A Talking Date

How are you guys doing? I’m doing pretty good over here. I have a lot on my mind, but it’s all random, so I figured a brain dump would be in order for today. I’ve been trying to figure out what to call these little “currently” posts of mine. While “Brain Dump” could work just fine, it’s a little crass, so I’ve been trying to come up with something a little classier.

Kelsey has “coffee dates” and Casey has “coffee talk,” which are both excellent choices for a series; I’m jealous I didn’t think of it first. Then I suddenly realized I already had a name for this! Back in high school, my friend Jeff and I—we’re still friends, actually—would go on “talking dates.” We never dated, we were just best friends, and every week or so we’d go to a cafe, a bar, a restaurant, or IHop and just talk…about anything and everything. We actually still go on talking dates when I go back home to visit.

So, I’d like to officially welcome you to:

I’m currently…

+ reading “The Rosie Project.” Someone recommended it, or Amazon did; either way, I’m liking it so far. In the past month I’ve also read The Longest Ride
(Nicholas Sparks) and Balanced: Finding Center as a Work-at-Home Mom (Tricia Goyer). I love that I’m getting back into reading again. Although, Julia’s figured out how to open my Kindle, so I need to start bookmarking pages when I close it, because I always open it to the wrong page and the wrong font size.

+ admiring how adorable and adamant Julia can be about things, like trying her hardest to reach the one little, cheesy goldfish swimming in the midst of all the Cheerios inside her little snack tub.

+ cleaning up said goldfish and Cheerios mess since she managed to get a handful out from her little toddler cup and then proceeded to crush it in her hand—girl’s got a good grasp!

+ constantly closing my laptop. Little fingers (and Cheerios) manage to find
their way to my keyboard and they magically make weird things happen
(size of things change, extra tabs open, etc.). It took me five
tries to write that, for exampLE>. (I left those last three characters for a reference.)

+ listening to the “coffee shop” station on Pandora. I’m pretending I’m actually inside a coffee shop instead of sitting on my couch.

+ thinking about brisket with this recipe from the other night. We just finished eating its leftovers and now I’m sad that it’s gone. It’s definitely going on the menu again for next week, because it was amazing.

+ rescheduling family pictures for, like, the fifth time. The weather, silly unpredictable work schedules, stomach bugs, vacations, family visiting, and other things keep interfering. Now the photographer doesn’t have an opening until April. I’m almost ready to throw in the towel and just forget about doing them. I’ve been trying to get them taken since the end of January. Le sigh.

+ soaking up this weather. It’s in that gorgeous range of 70ish-degree highs without any humidity. I love it so much. Happy spring, indeed!

+ thinking I’m the only person in the entire world who hasn’t seen Frozen. 

+ excited for our garden. My husband is currently in the garage building a couple stair/vertical garden beds for us, and it should be ready to fill this weekend. I’m thinking of growing: sweet potatoes, zucchini, tomatoes, basil, mint, cilantro*, onions, greens (spinach, arugula, lettuce, etc.), peppers, and strawberries. *my husband just read this and nixed the cilantro since he’s not a fan. Jokes on him, though, because I’m still going to plant a little bit. HA!

photo of our little garden (before the dog got into it) from a few years ago

+ remembering our adventures in gardening from the last time we lived here. Here’s hoping our new raised garden will keep our puppy out this time!

I’m also loving these links (if you click the link they should open to a new tab, so you won’t lose your place and can keep on reading):

• Love traveling? Here’s one thing to do in every single state. Needless to say, but I love this!
• My husband found this gem: 25 confessions by a dad. Hilarious is an understatement for how funny this is; I “lol’d” a lot.
• Hello, instant baby fever! This food blogger Instagrams her newborn twins and her captions are priceless. Insane amounts of baby fever. You’ve been warned.
• This crocheted gray, pink, and white bunting would be perfect in Julia’s room.
• It takes guts to share something personal on the Internet these days. Kudos to my friend for getting her numbers out there.
• Do you write about your child? This post gave me an interesting perspective about how much I publicly share about my daughter. 
• I literally laugh out loud every time I see this commercial, especially at the five-second-rule part. 
• I certainly don’t need any more apps on my phone, but I found a couple new good ones from this top ten list.
• Pregnant? Here are some things to get you through those long nine months.
• Do you remember when Pharrell (and his hat) performed that happy song at the Oscars a few weeks ago? Every time I hear it, it just makes me happy! I tweeted this during his song and I still mean it. I wish there were more happy, non-twerking, scandalous-less performances happening these days.  

Whew! How about that for a little talking date?