Weekly Recap: Chaos, Fun, and I Said “Yes” to the Dress!

What the heck happened to January? What usually feels like the slowest month ever passed by in the blink of an eye. On one hand, I can’t believe it’s already the first week of February, but on the other, I definitely can. For me, the entire month of January can be summed up like this: chaotic, but lots of fun. No rest for the wicked!

What I’ve been up to:

Let’s start by saying my current work life is hectic. My department just finished a reorganization and as a result, the team I manage doubled from 5 people to 11. Needless to say, it’s been a busy January… lots of traveling between two NC offices to meet with both teams, but the change is a welcome challenge for me and one I’m looking forward to.

On the personal side…

A few weekends ago, Alex and I snuck down to the coast for a date day. We stopped for donuts at Wake N Bake in Carolina Beach before heading to Kure Beach. Though it was windy and cold on the oceanfront (less so thanks to my delicious, hot latte from Happy Hippies Java Hut), we went out on the Kure Beach pier, collected a few sea shell treasures, and followed a pod of dolphins as we walked a mile or so down the beach. Afterwards, we drove to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher and spent the afternoon exploring. It was our first time visiting this particular aquarium and we had so much fun.

The weekend before last, I took a few days off work to visit Wisconsin for an extended weekend. As I mentioned in my last blog post, my middle sister is pregnant, so I was back home to celebrate her baby shower. I also squeezed in some time to go wedding dress shopping with my family and, drumroll please, I said YES to the dress! What’s even better is that it was a dress from the racks so it saved me a lot of money and it was ready to take immediately. So I hauled it back to NC with me! One major wedding item off the checklist which feels so good.

On my journey back to NC last week, I had the craziest flight schedule. I flew from Madison, WI to New York City (not sure why this was a thing but I did get to see the NYC skyline which is always so pretty) to Atlanta to Fayetteville. Everything was going to plan until I arrived in Atlanta and got stuck there overnight because of course I did. I made it home Tuesday, just in time for work travel Thursday and Friday.

This past Saturday, Alex and I went up to Raleigh to play arcade games at Boxcar Bar + Arcade and had the best time. We enjoyed a couple beers and let ourselves embrace nostalgia. We played oldie but goodie games like Pac-Man, Frogger, Galaxiga, and Pinball, raced each other on the bike and car racing games, battled at a few rounds of Pop-A-Shot and Skee-Ball, and yes, played a very one-sided match of air hockey (because shhh, I’m not very good). Needless to say, Sunday was a much needed rest day. The weather was rainy which made it the perfect drink-coffee-and-snuggle-up-on-the-couch-with-a-good-book kind of day. My right arm is sore from so much gaming haha.

What I’ve been reading:

Recently finished:

Currently reading:

  • The Family by Naomi Krupitsky — Currently at 60% and it’s slow going. I’m waiting for it to pack a punch, but whew, I’ve been waiting a long time. I’ve invested so many hours in the story that I don’t want to quit now, but Lord help me, I’m bored!

  • Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid — In honor of the show dropping next month, I’m rereading Daisy Jones to fully refresh my memory. I read the book for the first time in late-2020 and now I’m listening to the audiobook which is narrated by a full cast. So fun to relive the story of my favorite fictional band!

  • Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson — I’m only a few chapters in, so I can’t comment quite yet. I like the premise though. Let’s see where it goes and I’ll report back.

What I’ve been listening to:

Music:

My Spotify stats for January said my top 10 songs were all from Taylor Swift’s Midnights album. But here are some other songs, albums, and artists I’ve been jamming to:

  • Everything from Megan Moroney right now. Obsessed. I first heard her song Tennessee Orange, then went back to her 2022 EP Pistol Made of Roses. Literally on repeat all weekend long. Can’t wait to hear more music from her.

  • Flowers by Miley Cyrus. Love it.

  • Regret Me by Daisy Jones & The Six. This song is about to be my entire personality until the show comes out in March. I’m very excited Daisy Jones & The Six will have a whole album to vibe to soon. Read the book!

  • Body Better by Maisie Peters. It’s all over my Tik Tok right now and the lyrics hurt so good.

  • Happy Again by Hoodie Allen. Hoodie, where’s the album?

  • Paramore’s last 3 singles — This Is Why, The News, and C'est Comme Ça. Alex and I listened to them again on our drive to Raleigh and agreed they are super groovy but different. Looking forward to seeing how they fit together with the rest of the songs on their new album dropping later this week.

  • Red Dirt Cursed EP by Rodell Duff. On repeat. Especially Just In Case.

Podcasts:

I’m way off my podcast game to start the year, but I have my eyes on a few new and new-to-me podcasts. More to come on those (hoping to listen this week). In the meantime, my steadfast recommendations are The Toast and Giggly Squad.

What I’ve been watching:

Sadly, nothing except for the GRAMMY’s (no Song of the Year for my girl Taylor, again… hard to believe one of the best generational songwriters is 0/6 on this award).

I haven’t been big on tv or movies in quite awhile but I have a whole list of things I’ve been wanting to watch. Maybe I’ll share more of what’s on my list next week.

A few other (random) things:

I’ve been loving lots of musical things lately…

What I want in my shopping cart right now…

  • I bought this Ello travel mug as part of a raffle gift for my sister’s baby shower and I want one for myself now!

  • It seems every person on my Instagram and Tik Tok is using a walking pad. Really thinking about purchasing one. Someone just recommended this one to me.

Recipe recap…

With traveling to and from Wisconsin and then traveling for work, we’ve been eating out a lot. Looking forward to getting back on track this week. But we did cook once over the weekend!

  • Chrissy Teigen’s Stir-Fried Chicken with Bok Choy — it’s SO good!

Thanks for reading. I really enjoy sharing these kinds of posts and hope you enjoy reading them too.

Enjoy!

JB

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