I usually start scattering the Halloween around the house the first week of September, after my birthday (August 25th!) since I sort of consider that The Start of The Season.
I got the Halloween tree up and decorated. Shaun and I made it by spray painting a 3′ tree black and purple in 2006 and it’s still going strong. The black and purple have faded and some of the green shows through, but it just looks scruffy in a spooky, intentional way.
I haven’t written a post on this blog since 2019! I think you probably know what was going on in 2020, but in 2021 I moved 1000+ miles across the country and now, finally, in 2022 I feel like I can think about things other than my husband’s dissertation (dr husband as of August 2021!), clearing out 15 years of stagnation (we lived at Pwhisker Hollow for so long!), packing, moving, missing our families (SO MUCH) and all the familiar Tulsa things (India Palace! Lone Wolf! Philbrook! Living somewhere walkable!) We’re in Virginia now. So weird!
When Covid was fresh, I realized I couldn’t really continue my 35 before 35 project as written. I didn’t think of it as a failure because I was really just hanging on by a thread for most of 2020. It was only a few months shy of my 35th birthday and I did finish my 365 set for that year and I did shoot a day in pictures on my birthday, two goals from my list. I cooked a lot of new recipes too, but I didn’t track them. I probably did hit my new recipe goal, though! No one wants to reminisce about 2020, do they? I’ll just say that I actually had a bunch of deeply important (bad & good) things happen that year, my closeness with my family and Shaun just exploded and we all had a lot of really good quality time together that I really cherish. The family discord is where it’s at.
I skipped two years of NaNoWriMo completely (after quitting without finishing in 2019 for the first time in over a decade), so that was historically a guaranteed blogging month for me that didn’t happen. I started sharing photos (a little sporadically in 2020 and 2021, but regularly this year!) on my website photo blog (rachelakelso.com/blog) but I haven’t had any kind of ongoing projects that lend themselves to writing. I really feel like I just haven’t had very many words in me. Tentatively hoping to get back into it this November!
I organized my Gothic In A Bath reading into something I can actually share, which seems kind of relevant for the ridiculous writing blog, it’s an Instagram account where I collect things like character descriptions, funny lines, and animal names. I have an excel spreadsheet planned that is really quite dorky and I’m very excited about it. It’s seriously just something I love doing and I don’t want it to get choked out by any kind of pressure to perform. I hate the whole thing where everything on the internet feels some sort of competitive monetization. I untethered myself from everything that made me a few online pennies at the end of 2020 and I feel much freer, though still a bit like I’m playing “the game” of it when I really just want to share stuff with my family and friends and have them see it without fighting some algorithm, but, I digress. I’m doing more private projects that I share with hardly anyone. It’s very good and fulfilling.
Anyway, I think I would like to, just, use this like an online diary? In case Instagram makes the ugly-full-screen-feed thing happen (they already have a reels feed? Why does the main feed have to also be a reels feed???) and Twitter gets (even more) untenable Because Of Reasons. I don’t think I will ever want to share like, LIVEJOURNAL share, ever again. I don’t think I have oPiNiOnS like I did when I was younger. I love when people love things and talk about the things they love, so mostly I would like to do that, good thoughts, into the void, or whatever. I’m just a little ripple, don’t mind me.
72. Roasted Veggie Farro Bowls with marinated cranberries and Salsa Verde Sunflower Pepitas (Hello Fresh) – DANG this was good. That arugula, that farro, those marinated cranberries and flavored pepitas!
73. Creamy Santa Fe Gemelli Bake with Hot Sauce (Hello Fresh) – This was like Mexican mac and cheese. Good but SO MUCH DAIRY. I would like to veganize it though.
74. Quick-Pickled Onions (Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) – These were super simple and they have become a regular thing! I just always have some in the fridge now, I put them on everything.
75. Carrot, Potato + Chickpea Red Curry (Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) – This was a great, simple and flavorful curry.
