Today is the second round of Transfer Orientation, so work is going to be anything but slow. Perhaps the busyness at work is part of why I have been drawn to snippets and musings about a slow life this week.
I love this daydream about living in Italy (and also a gentle push to maybe put down/throw away the phone and live) from Shawn Smucker.
Andi’s snapshot of a slow-living moment made my mouth water. It’s been a while since I enjoyed a perfect omelette. I think I see one in my near future.
As it will soon be too hot here to cook over a stove or turn on the oven for a few months, I’m clinging to warm salad season lately. I love a good roasted veggie salad so much, but my willingness to tolerate the heat that roasting adds to my house will evaporate by mid-June. This week, my meal plan includes a spin on German potato salad (warm, with a mustard vinaigrette) and something with sweet potatoes, onions, and cranberries.
Speaking of changing weather, I love this piece of advice about being stuck in the transition time between seasons from Tamar Adler – “When you taste the season’s first cherry, then plum, then apricot, let all the time before it open your mind and heart to its miracle. Sit down and describe it. Be stuck until you unstick.”
After spending a good chunk of my lunch hour looking for two more things to include in this list, I’ve decided I don’t need five things. It’s just fine the way it is. It has books. It has cozy tips. It encourages literary citizenship. What more could you want (rhetorical)?
The Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide comes out next week!! This will mark 15 years of stellar recommendations of seasonal new releases from the MMD team. Here are some backlist favorites to whet your appetite.
A lot of these tips for making the end of the workday feel like a beginning rather than an ending don’t really appeal to me specifically (as a single person who lives alone and also is allergic to just about everything outside), but I like the general idea. I like having an evening “now I’m at home and not working” ritual. This is a good reminder of how much I definitely need that off switch in my life.
Two of my book club leaders already have a Little Free Library at their houses, but I am on a mission to promote more. I’m also in the process of seeing if I am allowed to have one on the back porch of my apartment. But I love the idea of doing it as a group.
There you have it. Short and sweet. Enjoy your weekend!
No, it’s not about seeing how many mashed potatoes I can eat without suffering serious consequences (a challenge I would happily undertake). For fans of the Books Unbound Podcast, it’s about reading the books that have been on your TBR for a minute that you haven’t quite gotten to yet. Mashed potatoes are the perfect metaphor for how I feel about the books that hover near the top of the TBR. Saving the best for last, if you will. Like eating mashed potatoes after you’ve eaten everything else on your plate.
[Aside – I do not do that. Potatoes first. Sometimes, potatoes only. Sometimes, potatoes mixed with something else on the plate, even though that violates the one-food-at-a-time code. That’s just how excited I get about eating potatoes.]
I do not have leftover feelings about mashed potatoes. And I don’t have leftover feelings about any book I’ve listed on a TBR this year, either.
This month’s list is intentionally sparse (well, compared to my usual TBRs) to allow me to give some TLC to the books I’ve already planned but didn’t read yet because…
Someone else had them on hold at the library, or
I started them and then had to switch gears to finish a book club selection before we met and didn’t pick the original book back up, or
(most likely) I had 30+ books on my TBR for the month, and that’s not typically a reasonable expectation.
I incorporated most of my cozy reading plan for May into the summer months, but there are a few books that I had on hold at the library that became available recently. I’ll continue to read these throughout this month.
Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinnaman (also fulfills the Book Riot challenge “choose a prompt from a previous year” – specifically, “read a staff pick from an indie bookstore”)
I ordered the three curricula I’m tackling for this challenge so that the one that will take the longest to see progress on (i.e., learning organ) was started first. While that’s not going as quickly as I’d planned, I have made some progress. At this point, I’m still regaining flexibility/mobility in my fingers so that I can play keys more nimbly. We’ll add in feet later.
That skill will also help out with my second curriculum, which I’m easing into this month. My goal for this curriculum is to write a score (or a song) and upload a recording on Bandcamp. I already have a rough draft of a score that I’m excited to perform. This curriculum will include some readings on deep listening, experimental sound/music, and other related topics. I’m going to start with these:
I don’t have specific books for the May mini-challenges here yet, but I’m keeping an eye out for these prompts as I read. Extra challenge this month – the three May mini-challenges must be published in different decades.
May Mini 1 – A coffee shop scene
May Mini 2 – Character has a roommate
May Mini 3 – “I’ll be there for you.”
