook it into something.) This was a great pantry recipe because I could use up all the various yam noodles and rice noodles in the pantry. I’m determined to cook from the pantry the next month or so. This meal was also really quick to come together so we had it before basketball practice. After practice we also had a bonus dinner – pizza and Galavant.

Saturday: Pizza (take-out) and The Barbie movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the Barbie movie – it kind of reminded me of The Velveteen Rabbit, with it’s central idea of how real life with all it’s messy, hard, complicated bits is still worth living.

Sunday: Snack dinner while we watched the football playoffs. Guacamole, chips, crudité plate, brie in pastry.

Monday: Yu Noodles – a local chain. This was where we went to get dumplings and noodles and buns after our trip to the museum. So tasty.

Tuesday: Fried snapper, eaten din lettuce wraps, with cut up carrots and cucumbers. The Husband cooked.

Wednesday: Steamed Tofu and Bok choy with tahini cilantro sauce. Simple, healthy. One kid only at the bok choy, one kid only ate the tofu.

Thursday: Happy Hour after work at a Mexican restuaruant.

Friday: Guacamole snack before basketball practice. Pizza and Galavant after practice.

Onward into February now!

On Wednesday morning piano lessons

The two older kids take piano lessons at 7:15am on Wednesdays. When the piano teacher first offered that as a time slot – her only available opening – I thought, it was an alarming idea. But then I thought about it, and actually, it made sense for us. My kids are early risers and they don’t leave for school until 8:00am. Having piano lessons first thing in the morning meant that I could take them, and then we wouldn’t have to figure out a carpool situation after school when I often wasn’t available.

But I’m going to be honest – it is a hard push most Wednesdays to get them there. Getting them up, dressed. Sometimes there is breakfast involved. Sometimes I pick up breakfast afterwards for them as a treat. Making sure they have their books, which should have been put together the night before – there is literally an alarm on my phone at 7:30pm on Tuesday night called “Find your piano books”. And the 4 year old also has to come along for the ride because I can’t leave her at home. So that’s another body to wrangle into the car seat, often still in her pajamas. And for some reason, the children that wake up on their own at 6am six days out of the week need to be dragged out of bed at 6:50am on Wednesday mornings. Needless to say, there are many alarms set for Wednesday mornings at our house.

Getting to 7:15am piano lessons feels especially hard in winter, when it is dark and cold outside as we get in the car. Indeed, the whole thing can feel like some sort of secret stealth mission – bundling into the car while the houses around us are still dark and still, as if we are on the lam or something. Even in the summer when it is light, the quiet expectant air of morning contrasts with my frazzled hurry and I try to make it to lessons on time.

Piano lessons are just a little over a mile away – two left turns and one right. Yet there is always one moment, when we take that second left straight and head straight east, that always surprises me. The turn towards the rising sun is never the same, depending on the time of year. Some days it is still dark with only the faintest hit of dawn. Some days, we drive straight into a blinding sunrise. And I have to squint and concentrate to stay on the road. If I’m good I’ll have remembered to put on my sunglasses beforehand.

And then some days, like last week, as the daylight hours finally begin to lengthen, I take that left and I see the most beautiful golden pink dawn sky, sunrise just starting. The tangled jaggedly trees that line the street silhouetted against the blushing horizon. And it’s gorgeous and it’s just a moment. And I want to capture the sheer beauty of it, but I’m driving and that would be irresponsible and probably dangerous, so I just keep driving and drinking in the pink and I say to the kids, “Look at the beautiful sky!!!” Because I don’t want them to miss it. Because I know that the next week I won’t be guaranteed this sight as I turn that corner, so I might as well enjoy it now.

Anyhow, as I turn the calendar into February, I just want to remind myself to look up as I round those bends because beautiful things might be just around the corner.

Weekly recap + what we ate: Snow, snow, snow, and show!

This past week was pretty mild, but what a snowy, snowy week we hadthe week previous! I have to say, after having absolutely no snow last year, it was a bit of a shock to have so much snow last week. Of course, still not as much snow as in other parts of the country, but certainly what qualifies for a lot of snow here – maybe 3-5 inches.

