Currently - March '24

This is the third time I've opened up this draft, and I'm going to finish it! Next month's currently post will be up soon on Jennifer's blog, but she's very kind and leaves the link up open for the late ones like me. 😊

 

loving - that while I worked on this post early in the month, Keizo was making dinner. We had gone for a short walk and it was breezier and cooler than we were expecting, so the planned menu of sausage and peppers is being postponed for some warming bowls of veggie ramen instead.

looking forward to - more family celebrations this month. My mom's birthday was last Friday, and this weekend, my cousin and his family are coming to visit. I haven't yet met his twin daughters, and I can't wait to see how they interact with my nieces. 

planning - for two, weeklong trips for work has consumed nearly all of my brain space lately, and it must show because when I asked Keizo to research accommodations and bike routes for a trip to southern AZ next month, he did it! We've got a place booked and will meet up with friends for some gravel biking adventures. The work trips are going to interfere a bit with "training" - or maybe not? I'm going to places where I'm not expecting many post-work activity options, so maybe I'll get my HGTV fix in the hotel gym on a stationary bike.

wearing - some recent Goodwill finds, including a fun pink tie-dye sweatshirt on weekends and a sweater blazer that looks good on Zoom during the week. The sweater blazer has pockets and is reversible - light grey on one side and darker grey with a window pane print on the other. 

eating - I've been pretty good about sticking to my Meatless Monday goal so far this year, and then after watching the You Are What You Eat docuseries on Netflix, I/we decided to go all in for a while and see what it was like to eat vegan. Much like when we tried Whole 30 a few years ago (we like to really shake up our eating habits every once and a while; have also done Dry January several times too), there was a week or so of using up what we had on hand, and then buying only "compliant" groceries. Our grocery shopping hasn't included any meat or dairy for about 3 weeks now, but we have not been 100% strict about what was already on hand or the couple of times we've been out to eat. The toughest part so far has been no eggs in the mornings, and the plant-based meat and dairy alternatives we've tried are real hit or miss. 

Best of February

• Weather - there's a reason Arizona gets a lot of snowbirds!
• Brunch out / getting to know a friend of a friend - he moved to Phoenix a few months before we did, and we've met up a couple of times, but brunch outside in February with good company is totally great.
• Niece #1's birthday party - guests were asked to wear pink, nearly everyone complied, and there were a bunch of her friends from preschool in attendance. It was another lovely day outside (sorry folks with winter weather...don't worry, we don't get outside much in the summer), and I think everyone had a great time.

Currently - February '24

Some congestion and a sore throat are keeping me close to home this weekend, so might as well get ahead on the ol' blog. If I remember, I'll come back to link up with the other currently devotees on Jennifer's blog. Thanks for reading!

Orchids at the Denver Botanic Garden

loving - Girl Scout cookies and the fact that I know several people with daughters who are selling them. I was in Girl Scouts from 1st through 12th grade, earned a Gold Award, and worked at summer camp and for Girl Scouts Beyond Bars in my early 20's, so cookie season brings back a lot of memories and I'm so glad that girls are still participating.

looking forward to - last Friday, we thwarted our usual M.O. twice in short order by 1) acting in the spur of the moment to 2) make plans five months in advance. Usually we're (I'm?) overthinking things until it's too late or it becomes just easier to do them, and planning in advance for us is usually two weeks out, due in part to the way Keizo's work schedule gets published. Anyway, we got it together on Friday and now I have a few months to look forward to escaping the desert for several days in July!

doing to be romantic - I actually have a gift to give Keizo on Valentine's day! He does read this occasionally, so will just have to wait another week to find out what it is.  

changing - it's definitely time to change out some clothes in my wardrobe; get rid of things I haven't worn since we moved, replace a couple of pairs of jeans with nicer ones, and find new sneakers. Over the past few years, I've definitely noticed myself wearing the same things over and over, even more so than before, and several of those things are actually starting to wear out.

celebrating - keeping my fingers crossed that all three households of my immediate family will finally get to celebrate belated Christmas this month, along with the bubble-themed, 3rd birthday party for my niece.

Best of January

• Trip to Denver - Looking back at the photos, this should maybe be a post of its own. This was my second trip, and not renting a car meant meant using light rail, scooters, and walking to get around. We avoided the coldest weather by spending a long afternoon at the art museum, and got to explore some neighborhoods near downtown in search of yummy food and drink.

