It is April 47th
And there is snow in the forecast for Tuesday. I told my sister today that I am capital T tired. I am worn out from wedding coordinating with Makenzie (total blast, would recommend Makenzie as a friend to anyone), hitting F45 with Morgan this week (and still tired from hitting it with Bethany last week), and procrastinating on homework. Rest is on the way. I have a massage at my beloved Spa at Briarcliff scheduled. The semester is almost over. Warmer days are ahead.
I was about to say “even though I’m not on an academic calendar any more, I still feel the end of the semester burn out,” but I am literally on an academic calendar. I need a nap.
Last week I talked to my friend Claire about misheard song lyrics, and now I have a new favorite conversation topic. And then this week I saw a TikTok with a gal who misheard “It takes everything in me just to get up each day,” from Taylor Swift’s Mr. Perfectly Fine as, “It takes everything in me just to get a beach day.” As a midwesterner, it tracks.
My full review of Taylor’s re-record of Fearless will be in next week’s subscribers only post. So sign up below. If you got in touch with me about getting on the list because you share a budget with a paying subscriber, or you are on staff with RUF (or another ministry!), go ahead and get in touch with me again because I probably forgot, and I won’t be pestered by you asking twice.
This sentence now has links to the my instagram, and old issues of the newsletter.
Oh! And I still have a bunch of Five Things stickers and magnets, so sign up here and eagerly await some snail mail.
Number One: My new favorite weeknight bev
Ever since I lived with the Newsome family in Oregon, I cannot drinks margaritas made with a mix, it’s a non-starter, in this house, we make margs with lemons. The exception to this is Trader Joe’s margarita mix, which makes a wonderful, easy margarita.
For my birthday, Makenzie gave me this decanter, which I love and have been referring to as a carafe. I will take any excuse to use it, so I’ve been buying TJ’s margarita mix as often as I do chickpeas.
Decanter/carafe aside, my new favorite weeknight beverage is 2 parts Trader Joe’s lemon sparkling water (I prefer the bottle over the can) and 1 part Trader Joe’s margarita mix. It’s beyond refreshing, and a little zippy without being sour. Prefect for when you’re tired of drinking water all day, but don’t want to commit to a cocktail.
Number Two: Things I learned on TikTok round up
I deleted TikTok for lent, and was going to continue my streak of low screen time reports, but, oops, I am back baby.
I made this peanut miso chickpea salad, and was ready for it to change my life, it did not. But still worth exploring, even though I am not in fact tired of paying for overpriced cans of tuna.
Professional Liability insurance for Police Officers is a solution worth exploring. City Managers who read this newsletter, and my local elected officials can expect to hear from me on this one. Don’t tell me it would be too expensive when I know you have a sales tax on groceries. Read more here and here.
Three steps to financial freedom that Dave Ramsey won’t tell you - helpful!
Obsessed with this baby.
Number Three: Reading through the books of the Bible alphabetically
I’ve been trying to think of a way to talk about my personal Bible reading time in a way that is helpful, but not prescriptive. So I may end up scrapping this and linking to my Prom 2011 playlist…
I’ve been reading 1-2 chapters of the Bible four out of seven days a week on average for the last 10+ years. I feel like in the last five years I’ve hit a good stride, it’s something that I look forward to, without it wrecking my day if I skip. Just in a good spot. Last year I read through the Wisdom books (Job - Song of Solomon), and decided that this year I would read through the Bible, book by book alphabetically. It will take me at least two, if not three years to finish, but I’m not in any kind of hurry.
I am loving it. I don’t quite have my finger on why is it has been so enjoyable, but it has been. I’m reading one Old Testament and one New Testament book at a time, except that sometimes I read two OT books so I’m not reading John while caught in the weeds of Exodus. Start with Acts and Amos and just see where 2 Chronicles takes you…
Number Four: Bad Blood (again)
A couple nights ago I could not fall asleep because of an insatiable need to re-listen to the Bad Blood audiobook. I needed narration on Elizabeth’s turtlenecks. Luckily for me, my Audible account is low-key lit with books about corporate fraud.
Just as good on the re-listen. I can listen to any podcast, watch any documentary on the Theranos scandal, and I’m still just struck by how many people didn’t ask questions.
Number Five: Vandalism or public art participation
Art friends, and others: this piece is worth the read.
The couple saw brushes and paint cans in front of a paint-splattered canvas at a gallery in a Seoul shopping mall. So they added a few brush strokes, assuming it was a participatory mural.
Not quite: The painting was a finished work by an American artist whose abstract aesthetic riffs on street art. The piece is worth more than $400,000, according to the organizers of the exhibition that featured the painting.
Currently Reading: Dostoevsky in Love // Gentle and Lowly // Daniel // Ecclesiastes // Bad Blood (with my ears)
Bonus: Jackie sent me this article about the resurgence of a certain type of women’s under clothing that I am avoiding typing so this e-mail stays out of spam filters as fashion.