The quick version:
-Monday was MLK Day, so no school for the kids. I did have to work, so the Husband was home with them.
-Tuesday: Snow Day!!! Schools were closed, and the building where we rehearsed was on a delay. Also, annoyingly, County summer camp sign ups opened at 6:30a am. So at 8am, I was on the phone with work re-scheduling rehearsal while at the same time on my computer trying to register the six year old for summer camp slots. The Husband worked from home.
-Wednesday: another snow day! Although the 4 year old’s preschool was open. Let me tell you – she loves it when she’s the only one who gets to go to school. Again, the Husband worked from home.
-Thursday: Everyone got to go to school. HOOORAY!!!!
-Friday: Snow day! Again. I had to be in at work around 2pm, so I took the morning shift with the kids and the Husband went in to work. He came home around 12:30pm.

So yup – a grand total of ONE day in school for the older two kids.

In amongst all this – I opened a show and closed a show. I would say I also teched a show, but the process was so quick, I would barely count it as “tech” – just one day of rehearsal onstage. The show was a program of three newly commissioned 20 minute operas. It’s something we do every year and I love participating. There is such excitement about presenting premieres of new works written by young composers and librettist. One piece in particular was so quirky and fun – it takes place in a world after humans are extinct and the characters are microplastics and a tardigrade. I had to google tardigrade and now I feel that much smarter for knowing what a tardigrade is. (If you, like me, didn’t know, it’s a small microscopic creature that can live in extreme conditions and survive anything. They look like little bears. Apparently there’s an Aquanots episode about them.)

So putting up a show combined with a snow week was kind of … a lot. But at least I got to go to work. The Husband’s three day weekend stretched into a five day weekend, and he should get a medal for being home with the kids for all that time.

Things that worked this tech period:
– prioritizing life and work things. I didn’t have an assistant for this show, so I had to really focus on what was important to getting the show up. There was one moment in particular that stood out for me when I declined a meeting invite. It was just a 20-30 minute meeting, and normally I would think, “It’s thirty minutes, I can squeeze that in.” But I decided that, no, actually I’m stage managing a show without an assistant – I need those 20-30 minutes for myself or I won’t get my paperwork done and I will be stressed out – the meeting can wait. It was a bit of a lightbulb for me, to be honest – to be able to say, “That isn’t a good time for me, can we re-schedule?” I have no bones declining meeting when I have to be somewhere else – ie. “I’m only available until 3:30p because I need to pick up the kids.” But somehow, saying, “I can’t do that because I need to finish my paperwork” I don’t know – that had never occurred to me.
– Not worrying about things being pretty. Look, like most stage managers, I love nice paperwork – I love charts and diagrams and running times all lined up. But you know, ultimately getting the information out correctly is the most important thing. So yeah, there was some paperwork that had a mistake and I decided that I’m just going to correct that with a Sharpie rather than try to open the document on my computer and change it. Why waste the paper or my time?
-Packing food, particularly leftovers. I always pack food, but it’s especially helpful because this theatre is farther away from the staff canteen than the other theatre I worked at. I think three out of four days last week, I had leftovers in a tortilla for dinner. Perfect thing to eat efficiently.
-Four Color Frixion Pen. Frixion Pens are one of the best new inventions for stage mangers. Well, at least this stage manager. My favorite is a four colour Frixion pen in black, green, red, and blue. All those colours in one barrel so I can colour code cues in my book without having to pull out another pen. And also the ability to erase cues when things change. Amazing.
-Riding to work with my work bestie. When I’m in tech, my social life suffers and I miss seeing friends. Which is why I love that one of my good friend works with me and we get to ride to work together and talk about life and work and all the things at Trader Joe’s that I miss buying.
– Realizing I’m the stage manager. I have always been more of a self-effacing type of stage manager. It’s not necessarily a good thing. But twice last week, people have said to me, “You get to decide; you’re the stage manager.” Whoa what??? Right. I get to tell people that I want them at a meeting. And, this was the big moment – I get to decide that it’s okay that I wore my snow boots all day because if it’s between taking the time to change into my black shoes and not getting that one last thing done, versus just keeping the damn snow boots on but getting the thing done – I’m going to keep my snow boots on. And the world didn’t end. I mean I don’t think it’s an open invitation to be cavalier and dress unprofessionally, but … in the scheme of things – it’s okay to keep the snow boots on.
-Taking time to go sledding. Last year I bought a sled. Then it didn’t snow. Bummer. So I was very determined to take the kids sledding this year when the snow hit. You know, if it was a choice between taking the kids sledding and making the paperwork pretty – I chose sledding. On Tuesday, I told the kids that if they wanted to go sledding, we had to leave the house by 9:30am and we managed to do it. We drove to the local elementary school where there is a nice hill and went sledding for 45 minutes.
(Funny side note story -while sledding, we ran into a kid that the 12 year old knows from school, and he said snow days at after care were the best – the aftercare company was still providing care that day because the buildings were still open – because you got to play dominos and then after lunch, the after care folks would take all the kids to the hill and give them each a pizza box to go sledding. Doesn’t that just sound like the height of childhood memories?)

