Category: Just For Fun

A More Magical Summer (in the time of Covid-19)

7/9/2020

Summer is our family's favorite season of the year: it's weekends spent at Cedar Point, picnics on the beach, trips to the West Side Market, visiting the Cleveland Flea, countless festivals in our city, and Saturday morning walks for coffee and vegan donuts. We make a Summer Bucket List in May and check off items as we go.

This summer looks completely different than what we are used to and what we love to do as a family. As the number of Covid-19 cases steadily increase around the country, our family will continue to shelter in place at home. We have been home since mid-March,and feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work from home. In four months, literally the ONLY place I have been is inside a UPS store for approximately 30 seconds to ship a package that couldn't wait any longer. We go for drives and have had a picnic at a local park. We have done grocery delivery and curbside pickup only. We have necessities sent through Amazon (we joined Prime last month specifically for Whole Foods pickup), Target, and Walmart.

Is this fun for us? No. Do we enjoy staying home constantly? No. Do I miss family and friends, and the summer activities we love so much? Yes. But for health and safety, we feel that remaining at home is important right now.

We have a four year old who has been home with us since mid-March, and we have gotten creative with our strategy for providing her special memories and simultaneously keeping ourselves sane. (In the beginning, cake helped, but then I gained 10 lbs and started Weight Watchers.) Lucky for us, she is one of the most easygoing kids I have ever known, and is quite happy spending hours a day making crafts and drawing. She's definitely watching more television than we'd prefer, but with mom and dad both working (I am part-time) it's temporary and fine.

I wanted to give you a list of specific ways we are finding the joy each day, even when it feels like joy is just out of grasp.

Some days, I have to work at it harder than others.
Some days, the tears come.

We are all doing the best we can.

How our family is making this summer special:

Please note: This is NOT an SEO-driven list. These are actual items we have purchased and are using. I was not compensated by any of these companies for mentioning their products.

inflatable pool ($25, Walmart) and rafts ($10, Target / $11 Amazon)

Having a swimming pool that is large enough for both my husband and I to enjoy has been a game-changer this summer. Our pool gets sun until 1pm, so we enjoy mornings outside, floating around and playing with our daughter, all with the sounds of steel drums piping in on Spotify. My husband and I love floating on our raft (currently unavailable online) and our daughter likes her fish.

small bluetooth speaker (about $15, Amazon)

Our lazy pool days in the sun began resulting in an overheated phone that would power down, leaving us without tunes. After the third time this happened, I took to Amazon to find a small, inexpensive speaker we could take out with us.

in my ears

With all of us home, all day, everyday, I cannot even believe how much time I spend now in the kitchen. Prepping meals. Eating meals, Cleaning up from meals. To make this endless time tolerable, I always make sure I have something to listen to on my wireless earbuds, which permanently dangle from a hook on the fridge. It's usually a podcast and sometimes an audiobook, but it's really making the kitchen time happier for me. Some of my current favorite listens are posted here.

I had been using $5 connected earbuds from Five Below, but treated myself to truly wireless earbuds about one month ago. Not wanting to drop the big bucks on Apple's version, I took to the ChooseFI Facebook group and purchased these recommended Anker earbuds instead for about $45.

playlists and channels that make us happy

I love hunting for playlists on Spotify and channels on Pandora to find songs that perfectly accompany our activities. When we're out in the pool, I mostly turn to steel drum and Bob Marley lists, because these sounds carry me off to my favorite places in the world - Mexico and the Caribbean. For general summer listening, we really enjoy Sunshowers, Sunny Day, Summer BBQ, Feel Good Summer, and Easy Summer. (I am not embarrassed to admit my favorite music is 70s light rock.)

special plates, napkins, and cups ($2 per pack from Walmart)

We have a four-year-old who loves having special napkins and plates to use at meal times, so this is an extremely inexpensive way to give her a little joy. I have ordered packages of unicorn plates and napkins in our Walmart grocery order, and recently purchased trays ($4.50 each) for our family to use to easily transport our meals out to the porch for lunch and dinner. I have some red, white, and blue melamine plates from last season that we use for much of July, just for fun.

essential oil blends

I love bringing summery scents into the house, and I have found the easiest way for doing so is dropping oil blends into my diffuser. Sometimes I craft my own, but I also really love the seasonal blend sets that Plant Therapy releases four times per year. This is my first summer set, and I am in love. Sunshine, Beach Day, and Mountain Air are all incredibly fresh and beachy. This company makes great oils, has great customer service, and has extremely fair pricing.

movie goals

We have two movie list challenges happening in our house right now:

1.) As a family, we are working our way through the entire animated movie collection on Disney+ (checking them off on this list I printed) as we watch. On Thursday mornings, if we can't do pool time, we have pajama day and my daughter and I watch a movie together while my husband works, but we normally watch one Disney movie each week, together, in the evening.