Libro.fm
OK, so I am burning through audiobooks these days. So I’m going to keep doing so with this challenge in mind. Books I should be able to finish by the end of the month:
This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page (narrated by Zadeiah Campbell-Davies) – Read a bookseller-recommended audiobook – this one has been recommended by so many people, and it finally became my turn on our library’s waitlist, and I finished and returned it within 24 hours. It’s so good. I concur with my librarian friend that this is the best book about books (and bookshops) that I’ve read in a long time. I enjoyed the audio, but I’m 100% going to buy the print copy because 1) book lists, and 2) I will definitely re-read it at some point.
The Indigo Girl by Natasha Boyd (narrated by Saskia Maarleveld) – Read an audiobook with a buddy. It was…fine. But Brenda also read it via audio to discuss at book club last night, so I’m counting it toward this prompt.
Flashlight by Susan Choi (narrated by Eunice Wong) – Plan or join an audiobook outing. I’m counting my Silent Book Club meetup this Sunday as an “audiobook outing.” I’m sure others will also be reading via audio, as this will free up our hands for food truck treats.
A Murder in Eight Cocktails by Kelly Mullen (narrated by Laurence Bouvard) – Read an audiobook from our New This Week podcast
The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende (narrated by Samantha Desz, Cynthia Farrell, Joy Osmanski, and Timothy Andrés Pabon) – Listen to an audiobook by a Latine author
Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar (narrated by Arian Moayed) – Listen to an audiobook by a South West Asian or North African author
I hope you get to read (and eat) some of your mashed potatoes, too!
Happy Friday, friends! This week’s post is weirdly shopping heavy, but I’m here for it. I mean, some of the implied shopping is books, so at least that tracks.
Yesterday was Diada de Sant Jordi (Saint George’s Day), otherwise known as Day of Books and Roses. One of my coworkers surprised us with a selection of bookish stickers (“team whoever the villain is” is my favorite), bookmarks, roses, and a book of our choosing from her donation pile.
Excited about Independent Bookstore Day tomorrow. I mean, every day is Independent Bookstore Day to me, and event days are crowded, so I’ll probably skip the festivities at my local shops. But I like the opportunity to celebrate them, even if from afar. I also love Modern Mrs. Darcy’s list of great indie bookstores around the world.
I took Montana Happy’s cozy living style quiz. Zero surprise that “whimsical retreat” is my brand of cozy (although I do like a garden, and also a house, not an apartment, is my ideal).
My current financial goal is to insert a pause on purchases. I am a quick decision-maker, which is beneficial in literally every facet of my life…except shopping. It urges me to buy things that, if I put just a little more time and thought into it, I might not want in the long run and thus regret buying. So this cute top is on pause right now. I want more spring/summer casual business clothes for work…but also need to reassess if this is one I really love or if it just checks that box (meaning there might be something else I want more). If I still love it in a week, I’ll take the leap.
Speaking of things I took off pause…these are the best under-skirt shorts I’ve ever worn. I have only worn them once, but it was on a super mobile day (i.e., I walked around a lot rather than just staying in/near my office, like most days), and they did not budge even a little bit. They’re also lightweight and super soft and low maintenance. I’m going to pause a little before purchasing more – give them a couple more wears to see if it was a one-time thing or if the quality persists after multiple washes – but if they continue to perform as well as they did the other day, Thigh Society can just take all my money. A good undershort is hard to find.
Enjoy your weekend! I hope you get to visit at least one indie bookstore (if that’s your thing)!
I’m wearing jeans today. It’s been a minute since I’ve worn real pants. But they looked cute and I bought them. So here we are. I forgot how little the pockets are.
This has been a high-anxiety week. No specific reason (other than the usual living-in-this-world). I did have a checkup at the doctor (everything’s good), so maybe that’s it.
Anyway, today’s list focuses on little pockets of joy I love from the week. Enjoy!
How did Dorie Greenspan know that what the world needs now is to hear her wax poetical about pastry? [P.S. Dorie Greenspan always gushes about pastry.] [P.P.S. The world always needs it.]
My tomato plants are thriving with all the moisture we’ve been getting, but they look a little lonely. Time to plant some friends!
Next week is National Library Week! The theme this year is Find Your Joy, and I’m pretty sure my joy is at the library. I’ll have to make sure to block out some time to do some meandering and browsing.
How are you doing? Hope you find some joy this weekend.
Unpopular opinion – Spring is, objectively speaking, the very worst season. At least in Texas. But I imagine any place with trees or floral plant life is just unbearable right now.
So what does that leave? The desert? Desert people – how are you right now? Can you breathe? I’ve forgotten how it feels to be able to do that. Is it wonderful? I bet it’s wonderful.