76. Vegan Pumpkin Cake (https://lovingitvegan.com/vegan-pumpkin-cake/) – This is really good, not too sweet, tasted a little muffin-y but like, I love that about it.
I finished my second bullet journal! So satisfying!!
Established that movie night is movie night, Saturday or no. We have been watching movies a lot more lately! It’s movie season, between Halloween and Christmas, so it’s not a total shock, but I’m also happy to be watching more when I was watching so few at the start of this challenge!
34. Bram Stoker’s Dracula
35. The House that Dripped Blood
36. Missing Link
37. Interview with the Vampire
38. Transylvania 6-5000
39. The Witches of Eastwick
40. Darkness at Blaisdon
41. Ganja & Hess
42. Lady in the Water
43. Coraline
44. From Dusk till Dawn
45. Halloween (via The Last Drive-In Halloween Hootenanny!)
46. Monster House
That’s right my friends, here are SIXTY-SIX pretty No Man’s Sky pictures. IT’S SO PRETTY.
See all that floor space! It used to be full of boxes that needed to go to Goodwill! We got rid of so much stuff! And a lot of it was clothes.
I did NOT do much yoga in October. Maybe 2 or 3 times. But I liked this picture peeking at the TV above the couch.
Here are some favorites from October. All of them are available (public!) on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/rachelakelso
66. Zucchini and Tomato Flatbreads with Lemon Ricotta, Basil, Honey and Chili Flakes – (Hello Fresh)
67. Gnocchi in a creamy sauce – This was a combination of some other recipes I have made in the past that I veganized. It was outstanding, but who knows if I could recreate it, haha.
68. Black Bean Burgers (recipe from a friend, and veganized) – The tastiest bean burgers I have ever made. The original recipe was not vegan (contained egg and cheese) but with a bit of tweaking it was really great. We had it on tacos the first night because it needed more tweaking to hold a burger form, but the next night I added some stuff to the mix and got some good patties!
69. Garlic Herb Tortelloni (Hello Fresh)
70. Roasted Veggie Caprese Bowls with Farro and Balsamic Vinaigrette (Hello Fresh) This was nuts good. I love farro so much.
71. Southwest Stuffed Poblanos (Hello Fresh) – Made this one and then made a veganized version within a week. So tasty.
I’m extremely into my bullet journal lately.
I guess we didn’t watch many movies in September! We were mostly binging Steven Universe because it’s just the best, but now we are Saturday #VampireMovieFun-ing with friends!
We watched all of Steven Universe (can say that for sure since they have announced the next season is a sequel season and NOT season 6) and the movie.
I played SO MUCH No Man’s Sky last month. This isn’t even all of the pictures, it’s just the ones from the first week that I had backed up onto a usb stick when our PS4 stopped working. I’ll put the rest in my post next month, haha.
I’m not back to a good routine yet. I’ve been a lot busier this last little while and it’s been hard. I did more in September than I did in August, though, so that’s a win.
You can view the full project at this tag on my Patreon (the posts are public!): https://www.patreon.com/rachelakelso/posts?tag=365%202019-2020
Here are my first months little sketches! I hope I can keep this up monthly, haha.
63 – 64. Verdant Couscous with Spicy Mustard Greens – Afro-Vegan: Farm-Fresh African, Caribbean, and Southern Flavors Remixed: A Cookbook by Bryant Terry – I’m counting this as two recipes because the Spicy Mustard Greens are definitely their own thing. I tossed them into a few recipes over the next week and they were SO TASTY and spicy. This was so smokey and bright tasting. Just really great.
65. Crispy Chickpea Tabbouleh Bowl with Creamy Feta Dressing – Hello Fresh – Got a Hello Fresh box for my birthday week and it has a couple of new recipes in it. We have had a few recipes with baked chickpeas in them and now I bake chickpeas before I put them into anything. They’re so delicious! This was maybe the second time I have used Bulger wheat and it was really good.
