Weekly Good Things: Week 50

Rogue formatting this week ◡̈

Dec 17, 2024

Hello! Hello! Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things – your guide to living intentionally and more fully one good thing at a time! I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.

Hello, Hello!

The cold weather truly hit me like a ton of bricks this year. Even with some end of year intentions, I’ve had trouble pulling away from the siren song of the couch. (On that note, when did the cringe term “rot” to signify doing nothing on the couch/bed become part of the vernacular? Apparently 2023, thank you Google Trends.)

Even as an introvert, the best antidote for me to these feelings are to take myself out into the sun to get moving, or when inside to make things with my hands. Cook! Craft! Draw! (I find writing to be a satisfying creative pursuit, but I have to be mindful not to let myself drift back into the internet while sitting at a computer.)

This weekend I headed out to one of my favorite shops, The Paper Mouse, a stationery, pen, and curio shop, for a gathering of folks working on their Yearly Planners and swapping ideas for journaling, art, pens, and more.

There was a fun cross-section of people, including several librarians and teachers, and everyone had planners and notebooks, lots of folks brought assorted pens, an aggressive amount of stickers, and there was a lot of “oooohs” energy and excitement. Someone even traveled from New York City to come!

One of the women was working on a list of ideas for her journaling, including a fun riff on a 25 in ‘25: a list of 25 things she wanted to do 25 times. The idea being things to focus building habits on, which I thought was clever.

One of the things I’m always noodling on is how to bridge my very digital life with my analog paper creative time. (Work planning in a paper planner with my calendar/schedule is pretty much impossible, so I always have to have some duplication.)

Much of my journaling ends up being after the fact - tracking, commonplace book, mood and food, and a place to tape in stickers and ticket stubs, quotes, and memories. I stuck to filling out my Hobonichi this year almost daily (as a food journal, and monthly as a Good Things retro), so for 2025 I’m looking to expand a little bit! (This was how I rationalized purchasing not one but 3 notebooks for the new year.)

*Another bit of excitement this week was rescuing an older adult who was walking in the cold 3.7 miles away from home in the wrong direction. We had a fascinating conversation – he was in fact, a wildly interesting 92 year old who among his exploits was a public health leader, world traveler - more than 55 countries!, and adventurer – and managed to get him home, thanks to our local police. (The more I know about him now though, I am in fact much less concerned that he wouldn’t have made it back safely on his own. But it *was* cold.)

👋 If you are new here, welcome! I try to fill these newsletters with a little something for everyone. (If you are just here for the food, it’s at the end! Feel free to scroll, I won’t judge!)

Good Things This Week:

1. Passport Renewal: a few weeks ago, I realized that my passport had expired, which was both a little alarming and a little depressing (as someone who absolutely loves travel, I’ve neither used it nor checked validity in over a year.) Fortunately renewal is now online, you can provide your own photo, and instead of a rush job, I decided to take my chances on the regular return. Kudos to the agency, I got back my fresh passport yesterday in less than 2 business weeks!
2. Museum of Fine Arts: technically, last week. I went with my friend Lisa after being invited to her final grad presentations for her data viz class (which were a delight!) We went to the Georgia O’Keefe - Henry Moore exhibit. One of the things I particularly enjoyed was the interplay between two contemporary artists during a moment in time, and the construction of little studio spaces in the show to give a little more context and feeling than art displayed hygienically on a white wall. (Another thing that delights me during every trip to the MFA are the chairs in the gallery that are part of the “Please Be Seated” collection, which has commissioned furniture makers for the past 50 years to create public sit-table art furniture you can relax for a moment in different galleries.)

Slow Drip Gardening

It’s inside plant season! I have two amaryllis which are currently shooting up. I always find them fun because you can see daily growth. I buy the little waxed bulbs from Trader Joe’s because they are the adult version of candy at the check out aisle.
Flower of the Week was two colors of mums.
In the middle of the summer, I potted a few little succulent cuttings and nothing really happened. I was surprised to find in the past few weeks a few of the little nubs multiplying themselves!
I didn’t manage to plant all of my spring bulbs, but I’m considering potting a few of them to put in the garage with the leftover soil I have. I thought this article was fascinating: Forcing bulbs and lasagna planting via A Way to Garden. Here’s an image from the article:

Assorted Thinking:

I’m intrigued to try this Earworm Eraser: a track that can combat an earworm tune in your head. Which reminds me, I love sharing this scientifically validated hiccup trick to stop hiccups that I text to any friend who is suffering. It’s a breathing technique:
Curating News: I was struck by a TikTok video I watched this week, where a creator was explaining the importance of following more than one single person as their news source. Aside from being mildly horrified, it reminded me of one of my “big questions” I’d like to pursue over time: how do you best curate a well-balanced news feed for yourself? How do you stay informed (even with folks who you disagree with) without falling into the traps of the clickbait news cycle?
On that note, this week I cancelled my Feedly feed reader subscription, which feels like the end of an internet era. (For those of you who don’t know what a feed reader is: back in the day, blogs and websites had RSS “really simple syndication”, a way to aggregate all of the things you read in one place. Google Reader was my go-to in the mid 2000s, it’s eventual demise (causing many RIP Google Reader articles to be written non-ironically) is still a sore spot. I’ve been happily paying for an alternative service, Feedly, for many years, but I really don’t use the internet the same way anymore. (Incidentally, many of the blogs I used to read now publish on Substack, and I can turn on and off what I’d like to see in my inbox.)
These are the kinds of graphs and charts we need (Austen math)
Drawing Exercises: WendyMac’s Top 5 Drawing Exercises of 2024

I’ve been thinking about a tweet I read this week by Austin Kleon: “the more people phone in their newsletters the more I want to do mine even better”. What are we phoning in in our lives?

