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What I’m Into: September 2020

Published on September 30, 2020

Main Events

It’s been years since we had a September that felt at all fallish, so the nice temperatures this month have been a pleasant surprise! We decided to go ahead and embrace some fall decor. (I try not to let “being basic” stop me from enjoying things, and in 2020 that’s extra true.) Rufus had fun exploring our fall yard display that Taylor designed. As an orange cat, this is his time to shine.

not sure about this scarecrow though
maple leaves on our new breakfast table

Reading

Rachel Calof’s Story: Jewish Homesteader on the Northern Plains (4 stars) My mom got me this book on her recent trip to state parks in the Dakotas. It’s the diary of a woman who came from Russia for an arranged marriage to a North Dakota homesteader. They ended up having a great partnership, but despite her solid sense of humor, the things they endured were mind-blowing.

Happy & You Know It by Laura Hankin (4 stars) A novel of an almost-famous musician who becomes a singer to babies at an exclusive Manhattan playgroup. I read this in an afternoon and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Beach Read by Emily Henry (4 stars) Following her dad’s death, romance author January moves into a lake house he left her to write her next book and process some major family drama. Turns out her college rival Gus, a Serious Literary Writer, lives next door. After some initial bickering, they decide to spend the summer trying to write in each other’s genre. I liked this a lot.

A Tale of Two Kitties by Sofie Kelly (3 stars) I save my remaining unread Magical Cats books for when I really need the comfort and escape. This is #9 in the series and there are no Dickens influences, just the usual crime-solving with Kathleen, her two cats, and her colorful community. Two thoughts: 1. In real life, Dateline would have sent a correspondent to Mayville Heights by now to find out why people keep getting murdered. 2. Whenever Kathleen finally tells someone about the cats’ abilities, I hope they’re like “Okay, she’s one of us now” and lead her to some secret hideout where the other Wisteria Hill cats are holed up playing cards like gangsters and secretly running the whole town. #IfIWroteACozyMystery

Majesty by Katharine McGee (4 stars) The new sequel to American Royals, in which everyone does some growing up and realizes they might not really want the things they thought they wanted. I wasn’t expecting a lot of these turns, and I liked them. Zero sympathy for Daphne, though.

Rose in Three Quarter Time by Rachel McMillan (4 stars) This lovely romance between musicians in Vienna seemed like just what I needed, and it was. Moving on to the companion books shortly.

The Color of Life: A Journey toward Love and Racial Justice by Cara Meredith (3.5 stars) Read with my book club, this is a combination memoir and call to action. Cara’s husband is James Meredith, son of the senior James Meredith, civil rights icon and the first student to integrate Ole Miss. This book covers their love story and her awakening as a white woman to the depths of American racism.

Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer (4 stars) I was a Twihard in the aughts, didn’t go near the books for about ten years, and have returned for the retelling from Edward’s perspective. After it, I of course had to go back and skim-reread the rest of the series. I’m in a very different place in life than I was when I first loved it, so it was a whole new (but still fun) experience. I kind of want a Renesmee book now.

The Life Below by Alexandra Monir (3 stars) Sequel to The Final Six, this follows the chosen young astronauts on their voyage to Jupiter’s moon Europa, and former finalist Leo as he has an adventure of his own.

My Jewish Year: 18 Holidays, One Wondering Jew by Abigail Pogrebin (4.5 stars) I’m a quarter Jewish, and have been wanting to connect more with that heritage. This exploration of all the Jewish holidays by a formerly not-super-observant Jew was an interesting place to start. I recommend it for anyone who wants a better understanding of the Jewish calendar.

Listening

The Beths are back!

A couple of good podcast episodes:

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown // On My Mind: RBG, Surge Capacity, and Play as an Energy Source

Armchair Expert // Day 7 – I’d never listened to Dax Shepard’s podcast before, but a lot of people I know were talking about this episode. It’s brave and insightful.

Watching

I finished season 2 of The Umbrella Academy and liked it better than the first!

