Weekly Good Things 2024 - Week 1

Good Things, First Snow of the Year, and the Weekly Meal Plan.

Hello! Hello! Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.

I’m wearing my fleece onesie after a full day on the first snowstorm of the year! I had plenty of time in the great outdoors, including running my daily mile in the snow, and then taking Bertram on a walk with his best bud, Sawyer.

After my first RACE OF THE YEAR! (Strategically placed star where I *SWEAT* from overheat in 34 degree weather.

This Week in Good Things:

Let’s MOVE!

• 🏃🏻‍♀️Running! The first week of the year is always a great week for me to get moving. A few things of note: I ran my first race of the year, the Needham 5k. I’ve run this for maybe a decade now? It’s a great way to start the year!

• 🏋️‍♀️ Weight Lifting. I’m kicking off a 16 week training cycle with a group of folks. “Boring” progressive overload, how I like it! I did my three workouts at home, and hit my weekly session with my trainer Ryan at AnkFit.

• 🧘🏻‍♀️ Yoga. We kicked off a four week Vitality series for the New Year at Ompractice on Thursday night, with Tasha Edwards. I let people into class, and had a great time participating. In the mornings, I’ve been taking Yoga with Adriene’s 30-day flow series. (I adore Adriene, and while I love taking our own classes, I was finding that doing a morning class on our platform meant that I was kicking myself into “work mode” before I wanted to. (Adriene is one of my favorite alternatives!) I not so secretly wish she would teach with us!

🌱 Create: I kicked off a workshop this weekend with a group: “One Month, One Goal” where we create and tune our singular focus goals for the month and then check in weekly. I’m also bringing back my *Do The Thing hours, my weekly co-working sessions for folks who registered for the month!

✍️ Writing: I wrote up my Kitchen Resolutions, and Good Things to Eat in January, and my first Ship30 essay “structure will set you free”. Ship30 is a daily writing challenge that I’ve participated in several times over the years. Since I typically write and publish most days anyway, it’s just nice to participate with a group of people doing the thing you like to do.

💪 Saving the Day: I love when I can feel generally useful – and when people give me the opportunity to help! (Note to self: it’s okay to ask for help - people feel good when you give them the opportunity to help!) I got to rescue a dog who was inside for the day while her humans were stuck doing RMV related tasks. And then I got to help with a car situation, and then carry some doors.

🐾 Pup Walks with Friends: a SNOW walk with Sawyer (the Corgi) and her humans; a quick backyard party session with Sylvie the Frenchie.

I love the winter sky

Other Good Things

• 📖 Reading: I’ll be updating my reading list (here is last quarter). I’m loving Jessica McCabe’s new release How to ADHD. Also on my non-fiction bookshelf, Kim Foster’s The Meth Lunches: Food and Longing in an American City. Finishing up Bookshops & Bonedust by Travis Baldree, and I was influenced by BookTok to read the Dramione A03 fanfic Manacled. IYKYK; if you don’t probably don’t look that up.

• 📺 Watching: season 2 of Reacher, who solves problems with low emotional output and his large size. My first movie of the year was The Holdovers, which you’ll very much enjoy if you like slow burn and 1970s New England prep school winter vibes.

• ✏ Creative inspiration: From Marie of Llama Life’s newsletter: “Short Trip created by Alexander Perrin is an 'interactive illustration created for web as a study into capturing the essence of graphite on paper within a digital context'. And it's really lovely!”

• 🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: crab rangoon grilled cheese // two very good jokes // Massachusetts DOT Name-a-Snowplow winners (I’m a fan of Snow B Wan Kenobi) // this adorable turtle slip-sliding for funsies // everyone fit the soup they brought to the soup-off // I think I’m going to make the rasputin dance my dance project like these women who are dancing it every day // this bird, very proud.

The Weekly Meal Plan:

This week I sat down to make a long list of foods I’d like to eat in January, and published my 2024 Kitchen Resolutions.

• Sunday: Tortilla Española and an endive salad with mustard vinaigrette

• Monday: Smoked salmon salad with hard boiled eggs and fried onion crunchies, lemon vinaigrette

• Tuesday: Farfalle with mushrooms and cheese

• Wednesday:  an event at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum with snacks (and hopefully dinner?)

• Thursday: Pierre Franey French-Style Flounder with lemon butter and parsley; steamed bok choy

• Friday: Sherman’s Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup with beef

• Saturday: Pork cutlets with roasted sunchokes (or jerusalem artichoke soup)

Lunches: Leftovers, palak paneer, lamb vindaloo, baingan bharta, tadka dal

Snacks: Ricotta, soft boiled eggs, cottage cheese, cheese sticks, tofu, chicken broth.

Treat options: End of the See’s box. Tapioca Pudding. TJ’s Pretzel Breadpudding. TJ’s Iced Gingerbread in the freezer. Peppermint Hold the Cones. Walker’s Shortbread. Pumpkin Sticky Toffee Pudding. TJ’s Apple Tartin Tartelettes. (You’ll notice that this list keeps growing - I have a bad? habit of getting fancy desserts from Trader Joe’s from my freezer and taking forever to eat them.

🥑 Good Eats from this past week: Marcus Samuelsson’s Black Eyed Peas (seriously you need these in your life). Smoked Sable on a bagel. Chopped chicken liver on toast. Ottolenghi Chicken Thighs with Fennel and Arak. Salmon roe on toast. Alison Roman’s Slow Salmon with Citrus. Palak Paneer and tofu. Salmon and whitefish salad on toast. Fila Manila Kare Kare chicken and potatoes.

What are you eating this week?

Previous Years:

Something I really enjoy doing is flipping back in my journal or my blog to the week of the year over the past several years. When I write it out in a list like this, it feels like a nice accomplishment!

• The Second Lunch Kitchen Resolutions (2023) and previous years (2012) (2016) (2017)  (2018) (2019) (2020) (2022)

• My non-exhaustive list of food I ate in 2021 and food I ate in 2022!

• My tea project (which I’d like to take up again!)

• First week of January 2023: Good Things

• First week of January 2021: Good Things

• First week of January 2020: Kitchen resolutions

• First week of January 2019: Kitchen resolutions

• First week of January 2018: Kitchen resolutions

• First week of January 2017: 2017 reading list

• First week of January 2016: weekly meal plan, so you are thinking of doing a Whole30

• First week of January 2015: lamb chops, Nigella’s Scallops with Thai Scented Pea Puree, This Week in Books, Crunchy Fennel Salad

• First week of January 2014: weekly meal plan

• First week of January 2013: first of the year, RIP Hoff

• First week of January 2012: Clifford Wright Swedish Sausage and Sprout Stew, Tea Project

• First week of January 2010: shortbread, vegan chocolate muffins

That’s all for now! Hope you have a great week!

xo, Sam