Currently - January '24

We're a good 2.5 weeks into the new year, and they have gone by very quickly! I've started the year off at work with a bang, getting assigned a new project with lots of moving pieces and multiple weekly, sometimes even daily, meetings. But since there's no time like the present, so here's a slightly delayed update of what I've been doing 'currently':  

First spectacular sunset of the year on 1/1

loving - That we got to celebrate New Year's Eve with good friends who came to visit from out of town. Without them, I think I would have been in bed by 10 PM and nothing very celebratory would have happened. Instead, we got to indulge in rich foods together and stayed up playing some rather competitive card games.

looking forward to - I'm looking forward to a change in scenery with a trip to Denver for a weekend of fun and two days of working from an office. I'm also looking forward to--and will be trying to take advantage of--the next few months of very nice weather in Phoenix before it gets hot!

resolving - So many goal ideas, so little time! It always takes me a while to come up with and then commit to goals for the year. I've definitely gotten away from calling them resolutions, since those tend to be forgotten about and then doomed to fail. I have a little look back at 2023 below, and based on that and some other thinking, here's what I have so far:

• More biking - this one needs some more specifics, but I'd like to plan a longer distance adventure and make it a more regular part of my exercise routine
• More activities outside of the house - finding a knitting group and some volunteer activities
• Get to know AZ better - day and weekend trips both close by and further afield

doing to stay cozy this month - No one wants to hear any whining about cold weather in Phoenix, but we did have a couple of overnight frosts last week, and the house doesn't feel like it heats up at all during the day. It's kind of embarrassing to admit, but I've been wearing puffy vests and using a blanket on my lap as I work to try and stay warm.

cooking - Another one of my too many goals for 2024 is being more mindful of our meat consumption by planning and making "Meatless Monday" dinners. There's a vegetarian section in my binder of go-to recipes, but since the sections are alphabetical, it's way in the back and I don't always make it that far when planning the meals and groceries for the week. 

2023 by the numbers

• 35 books read (almost the same as 2022)
• 198 days I met my daily step goal (13 days more than 2022!) 
• 127 times I did yoga/stretched (about one 30-day yoga challenge less than 2022)
• 402 total miles biked (a big drop from previous years)
• 5 western states visited to see family & friends (CO, NM, NV, UT, WA)

Best of Q4 2023

The first Wednesdays of the last three months of 2023 have long since come and gone without me posting a single currently post. Rather than trying to catch up, I thought I would recap the last quarter or 2023 and try to return to the monthly post schedule next year.  

October

• Making Halloween houses - Early in the month we got together and made candy Halloween houses with our niece. We brought ours home with us and it graced the kitchen island all month long. 

• Japan trip - Our first trip to see Keizo's family in five years did not disappoint. We had a lovely 2 weeks getting reacquainted; Keizo's sister was able to take time off of work and served as our excellent tour guide; his mother cooked us amazing meals and showed us how to make mochi; we went to a sumo match; and Keizo's siblings joined the two of us on a ~80 mile bike adventure on the Shimanami-kaido, a bike route that crosses half a dozen islands and major bridges between Hiroshima prefecture and Ehime prefecture.

• My Zoom Halloween costume - The return of the Great British Baking Show on Netflix plus finding an old pair of plastic sunglass frames (sans lenses) in the kitchen junk drawer equaled the inspiration for my work Halloween costume. Add some grey hair spray, a giant paper chain necklace, and an on-brand video call backdrop and you get a day of great reactions from co-workers. 

• Last minute decorating and trick or treaters - I'm also glad that I wrapped up work a bit early and went to the store last minute for candy to hand out to trick-or-treaters. There were plenty of houses in the neighborhood that went all out with their decorations, and I didn't have much candy leftover at the end of the night.

November

• New trails - There was not much for me to do at work the week of Thanksgiving, so I snuck away early on Tuesday to explore a new trail with Keizo. And explore we did, quickly finding ourselves on a path that didn't even appear on the map, but thankfully looped back to the main trail eventually. Someday we'll go back and attempt the trail as shown on the map.

• Thanksgiving - My brother and sister-in-law hosted, and we had a lovely time. I was tasked with desserts and made a pumpkin roll cake and pecan bars. There was also a delicious cranberry tart and creamy pumpkin pudding.

• Finishing the coffee table and other home projects - With daytime temperatures consistently below 90 degrees and a couple of weekends where Keizo had both days off, we were finally able to stain the coffee table he made earlier this year. We also refinished some chairs we had picked up at Goodwill months before and got new pillow covers, so the whole living room looks a bit more complete now. Building on that momentum, we also built and installed a picture ledge in the dining area of the kitchen.

