Goodness in the Kitchen: Comfort Food

It’s an amazing time of year to be in the kitchen. Not only is it finally pleasant to turn on an oven or stove here in Phoenix (I don’t want to talk about how many days in the triple digits we have this year but suffice it to say that we broke records), but the seasonal flavors from October through December are varied and full of favorites (pumpkin! apple! gingerbread! peppermint!). I find so many of these flavors comforting and imbued with tradition, but today I want to talk about some of my favorite comfort foods that are there for my family year round. Warning: lots of carbs ahead… Continue reading

Advertisement

Olaf and my Mental health

I have young kids in my house- specifically a three year old girl in my house- which means that, like many of her peers, she is constantly requesting the Frozen and Frozen 2 soundtracks be played on repeat. After years with the original movie’s music blasting through our house, I think I’ve become immune to the original soundtrack, but I’ve been surprised to find recently that Frozen 2 songs have become a pretty good barometer about my own mental health during this pandemic… (also… spoiler alerts for frozen 2 ahead… and if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t care… this may not be a post that makes any sense to you anyway and you can totally skip this one!) Continue reading

Back Again! July review and August Goals

Well, here we are in August! June stretched on for what felt like years and then Buy seemed to fly by. It was really nice to have a writing break and focus on less screen time. I’m ready to be back to writing more though! Here’s a recap of July goals and what I’m planning to work on in August… Continue reading

A few more good things…

Oh man… I have really REALLY  felt the weight of the world recently. It is hard to make myself write anything or get through more than basic survival and my mental health has not been at its best. I know one of the best self care things I can do besides moving my body is to cultivate gratitude, even (especially) when I don’t feel like it… so I’ve been brainstorming some more of the good things from our COVID19 lockdown: Continue reading

Prenatal Anxiety Part 2: Fighting for Fun in a Hormone Induced Hurricane

I wrote this post very shortly after coming home from the hospital last month- before the COVID-19 pandemic had really escalated. In light of that I debated taking a break from posting, but then I wondered if maybe my anxiety coping mechanisms could help people out as we all go through this anxious time… I certainly find myself needing to use them again as I struggle to get through the fear of how long this will last, how bad it will be, and how uncertain everything feels- no clue what is next. So I’m publishing it today and hoping it doesn’t sound too tone deaf given how quickly our world seems to have changed…

In my last post, I wrote about how in all three of my pregnancies I struggled with prenatal anxiety, but the way I dealt with that anxiety changed as I learned more about what prenatal anxiety was, what it meant for me, and how I might deal with it given my choice to have more children. This post talks about some of the ways I “dealt with it” during this last pregnancy…

*Just like in my last post, I do list some specific fears and anxieties in this post so it could be triggering for others suffering from anxiety or those who have been through miscarriage or infant loss* Continue reading