Hey there! Welcome to another work week…with (more) snow! What?! I had no idea we were in for more snow until yesterday at church when a friend mentioned about the upcoming snow storm. I looked at my weather app (if you don’t have Dark Sky, you should!) and yep, sure enough, snow was in the forecast.

So here I am, like a typical Midwesterner, talking about the weather (sorry, it’s just what we do, I guess!). I don’t have any new recipes for you today since lately we’ve been enjoying some old favorites (last night we had one of my most popular recipes on here: Smoked Gouda and Roasted Red Pepper Tomato-Basil Bisque. Gosh, it does not disappoint! Philip said it was like we were eating at a restaurant. If you haven’t had it, I’m telling you, you must give it a try this week. It’s so simple to put together, too.

Anyway, instead of a typical blog post with a recipe, I thought I’d just share with you some of my current thoughts, wonderings, ponderings…should be interesting, huh? :)

Right now I’m… 

Eyeing: Maya Brenner letter necklaces. I saw a blogger I follow wearing one of these necklaces with the first initials of her two kids on it. I absolutely love the simplicity of it. I’ve always kind of wanted a necklace I could just wear all the time and this could definitely be that necklace for me. Now I just need to have a reason for a necklace with initials on it. :)

Reading: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. I recently finished reading through all of the Harry Potter books and once I finished, I couldn’t just stop (those books are seriously what kept me going through this winter!). This book (well, actually play), was as close as I could get to reading another Harry Potter book and I was also just curious what it was all about. It takes place 19 years after the 7th book and is the story involving Harry Potter’s child. While it’s not as addicting to read as the other 7 books, it has an interesting plot with a twist and is a very fast read.

Loving: Dumbledore sign. Speaking of Harry Potter, I don’t know whether it was because I was in the midst of months of Harry Potter reading or whether this sign truly spoke to me, but while searching on Etsy a month ago (love that site!) for something to fill up our bare wall in the living room, I found this sign and was instantly hooked. What started off as a joke with Philip about having a quote of Dumbledore on our wall, quickly became a serious contender for what would be filling up our wall. It only took about a day of me thinking about it (constantly) until I just went for it and ordered the darn thing. Now that it’s here, I’m totally loving how it compliments our room so well! Plus, it’s a good conversation starter, right? ;)

Debating: Instant Pot. Tell me, do I need this kitchen appliance added to the rest of my collection? I just don’t know. I have so many recipes right now. Do I want an appliance where I need to find more recipes in order to use it? But as a hobby food blogger, I’m starting to feel out of the loop. I think on a weekly basis I come up with another reason for why I need this in my life right now. I keep telling myself that once I have a family, it may be more useful and make more sense. But sautéing in the same vessel that I’ll be using to slow cook in is kind of revolutionary. :)

Recently bought: Athleta Batik Midtown Skort. I never really thought of myself of a skirt or dress person, but in the past month, I’ve found myself buying this skort and two other casual dresses. And to be honest, I’m pretty excited about them and it’s made me that much more eager for spring and summer so I can finally wear them! We have some trips ahead that I’m super excited about and I’m thinking these will pack well, be versatile enough for whatever adventures we do, and will still have me looking a little stylish.

Learning: Italian. Can you guess where one of our trips is? Italy! In an effort to not be that typical American who expects everyone to speak my language, I want to attempt to try to actually learn their language (because, you know, I am in their country). I learned about the app Duolingo and it has been great! I don’t really love learning languages, but this app has been, dare I say it, fun! It’s slightly competitive—which is perfect for me—and it only takes about five minutes a day. That’s it! Nothing major, and I’m already 3% fluent. :) By the time our trip comes, I’m hoping to be at least 10. Ha.

Snacking: Trail Mix Peanut Butter Granola Bars. I don’t often come across a recipe online, get the ingredients the very next day, and make the recipe at the first chance I get. For whatever reason, these bars spoke to me (must have been the peanut butter in the name :)), and I did just that. I’ve been keeping them in the freezer for Philip and me to grab whenever we want one. I don’t typically buy granola bars because they’re often loaded with ingredients I don’t love or have way too much sugar in them. I love how I can control all of that with these granola bars. #winning

Anticipating: Bolder Boulder. And our next visit to Colorado, in general. Bolder Boulder is one of the largest 10k races and, from what I heard, is quite the experience that happens every year in Boulder, CO, over Memorial Day weekend. Last year, 52,000 people (!!) participated in the run (my jaw just dropped when I saw that). Philip’s siblings did it last year and, of course, I couldn’t be left out of a race like this. So, with a little convincing, Philip and I signed up and are heading to Colorado in May. I can’t wait for the start of another racing season!

Appreciating: Lazy weekends. These weekends of sleeping in and doing things at a leisurely pace don’t happen very often, but when they do, I fully embrace them. Lately, though, Philip and I seem to have had a few quiet weekends. Perhaps the best one was a few weeks ago when we went to my aunt and uncle’s lake house near Nakoosa, WI. It was one of those warmer February weekends, so the weather was perfect for going outside to get some fresh air, yet was still cozy enough to start the fire in the evenings (I just wrote “turn on”…yeah, it was a real fireplace. No switch to be had. Haha). It was probably one of my favorite weekends thus far of the year.

Listening: Marriage is Funny Podcast. I’ve never “binge listened” to a podcast before, but for whatever reason this one has drawn me in. I was bored on a four-hour drive for a girls’ weekend a few weeks back, searched for podcasts, came across this one, and I was set for the entire trip back (and the remaining weeks that have followed). Philip has started listening to them, too. It’s been fun to talk about the topics discussed and has even led to some good conversation between the two of us. It’s light-hearted, but still manages to bring up common issues that arise in marriage.

Missing: The Boston Marathon. Last year at this time I was anticipating running the Boston Marathon—a dream of mine come true. I didn’t think I’d find myself missing it so much this year. Perhaps, with all the excitement building on social media for this year’s race, I’m getting nostalgic and it’s bringing to the surface all the great memories and emotions from last year. It was truly an awesome experience and just a really great trip, in general, with Philip, too. I hope to go back next year, but for now, I’ll continue to keep my memories close.

Awaiting: Spring! Whee!!! Daylight Savings Time has me that much more eager for this next season to begin. I may or may not have decorated for spring on Saturday (I definitely did. Haha). The snow can’t stop me from getting excited that pretty soon spring vacation time will be here, flowers will start to bloom, I’ll be able to run outside with only one layer instead of three, and Madison will come alive again. I can’t wait!

Have a great start to your week, friends!