So we only have one sled – the other thing is a plastic tub that we use as a water table during the summer. It works great!

Then on Friday, the same thing. I told the kids that if they wanted to go sledding, I would take them, but we had to be ready to go by 9:30am, and again, they were! And honestly, I would have been really disappointed if we hadn’t gone. This time, we also took our neighbor’s kid with us. (I firmly believe in being a village and if I don’t have to be at work until 2pm then why not take an extra kid with us so her parent can have a few hours to work? Plus the kids always love having other kids around and they other family takes our kids sometimes in the evenings too.) I took a few runs down this hill this time in the sled which was really fun, and I thought ahead and brought a Thermos of hot chocolate with us, a lovely treat once we got done sledding.

Looking back on that list, what struck me is that a lot of what made the week go well on my end is that I made very mindful choices about what was important to keeping me going and everything else could be subpar or just dropped. There is a culture in stage management (and theatre, and really, I’m sure a lot of other industries) of pushing yourself and letting work drain every last drop that you have to give. It doesn’t need to be that way. I need to do things in a way that leave me mental margin, so that when the important things come up, I have the bandwidth to deal with that. Even things like taking my kids sledding – being able to step out of the job and concentrate on, “What can I do to make memories with my kids?” – it puts me in a better mood at work because I know that if nothing else, we had 45 minutes of joy that morning. I feel more like there is a bit more balance to me. It relieves a bit of the mental load of wondering if my kids’ are having a good day and the guilt of not being home at bedtime – because you know what? They at least had a good morning and I feel like there’s a bit o (I do still have a lot of guilt and struggle over the fact that the Husband does 95% of the parenting when I’m working and I know it’s a lot to put on his plate… I need to work on how to achieve balance when there is no balance.)

Hopefully writing those “things that worked” will help me remember them next time I’m in tech. Which won’t be until May. That’s a little wild for me to realize that I don’t have a show to work on for a long stretch.

Fun Family Activity – We went to a concert by Elena Moon Park. Park is a musician who reimagines folk songs and children’s songs from around the world, mostly from East Asia – yay Asian representation! I had heard her at an outdoor concert two years ago and I really loved her music so when I had a chance to hear her again, I was really excited to hear her again and take the kids. During the concert, the kids were kind of clingy and they didn’t participate in any of the clapping games or hand gesture-y parts, and I was worried that they weren’t liking it. But afterwards, they were singing bits of the concert, so I guess they did enjoy it after all.

Other nice things this week:
-The six year old reading Dogman to his little sister.

– Dropping the 12 year old and her friend at voice lessons and then going for a walk and re-discovering the Glass Forest. The Glass Forest is a really neat little bit of forest where someone has hung bits of glass and metal and what not from the trees to make a series of sculptures. When you walk through it, the wind knocks the metal and glass together and it’s like walking in a windchime. It’s a little creepy, a little magical. I was on a walk while the 12 year old was at her voice lesson and I happened upon the Glass Forest. I had come here years ago, on some kind of mission to find hidden gems of DC. This definitely fit the bill of “hidden gems” but I had forgotten about it in the years since, so it was a nice surprise to find it again.

-Okay, I feel super pretentious recounting this, but it was such a sweet moment – after sledding on Friday, as we were enjoying our hot chocolate and taking in the snowy views, the six year old says, “Mommy, it looks like a Robert Frost poem!” Lest you think the six year old is some kind of genius budding English scholar – he knows exactly one Robert Frost poem. We have an illustrated version of “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” – and the cover did indeed look like the scene before us:

…miles to go…

-And this made me laugh – The Husband and I stayed up late to watch the football game one night. And the 12 year old tried to convince us to let her stay up too. The reason? it was not because she was a huge footballs fan. No – it was the Kansas City game and she wanted to see if she could catch a glimpse of Taylor Swift. We sent her to bed, though I did take a picture of the tv when they showed Swift during one moment.

