The Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist

Top Five/Bottom Five: Christmas Food Edition

If you thought music and movies tested our friendship, let’s see how we fare after today’s version of the Top Five/Bottom Five game. I’ll warn you, there is a lot of sugar – which…

Christmas, Food, Holidays, Top Five/Bottom Five
Dec, 19, 2023
25 Comments

The One Where I Don’t Post On Monday (And Then Post On Monday)

Last week kicked my butt. Mostly in a good way – you know when you finish an epic workout and you’re proud of what you accomplished? But, also, you feel like you’ve been hit…

Books + Quotes (December 2023)

I am so “behind” on posting about the books I have been reading! So here is a big book/quote dump from the last month or so of my reading life. I’ve been coming to…

Quotes, Reading
Dec, 16, 2023
30 Comments

Happy Things Friday: 15 December

I want to start today’s post by acknowledging that the Christmas season can be the least happy time of the year. I attended a funeral last weekend for a 16-year-old. She was an accomplished…

Wrapping Up My 2023 Goals

I’m going to blink and 2023 will be over. For the first time in a looonnnggg time, I’m not planning to set any goals for myself for an entire calendar year. This feels like…

Goals
Dec, 14, 2023
34 Comments

Favourite Things: December 2023 Edition + Top Picks

I thought I’d start with a quick roundup of recent favourites and cap things off with a summary of my favourite items/moments from 2023.

Who’s ready to do this?

YOLINK WATER SENSORS

If you’ve been reading along…

Paris Day Three: Van Gogh, a River Cruise, and a Magical Light Show

Today’s post covers Day Three of our trip to Paris in 2019. I had scheduled this recap weeks before the recent attack. I don’t know what to say/do in light of the current tragedy….