27. Spider-man – Into the Spider-verse
28. Christopher Robin
29. Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling
30. Wine Country
31. Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein
We’ve decided anytime we movie night it’s a ~Saturday Movie Night~.
I played some Detroit Become Human and Dragon Quest Builders 1 and started a brand new game of No Man’s Sky on my birthday which quickly began to consume me. Look at my cute little alien friend.
AHHHHHHH. I did it. Finally!
I posted the first roll here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/29317010
I have four film cameras loaded up! I shot a bunch over my birthday weekend. Yay!
We went on a couple of dates for my birthday this past weekend!
I cleaned out the pantry!!! My mom helped a lot, actually. You can’t initiate a cleaning project in my mom’s presence without her wholeheartedly joining in. I wasn’t being crafty, though, I just got the cleaning bug and she was there!
A summer away from my closet is always good for reminding me how much of it I don’t actually need. I have several BIG boxes of stuff to take to goodwill soon.
I started one on my birthday, August 25, 2019, to finish up the day before my 35th birthday. 👍👍👍
That finished this one up. I didn’t do anything strict. I mean, I’m always doing stuff, but I tried to be chill about it, I guess.
Shaun got an Impossible burger (our first, I had a taste. I think it was better than the Beyond burger but also I’m not missing meaty tasting things. I really, really like a veggie burger that tastes like veggies and grains. It’s fun to try new things, though!) and I had the vegan sandwich of the week, which was deep-fried mushrooms on a sub. I definitely want to go back and try more of their vegan options, of which there are many.
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Shaun got me one for my birthday!
The past couple of months have been weird for new recipes. We’ve been in Virginia in a little apartment far from the staples of my own pantry. I got some basics, but I didn’t want to fully stock a pantry for a two month stay, so once I had those basics I tried to use them as much as possible. Making new recipes would often involve buying lots more staples so I couldn’t work on this much. I did make some new stuff though, and I made up some stuff too. Sometimes when I do a challenge like this I forget that there aren’t actually rules. I’m doing this for myself. So I’m going to post some pictures of things I made up with the ingredients I had, even though I can’t really share a recipe to go with them.
52. Easy Weeknight Burrito Bowl (Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) – Very simple and tasty, if not particularly beautiful!
53. Perfect Golden Beets – (https://www.abeautifulplate.com/how-to-cook-perfect-beets/) – They really were PERFECT. It probably helps that they came from the farmer’s market. I fried them up with their greens and served them with roasted potatoes and rice and it was such a feast.
54. Vegan Mac & Cheese with Broccoli, Kale and Tempeh Bacon – This looked like absolute trash and I loved it. It had broccoli and kale in it, guys, it was… healthy? 😬
55. Roasted Asparagus and Radish Salad with Creamy Garlic Cashew Dressing (https://www.yayforfood.com/recipes/roasted-asparagus-radish-salad-creamy-garlic-cashew-dressing) – We don’t have a blender, so I used tahini in this instead of cashews. It was super-super good.
56. Citrus Quinoa Sweet Potato Salad (https://www.contentednesscooking.com/citrus-quinoa-sweet-potato-salad/) – This was my favorite of the three salads I made for a July 4th Potluck. You guys, it was so good. I wish I was eating it right now.
57. Herbed White Bean Picnic Salad (https://soupaddict.com/2017/08/white-bean-picnic-salad/) Oh this was so good. Bean salads are a dream come true. I have an unusually hard time finding just plain white beans in Oklahoma, so this was a special treat.
58. Vegan Cheese and Mushroom Ravioli – Normally I wouldn’t include something this pre-packaged but we don’t have stuff like this at home! I combined a vegan ravioli with red sauce, shredded pepperjack daiya (cutting board series is the only way to go, can’t find it at home!) and vegan feta (WHAAAAAT) and it was too delicious and bubbly and fancy.