Take a moment to notice:

I love when I notice good numbers. I usually take a screenshot.

New Acquisitions:

There’s been a lot more in the news about PFAS “forever chemicals” in black plastics, including in common kitchenware. I’ve been trying to reduce plastic over the years where I can, and I really like these little silicone spatulas from Tovolo, which I impulse purchased a week ago at Whole Foods.
I shopped my own childhood bedroom last week and picked up a few bags of art supplies for myself (yarn, pastels, paints, embossing gear!)
I also grabbed some of my late grandmother’s kitchen supplies that were sitting in some boxes for winter baking and creativity. (Her cheese pie - a blueberry cheesecake – is one of my favorites.)

Mixed Media:

📖 Reading: Capping off the “Year of Sanderson” with the newest book in the Stormlight Archive, ‘Wind and Truth’ which just came out last week. At more than 1300 pages, this *would have* lasted me the rest of the reading season here, but he’s so darn good that I’m already 15% in and having to force myself to pause.
📺 Watching: kicked off the delightful new 80’s kids movie-homage Star Wars series ‘Skeleton Crew’ which is pulling at this elder millennial’s heart-strings. The Goonies-coded pilot in Star Wars suburbia just was perfection // Slow Horses, the British thriller series on Apple+ // I very much enjoyed the Canadian dark comedy ‘The Sticky’ about a maple syrup heist and bad neighbors - Jamie Lee Curtis has a fun cameo in this too. (Be forewarned - 6 episodes ends on a cliffhanger.) // Film of the week: we’ve reached “bad holiday movie season” where every few nights I put a terrible Netflix or Hallmark holiday film on in the background for Ambiance. So far, Lindsay Lohan’s ‘Our Little Secret’ is topping the list with a few scenes that had me screaming.
🎧 Listening: I’ve been listening to Stephen King’s Holly on my walks, and will finish Stanley Tucci’s Taste this week.
💡 Tackle a Nagging Task: I went for my end of year eye appointment. I *adore* Dr. Stacy Coen at Blink. Bonus: I didn’t need dilation because they have a fancy Optomap that takes photo and video of your eyeballs! (Please let me know if you’d like me to send them to you, because I won’t post here unsolicited. But SCIENCE!)
🤣 Memes and randomness of the week: I received terrible news that Lemon Thai in Wellesley is closing before the end of the year. One of my favorite memories in college was when the owner would come to our dorm with the delivery himself. (I lived in a converted sheep barn on campus for three years, and between us we ordered pretty much every day of the week.)

The Week Meal Plan:

Why do I do this? I’ll note, my meal plans tend to be more of a directional support for me than what I actually end up eating in my week. (I think a lot of people who do meal planning feel obligated to actually eat the things they come with rather than just using as a placeholder/inspiration. I do not feel so constricted.)

🍒 Good Eats from the Past Week:

Home made split pea soup with ham (Rancho Gordo)
Green beans with beef and tomato (loubia-ish)
Poppyseed Streudel from Wawel Polish Patisserie in Montreal’s Jean-Talon market
Sea Salt Cultured butter from Cows Creamery
St. Viateur bagel with Trader Joe’s Fromage Pavé
Futago Udon delivery: Cold Niku Udon, and the fried Ika squid and tempura purple sweet potato were both delicious. Ordered takeout and they were still warm. Popped them in the air fryer to crisp back up for two minutes.
Been working my way through the gorgeous Dandelion Chocolate Advent. (Yes, I’m Jewish, but everyone deserves a nightly winter treat!) Favorites so far: the HÅKAN passionfruit explosion, and the Orange Confit from Forté chocolate.

Bean of the week: Rancho Gordo Royal Corona

This week’s meal plan:

Sunday: Box Shells and cheddar. (We’re deep in comfort food season.)
Monday: Beef birria with corona beans, marinated mushrooms and celery
Tuesday: I won’t lie, it’s Popeye’s grand opening in my town today after teasing us for over a year 🤣
Wednesday: Citrus braised pork with crispy shallots and potatoes via BA
Thursday: Spiced Cauliflower and chickpeas with lemon
Friday: Cape Cod Pizza Friday

Lunch Options: Lamb vindaloo with yogurt. Corona beans. Turkish grilled cheese. Mustard leeks with beans.

Snacks: Yogurt and berries. Cheese sticks. Turkey Chomps. Good Culture Cottage Cheese. Steel Cut Oatmeal. Red Leicester Cheese. Goat Cheese Log. Brie with Truffles. Fromage Pavé.

Treat options (mostly in the freezer): Pie from Petsi’s. Trader Joe’s Coffee Panna Cotta. BerryLine Frozen Yogurt, Ben and Jerry’s Chance Mint Fudgy Brownie, Trader Joe’s Brigadieros, TJ’s Tiramisu, Trader Joe’s Brownie Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches. Apple Tartines. Key Lime Pie. Trader Joe’s S’Mores. Stone and Skillet English Muffin. Fat Witch brownies from my gift swap!

What are you eating this week?