The pollen is really pollening. My gray car has taken on a perpetual yellow tint, despite vigilant rinsing. I’m constantly drugged, and as they are providing no actual symptom relief, I’ve concluded the allergy meds are merely keeping me alive. I have a constant wheeze. It’s a miracle I can open my eyes wide enough to read print at all.
That must be why the audiobooks I read in March outnumbered the print books I read. For the first time ever. Incredible.
It’s National Poetry Month, though, so I’m going to power through with puffy, watery eyes to enjoy all the lovely collections I’ve planned. Print is always my preference with poetry.
[Disclaimer – I am a Bookshop.org affiliate – I get a cut of the sales from most of the links below.]
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler (I haven’t quite finished the previous ones in the series, so I’m going to have to read them OUT OF ORDER to get this one read by the time book club comes *melodramatically breaks out in hives*)
Game Changer by Rachel Reid (I just picked this up from the library yesterday, and it’s currently my top priority read – I’ve been waiting since February 16! I know I’ve pre-ordered the special editions that are coming out in October, but I am tempted to purchase regular copies so I can read them earlier.)
Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid (Still waiting. But I’m #2 instead of #14, which is where I started on the waitlist, so…pretty impressive, Denton HR fans!)
It’s National Poetry Month, and I’m going to celebrate not only by reading lots of poetry but also by learning more about how to write it well from some of my favorite poets.
Financial Feminist by Tori Dunlap – April Mini Challenge: Knock, knock: who’s there? (answers the question/describes a person)
Libro.fm
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (narrated by Adjoa Andoh) – Listen to an audiobook by a disabled author (Part of The Great Audio Reading Surge of March 2026. It’s so good! I’m excited to read the other two this month.)
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (narrated by Robert Sean Leonard) – Listen to a banned book (Another part of The Surge. I am glad I didn’t read this as a child. I was way too sensitive to have been able to handle this then. It was almost too much for Adult Me to try to listen to during lunch and while driving. There was ugly crying involved.)
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab – Listen to a Libro.fm staff pick (Also read in March. While I liked Schwab’s series – Shades of Magic and Villains, specifically – better, it was a solid read, and the audio was fantastic.)
Judge Stone by Viola Davis and James Patterson (narrated by Viola Davis) – Read an audiobook from your wish list (Just waiting on my libro.fm credit for the month to pop up!)
I appreciate nature. I do. Especially the sky. There are few things I love more than driving down a country road under a vast canopy of blue.
While nature may be my reactive response to the question, though, there are lots of other experiences that make me pause and take notice.
Today’s Friday Five brings you five things that inspire awe for me:
A really good cup of coffee. Not just a decent cuppa that gets the job done, but a truly exquisite coffee. That will stop me mid-sentence. So many factors go into producing the perfect cup of coffee – where and how it’s grown, how it’s harvested, how the beans are cared for before/during/after roasting, how it’s ground, how it’s brewed, the temperature at which it’s served – it’s a remarkable moment when they all come together to make something special.
Zoom choirs. As tired of Zoom as I got during the 2020 shutdown, some of the most beautiful things that came out of it were the choirs. I mean, I love choral singing anyway, and it’s a fast way to get to awe for me, but coupling it with the commitment to making sure people could still enjoy it despite the obstacles of social distancing was particularly touching. The amount of collaboration from all the participants and the hard work from the editors that it took to put these presentations together yielded something marvelous.
Meditation. My favorite style of meditation usually involves prayer, but even when it doesn’t, it’s still full of wonders. At its base, it is quiet and still and open. I am seldom closer to awe than when I’m meditating. There is so much noise in the world, and it’s so easy to get distracted from my own soul and my own purpose. There are many different ways to meditate, and I highly recommend finding one that works for you.
Reading poetry. I am easily uplifted by the exceptionally worded sentence. Well-crafted poetry takes it one step further.
People who excel. I love watching people who are very good at what they do – who have found their niche and revel in it – perform. Artists, musicians, writers, actors, dancers, athletes. Even if I don’t generally give a flying fig about what they’re doing (looking at you, most sports), if they are exceptional at it, I suddenly can’t get enough of it. This also extends to people I have worked with. In the grand scheme of things, very few things about any job I’ve ever had are earthshaking. But when I see someone really make a difference in a student’s day or their college experience, or enrich their life in some way, the impact of that moment makes it easier to get out of bed for a while.