Having never seen the Great British Baking Show (I know), we watched the first new episode and liked it. Unfortunately, it gave me an overpowering urge to eat all the cake, so it should probably be only an occasional thing. I also tried a few episodes of The Home Edit, but rather than chill me out, it made me hyper to organize my already sorted, edited, and Kondo-ed closet area. I literally got out of bed at 11 pm to “donut” my bin of scarves. These types of programs are not great for my perfectionism recovery. Taking suggestions for a good bedtime show.

“Around Town”

Taylor and I and our moms look forward to the Central Gardens Home Tour all year. This year, of course, it was virtual and outdoors, but you could take selfies in front of featured houses and enter to win some good prizes. The map was basically a review of all the houses that have ever been on the Home Tour, so it was fun to reminisce about the ones we’ve seen.

I attended the virtual Soiree for Sudan (for Operation Broken Silence), and won Best Dressed in a Michael Kors wrap dress I bought for my brother’s rehearsal dinner almost four years ago. The prize was this swanky Anthropologie candle and a future styling session!

We got word that we’ll probably be WFH for the rest of 2020, so I made a trip up to the office to get a few things. I hadn’t been there since March 17. It was a surreal experience. I had to book a time to go, sign in and out, and of course distancing signs were everywhere. I walked all the way around my floor but didn’t see any colleagues. Coats were still hung on hooks, calendars (including mine) were still on March, it looked like everyone had just vanished. I mostly love working from home, but I actually miss going to work, in a tall shiny building, with my friends. What a time to be alive.

At home, we fired up the new projector and watched the first (and so far only) Tiger football game with some friends. It felt extremely weird not to be at the game, with the stadium so close that we can hear some of the announcements. I also had a gazebo night with Alanna and SIPster Kelly, who was in town visiting family.

Travel

On Labor Day weekend, we drove up to Hardy, Arkansas to kayak the Spring River with a group of friends. It was the best day – the happiest and free-est I’ve felt in a while. I really want my own kayak.

At Home

I painted our small downstairs half bath, which was previously a pale peach color found multiple other places in our house. I had previously tried Sherwin-Williams Sea Salt in my stuccoed sunroom and it didn’t work there, but I knew it would be perfect for this space! I added a new rug and hand towels from Tuesday Morning. The room feels fresher and more luxurious. Taylor recently painted over the peach color in the guest room too (no pictures yet because it’s not finished) and the white trim is now making more of an impact. I hadn’t even noticed we had massive fancy baseboards in there because it all sort of blended together.

I’ve been using a big parsons chair at my vanity, simply because it was what I had available. It took up a lot of space and didn’t fit under the desk. Last week I realized I could get something that actually worked, so I ordered this velvet stool from Wayfair and am very happy with it. I also finally finished painting the sunroom – there was a strip at the ceiling that I couldn’t reach without the big ladder. Being short-ish in an old house is frustrating.

Another row of surprise lilies popped up!

The traveling hammock Taylor gave me for our anniversary works between our trees in the backyard!

I bought this self-watering pot for violets back in the spring, and finally got a violet to put in it – and an indoor watering can for all its cousins! I got tired of spilling water all over the place.

I mentioned last month that we were having serious indoor humidity problems. My friend/Rufus’s godmother Stacy gave me a large box dehumidifier she didn’t need anymore, and between that and the lower humidity outside, things are much better.

I’ve been spending a lot of time puttering around the house “editing the space.” Removing things, stepping back to look at them, putting them back kind of stuff. It’s a task that requires a lot of time and mental freedom, so I’m glad to have both and be able to take care of it. Whenever this is all over, Taylor and I both hope to have the house just the way we want it and feel good about having lots of visitors.

Eating

We’ve been quarantining for the second half of September so I can visit my sister next weekend in Nashville. She has strict rules, including no takeout or fast food. So I’ve cooked even more this month than I already was. Here are some of the highlights. Fanciest dinner: grilled figs with prosciutto and burrata.

Some salads: classic chicken salad (which I enjoyed for several days); chicken stir-fry salad from the Simply Salads cookbook.

