FROM: STELLA
TO: LAURA
- I enjoyed this list of Wirecutter recommendations for Trader Joe’s. So many great items that I already love and a few new ones that I can’t wait to try!
2. After several months of living back in the states, my sister finally returned home to Italy this week. In her honor, my husband and I visited this awesome Italian bakery in Portland and loaded up on lots of goodies.
3. I’ve been a big fan of Scott’s Cheap Flights for a long time now, his deals are incredible. In this time of less travel though, I’ve still been enjoying his emails and blog posts. This week he sent out a master bucket list for the most popular item in every state.
4. This week I read Where the Crawdad’s Sing which has been on my list to read for a long time. I finished Educated a few weeks ago and felt like these two were perfect back-to-back reads. I really enjoyed them both.
5. My husband and I decided to travel back in time and start watching season 1 of How I Met Your Mother. We’ve both seen a few episodes but never watched the show. It’s fun to see a classic early 2000s multi-cam show and live vicariously through their lives as they navigate a “simpler time” of pre-kid life. It’s a nice escape from our endless work from home/full-time parenting during a pandemic.
FROM: LAURA
TO: STELLA
1. I start a new job on Monday!! It’s been very weird to be out of the workforce for over a year, and I’m equal parts excited and very nervous about starting back up again. I have this tweet thread re starting a new job open in a tab as pretty much my to do list for the first few weeks.
2. I love this article on “adventure playgrounds” and the expectations and limits around kids playing. We’ve set our backyard (as well as the rest of our house) up to be pretty much a “free zone” for Ernie where he can explore, climb, and feel like the space is as much his as it is ours. We recently acquired a climbing dome (like this one) from my husband’s old coworker, and also have an Ernie-sized picnic table. Beyond a few other outside toys, most of the things he plays with are also our grown-up toys for gardening and working out (trowels, free weights, the hose…as much as I try to discourage that one), and he has his own patch of the garden where it’s a free-for-all when it comes to digging, planting and pulling weeds, etc.
3. We moved Ernie into a toddler bed this week (🙀 ). It’s gone surprisingly smoothly. We have the Sniglar crib from IKEA (I have loved it for two years now!) and it converted fairly easily to a toddler bed, kit included. We also got the Vikare guard rail which has been a great way to keep him from rolling off the bed, as he is a very active sleeper (read: he makes 360 degree turns many, many, many times a night!). The first nap was a little difficult and required a few visits before he stayed in bed and fell asleep, but from then on we switched the routine so that we read a book while he’s already in bed, and he’s been great about staying put.
4. I’ve sent a few Spoonful of Comfort care packages lately and have gotten great feedback from the friends who have received them. I like that it’s a meal (plus goodies like biscuits, cookies, and other options) that I can send to new moms or a friend who needs a little pick me up from across the country!