A list of things consumed by my head, heart, eyes, ears and stomach lately.

The Song of Achilles

I started this one last week after my friend Renee said she liked it even better than Madeline Miller’s second book, Circe, which I LOVED. I flew through it! It’s just so beautiful and human, despite all the non-human characters it it. I tried explaining this to Joey and I’m not sure I succeeded, so maybe I’ll mess it up here too, but it is just so feminine. And I mean that in the best way. The two main characters are male but it feels so thoughtful and poignant and tender in a way that is often missing from male-authored stories. I just loved it with my whole heart.

Quick-Cooking Oats

Okay, I always always buy regular (or steel-cut) oats and turned up my nose at quick-cooking ones because regular oats only take ten-ish minutes anyway and they’re less processed but then I accidentally bough a big ol’ container of quick-cooking ones and I’m sold! Ten minutes suddenly feels so long when these take all of three minutes and taste like those instant oatmeal packets of my childhood. Also, honey and maple syrup are good and wholesome, but hear me out… brown sugar! I stir some in, then top with fruit, granola and peanut butter then eat it sitting on the floor while I hang out with Dempsey in the morning. Just a good food mood, you know?

The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE

Please no judgement for my love of KPop, okay?? I almost exclusively listen to BTS, but their label also manages this group of younger artists known as TOMORROW X TOGETHER (aka TXT) and oh my gosh, their music is so fun! This album just came out and it’s a no skip album for sure. I’ve already listened to it a billion times –I’ve even caught Joey humming along, so let that speak to just how much I’ve played it — and I love it very much!

Master of None Season 3

We finished this up last week and it felt like almost a completely different show! It is WAY less funny than the first two seasons and basically more of a spin-off, but it was still really good and it still looked really good. Loved that grainy look all the camera-work had and that slow pace felt so purposeful and strangely therapeutic to watch. That fourth episode though!!! I was so moved, so invested, so blown away. Not 100% sure I loved the ending, but it was good to have this show back in my life. Also, I wasn’t sure Aziz would be in it at all, but then there he was!

Banh Mi Burgers

It’s summertime and we’re back on the grill! Feels good and by “good,” I mean it’s hot and sweaty when you’re standing in the sun flipping burgers at 6 PM. We made these a couple of summers ago and as much as I love banh mi-flavored things, I felt like these could have been improved upon. Cooking Light notoriously instructs you to underseason everything. I get it but I don’t want it! This time around, I added a generous pinch of salt to both the pickling liquid and the beef mixture and THESE WERE AMAZING! Helped that we got some good grass-fed beef (and asparagus) at the Farmers’ Market too!

WandaVision

Ugh, WandaVision spoilers are the worst, so I already knew some of what happened in this show — I swear I muted #WandaVision on Twitter and yet, I would still see stuff! — but I really really liked it! It felt so fresh and interesting and even though a red robot man said it, “What is grief, if not love persevering?” is just a painfully beautiful and true line. I got less invested when it was just Wanda and Agnes shooting beams of magic at each other in the sky but overall, this was great. I had this preconceived notion that these TV shows Marvel was doing would be detached from the larger narrative and they wouldn’t spend the time or budget on it like they would a movie but I’m happy to admit I was wrong.

SUMMER LIFE

I will forever have a love-hate relationship with the busyness of summertime. With a baby on board, going places and doing things takes just a bit more planning and organization, but I am doing my best to not get too worried about it all. We took Dempsey to his first softball game the other night and then to breakfast the next morning and next week we are all going to Santa Fe and gosh does it feel good to be out and about sometimes!!! Feels like this is the first time we’ve been able to really share this sweet boy with anyone outside our immediate family and it’s truly the best. As long as we can mix those fun outings and gatherings with some time at home, just the four (Andi included) of us, it’ll be the happiest summer ❤

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I hope you all have a good weekend. We are seeing In the Heights tonight, so I know we will!

