Well hello! I’ve got a coffee in my hand and a smile on my face and it’s time to talk like real people!
Lately I’m drinking regular coffee with cream, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt in my little Keep Cup thing (affiliate link), which is my go-to in the autumn. Or if it’s evening and I’m sitting in front of the TV, I’ve definitely got my hands wrapped around a mug of Good Earth sweet and spicy tea.
But please note that I’m also averaging not less than 2 if not 3 Starbucks pumpkin spice lattes per week at this time limit, and the budget committee would love to have a word with me about that.
If you happen to’re not a PSL person, try my PSL order: medium, decaf (anxious person problems), oat milk, 3 pumps as an alternative of 4, hold the whip. It’s decadent but in a wealthy coffee-decadent way. And it must be from Starbucks. Caribou has its time and place, and I do know in every single place else has their very own knockoff, but I’m an enormous believer in sticking with the OG on this one. It’s also roughly $15, hence the budget committee. Moving on.
Let’s discuss life. ♡
Mom Life In a Nutshell
The thing that takes up nearly all of my time, energy, money, sleep, and general headspace lately is these two little people.
They’re so beautiful and peculiar and funny and we’re so lucky.
I actually love being a mom.
Fall highlights within the Family Life category include:
Excitement and routine with starting some recent school programs this fallThe magic of watching recent skills and interests develop (friends, dance, swimming, art)Getting outside in our beautiful fall weather: apple orchard, petting zoo, walks within the double joggerTaking a family trip up north with good friends, and having an ACTUALLY FUN, AMAZING TIME! What’s life!Solvi’s heart is healthy, and Lena is sleeping like a standard baby after a 12 months of struggles! Gratitudes throughout.
Some fall NON-highlights that deserve their spot on this recap as well:
Runny noses and coughs and fevers A highly anticipated mom-and-dad-only trip needing to be canceled on the last minute because of kid sickness, which can go down because the heartbreak of the yearAn premature broken dishwasher (is it ever timely?) And a toddler obsession with Sage’s fish oil pills, featuring one incident specifically that included squeezing the softgel oil throughout herself, tracking it around our home on hands and feet, and intermingling the fish scent and oils with furniture and clean laundry
Life generally looks like this:
Nevertheless it also looks like this.
And it’s exhausting, however the love is just easy and so pure.
It is admittedly, really wonderful.
I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Latest Chapters
Which, I assume, brings me to work.
We’ve been working on Pinch of Yum for 12 years now. (And no, this photo shouldn’t be our studio OR our home – I wish! it’s a workspace we rented for some projects.)
I used to be going to say that nearly all of the last 12 years have been a straight line, with clear objectives and the direction of things feeling settled and set. But once I look back just a little more closely, the reality is there hasn’t really been any season that didn’t have some sort of transition woven into it.
Change has possibly been the one constant.
So it’s not that unusual to say that I feel the winds of change blowing again. As they at all times do. As life at all times does. And a lot of that has to do with being a mom.
As an Enneagram 6, I’m consistently second-guessing myself – did I actually need to do this? what about that other thing? what does so-and-so think? is there a greater way? – and so, as cliche because it sounds, it is a season where I’m really attempting to get honest and real with myself. I’m attempting to drown out the noise, the assumptions, the expectations, even my very own ego, and just give attention to my very own answer to the theme query from Emily Freeman’s podcast: what’s the subsequent right thing?
I remain in love, possibly more in love than ever before, with sharing recipes and spreading ideas out into the world that make people’s real lives higher with the enjoyment of meal. It’s a joy and a privilege to do that and get to call it work.
I’m also hoping that because the winds of change blow, I’ll have the opportunity to construct the subsequent iteration of that work gracefully and confidently, chasing my very own definition of success, and being okay if that appears different than what another person’s might appear to be.
Life is so good at keeping us on our toes, right?
Skin Cancer PSA and My Upcoming Plastic Surgery
Yes, I said cosmetic surgery.
At a routine dermatologist appointment earlier this 12 months, I had a mole right on my hairline biopsied that got here back as severely atypical. Meaning it’s at the best risk for turning into melanoma, and that also means it requires further, more extensive removal.
Because the mole is on my face, that extensive removal must be done by a plastic surgeon.
What I discovered at my seek the advice of with him isn’t super thrilling: they’ll need to shave a little bit of my hair right down to do the removal, and when that is all said and done, I’ll find yourself with a 2-inch scar on my face. I’ll also find yourself having a rather lopsided face for some time as my skin on one side will probably be pulled tighter with the stitches – like a facelift, but… not one.
And you already know what? It’s not a HUGE huge thing, but I’m sad about it. I’m sad to have an enormous scar on my face and possibly a strange-looking asymmetrical look occurring for some time. I’m sad to have my hair shaved off in a weird pattern. I’m also sad that considered one of my favorite things – being in, soaking in, laying within the sun – won’t really be an element of my life in the longer term.
What you possibly can learn from my mistakes: wear sunscreen and go to the dermatologist for normal skin checks.
I had been going to the dermatologist for annual checks for some time, but I fell off the wagon after Lena was born so I’ve missed the last two years. But I’m so glad I went this 12 months because without me realizing, something modified with that hairline mole that we had been watching. And while that is all really a bummer and never something I’m looking forward to, I’ll hopefully have the opportunity to avoid a full-blown melanoma due to it.
My dermatologist told me “there’s no such thing as a secure tan.” Outside of a couple of burns as a teen, I actually have at all times avoided getting burned and almost at all times wear sunscreen. And since I tan really easily, I never thought that I’d be an individual at high risk of skin cancer (unlike my fair-skinned husband). But alas, here I’m.
Schedule the skin check! And in case you’ve had anything like this done, you already know I’d take a positive, encouraging story from you.
A Vote In Favor Of The CSA
Today is literally our last CSA pick-up of the summer! It’s been one other amazing season of fruits and veggies. The autumn produce (squash, specifically) was a few of my favorite! And the beets! OMG the beets. I’ve never heard Bjork rave a couple of vegetable greater than he raved about those plain steamed CSA beets this summer. They were so buttery and excellent.
Among the best perks of doing our CSA this summer has been watching the women begin to fall in love with veggies.
I say that with just a little side eye because, after all, what they love changes by the minute and tends to be centered on variations of dairy and cheese. However the “unboxing” process every week with a recent carton of veggies each week is undeniably exciting. And I absolutely feel prefer it has helped educate and expose the women to recent vegetables that I otherwise wouldn’t have thought to try. I hugely credit any interest in veggies, irrespective of how fickle or fleeting, to being connected to our community agriculture!
We’ve done Little Big Sky Farm for the last two years and so they’re wonderful! Highly recommend.
Foods That Are Bringing Me Joy This Fall
This lunch salad is delicious and will probably get its own post in some unspecified time in the future, but for now, this may have to do: it’s spring / salad mix, cranberries, spicy-sweet pecans, bleu cheese crumbles, baked salmon, and a spicy white truffle dressing made with mayo, white truffle oil, sriracha, vinegar, salt, and garlic powder. Oof! I don’t know if bleu cheese normally goes with salmon but I’m digging this combo of all the things. She’s an actual fall beauty.
Other things I’ve made and loved this fall:
Thanks for being here! ♡ For one week or for 12 years. I’m glad to share this space, this food, and this little little bit of life with you.
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