59. Pesto with Roasted Asparagus, Red Bell Pepper, Tomatoes and Vegan Feta – All the veggies were from the Farmer’s Market that we could walk to on Saturdays, SO SPECIAL.
60. Fried Rice with Steamed Vegetable Buns – I made the fried rice from scratch and it was stupidly good. The steamed buns were frozen but fun. They probably needed some sort of fancy sauce to really shine, but we enjoyed them!
61. Spicy Black Bean Rice Noodles and Tofu – I have just been dreaming about these noodles. I feel like some kind of Noodle God. Tremble before me.
62. Kimchi Fries – One of our favorite restaurants back home (Lone Wolf Tulsa!) has amazing Kimchi Fries and we have been missing them! Shoestring fries, kimchi, pickles and a dressing made from sriracha veganaise. They HIT THE SPOT.
I have been daily journaling all summer long and enjoying it a lot. It’s a little less about to do lists in the summer, but still very gratifying.
Everywhere you go in this town, everyone looks so cute and confident. I haven’t been catcalled once, even though I have gone out on lots of walks on my own. Back home any extra effort gets a lot of weird attention and it’s just freeing to be somewhere were feeling yourself seems like the norm, and it makes me so happy to see so many different types of people dressing cute. It’s a very good vibe here. Consequently I was really really into myself this summer. Hot girl summer!
23. My Name is Julia Ross
24. Love Witch
25. Ralph Wrecks the Internet
26. A Silent Voice
https://www.patreon.com/rachelakelso
I’m very on top of this, and I have a lot of stuff coming up! My weekly phone photo posts are pretty consistent, I have shared some videos and I have a 365 photo project coming up towards the end of August.
This whole summer has felt like a break, as is perhaps evidenced by the fact that I rolled my June and July 35 before 35 updates into one! In June, before it got too hot, we were really going for lots of walks and enjoying the town, and in July we spent a lot of downtime in the apartment, but all in all it has actually felt like a for-real break, the likes of which I rarely let myself have. I’m looking forward to getting back into some creative projects with renewed vigor!
You GUYS. I edited my 2018 video last week so I am officially caught up! Mostly I share these videos Patron Only, but the 2015 one was such a sticky video to get past I posted it publicly. You can read about it and watch it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/2015-28310685 It’s probably a goofy one to share publicly because it’s not my best video by any means, but it was such a long time coming and I had vented about it on various social media over the years and thought everyone who had to see me complain about it deserved to get to actually see the final product.
I made a really cute house and family in the sims this summer!
I’m doing it, you guys!
I feel like I at least have to acknowledge the existence of this one! I had a better summer. Some of that was because of planning, probably, but I wanted to be more of a tourist than I was, I guess. Anyway, we have already TALKED about next summer, and how we might do things to actually get into DC before the weather is too disgusting and I’m hopeful. I also don’t feel like this summer was wasted at all. It was a good one.
We have kind of had weekly date nights the past couple of months. It has been lovely to be able to walk to so many interesting places.
I’m maybe the fittest I have ever been in my entire life right now. Not the strongest OR the most flexible, but the most balanced and the best feeling.
I’m coming up on the end of this one (August 24th!) and I was right to word it this way because I’m doing my second 100happydays of some sort and a personal 365 photo project so I guess I kind of failed except! in attitude. These aren’t STRICT projects, and I do not owe them to anyone but myself, which is how all my creative pursuits should actually be, but, I don’t know, sometimes I feel people’s expectations, and sometimes I don’t. It’s a balance that I feel like I will always be working on, but only because it’s what I really really love to do.
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I didn’t have a lot of time this month to think about my own meal planning, so we did extra Hello Fresh. It was nice to have a little less to think about when I was grocery shopping and at dinner time but I’m looking forward to taking a break from all this dairy, sheesh. I hate how vegetarian always food relies on it so much. Like, vegetables are delicious has heck. I love them so much. Mmmm vegetables. I’m hungry right now, haha.
