Listening to the Lent series, and there is something wholly *holy* comforting at the end of every day... “The Lord bless you and keep you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
There is something truly lovely about someone saying/praying those words over you.
Happy St. Patrick's Day, I just watched this again to make sure it was as funny as I remembered and I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU
I sat down and watched the Oscars in their entirety on Sunday in the hopes that Everything Everywhere All At Once would clean up, and I was rewarded for my efforts. I yelled so loud when Ke Huy Quan won I scared my dog.
I bought a robot vacuum last year but never set it up, so I decided to get ahead of myself and set it up in my new house before I moved any of my stuff in. This was an effective maneuver and I'm smitten with him. My dog is less so, but it's less terrorizing than the regular vacuum.
Hey y’all! I’m trying to let myself off the hook. I left teaching a few years back and have transitioned into narrating audiobooks. I’m in the middle of recording one, and got one of my daughter’s illness and no longer sound super peachy. I guess it would help with my male voices 😆... anyway, I’m trying to have patience with it and let myself off the hook. Starting a small business is tough on knowing where to put your focus—it feels like throwing spaghetti at the wall sometimes.
This week was spring break, so the focus has been on helping my oldest be intentional with friends and quality family time with her and the littles.
Have a great weekend, and Happy HAPPY Birthday, Erin!!
Please watch this local news story from a few years ago where an entire South AL community was convinced there was a leprechaun hiding in their neighborhood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1ljOcl39PQ
In my very first acting class I ever took as an adult I had to read sides from The Whale and it was the most uncomfortable I've ever been. I apologized to the instructor after because I felt so bad saying some of those things, even though it wasn't me saying them, but the character, and he chose the sides, not me. I don't think I can bring myself to watch the movie. I may just re-watch The Mummy to celebrate Brendan's success.
Last week we saw The Tempest at Alabama Shakespeare Festival and it was phenomenal!!! If you live within 2 hours of Montgomery, AL I would highly recommend you come see a show at ASF. They are doing Cabaret in July, so I think I'll go see it for my birthday.
My bff moved to New Jersey this year and her husband is currently deployed with the Air Force so she's super sad and lonely taking care of 2 small children by herself. When he comes back this summer she wants to go on a girls trip! What are y'alls recommendations for a girls weekend in the middle of August when it will feel like hell on earth outside? We can go pretty much anywhere in the continental US. (plz don't say Nashville)
Okay, that's it. Can't wait to catch up in the comments <3
I second Maine went last year in august for a girls trip and it was amazing. And the weather was perfect, warm enough to sit out in the beach and cook enough at night to enjoy with a sweatshirt.
And congrats on your first acting class! That’s brave and wonderful—acting encourages such a beautiful exploration of humanity. I taught theatre for nearly a decade and am super nerdy about it. ☺️
Come to California!! It’s still hot out here, but not humid (so as soon as you step in the shade, it’s 10° cooler). Plus, the closer you get to the beach, the cooler it gets. Also, California is a very big state, but here are a couple cities that could be fun for a girl’s trip: San Francisco, San Diego (my fave), or Los Angeles (I live here, so I can also give a whole bunch of recs 😉). Although, if you’re going for a chill girls trip with good food and want to feel more relaxed definitely go for San Diego.
I’m sure there are other cool cities in the US(!), but obviously, I’m biased, and I’d argue if you want to feel hot-but-not-drenched-in-sweat, we’ve got you covered out here. ☺️
I watched The Whale last week and you will definitely have a better time if you re-watch The Mummy 😂 A Shakespeare Festival sounds like something I would enjoy, I wish there was one near me. I'm so glad you had a good time!
My 17 year old son and I are going on a trip to S Asia at the beginning of June. I am getting more and more excited! We had also been planning a three day layover in Rome on the way back, but that part of our trip got canceled. 😔 I have also been feeling nervous- I’ve only flown once and it was more than 20 years ago (before 9/11) so I have absolutely no experience navigating an airport and all the travel rules. So doing it overseas with a teenager who has never flown seems like even more pressure. Also my son gets car sick, so he’s feeling some anxiety about getting sick on the flight. Any tips you have for that would be so appreciated! We will be in the air for almost 20 hours so it would be terrible to feel miserable. But watching God make a way for us to be able to go on such a daunting trip has been incredibly faith building (and also humbling). It’s going to be amazing and challenging and we’re going to come back changed, I feel confident in that. Plus he’s a middle kid, so how fun to be able to spend 10 days together without siblings!