Current woes – Homework. The first grader has started coming home with homework and he is very reluctant to do it. I alternate between threatening/pleading/cajoling/bribing/etc. him to do it, and just saying “F*ck it! It’s first grade. If he doesn’t want to do it, why should I spend energy getting him to do it?” Then I have a tiny panic spiral about how I’m not setting him up for success and I go back to threatening/pleading/cajoling/bribing/etc. This is not where I want to spend my energy. So truth – it usually only gets done 50% of the time.

I’ve grown very hands off with the 12 year old’s homework. This is not some bold parenting choice. This is just lack of energy. At any rate, she has told me that many of her teachers don’t believe in homework (Great! They should meet the 1st grader’s teacher!). So it is entirely possible that she doesn’t have any homework. I for sure only very rarely see her do homework, and her grades keep coming back solidly average, so I guess she is doing what she is supposed to be doing, whether or not it is homework. As someone whose parents were very involved in my academic progress, I’m feeling a little bit like I ought to care a little bit more.

Grateful For:
-The Husband having the flexibility to handle all the snow days.

-All the super talented people I work with. I know I say this every time, but I work with amazingly competent and supportive people. Everyone knew that I was working without an assistant and there were so many offers of, “What can I do for you?” I guess this is another thing that made last week good – when people offered to help, I let them. I let someone else check the sign in sheets, I let someone else buy me a Coke to get through one long day. I let someone else start rehearsal when I couldn’t make it quite in time after dropping the 4 year old at school following a delayed opening. There is no room to be a martyr here and I’m glad I don’t have to be.

-How beautiful everything looks blanketed in snow. I know living in snowy weather is not always easy or ideal, but it sure is pretty, and I always feel lucky that I get to see it. There is nothing like being cozy inside with a cup of hot tea (or cocoa) while watching the world being buried in snow and silence.

-And also -grateful for snow plows and snow shovels so I can get safely to work. And an all wheel drive vehicle.

-The twelve year old’s friends for coming to celebrate her birthday. We had six kids over to belatedly celebrate the twelve year old’s birthday, with three of them spending the night. The next morning we had waffles and bacon and fruit and then a group of them went to see the new Mean Girls movie. It was a pretty hands off affair for us. We helped them make pizzas, then gave them the run of the basement. I did go downstairs and turn off the tv at 12:30am to a bit of minor protesting. Afterwards, the twelve year old said to me, “Thanks for turning the tv off. I’m really tired and I would be even more tired if you had let me stay up all night.” Wow. That’s a nice bit of self awareness there. Anyhow, I’m glad that her friends came over and that she had a good birthday party.

Looking Forward To:
-I signed up for a slot at Career Day at the 12 year old’s school. I went back and forth on whether or not to sign up – I think I have a pretty fun job, but it’s also a very seasonal job (for me – there are people who do this full time), and I don’t know if non-full time employment is really what Career Day is about? Oh well. I’m nervous – what am I going to talk about for thirty minutes??? But it’s good to do new things, particularly things that scare you a little bit.

-Lighter work load and time to focus on house things. The two big projects are to figure out what to do about my car and moving forward with getting window treatments for the living room. Both projects carry a lot of mental and emotional stress. There’s also little projects like cleaning out the pantry and linen closet. And I really want to label the spice jars on our spice rack. Who knows if I will get that all done, but good to have aspirations.

-Listening to more of this audiobook – narrated by Julia Whelan. Julia Whelan is an amazing audiobook narrator. This book itself has some questionable plot holes and devices that normally would not appeal to me, but Whelan does such a great job that I’ve been sucked in. I can’t tell whether I would like this book if I read it vs. listened to the audiobook.

What We Ate:
Saturday: Parmesan Mint Pasta. The Husband cooked because I was at work. The kids had requested mac and cheese (from the box), and the Husband said this looked more interesting and made it instead. Surprisingly tasty even though it was cold when I ate it after getting home from work.

Sunday: Scavenge. Sundays we usually try to eat down the fridge. I think there was frozen tortellini with red sauce for the kids. Not for dinner, but at lunch I had salt and vinegar stir fried potatoes, to which I added julienned golden beets. A friend had given me a bag of beets from her produce box because she didn’t like beets, so I was looking for ways to eat them. I actually ate some of them raw too – the beauty of golden beets is that they don’t stain your hands deep purple-red.