December

• Holiday decor / baking - I typically wait until the first weekend in December to get out the holiday decor and I like picking a theme each year. 2020 was 'cabin fever' with lots of plaid; 2021 was 'merry and bright,' and this year's is "mostly handmade." Inspired by the Thanksgiving place settings (above), I dried oranges in the oven, harvested a bunch of rosemary from my mom's garden for making mini wreaths and a centerpiece, and followed this tutorial to make some starburst ornaments out of TP rolls. I also baked different batches of cookies each week, freezing some of the results so there would be an assortment at our family Christmas gathering. Everything finally came together on Christmas Eve, when we had my parents over for dinner and a new board game.

• "Secret project" - Unfortunately, 3 out 4 people in my brother's family tested positive for covid a few days before Christmas, so we're going to have 'make-up Christmas' sometime in January. But, this delay bought us some extra time to work on our gift for the nieces. We've put in two afternoons of work so far, but need another 1/2 day or so to wrap it up. Sneak peak of the early stages below:

As 2023 winds down, I'm looking forward to:

• Making and sending our nengajo.
• Hosting friends for a long weekend and ringing in the new year together. 
• Celebrating "make-up Christmas" with the whole family sometime in January and revealing the secret project!

Currently - September '23

It seems a little unreal that it's September; July and August have really flown by! Since the August post was pretty late, the themes in this post are pretty similar, but here it goes anyway. Please stop by Jennifer's blog to see what others are up to 'currently.'

 

loving - September is birthday month! We kicked things off with my brother's on the 1st, and we'll celebrate mine on the 24th. Seems like a good opportunity to "treat yo' self" - maybe with an air fryer? Nice new pair of jeans? Fun sneakers? All of the above?

seeing - We finally saw the Barbie movie last weekend, the first movie I've seen in a theater in a loooooong time. I definitely had to get popcorn (yum), and gosh there were a lot of previews! At least going to a weekend matinee is one thing that is actually cheaper in Phoenix than in the DC metro area (I've been a little surprised that a lot of other things aren't).

dreaming - As mentioned in the last post, I'm definitely dreaming of cooler weather and spending more time outside. I'd love to do another multi-day bike adventure (or even an all-day bike adventure), and have started looking at trail maps and researching options here in AZ. Cooler weather also means we can use the oven again without making the A/C work harder than it already is, so more baking is definitely on the fall bucket list as well. 

eating - I picked up a copy of the Plant Forward Solution at the library, and after skimming most of it, I have been feeling inspired to take a more 'plant-forward' approach to meals. Basically, this means adding more fruits and veggies to every meal and swapping out some recent go-tos, like eggs for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch, for smoothies and salads. 

using to decorate - I've been trying to nurture some houseplants back from the brink (their distress mostly caused by me in the first place: overwatering, getting gnats, putting them outside to dry out where they've gotten scorched, etc.) and a couple of them are looking better. Other than that, not many decorations at the moment, but I am looking forward to figuring out a theme and putting up some Halloween things next month.

Best of August

• Finally getting dining chairs - Technically, I think they arrived in late July, but we no longer have mismatched folding chairs around our kitchen table. Eventually, we'll invite someone over to use them with us!
• More reading - We've become regulars at the library, and I've been tearing through some summer reads, including some graphic novels that Keizo introduced me to. He reads a lot of manga in Japanese, but has found some w/ English translations that I've been enjoying. 

Currently - August '23

We're currently into the second half of August, but never mind that. Here's what I've been up to of late:

Red Mountain Trail No. 159

loving - When Keizo and I have the same days off of work. After a couple of weekends where he worked both Saturday and Sunday, he had both days off this past weekend. We met friends for brunch, went to the library, checked some things off of our to-do list, and cooked dinner together. Then, on Sunday, we took a day trip to Flagstaff for some light hiking and a late lunch at Mother Road Brewing Co.

looking forward to - Cooler weather. Like in the 90s's / low 100's. Pants and sweaters seem like a real stretch, but being able to be outside more in mornings and evenings without completely overheating would be great.

starting - Fall trip planning, including our first camping trip of 2023 and a trip to see Keizo's family in Japan.

thinking - How nice it was two weeks ago when I had just 2 or 3 meetings a day, instead of > 4. I got to spend some time thinking about things and it was much easier to wrap things up at the end of the day. Working on multiple projects with multiple teams, it's hard to feel like I have a lot of control over the number of meetings on my calendar, but maybe there are some I don't really need to attend...

wearing - One of my two pairs of Birkenstocks, pretty much all of the time. I have a pair for indoors and a pair for outdoors. Then a few times a week, I put on socks and sneakers for my aerobics class or other workout. 