Airports are generally pretty good on signage, so just give yourself plenty of time and you'll be fine. Make sure you've got any liquids in the right size container and in your quart size bag - you do not want to be those people throwing out their toiletries in the security line. Dump out your water bottle before security and refill it once you're through. My airport routine is to get through security and find my gate as quickly as possible, then I know what kind of time I really have for snacks/walks/bathroom breaks.
You are so brave and you can do hard things! I've only flown a few times alone but at the end of the trip it was quite empowering. Just follow the flight/terminal/gate stuff on the monitors and you'll be fine. Allow lots of extra time. Indulge in a snack if you have time...I don't know why but it helps me feel more grounded to scope out my gate and then go grab a yummy app (and maybe a drink) at a nearby restaurant. I second Dramamine for carsickness. Also, as someone with chronic sinus issues, I find dosing with Sudafed (the good stuff from behind the counter) is must more effective for me in terms of feeling well in the air. You've got this!
How fun, you got the airport stuff just follow the TSA rules. Get the Dramamine a long flight as just sleeping through it is great. I also like candied ginger (I find them at Whole Foods) as it helps to settle my stomach.
I’m happy for Brendan Fraser but deeply conflicted about The Whale. Anyone else? Lindy West wrote about it here on her substack and also on the Guardian.
100% agree. Will not be watching The Whale. The world does not need more fat phobia. And while I adore Brendan Fraser and have been rooting for him all along, I’m a bit disappointed he chose this part.
I just read Lindy's article - I haven't paid much attention to The Whale, but knowing it's about a fat person, I have been able to guess how problematic it would be. Sure enough, "fat people are lazy and gross and self-sabotaging" - standard thin American rhetoric. Boo. Won't be watching.
It’s March Madness time, one of my favorite times if year. I have nothing else on the calendar for the weekend but watching basketball. It’s even better this year because my team is in it! MIZ!
Our Spring Break is not until the last week of March and we don’t have a trip planned. We have some things we might do but nothing completely set. Trying to figure out if I can handle social media that week since so many people I know will be going places and I assume Missouri will still be cold and dreary then. 😆
As for things I’m watching and reading...Ted Lasso is back - yay! I’m enjoying both Daisy Jones and the Six and The Last Of Us (we’re behind and surprisingly I have not seen spoilers). I’m reading the second Thursday Murder Club book and those books are delightful.
I'm in Detroit! Everything went smoothly last weekend and Caleb and I made it safely to Detroit. Miraculously there was very little traffic and almost zero road construction on the drive!!
💇♀️. I cut my hair! I was so ready to have shoulder length hair again, but we tried something new and for the first time I have bangs. It's taking a bit of getting used to, but I really like it!
📚 I finally got to see my new library and I will officially start Monday!
🛒 I've been a long time Korean Englishman/Jolly fan so being able to take a trip to H Mart this week was really fun. I'm excited to explore all the cool food here.
🎨 My SIL Anna is off today, so we're heading to the Art Museum and then to lunch!
We got back from Italy late Tuesday night, and I'm almost over the jet lag just in time to go back to work today.
Italy was incredible and we had the best time. We spent two weeks in Rome, Florence, and Venice (with side trips to Pompeii, Naples, and Pisa), which looking back is kind of a lot but seemed completely reasonable at the time! We had gelato every single day even though it was freezing, walked at least 20,000 steps every day, and fully leaned into being cliche tourists. It was a blast and long enough that I was happy to come home and back to my normal routine.
I just got back from Rome and we drove to Salerno for one day before leaving for Greece. Incredible! My own bones and bolognese trip! Gelato! We got out the day before the strikes started. A treasure indeed.
Hello hello! I had created a lent go-to-archive filter (sorry Erin, it's not you, it's me) and must have set it up wrong because I realized I have also been missing the Friday swipe up. Fixed!
So far this year I have been trying new things in some areas while loosening up in others. I've reluctantly at first but now happily been gluten and dairy free since Thanksgiving and it had made such a huge difference! This reminds me of when, Erin, you said on a popcast episode something about being sober not by choice. Is this what being an adult is? 🤣
Also, after wondering for years how trail runners were managing to run on the very rocky trail behind my house without falling down, when I can barely hike there without tripping, I invested in some end-of-season trail runners and it has been a game-changer.
