Things to Do - Cherish This Day, 5 Hours 'Til Bedtime, & Random Links

Sorry for the lack of posts this week, I spent some time with the flu virus and did not enjoy its company. Oh well, spring is on the way, right?

Great new posts are up on 5 Hours 'Til Bedtime and Cherish This Day, so don't forget to check out the awesomeness!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

RANDOM LINKS:

* THIS makes me want to plan a Disney vacation.

* Free Ruth Bader Ginsburg coloring sheets. YES!!!

* Airbnb is changing how tourists get to know Africa.

* Aren't these neon signs beautiful?

* I can't wait to watch this youtube video.

Things to Do - Random Links & Cherish This Day

Dan's mom gave us his old trumpet and now T carries/plays/annoys us with it all the time. On the upside, if I agree to "listen" he'll model for me anywhere. Love that evening backlight!

Have a great weekend! And don't forget to check out this week's awesome on Cherish This Day (and, even more awesome, on 5 Hours 'Til Bedtime!)

RANDOM LINKS:

* For the first time in years, I sort of want another tattoo, but only if I can get one of these.

* I really want to play this videogame (too bad we don't have an xbox).

* Valentine's poems for married people.

* Aren't these free printable NASA posters gorgeous?

* A court-ordered letter from Dora the Explorer's mother.

* The ultimate Virginia waterfalls road trip. Adding this to the bucket list!

* Disney villains without makeup. My favorite is Scar.

* These are my favorite kind of family photos. playing. laughing. dancing. fussing.

* Marriage tip - the 6:00 dinner. Genius!!!

* How yummy does this sauce sound?

* I didn't know it was possible to write a super funny post about a SUCCESSFUL homemade birthday cake, but Melissa managed crack me up while making me hungry as well!

* An awesome list of science-geared youtube channels for kids.

Things to Do - 10 Things I Like (February 2015)

After putting this list together, I realized that the theme seems to be "coziness". Because winter needs cozy, right?

1. Everyday Detox Herbal Tea - I have no idea if this tea really detoxes anything, but it has a light flavor that tastes perfect on cold winter days.

2. Sephora Sleeping Masks - I'm totally addicted to these overnight facials. It feels great to wake up with amazing skin. So far I've tried the honey and the Lingzhi, both of which worked miracles on my icky/dry snow day skin.

3. Amazon Echo - The Echo is basically a stand alone Siri, which might not seem that exciting. But when you're making dinner/drinking with friends/playing boardgames it feels wonderful to say, "Alexa, play x song." Like magic.

4. Dr Teals Lavender Epsom Salt - Soothe and Sleep - 3lbs - 1 bag - One bag of these lasts forever. They smell great and afterwards I fall right to sleep.

5. iRobot Roomba 770 Vacuum Cleaning Robot for Pets and Allergies - We have two dogs and Roomba makes all their hair disappear (ha! I rhyme). I love her (yes, I've given my vacuum cleaner a gender and a nickname) so much that the kids always ask, "Mom do you love Roombie for than us?" (If you're wondering, she's female because I didn't want to bring another man into my marriage, such things could become awkward).

6. Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook - A friend gave me this cookbook as a Christmas gift and so far every recipe has proved fantastic. Plus, they're all relatively simple.

7. Martin Parr - Small World - As someone who loves to travel, this is one of my favorite photography books ever. The images are funny and snarky and super clever. It looks like the price has gone up considerably since I bought it two years ago (maybe I should start "investing" in more coffee table books), so if you don't want to pay $85, check out some of Parr's amazing photos here.

8. Peppermint Essential Oil - A few years ago my mother-in-law bought me a diffuser, one of my favorite gifts ever. I've found that when I diffuse peppermint oil, I get so much more done. It's like a huge burst of energy.

9. Trader Joe's Full Cooked Lentils - I love lentils, but I hate cooking them. These make life so much easier, I add them to salads and soups all the time.

10. Comfy PJs - For most of my life I've slept in old sweatpants and stained sweat shirts, but this December I decided to splurge on "real" jammies. And now I never want to take them off. Waking up in "real PJs" makes me feel pretty and sophisticated, totally different from my usual "sloppy mom" vibe.

Things to Do - Grateful List (January 2016)

For the most part, January was somewhat uneventful, with the exception of two big events - (1) the great blizzard and (2) my 40th birthday.

Dan planned this hysterically fun "frat" party for the occasion, with beer pong, flip cup, jello shots, and a house full of good friends. To make it even more special, FIVE of my best friends drove/flew in from throughout the country to celebrate with me. Do you know how amazing it feels to have so many people you love all in one space for the night? Plus between the free t-shirts and random dance music, we stayed up until 3:30 in the morning. Maybe 40 really is the new 20.

ARTS
* The Peanuts movie at Arlington Drafthouse on New Years Day.
* Watching How to Make a Murderer (Netflix streaming)
* Listening to the Beatles on Spotify
* Reading the The Neopolitan novels
* Watching Overboard and Tootsie with the kids

FOOD
* Dan's brisket (recipe from Food52 Genius Recipes: 100 Recipes That Will Change the Way You Cook)
* Rose's Luxury for my birthday dinner
* Kapnos for my birthday lunch

STUFF
* My amazing globe (my friend Janeese purchased a globe for my birthday and then everybody signed it at my party). One of my favorite gifts ever.

ETC.
* In one week, I was able to talk to a South African about growing up listening to Rodriguez's music (made famous in Searching for Sugarman) and a Chilean about teenage life in Chile during the NO campaign (which brought down a dictator), making me realize that I have the coolest/most diverse group of friends and I'm so lucky to know each and every one of them.
* My amazing 40th birthday party and a weekend with my best friends!
* T and his friends making our basement into a pirate ship (it was too cold for the outside fort)
* Three neighborhood happy hours during the great blizzard of 2016
* Playing Lost Cities as a family night after night.
* "Now can you start teaching me important stuff - like how to work the dishwasher?" - T
* My kids overcoming blizzard boredom on their own - T making weapons, F trying out science experiments, and P drawing unicorns

THE KIDS' LISTS

F - A nice house to live in and food to eat, that everything is so great, my family

P - snugglefests, reading the Princess Bride with you at night, happy hour, sleepovers, snow

T - Playing 3 rounds of Lost Cities, reading the Bobsey Twins, a nice house to live in and food to eat, building a snow fort, Cole's birthday party, Kung Fu Panda 3, our weapons cache

Things to Watch - Netflixing (February 2016)

February seems so long. Here is what we've been watching, but I could use some suggestions. Anyone??



JUST ADULTS:

* We just finished Season 1 of Better Call Saul and I'm so sad it's over. Dan was a huge Breaking Bad fan, but I found the show a little too uncomfortable. Luckily Saul is much funnier than Breaking Bad. And he's a lawyer, reminding me that I used to be a lawyer too. I loved the first season.

* I read about Meet the Patels a few months ago when it was still in theaters. The movie - about a 30-something-Indian/American trying to find a wife - is slow at times. But also funny. The film does a great job capturing the push and pulls between the country your parents came from and the country you were born in.



JUST KIDS:

* The final season of Jessie needed binge-watching (of course).

* They also love watching Total Drama, a cartoon poking fun at reality shows.

* And Johnny Test continues to be a big hit as well.



KIDS AND ADULTS TOGETHER:

* We all really enjoy this PBS show called How We Got to Now, which made me appreciate so much of everyday life - like sewers and clocks that correctly reflect the time.

* I tried to watch Clueless with the kids during the snow day, but had to work instead. Oh well, at least they liked it.

[Disclaimer- I receive compensation for posting about Netflix, but I decide what I want to write about and what I want to say.]