In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had a low-grade headache more days than not. I’m not sleeping well—or at least, when I am sleeping, it’s full of vivid dreams, reminiscent of pregnancy dreams or those COVID dreams everyone was having at the beginning of the pandemic. I wake up in the darkness (which never helps me at this time of year tbh) and just want to go back to sleep.
Which is kind of weird? Only because I thought I’ve been doing pretty well lately—I’ve had a burst of motivation and energy and can-do-it-ism in the past couple months—and then here’s my body all, “Think again! I’m actually NOT just fine, sucker.”
I guess there’s only so long we can pretend everything is just fine this year.
Our bodies are screaming out to us that they’re stressed, they’re tired, they’re trying to cope with these unprecedented times. (God I’m so sick of that phrase yet what else do you call it?) We’re still mostly at home and trying to order groceries and trying even harder not to be enraged because we can’t get the freaking shredded Mexican cheese we need for dinner curbside and the seasons are changing which always makes my body a little wonky and also distance learning and you know all this so why am I still going on and on?
(Because we’re living through a global pandemic obviously.)
AND ALSO: Hi, we’re less than a week out from the election. I still haven’t recovered from the last one. (Have any of us?) I saw a comic call this “year 6 of the 2016 election” and that sounds 1000% accurate to me. I have no idea what I’ll be writing, thinking, feeling at this time next month. I’m both hopeful and terrified of election night. I don’t even know if we’ll have any answers a month from now or be trapped in a series of lawsuits on top of lawsuits over election results. I’m prepared to not have an answer on November 3rd, which is totally and completely fine. Except I also haven’t thought past November 3rd at all. (Except for the fact that season four of The Crown drops on November 15th and I am thisclose to making a paper-chain timeline to countdown to that.) What does a post-election 2020 America even look like, whoever wins? Like literally, what does November 4th, 5th, 22nd, 2021 even look like?
We’re about to find out.
This photo was taken exactly five days before we were hit with seven inches of snow. Because of course.
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Take Action
Vote.
Get your flu shot.
That’s it.
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Around the Internet
This—about covering our increasingly elderly political leaders—was absolutely fascinating. And also left me angry. How is it that I’m in my mid-thirties and still, so many of the leaders in the very highest levels of power in our country are 50-60 years older than me? Are still 20-30 years older than my own parents? It’s mind-boggling.
This profile on the actors who portray the newest generation of royals on The Crown. (And speaking of The Crown, Olivia Colman wins for having my favorite Oscar acceptance speech of all time. It’s never not the most endearing thing I’ve ever seen.)
My new favorite Instagram account is for the guy behind so many of the food and beverage commercials you see. It is endlessly fascinating.
On the youths and how society thinks about aging. The last line is EVERYTHING.
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Eating
I’ve been making this soup for years. It’s cozy and comforting, and like all good soups, the leftovers are even better the next day. A friend once called it vegetarian chowder and that’s basically what it is. Also, I have no idea what sorrel is so I just use spinach and it’s fine. You should obviously be eating this with a warm loaf of crusty bread.
Speaking of bread, this is the bread recipe I’ve been using forever. I know it looks long, but I promise it requires almost no work. I have the whole thing memorized. The best part is the dough that stays in the fridge—you get to mix up one batch of dough and get 3-4 loaves out of it! you can’t screw it up. I’ve let it rise too long, not enough, formed wonky loaves, and it all tastes DELICIOUS in the end. And, yes, I have my own dedicated bread dough storage container sitting in our fridge at all times.
These enchiladas are super yummy which you can tell because I’ve made them twice in three weeks. Don’t skip the jalapeno (the cream mellows it quite a bit), and I recommend some shredded lettuce along with the white onion for added freshness on top.
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Fun Things
I’ve been living in this top paired with joggers. It’s the best kind of oversized fit and the yellow/gold color makes me so happy.
The kids have been taking virtual cooking classes through The Kids’ Table and I can’t recommend them enough! Every time I post the kids taking a class in my IG stories I get questions about it. (Hi, am I an influencer now?) We just take a class here there. It’ s a good way to get the kids in the kitchen and for me to get some one-on-one time with them.
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I’d love to leave you with something hopeful after my rant of an intro but I don’t know exactly what that is right now. I do know that taking a couple of ibuprofen helps knock my headache out, so there’s that. I know I need to take some time to rest each day (but I’m not always very good at it). I know that both books and Pantsuit Politics are getting me through this year (and every episode of PP is better than the last). I'm knitting more and drinking afternoon tea so I’m basically learning hard into either grandma or British life (or both).
Really, the only way out is through. The election, the pandemic, distance learning, you name it. Books and tea and ibuprofen just help make the interim bearable. That’s probably all we can ask right now.