47. Cremini and Zucchini Spaghetti with Parmesan Garlic Bread(Hello Fresh) – Sometimes the simplest of these recipes are just surprisingly great. I also like how they force me to expand my delicious bread spread repertoire.
48. Sweet Potato and Poblano Quesadillas with Southwest Crema and Radish Tomato Salad (Hello Fresh) – I never would have thought of using radishes like this and I LOVED IT.
49. Gorgeous Greens Farro Bowl with Roasted Zucchini and Asparagus (Hello Fresh) – This was Shaun’s favorite thing we have ever gotten from Hello Fresh. Makes me want to get Farro on the regular.
50. Cheese Tortelloni in a Mushroom Sauce with Parmesan and Chili Flakes (Hello Fresh) – I think this sauce would be killer with gnocchi. Mushrooms are so good.
51. Crispy Cheese and Veggie Fajitas with Hot Sauce Crema (Hello Fresh) – This was decent. Gave me ideas for my own veggie fajitas more than anything else. Grilling cheese is neat but SO MUCH CHEESE. I feel like it could always be replaced with Tofu to excellent effect.
I’ve been keeping up with my journal super well. It helps to have a busy month, and May was SUPER BUSY. I’m planning on switching my format May 27 – August 4 or so with daily entries/journaling/scrapbooking because I’ll have less structured planning I need to do while we are in Virginia. It’s definitely one of my favorite bullet journal aspects that you can change it up to suit whatever you have going on at any given time.
I made lots of effort this month that… I didn’t take pictures of. :D I did try pin curls last week and I was really happy with the result.
22. Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me (for the first time ever, can you believe it!?)
We’ve been watching anime more lately. Trying to keep it chill, but both of these were pretty feelsy actually:
We have gotten caught up on lots of ongoing series, but I think those might be the first two that we have finished since I started this project!
https://www.patreon.com/rachelakelso
I have been doing weekly phone-photo diary updates that I’ve been really enjoying! They have been Patron-Only because I feel more comfortable writing journal entries for a smaller audience. I’ve also been taking more photos with my dSLR and posting those in smaller groups instead of one giant dump at the end of the month, and those are public.
I’ve been playing Dragon Age Origins.
I finished What Remains of Edith Finch.
I finished Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
We are heading off to Virginia for two months for Shaun’s internship and I feel much better prepared for it this time. It’s hard to say if we will get to do more fun things in our downtime this year, but I do feel more relaxed about all of it this time around.
4. The Terror of the Loom by Paula Minton
My mom and I went to Woodward park on a whim, all I had with me was my phone but I really focused on taking the photos I could see in my mind and it was very satisfying and fun!
39. Veggie Chile Rellanos with Avocado Salsa and Zesty Crema (Hello Fresh) – This was super good.
40. Roasted Broccoli and Potato Chowder with Pepper Jack Cheese and Garlic Toast (Hello Fresh) – This was good, maybe the best soup like this I’ve ever had, but the toast was boring.
41. Smoky BBQ Veggie Burgers (The Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) – These were super good. A little crumbly but still extremely good. The ones that had fallen apart were extremely good the next day all crumbly in a sort of burrito bowl.
42. Miso Soup – I just looked at some general ingredients and threw this one together. But I’m still counting it because I had never made it before! :D
43. Bok Choy Namul (https://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-recipe/bok-choy-namul-korean-bok-choy/) – Oh I loved this A LOT. So simple and delicious.
44. Dobu Jorim (https://www.abeautifulplate.com/traditional-korean-braised-tofu/) – I used this specific recipe because this wasn’t something I specifically SHOPPED for and I had everything for this particular one. It was fine but I would like to try some others!
45. Katsu Curry Sandwiches – I wasn’t going to include this because it’s just me putting a bunch of pre-packaged stuff together. The Gardein veggie-turkey cutlets reminded me of chicken katsu sandwiches so I made some Golden Curry sauce and got some sweet Hawaiian buns and it was really tasty. Steamed some broccoli and made frozen steak fries to go with it. I want to remember that I made this and it made me pretty happy so I’m putting it in my 35 before 35, so there!
