Life lately

Arigato hey!

So, way back when, I used to do a weekly wrap-up called Sundown Rundown, where I would post my weekly highlights: what I had done, what I had read, what I had bought, etc.

Then, life got a liiiittle crazy, and I didn’t have time for blogging. My posting frequency dropped down to twice a week. Then to once a week. Then it was just three months straight of weekly recap posts. Then I realized that was pointless (because really who cares amirite?) and so I just kind of stopped those.

Life is slooowwly starting to cut back on the chaos again (knock on wood), and so I’ve started to get back to blogging. To be honest, I’ve always kind of struggled a bit with finding a focus for my blog. Weekly recaps sometimes seem like a waste of time, Pinterest-optimized tutorials sometimes seem informal and affiliate link-laden posts are, frankly, annoying. But, this is a blog about my life. So when I lose focus, this site always comes back to, well, me.

Keeping my blog authentic, down-to-Earth and reflective of my personality is pretty important to me. So, I figured I’d give a quick(ish) recap of what’s been going on in my life lately.

Graffiti Alley in Ann Arbor — photo by Armando Sanchez

[one; family]
Bad news first. My wonderful grandmother passed away last month. I got the news right before my flight to Seattle took off, so I ended up driving straight to Michigan for the funeral when I got back to O’Hare.

My grandma — my dad’s mom — was a pretty cool person. She was born in a general store that was later turned into a restaurant we held family gatherings at. She took over her dad’s job as her town’s postmaster — a really cool role for a woman to hold back then. She really loved football and sent the best birthday cards every year.

Me and Grandma Shaffer, 1990.

But, the good thing about funerals is that they bring everybody together. I got to meet my new cousin Thomas and see family members I haven’t seen in years, and I got a chance to show Mando where I grew up.

My new baby cousin Thomas!

[two; work]
Adjusting to a new work schedule is hard! My boss resigned a few weeks ago to take a new job in New York, so my shift was pushed up to match his 7 a.m. shift. Luckily I’ve been waking up early lately anyway, but work has still been crazy!

I did find time to chat with SPJ Digital about journalistic ethics in social media, and was quoted in this piece about the topic, though, which was cool.

[three; my kitchen]
I bought a basil plant! I’m already looking forward to the recipes… like this one, this one and (probably most importantly) this one.

And, speaking of cooking, I’ve been loving easy cold noodles to pack and take to work for a quick lunch. I’ve been rotating between 1. linguine with olive oil, feta and cherry tomatoes, 2. avocado pasta and 3. Thai peanut noodles. I’m dying to get a zoodler so I can try that out too!

[four; traveling]
I practically just got back from Seattle, but the wanderlust has been strong lately. Mando and I booked a flight to Austin! He grew up in the area and I’ve never been to Texas, so we’re both pretty excited. We’ll be going this September.

[five; community]
I just signed up to volunteer with 826CHI, and I’m super excited about it!

[six; dining]
I have had a ton of really, really good food (and drinks) lately. Drinks first! I loved the “Pisco Kid” at Violet Hour, the house rosemary margs at Antique Taco (tacos are phenomenal as well, of course), and — oh yeah — tequila-infused Baja Blasts at Taco Bell Cantina. In terms of food? I finally got around to trying Longman & Eagle… and I ended up with food poisoning. There’s a pretty good chance I won’t be back. I had two A+ brunches lately, though — at The Winchester and 3 Arts Club Cafe at Restoration Hardware. I’m trying a new place (The Dawson) this weekend. I got around to trying La Colombe and a new Metropolis location (Granville in Edgewater) too.

Top row, left-to-right: The Winchester, La Colombe and Violet Hour.
Bottom row, left-to-right: 3 Arts Club Cafe, Longman & Eagle and Antique Taco

[seven; affiliate link alert!]
A new season means a new wardrobe. (As if I need an excuse, though.) I got these Madewell skinny jeans (now on sale!) and am considering getting them in white as well. I’ve been living in this L.L. Bean sailor shirt lately as well as this J. Crew cotton-linen shirt in navy, which is a great transition piece. I’m on the fence about getting these Jeffrey Campbell rain booties in matte navy. I think they’d be perfect for those in-between will-it-rain-or-won’t-it-rain days. I’ve been seemingly rotating between two Essie shades (Lapiz of Luxury, Find me an Oasis) and just had the Madewell Transport Tote monogrammed during the free monogramming event. I’m also dying to get this J. Crew tunic, this J. Crew swimsuit and these Madewell sandals. Can you tell which retailers I’ve been obsessing over lately?

[eight; etc.]
I have tickets to see a show at Second City this weekend, and I’m really looking forward to it! Also, I finally got around to watching Interstellar. I liked it, even with the psuedo-science junk at the end. I’m still halfway through Aziz Ansari’s Modern Romance — I haven’t had as much time to read lately as I would like between my new work schedule and freelancing. I just started season two of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and I FINALLY saw Spotlight. I absolutely loved it.

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