2.) My husband and I haven't really seen the Marvel movies (we have both seen Avengers; he has seen the Guardians movies and Avengers: End Game) so we decided to watch these movies in the chronological order of the Marvel timeline. I first saw this idea from (IG) and screenshot the graphic of the order to use. (Our next movie is a rewatch of The Avengers.)

summer reading

I absolutely love summer reading (check out my blog posts on the topic and make sure to follow my page dedicated to Vacation Reading) and although I am staying away from the library this summer, my Kindle is getting quite the workout downloading ebooks. I am an avid user of my library's Overdrive system, but I am also reading books via NetGalley for review in advance of publication. (I post reviews for some of these on this site.)

I love, love, love summer reading lists. Here are a couple of my favorites for 2020.
Travel and Leisure Magazine: 20 Most Anticipated Books of the Summer
Popsugar: 30 Best Books to Dive Into This Summer

activities for the kiddo

Our daughter is currently taking online phonics classes twice per week with the company I teach for, so she focuses on two letters per week with a review every ten classes. (If you're interested in details, please email me.) To go along with her classes, I print a couple of letter writing practice sheets for each letter, and use them as the first pages of her two weekly packets. I add a couple of fun colorful pages from workbooks we own, and finish with a couple of puzzles from the jumbo pad I mention below. When she finishes her letter packet, she gets to check it off on her list. My husband and I like goal-setting and teaching her to be accountable with her work; she likes seeing her progress and working towards a purchase of her choosing (within reason).

We don't have tablets, but most days we allow our daughter some time to play games on the computer. Our favorite sites for this are: PBS Kids, Highlights Kids, and ABCYa.

On Sunday mornings, when I am done teaching classes she joins me in the office and selects the free coloring sheets from Crayola she'd like me to print for the week. I also usually look for a couple of mazes too.

She is really into High Five magazine right now, and especially loves the activities where she can spot the differences, identify silly things in a scene, and search for hidden pictures. I purchased this Jumbo Pad of My First Puzzles from Target, and she likes to sit and work on the pages.

the crafts basket

I keep an eye out for sales on Michael's website (our local store has curbside pickup) or peruse Target and Amazon, stocking up on craft kits. our daughter can do herself or with us. We store them in a giant basket under our office daybed so our daughter can choose what she's like to work on, and she happily spends most of her days crafting and coloring...she is NOT a toy kid. Big hits have been: mosaic sticker kits, pony beads and string, and pom pom animals, but honestly, I bought like 25 kits.

family BINGO sheets

We haven't been great about keeping up with our BINGO sheets, but they hang on the fridge, ready and waiting for us. My husband is a big fan of the ChooseFI podcast/blog, and he likes to check in on The Accidental Homeschooler. There are options for BINGO sheets for the youngest kids through adults, and while some of the activities are driven by the FI lifestyle (and have a financial-education focus), there is a nice variety.

game night

Board games are an important part of our family culture, and we have long waited to turn our daughter into a little board game geek like her parents. We play games before bedtime most evenings (we rotate who selects the game of the evening) and on Friday evenings we each select a game. We strongly prefer co-op games with our kid (games where you work together to beat the game) and have some current favorites. Peaceable Kingdom makes great co-op games for families - we really like Cauldron Quest and Hoot Owl Hoot right now. Some of these I have picked up at Savers, but we will also be investing in new games for fall and winter at home.

I hope this gives you some inspiration for ways to make your time at home special.
My next post will feature how we organize our days, along with our methods for cleaning, meal prep, and education.

I would love to hear your ideas for memory-making at home!

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Five Podcasts to Put in Your Ears

6/12/2020

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I love podcasts.
I listen to podcasts constantly – when I am cooking and cleaning in the kitchen, when I am out walking, when I am driving to pick up our grocery order, when I go to bed, when I am on airplanes and by swimming pools.

Over the past ten years, I have watched podcast favorites cease production (Yeah, It’s That Bad; Seen / Unseen) and new podcasts emerge to take the world by storm (Serial; Dirty John). I am constantly on the hunt for new podcasts, and always enjoy sharing my recommendations with others.

Here are some of my current top picks:

Currently Reading
When the Currently Reading podcast made its debut a couple of years ago, I felt like I had truly found my reading people. I was missing Books on the Nightstand quite a bit, and hadn’t really found another reading podcast that really struck a chord with me (and boy, did I check out many).