On the other hand, I now read nothing but Elin Hilderbrand romance novels set on Nantucket. Are they basically all the exact same book? Yes. Is my brain slowly turning to mush? Yes. But I've really only been watching brain mush tv shows for years (can't muster the energy for prestige tv), so maybe this tracks 🤣
I’ve been gluten-free for five years and flirt with going dairy-free once every few months (😂). Going GF has made my quality of life so much better! If you haven’t heard of her yet, Danielle Walker’s cookbooks (and website!) have my absolute favorite GF, DF recipes. I think her food does a great job helping me not feel like I’m missing out. :)
this is a great tip - I didn't know about Danielle. Thanks so much! It sounds similar to you, I feel so much better that I honestly don't really ever regret it anymore, once I got past the first few weeks of cravings & started discovering all the amazing alternatives out there. thanks! :)
✈️ Hopping on a plane for my first solo flight since the pizookie (yes, I’ve flown since then, just with really organized friends!) and I completely forget how to do this lol pray for me.
🥰 Taylor Swift just released a small batch of re-recordings which includes one of my all time favorite songs, Safe and Sound (now a Taylor’s Version!)
💃🏻 Speaking of which, can my Eras tour stop get here faster?!
👩🏼💻 This week was overall pretty mundane, but nothing bad happened so I call it a win. See you in the comments!
Listening to the Lent series, and there is something wholly *holy* comforting at the end of every day... “The Lord bless you and keep you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
There is something truly lovely about someone saying/praying those words over you.
Thanks for being the Lent Sherpa, Erin. 💜
Happy St. Patrick's Day, I just watched this again to make sure it was as funny as I remembered and I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU
I sat down and watched the Oscars in their entirety on Sunday in the hopes that Everything Everywhere All At Once would clean up, and I was rewarded for my efforts. I yelled so loud when Ke Huy Quan won I scared my dog.
I bought a robot vacuum last year but never set it up, so I decided to get ahead of myself and set it up in my new house before I moved any of my stuff in. This was an effective maneuver and I'm smitten with him. My dog is less so, but it's less terrorizing than the regular vacuum.
Thanks for that link. 😂
Hey y’all! I’m trying to let myself off the hook. I left teaching a few years back and have transitioned into narrating audiobooks. I’m in the middle of recording one, and got one of my daughter’s illness and no longer sound super peachy. I guess it would help with my male voices 😆... anyway, I’m trying to have patience with it and let myself off the hook. Starting a small business is tough on knowing where to put your focus—it feels like throwing spaghetti at the wall sometimes.
This week was spring break, so the focus has been on helping my oldest be intentional with friends and quality family time with her and the littles.
Have a great weekend, and Happy HAPPY Birthday, Erin!!
Happy birthday week Erin. I’m so sorry it started with gunfire IYKYK.
Happy Birthday Erin!!!
I’m so happy for Brendan! I’ve been rewatching all of his classics the past few months and he never disappoints!!
Just saw Hadestown last night too! Whoa. That was amazing!!!
AND HAPPY PADDY'S DAY, EVERYONE!!!
Please watch this local news story from a few years ago where an entire South AL community was convinced there was a leprechaun hiding in their neighborhood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1ljOcl39PQ
That amateur sketch was amazing! Can’t stop laughing at this
ANYBODY SEE A LEPRECHAUN SAY YEAH 🥳
The amateur sketch took me out! 🤣🤣🤣
Happy birthday, Erin!!!!
In my very first acting class I ever took as an adult I had to read sides from The Whale and it was the most uncomfortable I've ever been. I apologized to the instructor after because I felt so bad saying some of those things, even though it wasn't me saying them, but the character, and he chose the sides, not me. I don't think I can bring myself to watch the movie. I may just re-watch The Mummy to celebrate Brendan's success.
Last week we saw The Tempest at Alabama Shakespeare Festival and it was phenomenal!!! If you live within 2 hours of Montgomery, AL I would highly recommend you come see a show at ASF. They are doing Cabaret in July, so I think I'll go see it for my birthday.
My bff moved to New Jersey this year and her husband is currently deployed with the Air Force so she's super sad and lonely taking care of 2 small children by herself. When he comes back this summer she wants to go on a girls trip! What are y'alls recommendations for a girls weekend in the middle of August when it will feel like hell on earth outside? We can go pretty much anywhere in the continental US. (plz don't say Nashville)
Okay, that's it. Can't wait to catch up in the comments <3
Thrilled that Brendan Fraser is getting his flowers, very much wish it was for a less problematic movie.
Maine is beautiful! Or if you really want to get away - Washington state is gorgeous!
Maine is pretty beautiful in August! A friend got married there and I’ve wanted to go back ever since.
I second Maine went last year in august for a girls trip and it was amazing. And the weather was perfect, warm enough to sit out in the beach and cook enough at night to enjoy with a sweatshirt.