It’s June now! I remember it being winter and feeling like summer was soooooo far away, then I blinked and here we are! And even though it was in the 90s on Saturday and I was not prepared for it to be that hot this soon, I just really love the month of June ❤ Our flowers are in full bloom, all of our veggies have started to pop up, we are sitting outside all the time and, most importantly, Dempsey just looks adorable in little shorts and t-shirts 😍

Demps and I were on our own for the very first time on Friday! Joey had a golf tournament and I was nervous about the idea of taking care of a baby and getting ANY work done, but then I remembered I have a dream child, who napped super well and I ended up getting a lot done! Thank you, Dempsey!!! Plus, it was super fun to have a good chunk of one on one time with him. We took our weekly walk to the coffee shop (he was “talking” and smiling the whole way!), hung out outside, played inside and my heart was just so full hanging with that happy baby. Joey made it home later that afternoon so we could still all have dinner and baby bedtime together ❤

Saturday was a full on summer day! As in, it was freaking hot by 9 AM. I went on a run and thought I was going to die! But it also meant summer outfits for Mom and Baby both, plus our first trip to the Union Station Farmers’ Market as a family of three! Dempsey was not impressed and honestly, neither was I. What happened to all my farmers’ stands?? There was ONE stand selling actual produce and only a couple of food tents, so I don’t even know what all those other tents were selling but it was such a disappointment. No cherries, no garlic scapes, no tomatoes, not even any greens?? Ugh! Anyway, we got a popsicle that we maybe let Dempsey try and some mint, rhubarb, radish and really good looking asparagus and beef, so I guess I’m excited about those last two things.

We all cooled off back inside and while some of us napped, others of us made strawberry-rhubarb simple syrup and worked in the yard. Guess which was which! Then we went over to my parents’ for dinner!!! We hadn’t been there since I was 37 weeks pregnant!!! A couple of weeks ago, a picture of a really good-looking salad and marg showed up on my TimeHop and I immediately sent it to my mom asking her if she would make me that dinner again and she did just that! Those margs were good and strong and sweet thanks to that simple syrup and even though it’s easy enough to host at our house, I forgot how nice it is to go to someone else’s house and not make any of the food 😋 We gave Dempsey a slice of lime to see what he would do with it and he kept putting it in his mouth, then making the sourest face 😂 Literally love seeing him with my family! He was in a good mood and was the life of the party 🙂 Had brownies and ice cream for dessert, then took that cute baby home, where he really easily went down for bed and then we watched the second episode of The Underground Railroad, which has been BRUTAL but also really beautiful? Barry Jenkins is just so good at what he does.

Sunday was A DAY! We have been trying to feed Dempsey lunch for the past few weeks but the timing is always weird — right BEFORE a nap so he seems tired or late in the day so that it feels too close to dinnertime — so we changed things up and have decided to try breakfast time (and then we can all eat together!) and he had his first taste of oatmeal yesterday! Like with most things, he was super into it right away but lost interest not long after 🤷‍♀️ He took a loooooong morning nap, so Steve and Lorna were forced to hang out with just Joey, Andi and I until he finally woke up. They stayed for a bit and then after they left and Demps went down for Nap #2, I made some mint-pea puree for him for the week. I vaguely remember being asked if I was going to make his baby food and laughing about it and now look at me… to be fair, he barely eats anything right now, so one puree lasts us all week (and I even put some in the freezer) but it’s actually really easy and fun and has completely replaced my desire to prep food for Joey and I 😂

Sunday Funday plans with the King Krewe! We met them all at Zuni Street Brewing and it started off rocky when we pulled up and noticed the food truck that was supposed to be there was definitely not there. We were so distracted that we nearly ran into a biker, who was NOT happy with us. Sorry, stranger on a bike!!! The good news was it wasn’t too busy at Zuni, so we got a shady table on the back patio and even though our Plan B lunch took what felt like forever to arrive, we were happily distracted by babies and a threenager. Only one drink was spilled in the process and thankfully, it was just a water in a plastic cup. Once everyone was getting tired, we peeled out, but not before Hannah gave us three boxes of baby clothes that I could not be more thankful for, because our summer wardrobe could use some beefing up! Back at home, we all relaxed then did our usual bedtime routine with Dempsey before feeding ourselves a later dinner and watching another epi of The Underground Railroad. Quite the day, quite the weekend!