Monday: Funny story. Before I left for work, I told the Husband that there was tofu in the fridge and he should use it up. Later that day, he texted me asking if the tofu was in a red lidded container. I said, no the tofu is shrink wrapped, still in it’s own packaging.
<I put that in the dinner. > he replied. <It melted.>
Then, I realized what was in that red container.
<That was feta> I texted him.
<Lol!> he writes back. <It is still feta. L said hmmmm that’s smooth, dad!>
So I guess for Monday, they had kung pao feta for dinner. With noodles.

Tuesday: Tofu stir fry. For reals this time.

Wednesday: I made vegan gnocchi soup, a recipe that I’ve made many times because the family loves it. I actually made all of it before I went to work, except the gnocchi and coconut milk – the Husband added that before he served it.

Thursday: I’m not sure what the family had for dinner. I had a ktichen sink sandwich – pickles, hard boiled eggs, cucumbers, avocados, mustard. It was quite messy to eat and now that I think of it – I could have just mashed all that into egg salad and it would have been less messy.

Friday: I had leftover curry eaten in a tortilla wrap at work. The family had waffles.

Saturday: Pizza, make your own as this was the sleepover night. And there was lots of soda and chips involved. But also carrots, cucumbers, and apple slices.

Sunday: Again – scavenge for dinner. The kids had hard boiled eggs and half and avocado each. I’m sure there were other veggies and fruits in there too. I had kimchi friend rice and golden beets pan fried on the griddle. I feel like this is my go to Sunday scavenge dinner – kimchi fried rice and whatever other veggies are in the fridge.

Christmas Movies 2023 – Hallmark and such.

I will say, I think they are getting more inventive and less predictable with these movie posters.

A snowy weekend! What better time to recap my 2023 Hallmark Holiday movie binge. As I was out shoveling the front walk yesterday, I thought, “This is one part of winter that never makes it into the Hallmark movies- the backbreaking tedium of shoveling the front walk over and over and over again. Why do I never see anyone shoveling the front walk in a Hallmark movie?” Well probably because the movies are all filmed in July and no one can convincingly shovel snow in July in Vancouver. Also on that note – where are the piles next to door of wet boots and winter coats and hats and mittens?!?!?!

The New York Times had a really fun article (gift link) about Christmas rom coms in which their reporters analyzed 424 Hallmark and Lifetime movies to see how formulaic they really were. No surprises here. We all know the answer is “extremely formulaic.” But really, the article is full of fun tidbits – like did you know that the most popular name for a Hallmark/Lifetime female lead is Emma and male lead is Jack? If you’ve never watched a Hallmark holiday movie, just read this article and you’ll be covered. But then you wouldn’t get to see all the cozy sweaters and fake snow for yourself! Also the comments on this article are GOLD.

Here are two of my favorites:
“My wife and I both enjoy these movies, but she has one of the most interesting aspects of it: how many coats can each actress wear given they arrived in their small town with a small carry-on bag. It’s hilarious. Usually 7 to 9 coats. Don’t get us wrong. We love the coats. It’s just hilarious to watch.” I WONDER THIS TOOOO!!!!

“Good research. One datapoint you seemed to have missed is those most popular male lead actors are exclusively Canadian. All of them. Sometimes in an effort to find the most “all American” person you can, you end up with a Canadian.” HAHAHAHAH

Before we get to the Hallmark – our non-Hallmark Holiday viewings this year:
-Spirited, which I think has now become a family “must see”. And the kids play the soundtrack on repeat for much of December.
-Noelle, our first time watching this Anna Kendrick movie about Santa’s daughter who leaves the North Pole in attempt to right some wrongs. I thought this was fun, girl power version of Elf.
-Elf. Classic which we watch every year. Though, to be honest, this was the first time I didn’t fall asleep before the end and whoa… it was so interesting to see the ending with Santa in New York and all that – I’d never seen that bit.
-The Man Who Invented Christmas – about Charles Dickens and writing A Christmas Carol. Surprisingly funny.
– It’s a Wonderful Life. Another of our must see classics.
-Meet Me in St. Louis. Ditto.
The family also watched Candy Cane Lane, the new Eddie Murphy movie, but I was at work that night. Apparently it was fine.

On to the Hallmark stuff. As I was drafting this, I realized I saw twenty movies this year, too many this year to go into one post – so this is post #1 of Hallmark movies.