It is March, which is the best month. The month of my birth. I can even forgive it for being spring. It’s starter spring, when I am thinking about which plants I want to have outside this year and trying to convince myself that my allergies aren’t that bad. It’s a tricksy month. I can get on board with that.
As is my custom, I’ve started several of these already (and even finished a couple). A peek into my process – I start compiling my TBR lists at least a couple of months in advance. My book clubs generally have things already picked out (e.g., two of them have selections chosen for the whole year already), so I go ahead and list those books and plug them into the reading challenges where they fit. Then, as I start herding together the print copies for the blog post picture, I find myself picking them up. And when I pick a book up, I start thumbing through it. And then, before I know it, I’ve started/finished it.
As problems go, it’s a nice one to have.
Anyway, here are my reads for the best month of the year!
[Disclosure: Most of the links below are affiliate links; I get paid a percentage if you purchase from these links. Alternatively, you could search your favorite indie bookshop on Bookshop.org or Libro.fm, and they get an even bigger cut!]
Book Clubs
I am especially excited about my book club selections this month. Happy birth month to me!
I’m pretty sure cozy is accidentally (but also predictably) becoming my favorite reading challenge this year. I’m looping the books from the series I’m reading into this curriculum, so I’ll also list them under this heading from here on out.
I’m spending the month finishing up my reads for January and February (which will still put me ahead of schedule on this challenge). Most of what I’m focusing on this month for this challenge is the curriculum for learning to play the organ.
PopSugar
Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde – A book you were hoping would fit into a prompt but doesn’t
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas – A book with a shadow daddy
52 Book Club
My Friends by Fredrik Backman – Provokes strong emotion (I have never read a Backman book without either ugly crying or laughing until I wheeze – usually both – at some point, and this one was no exception)
Kingdom of Ash by Sarah J. Maas – Character with a secret identity
A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny – Read an audiobook in a new setting (in my new office during my lunch break – because I can shut the door and be left in peace for an hour – such a luxury!)
Nowhere Bookshop Bingo
Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry – bookish memoir/biography
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash – Nowhere book club pick
Books: A Memoir by Larry McMurtry – A book by an author who went to your high school or college
Modern Mrs. Darcy Spring Preview
Three(ish?) times a year, Anne Bogel (aka Modern Mrs. Darcy) and her team tell us the new books coming out that season that they think we will particularly enjoy. I don’t ever make it through all of them, but I pick a handful out of each season, from either the actual list or the “other books you might like that we haven’t vetted yet” list, that sound amazing (and/or that I have received via one of my subscriptions).
This week, I have early voting and Lenten services and some community events on my plate. I’m particularly overbooked on Sunday, which means part of my Saturday plans may have to fall by the wayside. There seems to be an urgency afoot – not just with me but with others in general – and it’s all good, but also I need to take a breath occasionally.
Fortunately, this is my cozy year, so I have built those breaths into my plans. Note for future self – don’t stop doing this just because the year ends. This is a good thing to learn and incorporate into your life.
This is the second post in the series I have planned to explore the theme of cozy for the year. I am starting with Montana Happy’s list of hygge journal prompts, but I will probably incorporate others as the year progresses.
Prompt #2 – What elements are the most important in designing your dream house?
I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this. One of my favorite hobbies is sketching out floor plans to visualize what I want in a house (if ever the opportunity should arise). At this point, I could plan a whole neighborhood, which is not a bad idea. Anyone want to make our own mini-town with me?
A few disclaimers to begin:
This is not a judgment of your home. Your home is lovely.
I don’t often entertain, at least with large guest lists. I used to entertain regularly. I might decide I like to entertain again someday, but I am also cool with that part of my personality fading into the background. My home is introvert-coded, and that has turned it into a place I can really be at peace. Again, if that’s not you, that’s not a judgment. It’s just what I prefer for my own living space.
While I could make just about any house work right now just to have the luxury of my own parking space and all my walls, floors, and ceilings to myself (i.e., not shared with neighboring apartments, along with their sounds and smells), here are some preferences I’ve discovered as I dream and draw:
Garage – attached with the doors facing the side or back (i.e., not the street). Not only do I find this more aesthetically pleasing, but it also seems more secure. The fewer points of entry on the public-facing side of the home, the more effort it takes to breach. Safety measures are important in general, but especially for a woman living alone. As you enter from the garage…
Large laundry room that I don’t have to walk through the kitchen to get to from the primary bedroom. I hate tracking my clean clothes through the kitchen, which is generally the most aromatic room in the house. In my ideal home, there is a straight line from the laundry room to my bedroom. Bonus points if there is a pocket door between them that opens directly into the primary closet.