This has become a favorite of mine for two main reasons:
1.) Hosts Meredith and Kaytee are great – they are warm, genuine, enthusiastic, and have awesome chemistry when chatting books together. It's an easy banter than makes for an easy listen.
2.) My book tastes align with theirs quite a bit, and if they recommend something and have strong opinions about it, I know to immediately add it to my reading list.

Each episode features a “bookish moment of the week”, a rundown of what each host is currently reading, a discussion topic, and a book each host wants to press into readers’ hands.

Where to Start? I recommend downloading any, since this is an easy podcast to duck in and out of.

I Hate it But I Love It
While this (primarly) movie-driven podcast isn’t new, it is new to me, and I have begun bingeing episodes at bedtime. There are FEW podcasts that make me laugh out loud (see also Yeah, It’s That Bad) but the incredible quick wit of hosts Kat Angus (editor for Buzzfeed) and Jocelyn Gedde (television writer and comedian) always make me smile, at the very least.

Each episode is a deep-dive into one film (a couple of television series have been covered as well) and the women break down their past experiences with the movie, their thoughts on the rewatch, if they would recommend checking it out, and a full recap of the plot (which is usually when I start cracking up.) You’re not going to see any Oscar-winning titles here…look for episodes covering the likes of Varisty Blues, Practical Magic, Scream, and The Net.

Where to Start? I recommend scanning the list and downloading the I Hate it But I Love It episodes that feature movies that you remember watching (and maybe liking).

True Crime Garage
Join Nic and The Captain from the garage in Columbus, Ohio, as they crack open a featured beer and embark on a thorough investigation and retelling of a true crime case, either solved and unsolved. Covering both famous and relatively unknown cases, the guys really do their research, presenting very in-depth coverage of the events, suspects, and timeline of the crimes. While some cases are presented in one to two episodes, some span four or more, really diving into the details. My hope with the popularity of true crime podcasts is that more people learn about unsolved cases, perhaps leading to their eventual solving. Nic and The Captain are generally good about warning about speaking of more gruesome details, so if you’re sensitive (like me) you can skip those episodes or segments.

Where to Start? If you’re looking for a particular case, there’s a good chance the guys have covered it, so just do a search on the True Crime Garage page. If you’re not sure where to begin, you might use this list as inspiration. Cases/episodes that have piqued my interest have been Brian Shaffer, Maura Murray, and Jennifer Kesse. I am always hopeful that the more ears hearing about unsolved cases, the more likely someone will remember something or have information helpful to law enforcement.

The Lazy Genius
Kendra Adachi reminds listeners (and readers) to be “smart about the things that matter, and lazy about the things that don’t”, and her job as podcast host, author, and Instagram queen is to guide us to living better lives. She covers such a wide variety of topics, it is hard to imagine NOT finding something that resonates – from cleaning the bathroom, to planning a capsule wardrobe, to creating traditions, to reading by season, each episode provides a clear-cut plan of action for making one aspect of your life easier and better! Episode #150 “A Pep Talk for Being Stuck” made me tear-up while doing dishes, and these bite-sized episodes are perfect listens while prepping dinner or doing another task.

Where to Start? Since each episode has one designated topic, I recommend looking through the list of shows and seeing which ones suit your current needs.

Sorta Awesome
Sorta Awesome makes me super happy. Meg, Rebekah, and Kelly know how to put a smile on my face discussing all of the awesomes of life. Each show kicks off with an “awesome of the week” and the hosts tell listeners about ANYTHING that brought them joy that week – this could be a beauty product, a YouTube channel, a type of planner, or a recipe website…literally, anything. From there, they discuss the week’s topic – this could be of the lighter variety such as personality types, interesting true crime cases, seasonal must-lists, television shows, or go-to recipes, or veer heavier by exploring themes such as developing social skills, navigating quarantine, or overcoming analysis paralysis. I always come away from each episode with good ideas and/or products to check out, so this podcast is always on my recommended list.

Where to Start: I especially love their seasonal episodes (including the holiday gift guide) so maybe check out Awesome Summer List 2020 (episode #247) for some ideas on how to make this summer awesome since it’s going to look different for many of us. (As of writing this, I haven’t listened to this episode yet!)

If you have a podcast you love, please share in the comments! Happy listening!

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Holiday Gift Ideas for the Globetrotter - Toiletry/Make Up Bags

10/28/2014

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Bags are great, and I am obsessed. I love totes, reusable grocery bags, toiletry bags, make up bags...the list goes on and on. I am not into purses though - go figure.

