Scallop and shrimp ceviche – perfect for the hot summer weather.
A little bit of a hiatus here – good things still happening! June escaped me – I ended up on a last minute trip to Istanbul (the food!), had a lovely retreat to Wanderlust in Vermont with Ompractice, and then came home to a summer cold that I have been working to shake. I think I’m about to be free from it! Here’s crossing my fingers.
Trying out AIReal yoga at Wanderlust.
At the top of Stratton Mountain
A few things that I’ve been doing the past few weeks that have had the most impact in my day to day:
Declaring Email Bankruptcy on Newsletters: don’t skip the personal emails, but if you have swathes of email newsletters you’ve intended to get read, just go ahead and delete them all. You have my permission. On that note, if you want to hire me to completely organize your 67,000 emails, create folders of the important stuff, and purge for you, just hit me up. I find the process so cathartic.
Adding some more accountability to my workflow: always a good thing! In addition to my weekly *Do the Thing Hours that I lead (virtual co-working on Wednesdays at 1:30 Eastern if you ever want to join!), I recently committed to an accountability group that has us sharing our daily stand-ups on a regular basis.
Using free-writing as a way to ease myself into doing any particular task. I find that if I’m stalling on something, a simple free write for 10 minutes or so is a good way to get myself going.
Daily time apart from this little zombie puppy. Yep, we practice separation. Usually I go to the store or the gym, and watch him staring at me on the nanny cam.
Good Things, in no particular order:
{{ Meals of Note: }}
Trader Joe’s Lemon Ricotta ravioli with olive oil, chopped cucumbers, shredded chicken, and parmesan. With plenty of black pepper.
Trader Joe’s Egg Frittatas with swiss cheese & cauliflower. LOVE these. I’ve been making them for lunches and just breaking them up over arugula salad.
Chicken sausages with kale and broccoli slaw salad. My mom makes great use of her IKEA grill pan.
- Ben and Jerry’s “Pucker Upper” at Target. Raspberry and tart lemon sorbet. Very good!
- Trader Joe’s Kunefe – a Greek dessert in the freezer section with crispy bits, salty melting cheese, a sweet syrup, and pistachios.
- Roasted strawberries and rhubarb.
- An incredible ceviche. (See the first photo.)
This Trader Joe’s beet pasta is pretty.. but a little bland?
Yellow beans and rice, with cucumbers salad and yogurt. The cucumber salad can be made in advance and lasts me a few days. Same with the beans!
{{Books}} I’m working my way towards 52? 75? books this year? as part of my quest to read rather than interwebbing during my downtime. We’ll see where I get.
Re-listening to Steven Pressfield’s ‘War of Art’. This is one of my absolute favorite books. The concept is about overcoming The Resistance – all the things that hold you back from creative pursuits. I had a bit of driving to do over the past few weeks, and so I downloaded the audio book for a refresher.
Re-reading Tamar Adler’s ‘An Everlasting Meal’. After a month away from my farm share, I returned with a large amount of produce and needed reminders about what to do with them. This is a wonderful book about the foundations of building good cooking systems.
Outer Order, Inner Calm. Gretchen Rubin’s newest book – a short read about cleaning, which actually prompted me to let go of a few extra things and get back on the tidying wagon. Recommend as an afternoon break.
A few in progress: Free to Focus (Michael Hyatt), Radical Acceptance (Tara Brach) and Radical Candor (Kim Scott) – I swear I didn’t plan that!
As far as fiction goes, I’ve been reading Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell – which while highly entertaining (and bizarre) is about 782 pages and taking me *forever* to finish. I’ve been managing a few chapters before bed each evening. I’m also listening to Circe on audiobook. Similarly, a little stalled on this because I don’t find that I’m often in the mood.
{{ Activities of note: }}
Beach walks! Finally got my toes into the sand, and did a long walk on Jenness with my mom. Bonus – got in a run last week on the ocean as well.
Whole Foods Focus Group. I had a grand time at my local Whole Foods as part of a focus group – paying me for my feedback and feeding me free food? Yes, please! Plus the session was full of delightfully quirky people, and veered quickly into writing letters to Jeff Bezos and anti-nuclear policy.
Ramping up my runs: we’re three months out from the Reebok Boston 10k for Women. (This is the 43rd running of the race née Tufts10k / Bonne Bell Mini Marathon). This will be my 8th year running the race! And – I’m thrilled to be an official sponsor with Ompractice, and partnering with the race to provide Ompractice yoga classes leading up to and post-race for all runners! I’ve been running consistent miles with my year and a half long streak, but it’s been a while since I’ve run consistent long runs. I’m building back up! So far it’s been fairly low impact relaxed 2 mile runs and some intervals. I like easing into things!
A few good films: I made the point to see the new Spiderman and Yesterday (so cute! go see it!) in the theater. Still working my way through my 52 new to me movies spreadsheet this year. It’s a fun pursuit.
Gardening: I’ve been consistently weeding my plot, and my planted potatoes are thriving. Herbs are doing well in my front pots, and someone (I’m assuming the rabbits) have eaten my kale.
{{ Acquisitions of note: }}
New sneakers: on that note, at some point I realized that my “new” sneakers I acquired in the fall last year have some 300 or so miles on them, so it was time for a refresh! Proper footwear is one of the keys to avoiding injury. I went for a pair of Zoom Pegasus 36s in BRIGHT red, because YOLO.
A Nest. Which I installed myself! I love that I can manage my AC from my phone, particularly to adjust down when I’m out of the house. I also had an energy audit, got fresh LED lightbulbs to replace old bulbs, and am getting some insulation to help reduce heating and cooling bills.
A big bucket of Maldon salt. I decided to delight myself with a this large bucket that I ordered from across the pond. You can never have enough on hand.
The Turkish Cookbook. A new Phaidon hardcover, written by Musa Dağdeviren (the owner of Çiya, one of the best places I ate last spring in Turkey. Regretfully, I didn’t get to go last month, but if you find yourself in Istanbul, it’s not to be missed.)
{{ Bertram }} the majority of the 30k photos on my phone. How could I not?
Here’s to a great week!
xo Sam