Ice sculpture Christmas (2015): An aspiring chef teams up with a childhood acquaintance to enter an ice sculpture contest.
My catnip: This was recommended by Elisabeth and I love movies about super niche things like ice sculpting.
My take: This movie had the formula down pat – all the right rom com beats at all the right times. It’s definitely a product of early Hallmark movies in it’s blindingly white casting.
The ridiculous: Okay, any time there’s a movie where two people first meet as kids and then recognize each other years later is going to get an eye roll from me.
My favorite bits: The lady who plays the head chef, Chef Gloria, was pretty great, I thought.

A Timeless Christmas (2020) – 1903 business man travels forward in time to present day, is confused, causes confusion, and meets a lady who is in charge of the historical preservation of his estate.
My catnip: Time travel romance.
My take: I thought this one was fine – not the best time travel movie; the period parts looked a little… unconvincing.
The ridiculous: Well, time travel…
My favorite bit: This is a bit of a spoiler, but there’s actually a poignant part when the business man is angry at his 1903 fiancée for eventually marrying someone else, and then realizes that she found a man to love an have a family with after all and that he couldn’t begrudge her that. It was super sweet.

Mistletoe and Menorahs (2019) – Recommended to my by a Jewish friend as a pretty good Hannukah-ish movie. Christmas celebrating girl (is she Christian? Unclear…) needs to learn about Hannukah to impress her boss and get a big raise. Jewish boy needs to learn about Christmas to impress his girlfriend’s father.
My catnip: anything that expands the diversity of the Hallmark/Lifetime Holiday movie scope.
My take: This was cute. The leads were engaging – I especially liked the male lead because he wasn’t as slick and perfect as a typical Hallmark romantic lead.
The ridiculous: I don’t know, but letting the non-Jewish girl light the menorah at a company holiday party seems… well let’s just say I don’t imagine that’s really something I see happening. I could be wrong, though.
Favorite part: making latkes. It definitely made me want to try to make latkes.

Laughing All the Way (2023) – Comedy club faces closure if they can’t raise money so they decide to put on a variety show/gala. One of their employees, an aspiring comedian, gets a now-famous comedian who got his start at the club to headline.
My catnip: Let’s put on a show!
My take: Okay, this might be horrible of me because I did genuinely think this was a cute charming movie, but… the lead was played by the same actor who played the Jewish guy in Mistletoe and Menorahs, which I had just watched the day before. And I just kept thinking, “He doesn’t celebrate Christmas!!!” I feel like that was kind of an unreasonable reaction, but there you go…
The ridiculous: The big show is going to be presented on Christmas eve. Who goes to shows on Christmas eve? Also – it’s a comedy club, but the jokes aren’t funny.
My favorite bit: The chemistry between the two leads was adorable.

A Paris Christmas Waltz (2023): Lady quits her job to become an amateur ballroom dancer and goes to Paris with her Pro-dancer partner. Romance ensues.
My catnip: Ballroom dancing, stars of the musical theatre stage (Matthew Morrison of Glee, but also of The Light in the Piazza which I listened to constantly this summer on my commute), European locale
My take: This one was pretty bad, to be honest – the pacing and plotting was clunky, and the acting was pretty wooden – like you know how some actors just seem like they know they’re in a cliched cheesy rom-com? This was one of those movies. There was one moment when Matthew Morrison started singing and dancing with so much charm and heart, and I thought things would get better, but then they didn’t.
The ridiculous: I don’t know a lot about ballroom dancing, but some of her rehearsal outfits didn’t look practical.
My favorite bit: the aforementioned singing and dancing by Matthew Morrison.

A Biltmore Christmas (2023) – aspiring screenwriter is tasked with re-writing a classic 1950s holiday movie. While doing research she is transported back in time to the filming of the original film and encounters one of the film’s stars.
My catnip: time travel, period piece, Star Trek alumni (Jonathan Frakes from The Next Generation!!!!)
My take: I LOOOOVED this movie. I think this is right up there with last year’s Ghost of Christmas Always as my favorite Hallmark movie. Okay, where to begin – time travel movies always have that nice note of impossible yearning, which I love, the settings and costume were beautiful, the leads had so much chemistry, and the plotting and pacing were so well done. And I so very much want to see the real version of “His Merry Wife”, the film that is getting remade.
The ridiculous: Well, again, it’s a time travel movie, so there’s that. Also – I always think with these movies when a person from the past ends up in present day – “How is he going to get a social security number?”
My favorite bit: The opening, which is played as a trailer for His Merry wife. And of course the end. I might have gone a little misty-eyed at the end.

