Spring makes my soul happy. It’s been a rainy month—which unfortunately also means it’s been dark a lot—but I’ll happily accept it when it means warm weather! Even if we can’t really go anywhere, it’s so refreshing to just open the windows and feel the breeze.
Despite the pandemic, I’ve had quite the busy month, with a lot of moving pieces in my life. More about that in my first favorite…
April Favorites
We Bought a House! – It finally happeneddddd. After we started to feel the pressure of our looming apartment lease deadline, we found the house and have been amidst the closing process for the past several weeks. It’s been a stressful but also very exciting month as a result! We’re set to close soon and then officially move. As of yesterday, we have a stack of boxes, which means we can start packing and get this show on the road!
Find Your Path – Earlier in the month, I decided to buy Carrie Underwood’s new book with some Kindle credits I had from Amazon. It has a heavy focus on her experience with fitness (with chapters on nutrition, as well). She introduces her new Fit52 app, which is actually explained thoroughly with several workouts in the book. (This is why inspired my 52 Cards to Fit workout.) I was surprised how much I loved this book, because celebrity wellness books and memoirs can be very hit or miss (but they’re still my guilty pleasure). I recommend this one, though!
Brewing Beer – We bought a beer-making kit to finally do what we’ve been wanting to do for years: try our hand at homebrew! It’s been something fun to look forward to as the oktoberfest ferments, and then we just bottled it a few days ago. One more week until the moment of truth—we get to see if our hard work paid off!
Planting Herbs – Growing plants is always so exciting to me—watching them finally sprout, then start to flourish, then I wage a war with the aphids later on. As we wait to finalize our home purchase and move in, I decided to plant cilantro, mint, basil, tomatoes, green peppers, and jalapeños. TBD on whether the peppers will sprout, but everything else is looking lovely.
Go-To Food List – This stay-at-home order has motivated me to not get groceries as often, so I’ve been trying to stretch out our stash of food each time, getting creative with our ingredients. In addition to normal meal planning, I’ve become heavily reliant on the master list of go-to dinners I created awhile ago (e.g., burrito bowl, etc.). I made our list of go to meals but expanded the crap out of it, adding another tab to my spreadsheet for “Make Again,” with recipes that aren’t necessarily on our regular rotation, but that we really liked. It’s been a lifesaver to remember recipes I could make with ingredients we already have on hand.
Facebook Marketplace – I haven’t bought anything off here yet, but I’ve caught the bug. I know a lot of people who look on Facebook Marketplace frequently, and I am now one of those people. Since we’ve moved from apartment to apartment over the years, we’ve never acquired much furniture. So now that we’ll have our very own house, I’ve been perusing the Internet for some used items in good shape. It’s weirdly addicting to look around.
Dry the Rain by The Beta Band – There’s just something about this song. I could have it on repeat in the background all day. I also really like their song Inner Meet Me. A lot of their music is very repetitive, which might sound boring, but I really like the sound of it.
Color Scheme Tips – I don’t know much about interior design, but I absolutely love it. I’ve started doing a lot of research for paint colors, in particular, and in addition to my sister’s advice, this article (and blog in general) has been extremely helpful: 7 Steps to Create Your Whole House Color Palette. Now we just have to decide on some colors…
What have you been enjoying over the past month?
