FROM: STELLA

TO: LAURA

1. I’ve been enjoying the Marley Spoon meal kit boxes lately. It’s a nice way to break up our typical dinner rotation and try new recipes/ingredients. Especially with the welcome deal, it costs less to order three dinners from a meal kit delivery than for us to order take-out once, and I get to save brainpower on deciding what to make a few nights a week.

2. I love these toddler shorts from Target. I actually bought Colby’s first pair at a used children’s store for $7 before realizing that I could buy them new for $6, go figure!

3. My book club switched things up this month and added a bonus meeting where we all watch the same movie. We choose Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself and though I never would have chosen it myself, I really enjoyed it and my husband LOVED it. Fun to discuss with him and made me even more excited to discuss it with the group this weekend.

4. I’ve been listening to Untamed by Glennon Doyle. It’s part memoir, part self-help/advice book, and full of short stories about her life. It was an easy read and I was able to pick it up and put it down easily without getting lost. I ended up listening to most of it while cooking dinners over the last two weeks.

FROM: LAURA

TO: STELLA

1. Ernie started preschool a little over a month ago which means that we’ve reintroduced some sort of a “commute” into our routines. His school is only a 10-15 minute drive and, so far, my husband and I are splitting pick up and drop off so we each only get in the car once a day. I usually have my running podcast playlist on in the car, but lately, especially with Ernie’s developing language skills, I’ve been thinking some of them might not be appropriate listening for his age? Bookmarked this post on kid podcasts to do some sample listening to see if I will hate podcasts geared towards children.

2. I learned about the Olive service from Krista at Covering the Bases and think it could be transformational. It seems to be limited to certain brands and pretty dedicated to the fashion space right now, but if they can be successful and branch out to home goods, books, XYZ, (or even the dreaded Amazon?!), I think it could be a complete game changer for the environmental impacts of all the drop shipping that happens.

3. So. Flipping. Excited. That The Bold Type is back. (And also preemptively sad that it is the last season!)

4. Ernie starts swim lessons today! I would have started him in some sort of program last summer but Covid definitely delayed that plan. I’m excited to see what kinds of skills he picks up, or if this will just be an intro to being more comfortable in the water (he already loves water activities like bath and playing at the sink). We’re doing lessons at a public aquatic center and they require a double layer of swim diapers — I’ve got these disposables and this reusable in our activity bag.