Christmas in Notting Hill (2023) – American woman goes to England to visit her sister and meets soccer super star who is in the midst of a career crisis. Well, the American is also in the midst of a career crisis too.
My cat nip: foreign local, men with accents, stars of 1990s television (Sarah Ramos from Parenthood – does anyone remember what a lovely show that was?)
My take: This was fine, but there was no real conflict in the relationship. The American and the English soccer star liked each other from the beginning and there was nothing really standing in the way of them, so there was a real lack of tension in this movie. On the other hand, if you’re looking for all the standard cozy Hallmark Christmas tropes, this movie has them in spades. I would say this is a great movie for having on in the background to infuse the air with Christmas spirit.
The ridiculous: Soccer star’s mom makes a living selling swag with her son’s face on it. Seems a little unethical?
My favorite bits: okay, to be honest, I watched this really late at night and might have fallen asleep through parts of it. The two leads are charming, though.

Holiday Hotline (2023) – After a career crisis, British chef goes to Chicago for a break and ends up working at a holiday turkey hotline. She fields a call from a single dad trying to recreate his late wife’s Christmas turkey for his daughter. Simultaneously, she keeps running into a friend of her neighbor and sparks fly. Guess what? It’s not really a spoiler to say that the single dad and the neighbor’s friend are the same guy!
My cat nip: Single fathers, cute British accents, pseudo- Shop Around the Corner vibes, niche activity (Holiday cooking hotlines!)
My take: I thought this one was really cute, maybe my second favorite holiday movie this past year. I’ve always loved listening to the radio program Turkey Confidential and it makes a great premise for a meet cute rom com. I liked the way the story unfolded, predictably, but also with some nuance.
The ridiculous: Okay, some of the questions that callers called in with about their turkeys were hilarious and I hope no one ever asked in real life.
My favorite bits: The way that the movie handled the “hotline” scenes were, I thought, really well done. It wasn’t just a split screen effect – it was something cozier and quite skillful.

Christmas Island (2023) -Career driven private pilot is forced to land her clients – Los Angeles based toy manufacturers and their kids – at small Nova Scotia Island when she hits severe weather. She verbally spars with the air traffic controller, but then gets to know him in real life when she and her clients are stranded for several days.
My Catnip: A Hallmark movie set in Canada! Also Andrew Walker is one of my favorite Hallmark actors – I’ll watch any holiday movie he’s in. Also Rachel Skarsten, who plays the pilot was in The Royal Nanny last year, and I liked her too.
My take: The Nova Scotia location was kind of refreshing in a Hallmark movie, and I liked the storylines of how the various members of the family find their way to something fulfilling.
The ridiculous: No one seemed terribly Canadian in this movie. I can’t quite put my finger on what made me say this, since I’m sure there were a lot of Canadians in the movie. (Both the leads are Canadian.) But there was nary a ketchup chip in sight!
My favorite bit: The part with the Christmas Eve tribute to loved ones that had been lost, featuring a Christmas tree made from lobster traps. I might have shed a tear.

Mystic Christmas (2023) – Globe-trotting animal behavioral specialist goes to work for her best friend at her marine animal rehab center in Mystic, CT. She reunites with a one night stand/best friend’s brother, a homebody if there ever was one.
My catnip: Stars of musical theatre (Patti Murin, who plays the best friend, starred in Frozen the Musical.)
My take: This movie was pretty enjoyable, though low on external conflict, having, instead a lot of existential soul searching while enjoying Christmas settings. I liked that there were several different minor plotlines, to help keep things moving along. And the seals were pretty cute.
The ridiculous: What is it in the world of Hallmark that people have big exciting job offers that always start the day after Christmas? I get that not everyone runs on the same calendar as I do, but… it seems a little unbelievably inconvenient.
My favorite bit: There is one scene in which Patti Murin wears the most amazingly snuggly sweater. I loved that sweater. Also there is a book flood in the movie. Seems very hip and trendy, but it was fun to see a series of scenes where they go to the book store, buy books and then sit around and read. I don’t know what it was about the sound design, but the sound of those pages turning was just so perfectly cozy. Weird thing to love?

Well, that’s half the Hallmark/Lifetime movies I watched during 2023 holiday season! I’ll be back with a recap of the rest of them next week!

I know we’re over halfway though January, but did you enjoy any Hallmark rom coms this year?