Happy Almost-April!
That exclamation point is much more optimistic than I actually feel. Really it feels blah. Y’know that whole “in like a lion out like a lamb” thing? We entered March with major lamb energy: there was sunshine! And the snow was melting! And we had a whole week of 40 and 50-degree weather! Now we’re exiting March to snow and wind and cold. I feel like I haven’t been properly warm for a solid two weeks. That lion showed up. Rude.
But! Enough about the weather (sorry, Midwestern hazard). If you follow me on Instagram, you know I went back to work as an interior designer this month for the first time since the twins were born. Though “went back” is actually defined as “sitting at my desk in the corner of our bedroom.” Which honestly, is what I was hoping for. I’m working for my previous employer, but remotely. Same but different.
This has been in the works since late January. (When one of my co-workers called me up and was all, “This is really random but would you ever want to come back and work remotely?” And I was like, “Absolutely yes.”). Despite wanting to go back to work in some capacity for a while, once I had a start date on the calendar, it got real. Did I really want to go back to work? To have my time not be my own? (As though my time was my own with three kids around.) To give up my early retirement? Gah.
But? I’m loving it. It feels good to work with floor plans again. To interpret wants and needs into reality. Even to fight with the design program over dimensions and try to chase down elusive countertop materials again. Things long-forgotten, pushed from my brain by motherhood, have started to come back, like NKBA guidelines and building codes.
It’s a vibe shift but honestly what hasn’t been a vibe shift the past two years? Since 2016? Since having two babies and then another one? You get a vibe shift and you get a vibe shift! Vibe shifts all around.
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Thing I’m Doing
Honestly just adjusting to a new schedule. Sometimes life is like that.
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Around the Internet
On toys and children and Ukraine and what gets left behind.
I cannot believe they canceled BSC. God forbid little-big girls see themselves—or their near-future selves—on TV. “For fans, the end of The Baby-Sitters Club is disappointing because so few series fill its specific niche: stories about preteen girls that don’t oversexualize or infantilize them.”
Okay, those were all vaguely, if not specifically depressing. Is this what I read all day? (Narrator: Yes.) I’ll end on a couple of laughs. 1. Can confirm this is accurate. 2. Where is the lie?
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Eating
I made this Thai-style basil chicken for the first time in a long time and remembered how delicious it is. Equally great as leftovers.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this pasta with prosciutto and snow peas before, but it’s worth bringing up again. It’s spring on a plate. I don’t like mint so I replace it with basil. Yum.
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Fun Things
These pastel highlighters. They’re also erasable and the erasing part actually works.
I went on a spring buying spree, mostly at Madewell, and am v. excited about these jeans, this top, and this tee.
We set up a little charging station in our kitchen with a USB outlet and these magnetic charging cables. They stay out of the way and are super durable. Plus the magnets are kind of fun.