Primary bedroom – I don’t necessarily want this to be a large room. The larger it is, the more distractions I will be tempted to add to it, and the less conducive to sleep it will be. I don’t need anything that makes sleep harder for me. It just has to accommodate my bed, two side tables, a small bookshelf and chair, and a corner to put down a Pilates mat for night and morning stretches.
Primary bathroom – Large bath and shower (separate – oh, to be done with the shower/bath combo that apartment living necessitates). My arrangement of elements varies, but the overall size and structure mimic most homes on the market these days.
Private reading nook as part of the primary suite bedroom suite. One of several reading pockets tucked around the house. Generous shelving with all my self-soothing books – cozy mystery and fantasy, foodie fiction and memoir, etc. – comfy chair(s), a side bar for tea/coffee-making, and a small fridge for cheese, fruit, and other snacks.
Full library, of course. I flip between wanting separate areas for each genre and putting all fiction together and just separating nonfiction by genre (i.e., like in the public library). A mix of the two (to accommodate certain genres being in other rooms) is where I am currently sitting, but…I have thoughts that are beyond the scope of this post. Designing the library is a whole subsection of this hobby.
Private office that you can only get to via a secret bookshelf/door in the library. Walls lined with shelves that hold all my writing books, journals, and research notes, with file drawers on the bottom of each bookcase. The nook also accommodates the appropriate tea/coffee-making paraphernalia and snack storage to fuel long bouts of writing and reading.
Large kitchen – I like an island with a large worktop, a huge farmhouse sink under a window, and a whole separate upright freezer in addition to the small one that comes with the fridge. I want the pantry to be its own separate room and for the door to it to actually open into the kitchen (not in the utility area with the rest of the storage). Speaking of storage, I want plenty of it, including bookshelves where all my cookbooks live. I also want seating around the island so people can hang out while I cook without having to stand.
Dining area – A house with all this other stuff will likely have a whole dining room. I’ll probably have a table if it’s far enough away from the entry to keep it from accumulating a lot of stuff. But I’ll definitely line the walls with bookshelves and cozy the room up to use as another reading space. Maybe this is where I will host book club when it’s my turn to do so.
Living room – pretty standard. Lots of comfortable seating. Console with a TV and stereo, including a turntable, and shelves for my records.
Studio space – Room for a piano, organ, dance floor (and at least one mirrored wall with ballet bars), and craft area. I want designated spaces for all the arts I try to do. There will be lots of shelving for storing supplies and creativity/inspiration books.
At least two guest rooms (that – let’s face it – will also be filled with books, likely my most recent acquisitions) with ensuite baths.
Alright, you got me. The whole house is basically a library.
There are also plants in every room. My ideal home also includes an ideal self who keeps multiple plants alive.
Shared backyard with the whole block – indoor and outdoor pools, community garden, outdoor kitchen, brick pizza oven, firepit, community library shed, maybe a pickleball court if the neighbors like that sort of thing? Anyway, a large semi-private/semi-public outdoor area shared with the neighbors whose houses back up to mine in a large, quasi-commune situation – just with our own houses. This, of course, implies that I get to pick my neighbors. Otherwise, this is significantly less than ideal.
I know that I will probably never live in a house like this, but it’s fun to think about. And when I start looking for a house, I can keep these elements in mind.
This is what has wondered across my desk and through my brain this week:
Creativity doesn’t have to be a project – note to self (and perhaps also to you?) to explore the benefits of creative play.
Nadia Bolz-Weber’s Lenten discipline for cranky people that I can really get on board with – 40 Days of Good Shit.
Dr. Chanequa Walker-Barnes’s piece on the intricacies of the body. “There is freedom in seeing my body not as a mystery to be solved, but rather as a delicacy to be treasured and cared for.”
When I tell you that I loved Eileen Gu’s response to this crusty reporter’s question, I fear that that statement won’t quite express the utter glee with which I CACKLED, especially with the “I KNOW who I am…and who are you?” laugh that started it all. Good for her. Edited to add – I, along with the rest of the world, loved, loved, loved Alysa Liu’s performance that won her the gold.
These slides pretty much sum up my views on the senseless death of Dr. Linda Davis (and all who have died as the result of ICE’s lawless and reckless behavior). There are also resources listed in the caption of the post if you are wondering what you can do. In this season of lament, we cry, “How long will this injustice continue?” and call for the U.S. to repent and abolish ICE.
M. Suzanne Terry 