For the globetrotter in your life, here are bags of all shapes and varieties...for when you aren't required the less-than-fancy clear bag for TSA checks. Click on each link below to be routed to the listing on Etsy.

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Holiday Gift Ideas for the Globetrotter - Travel Journals

10/23/2014

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Since the tender age of nine and my first memorable vacation (to New Symrna Beach, Florida and Walt Disney World), I have been an avid journal keeper during my travels. From Mead notebooks purchased from the local drugstore that held my pasted mementos and childhood memories to the more sophisticated books of my adulthood, I have left a great deal of scribbled pages in the wake of my travels.
Journals make a great gift for many reasons...
1.) who doesn't like to remember their vacations around the world?
2.) writing is good for the mind and good for the soul
3.) it is a personal, thoughtful gift - particularly if you purchase one themed to your loved-one's upcoming trip
4.) children can build all sorts of great skills through journal-keeping (this is the former teacher in me coming out)

These journals are all available through Etsy, one of my favorite sites for gift-buying. Truly, the items below represent just a small sampling of all of the awesome journals you can find on the site, so I would encourage you to do some exploring on your own as well. Click on the images below to be routed to the listing for that particular item.

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Holiday Gift Ideas for the Globetrotter - Key Chains

10/20/2014

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Etsy, that crafty rabbit hole of jewelry, home goods, and more has become the go-to destination on the Internet for cleverly creative gifts, and I often window shop to see the wares sellers are peddling. From now through the holiday season, I will be featuring some of my favorite travel-themed finds for the globetrotter in your life.

Please click on the images below to be directed to the item's listing on Etsy.

can be personalized!

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Making Memories: Our Tiny Travel Companion

7/22/2013

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My husband and I are all about having fun and being silly, so when my mom gifted us with a miniature sock monkey during the Christmas festivities of 2009, we decided he would begin to accompany us on our travel adventures. We named him Ernesto, and his initiation into sightseeing began in 2010 with a spring visit to Walt Disney World. Since then, Ernesto has visited Dallas, Niagara Falls, Austria, and Italy. Poor Ernesto was left behind on our trip to Las Vegas and our most recent cruise to the Caribbean, but I think all has been forgiven.

Posing Ernesto for silly photos throughout our travels has become a fun tradition for us, and one we know will be even more fun when we bring children into the mix. If you haven’t created a fun and silly travel tradition, it’s time to go for it and start making memories in an entirely new way when you’re away from home.

If you do have a fun and silly travel tradition, I would love to hear about it, particularly if it involves photography. Please share below in the comments section!

A few photos from Ernesto's vacations:

Dallas, Texas
June 2010

The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza
This museum is one of the most powerful and emotional experiences I have ever had while traveling. The audio tour was really interesting, and I had tears in my eyes as I walked through the book depository.

pictured: the infamous grassy knoll

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
June 2012

Ernesto joined us as we walked from the Maid of the Mist (Canadian side) to the Cave of the Winds (New York side) - I don't recommend this...it is a very long walk! (We logged about 8 miles on our pedometer!) Ernesto rode along crammed into my purse.

pictured: The American Falls as photographed from the Rainbow Bridge

outside of Straden, Austria

A visit to the beautifully lush Austrian countryside was marked with a photograph of Ernesto in the vineyards that ran up and down the hills.

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A More Magical Summer (in the time of Covid-19)

I wanted to give you a list of specific ways we are finding the joy each day, even when it feels like joy is just out of grasp.

Some days, I have to work at it harder than others.​Some days, the tears come. ​​We are all doing the best we can.

How our family is making this summer special:

Please note: This is NOT an SEO-driven list. These are actual items we have purchased and are using. I was not compensated by any of these companies for mentioning their products.

inflatable pool ($25, Walmart) and rafts ($10, Target / $11 Amazon)

small bluetooth speaker (about $15, Amazon)

in my ears

playlists and channels that make us happy

special plates, napkins, and cups ($2 per pack from Walmart)

essential oil blends

movie goals

​summer reading

activities for the kiddo

the crafts basket

family BINGO sheets

game night

Five Podcasts to Put in Your Ears

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Globetrotter - Toiletry/Make Up Bags

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Globetrotter - Travel Journals

Holiday Gift Ideas for the Globetrotter - Key Chains

Making Memories: Our Tiny Travel Companion

A few photos from Ernesto's vacations:

Categories

Some days, I have to work at it harder than others.
Some days, the tears come.

We are all doing the best we can.

summer reading