And congrats on your first acting class! That’s brave and wonderful—acting encourages such a beautiful exploration of humanity. I taught theatre for nearly a decade and am super nerdy about it. ☺️
Come to California!! It’s still hot out here, but not humid (so as soon as you step in the shade, it’s 10° cooler). Plus, the closer you get to the beach, the cooler it gets. Also, California is a very big state, but here are a couple cities that could be fun for a girl’s trip: San Francisco, San Diego (my fave), or Los Angeles (I live here, so I can also give a whole bunch of recs 😉). Although, if you’re going for a chill girls trip with good food and want to feel more relaxed definitely go for San Diego.
I’m sure there are other cool cities in the US(!), but obviously, I’m biased, and I’d argue if you want to feel hot-but-not-drenched-in-sweat, we’ve got you covered out here. ☺️
I second San Diego. It would make a fantastic girls trip.
I watched The Whale last week and you will definitely have a better time if you re-watch The Mummy 😂 A Shakespeare Festival sounds like something I would enjoy, I wish there was one near me. I'm so glad you had a good time!
Hi ladies,
My 17 year old son and I are going on a trip to S Asia at the beginning of June. I am getting more and more excited! We had also been planning a three day layover in Rome on the way back, but that part of our trip got canceled. 😔 I have also been feeling nervous- I’ve only flown once and it was more than 20 years ago (before 9/11) so I have absolutely no experience navigating an airport and all the travel rules. So doing it overseas with a teenager who has never flown seems like even more pressure. Also my son gets car sick, so he’s feeling some anxiety about getting sick on the flight. Any tips you have for that would be so appreciated! We will be in the air for almost 20 hours so it would be terrible to feel miserable. But watching God make a way for us to be able to go on such a daunting trip has been incredibly faith building (and also humbling). It’s going to be amazing and challenging and we’re going to come back changed, I feel confident in that. Plus he’s a middle kid, so how fun to be able to spend 10 days together without siblings!
Airports are generally pretty good on signage, so just give yourself plenty of time and you'll be fine. Make sure you've got any liquids in the right size container and in your quart size bag - you do not want to be those people throwing out their toiletries in the security line. Dump out your water bottle before security and refill it once you're through. My airport routine is to get through security and find my gate as quickly as possible, then I know what kind of time I really have for snacks/walks/bathroom breaks.
You are so brave and you can do hard things! I've only flown a few times alone but at the end of the trip it was quite empowering. Just follow the flight/terminal/gate stuff on the monitors and you'll be fine. Allow lots of extra time. Indulge in a snack if you have time...I don't know why but it helps me feel more grounded to scope out my gate and then go grab a yummy app (and maybe a drink) at a nearby restaurant. I second Dramamine for carsickness. Also, as someone with chronic sinus issues, I find dosing with Sudafed (the good stuff from behind the counter) is must more effective for me in terms of feeling well in the air. You've got this!
How fun, you got the airport stuff just follow the TSA rules. Get the Dramamine a long flight as just sleeping through it is great. I also like candied ginger (I find them at Whole Foods) as it helps to settle my stomach.
My middle daughter gets sick too. Kids Dramamine is a lifesaver!! Turning the air vent on over her head and a ginger ale helps too.
Happy happy birthday Erin Moon!!
I’m happy for Brendan Fraser but deeply conflicted about The Whale. Anyone else? Lindy West wrote about it here on her substack and also on the Guardian.
https://buttnews.substack.com/p/i-wrote-about-the-whale-for-the-guardian?utm_campaign=post_embed
100% agree. Will not be watching The Whale. The world does not need more fat phobia. And while I adore Brendan Fraser and have been rooting for him all along, I’m a bit disappointed he chose this part.
I just read Lindy's article - I haven't paid much attention to The Whale, but knowing it's about a fat person, I have been able to guess how problematic it would be. Sure enough, "fat people are lazy and gross and self-sabotaging" - standard thin American rhetoric. Boo. Won't be watching.
Happy birthday week to our treasure Erin H. Moon!!!
It’s March Madness time, one of my favorite times if year. I have nothing else on the calendar for the weekend but watching basketball. It’s even better this year because my team is in it! MIZ!
Our Spring Break is not until the last week of March and we don’t have a trip planned. We have some things we might do but nothing completely set. Trying to figure out if I can handle social media that week since so many people I know will be going places and I assume Missouri will still be cold and dreary then. 😆
As for things I’m watching and reading...Ted Lasso is back - yay! I’m enjoying both Daisy Jones and the Six and The Last Of Us (we’re behind and surprisingly I have not seen spoilers). I’m reading the second Thursday Murder Club book and those books are delightful.
Have a good weekend!