46. Tofu Curry with Mustard Greens (Afro-Vegan) – This was outrageously good. I love greens so much. I burned the tofu (first time in almost a decade!) so I used some pre-packed seitan in its place. I can’t wait to remake it properly!
20. Ocean’s 8
21. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
https://www.patreon.com/rachelakelso
I’m feeling pretty good about what I have been working on lately, and I’m enjoying seeing it all put together on Patreon.
I have played lots of Breath of The Wild, but even though there is a camera function in the game there’s no good way to share the pictures. OUTRAGEOUS. Anyway, I started a new Stardew Valley farm and I’m using the super cute guidebook and I’m enjoying it a lot. I’m feeling like playing some sims and revisiting some Bioware games right now, though, the nostalgia is so strong and comforting. I just installed Dragon Age Origins on my laptop, so that’s exciting.
Had a nice one last Friday night, things are pretty busy and hectic right now but it’s always nice to sit down for some curry together.
I got a new toilet seat and replaced the fill valve in our toilet! I’ve also been working on the yard a lot the past few weeks.
I’m definitely doing less than I want to be doing right now. My shoulders have been acting sketchy and I’ve been being very careful, as well as being super active in other ways lately.
31. Tofu Chorizo I googled tofu chorizo and combined and adapted 3 recipes to make some yummy taco filling.
32. Spicy Roasted Paprika Chickpeas with Mac-n-Trees Made this one up and it was really too fancy not to include. I used a daiya cheese for the mac.
33 & 34. Balsamic Dressing and Honey Mustard Dressing I forgot to buy dressing when we were having guests so I made some myself and it was way better than store bought. Balsamic: https://barefeetinthekitchen.com/best-balsamic-vinaigrette/ Honey Mustard: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/honey-mustard-dressing-recipe-2011614
35. Cheezy-Rice Mexican Casserole – Made this one up and it was a delight. Rice and veggies and beans and daiya. Topped with crumbly chile-lime chips. A little too salty, but a good start.
36. Thai Baked Sweet Potatoes (The Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) – I made these with the next recipe & rice noodles for guests with a bit of an adapted version of the tahini sauce because it wasn’t quite to my taste. It was really seriously delicious.
37. Thai Quinoa Meatballs (The Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) – Yeah, this whole dinner was super good. I hate rolling up doughy balls but they’re always so tasty, it’s worth it. Since these are gluten-free they aren’t heavy at all, which is probably the worst thing about most vegan meatball recipes.
38. Mediterranean Baked Veggies with Couscous, Almonds, and Feta (Hello Fresh) – I’m still mad about how much I enjoy everything we make from Hello Fresh. It’s great. >:(
I really enjoyed setting up the first few weeks of March but I took Spring Break off (even though it was a busy week full of things I probably should have written in my bullet journal, OH WELL.) Trying to use my stickers more!!
I definitely put in more effort every single day than I did before I started this (the real goal!) but I never remember to take selfies, SHRUG. Look, I even wore MAKEUP last week.
I got hit by my movie anxiety (basically I just wanted to comfort watch Parks and Rec, and we did, we rewatched the whole series in the past month or so) and we only had one movie night this month, but it was a super good one. I loved this movie a lot.
19. The Shape of Water
I guess re-watching Parks and Rec doesn’t count. :D We started the second season of Legion last weekend and I think it’s one of my favorite shows ever. Wild. I did some sorting in my TV Time account and I’m feeling like really getting into watching TV again. Oh and the first five seasons of Murder She Wrote are going to be on Prime April 1st? I mean, I was on Season 10 when it left Netflix, but I’m very pumped to do household chores while JB solves crimes.
https://www.patreon.com/rachelakelso
I got all of my February posts up in the first week. I’ll have more to share next month, for sure!