Healthy pumpkin bread (I had to have some and may bake another this week); Mediterranean quinoa bowls with roasted red pepper sauce (seriously, make this sauce immediately); stuffed peppers.

Not pictured here but worth sharing: crispy rice and egg bowl with ginger-scallion vinaigrette, and one of my old standbys, Zucchini Chicken.

Beauty

For my birthday, my sister started me off with an Ipsy subscription! Of all the makeup box services, this is the one I’ve been the most interested in trying. My first bag contained (among other things) a mini IT Cosmetics CC Cream and a Jonteblu black liquid eyeliner that’s easier to use than any I’ve tried. I need to purposefully sit down and play around with it, since I don’t wear makeup all the time anymore.

Wellness

Real talk: I am not doing great. Part of it is that the pre-visit quarantine has been hard. Over these pandemic months, Taylor and I have settled into a low level of risk that we can live with – being safe and considerate of others while still having some engagement with friends, family, and the outside world. Having to give up those things has caused a lot of tension and made everything seem more fraught, not just during the quarantine but also in the weeks leading up to it.

In addition, I’ve had unwanted confrontations with friends and family over my opinions, beliefs, and what I’m doing or not doing politically in this time of upheaval. This combined with being isolated has triggered lots of personal, relational, and spiritual baggage. Like many others, I also have ongoing cognitive dissonance from apparently living in a separate reality from a large chunk of America (and from other Christians). It’s reached a new level this morning after last night’s debate. I cannot believe how many people I’ve known and loved for years are either blithely both-sidesing this election, or still actually supporting an openly fascist white supremacist. I just… cannot.

Meanwhile (quarantinewhile?), I continue to balance disappointment over not being pregnant, with feeling like bringing a child into this burning-down world is the height of selfishness, with frustration that due to my age, we can’t just hold off until everything is better (if it ever is). No matter how the parenthood stuff pans out, I will be fine. But sometimes it’s a lot.

I also, from my extremely fortunate and privileged position, feel like this is never going to end. Like I’ll never go to a basketball game, sing in a church building, hug the people I love, or basically do anything normal ever again. Some days everything feels hopeless and pointless. I read a helpful Twitter thread by a doctor about “the 6-month wall.” Hopefully that’s all this is.

I have been journaling some, which helps. I’ve started a list of my core beliefs/concepts that have changed my life, and also a list of affirmations to tell myself. It’s both empowering and exhausting. I’ve thought about starting a blog series with the first list.

I currently can’t go to the gym or to my trainer, Kara, but I’ve been running, and doing modified workouts with a few weights we have at home. Once I resume my schedule, my new goal is to get to 100 pounds on deadlifts by the end of the year. (I haven’t told Kara this yet, so I’ll probably get a text shortly if she’s reading this!!)

Random Happiness

My scrappy little church celebrated its tenth birthday this month. On an unrelated note, our head pastor made a 30-minute video for the congregation about racism and protest, and I hosted one of the viewing and discussion groups. Only a few people came, but it was good. I’m really thankful to be at a church that’s making a stand for justice and compassion.

My friend Marie got married on Zoom! It was a beautiful backyard service and I got emotional not only about the wedding, but also about seeing many mutual friends near and far in the chat. I wish we all could have been together.

I got my first PSL of the season the day before I locked down. It was early, but my main rule is I can’t get it if it’s still 90 degrees, and it wasn’t. (PS, that’s my church building in the background. <3)

Like most American children, my 8-year-old niece can now host Zooms and share screens with ease. During a recent conference, she drew some pictures for me.

September is butterfly and hummingbird time! They’re starting to thin out, but it was happy while it lasted.

Your Monthly Rufus

Posing for the cover of Cat Interiors magazine.

Having never shown any previous interest in my bathroom floor, Rufus decided to help me with a deep clean by making himself a rolling, furry dust mop.

On the Blog

I wrote a few words for my church’s blog this month. Of course, they were about owls.

Good Reads

life finds a way
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