I'm in Detroit! Everything went smoothly last weekend and Caleb and I made it safely to Detroit. Miraculously there was very little traffic and almost zero road construction on the drive!!
💇♀️. I cut my hair! I was so ready to have shoulder length hair again, but we tried something new and for the first time I have bangs. It's taking a bit of getting used to, but I really like it!
📚 I finally got to see my new library and I will officially start Monday!
🛒 I've been a long time Korean Englishman/Jolly fan so being able to take a trip to H Mart this week was really fun. I'm excited to explore all the cool food here.
🎨 My SIL Anna is off today, so we're heading to the Art Museum and then to lunch!
Have a wonderful weekend friends
Hooray for everything going smoothly! I love that you have so many treasures. Have fun at the museum!
Ahhh I love HMart. So excited for you!
I can’t wait to see the new hair when I get back on social media! Congrats on the move too! 🥳
Happy Friday, friends!
We got back from Italy late Tuesday night, and I'm almost over the jet lag just in time to go back to work today.
Italy was incredible and we had the best time. We spent two weeks in Rome, Florence, and Venice (with side trips to Pompeii, Naples, and Pisa), which looking back is kind of a lot but seemed completely reasonable at the time! We had gelato every single day even though it was freezing, walked at least 20,000 steps every day, and fully leaned into being cliche tourists. It was a blast and long enough that I was happy to come home and back to my normal routine.
Your trip looked amazing! I'm glad you had such a great time!
I loved following along on your trip, it looked like you had a wonderful time and all that gelato made me jealous
Sounds like an awesome trip! The best vacations are the ones where you have a great time but still feel ready to go home at the end, right?
Exactly!
I just got back from Rome and we drove to Salerno for one day before leaving for Greece. Incredible! My own bones and bolognese trip! Gelato! We got out the day before the strikes started. A treasure indeed.
I miss Italy so much and I’m so glad you had a good time and made it home safely!
Hello hello! I had created a lent go-to-archive filter (sorry Erin, it's not you, it's me) and must have set it up wrong because I realized I have also been missing the Friday swipe up. Fixed!
So far this year I have been trying new things in some areas while loosening up in others. I've reluctantly at first but now happily been gluten and dairy free since Thanksgiving and it had made such a huge difference! This reminds me of when, Erin, you said on a popcast episode something about being sober not by choice. Is this what being an adult is? 🤣
Also, after wondering for years how trail runners were managing to run on the very rocky trail behind my house without falling down, when I can barely hike there without tripping, I invested in some end-of-season trail runners and it has been a game-changer.
On the other hand, I now read nothing but Elin Hilderbrand romance novels set on Nantucket. Are they basically all the exact same book? Yes. Is my brain slowly turning to mush? Yes. But I've really only been watching brain mush tv shows for years (can't muster the energy for prestige tv), so maybe this tracks 🤣
Happy Friday, everyone.
I’ve been gluten-free for five years and flirt with going dairy-free once every few months (😂). Going GF has made my quality of life so much better! If you haven’t heard of her yet, Danielle Walker’s cookbooks (and website!) have my absolute favorite GF, DF recipes. I think her food does a great job helping me not feel like I’m missing out. :)
this is a great tip - I didn't know about Danielle. Thanks so much! It sounds similar to you, I feel so much better that I honestly don't really ever regret it anymore, once I got past the first few weeks of cravings & started discovering all the amazing alternatives out there. thanks! :)
Ooh, the best one of those is The Blue Bistro. I got SO HUNGRY when I read it! 📚
Oh no, I read the best one 2nd! Ha ha
✈️ Hopping on a plane for my first solo flight since the pizookie (yes, I’ve flown since then, just with really organized friends!) and I completely forget how to do this lol pray for me.
🥰 Taylor Swift just released a small batch of re-recordings which includes one of my all time favorite songs, Safe and Sound (now a Taylor’s Version!)
💃🏻 Speaking of which, can my Eras tour stop get here faster?!
👩🏼💻 This week was overall pretty mundane, but nothing bad happened so I call it a win. See you in the comments!
"Nothing bad happened, I'm calling it a win" might be my new motto... Have a great trip! 😊
Thanks! 😁
Okay, I saw that she released the re-recordings but I can't find them anywhere? Are they on Spotify?
Hope your flight goes smoothly!
I found them on YouTube and yet not on Spotify either! Hopefully it gets fixed soon!
Ahh, that's my problem! Thanks!
I have refreshed Spotify like ten times and nothing!!!!!! 😭
They're hidden in the This is Taylor Spotify playlist. So dumb.
THE RAGE I FEEL 😭