I added several photo sets this month! Fuji Instax Wide 001, Winter 001, Self 002, and Kodak Cameo Motor-EX 001. I added a day from last August to my day in the life page.
13. Play more Video Games
I’m well aware that this is just too much but I didn’t put very many game pictures in my update last month so I over-compensated! I played a bunch of Final Fantasy IX (COMFORTING), Kingdom Hearts III (Sora selfies!!), one play through of Dream Daddy (got with the coffee dad, mmm), so much Sailor Moon Drops on my phone before it ends (I am SO SAD), a little Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition on my iPad, a little Hue (until it got TOO HARD, platformer puzzle games, my dudes) and started Breath of the Wild (oh no, it’s so fun!)
So have a gallery of THAT:
Yay!
Yeah, we chutneyed.
I didn’t do as much as I wanted to, but I found a good routine at the beginning of the month. I’m working on other things a lot more than I was a few months ago and I’m more active because of it, but it makes it harder to do yoga!
It was kind of a slow new recipe month but I’m finally getting some baking done in the new oven!
27. Garlic “Cheddar” Herb Biscuits (The Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) These were a bit too Nutritional Yeasty for my taste and a little dense (my fault!) but they were super good dipped in soup!
28. Simple Carrot & Curried Lentil Soup (The Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking by Dana Shultz) The maple syrup made this too sweet as it was written, but I remade it a couple of weeks later without it and it’s a new favorite for Shaun.
29. Heirloom Tomato Flatbreads with Pesto, Fresh Mozzarella and Balsamic Greens (Hello Fresh) I loved how green these were. I’ve been craving the heck out of a salad lately and getting it on a pizza was dreamy.
30. Roasted Garlic Herb Penne with Asparagus, Tomatoes and Crispy Capers (Hello Fresh) Capers are the best thing that has ever happened. Crispy Capers are like superhero Capers. Caped Capers.
I’ve been going to school with Shaun once a week and working in his office. It kind of defeats the idea I had that I would be more productive AT HOME if I pulled myself together a bit but the whole experience has definitely been good for my brain. I never remember to take pictures. It’s where I am today though, so here’s a fresh selfie! The freshest!
We skipped one Saturday this month because I took my mom, brother & Shaun out for a big birthday dinner.
16. Murder on the Orient Express (2017)
17. Incredibles 2
18. Isle of Dogs
https://www.patreon.com/rachelakelso
My output it significantly less than it was last year, so this one has become super easy! I’m feeling pretty motivated to get film developed soon. It’s what I think about when I let myself have a ~creative break~ so that’s exciting, actually.
This has been a great video game month! Kingdom Hearts III came out at the end of January. Shaun and I have been taking it pretty slow because we are playing it together and we don’t have as much overlapping video game time but I’m actually enjoying the pace. I have so many feelings. I love that I get to take lots of pictures in the game! I’m not at home so I can’t get them off of my account to put them in this post and I’m full of regret. I’ll put a million Sora selfies in my update next month!
I have gotten super-duper into Sims 4 again. I started a new legacy challenge style game and I have been really working on building cute houses.
I got Final Fantasy IX for the Switch this past month too. This is the 3rd or 4th time I have gotten this game, haha. My brother got the first copy for me for Christmas 2000! I like the PC version because of the modded background improvements and there are some glitch fixes but I honestly haven’t been bothered by any of this playing it on the switch, especially when I’m playing it handheld.
It still counts as a date night if my mom & brother are there, right? Family date! I love my birthday kids!
I got a lot of stuff figured out in the kitchen. I’ve switched a bit of my mental house effort into helping my mom get the house she is moving into livable. It needs a lot of work!
This took a total backseat to everything else this month. I haven’t been home as much and I need to figure out a new routine because I actually like being home a little less and I want to fit yoga into that. I did do a bit of yoga that I didn’t take photos of. Maybe only 7 days total in the past month and that was mostly the first week.
Writing the Ridiculous 