Best of July

• Access to a pool - We've been seeing more of my parents lately with at least weekly trips to use the pool. Gotta take advantage while swimming weather lasts (for another month or so, I'm told)!
• Surviving the hottest month - While I won't be buying the "I survived July" shirts the local NPR affiliate is selling on their website, I am taking comfort that while it will still be hot for a while, we're likely through the worst of it. In some ways, I feel like I've moved to the southern hemisphere, not just the southwestern US - summer and winter have switched! Being cooped up indoors this summer felt a lot like being cooped up inside during a DC winter, and passing the hottest days of the year feels a little like passing the winter solstice and knowing days will just get longer.
• In-person networking - After a few conflicts with previous events, I finally made it to my first large, in-person networking event at the end of July. I was certainly a bit nervous on the way, but everyone was very friendly, and I got to talk with some very interesting people in the field of transportation.

Currently - July '23

Hello July! When I look at the calendar, I can't believe you're here, but if I step outside of the cushy air conditioned confines of the house even for a few seconds, it's pretty clear you've arrived in full force.

Please stop by Jennifer's blog to see what she and others are up to currently.

Great Salt Lake

loving - being able to take multiple trips and catch up with good friends lately. We may not have a large social circle outside of my family in AZ, but it's much easier to visit friends who live on the West Coast. Added bonus that two of these trips got us out of the desert heat for a few days, which makes a big difference!

savoring - summer salads, sandwiches, and other easy meals. It's way too hot to turn on the oven, and boiling water for pasta or rice is about as much cooking as I want to do these days. I've been eating variations of the same sandwich for lunch for a couple of weeks now--turkey and cheese on sourdough w/ mayo, mustard, romaine, and some kind of pickles or tapenade. I'm calling it the Black Turtleneck after Steve Jobs' go-to outfit. 😂 

celebrating - Hoping that Keizo will be feeling back to normal (see last bullet at the end of the post) by his birthday on Friday. He even has the day the off of work, so it would be nice to be able to go out and do something.

remembering - as I stepped onto my yoga mat and started paying attention to my breathing yesterday, I remembered the outdoor yoga classes I went to last summer and how I much I enjoyed being outside and practicing in a group (mosquitos and all). It made me feel a bit nostalgic for the green grass, big leafy trees, and yes, even the humidity of a DC summer. 

trying - coffee, lots of different ways. Keizo has been getting very into coffee lately, watching a gazillion YouTube videos, acquiring new coffee making instruments, and getting serious about storing the whole beans in vacuum sealed containers (quite the departure from our large tins of the pre-ground Kirkland house blend we've been loyal to for years). I too have been learning some things along the way...maybe namely that I prefer ease and convenience of our boring old drip coffee maker over detailed experimentation. Also that espresso + milk drinks are a nice treat, but not something I want to have on a daily basis.

Best of May and June

• Las Vegas trip - Long weekend to meet up with friends and attend The Chicks concert. Stopped at the Hoover Dam and Clark County Museum (highly recommended) on the way, had a great time, but I came home with covid. Thankfully, Keizo stayed healthy and was my lifeline to the outside world even more than usual while I was housebound for almost 2 weeks. Finally leaving for dinner with my parents felt so good!
• Arrival of niece #2 - She arrived healthy a few days before her due date at the end of May. 
• Visit from DC friends - We got a surprise visit from two of our DC friends over Memorial Day weekend. We spent some time in downtown Phoenix, ate good food, took a day trip to Sedona, and hung out at my parents' pool. Super fun weekend; thanks for visiting O+S!
• Seattle trip - Our long anticipated trip to Seattle to celebrate Keizo's work award took place in the middle of June. I tagged along for the free lodging / breakfast and worked from my company's Seattle office for three days. I enjoyed being in an office again, and transportation planner that I am, kind of enjoyed the walk to the park-and-ride and bus trip to and from downtown each day. I also got to have a lovely dinner with my best friend from 3rd grade and meet up with a college friend for brunch at the end of the week. Keizo had 3 jam-packed days of activities, and while the end of the week did not turn out as planned and we came home a day early, the extra day was much appreciated, since five days later we were on our way to...
• Salt Lake City where we met up with my college roommate, her husband, and three sons (8, 5, and 1). We explored downtown a bit, went hiking, and dipped our toes into the Great Salt Lake. All in all, a very fun trip, but the dreaded covid hit again; this time Keizo came home with it and is not quite out of the woods yet, though thankfully is feeling better today than a few days ago.