“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” – William Shakespeare

1. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – I am a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and this new series on Disney+ does not disappoint! It follows Sam Wilson (Falcon) and Bucky Barnes (Winter Solider) in navigating the world post Avengers: End Game. It’s full of action, bad guys, and fight scenes, but also explores the global socio-economic issues that arose after the events of End Game and also doesn’t shy away from the topic of systemic racism, which in this universe affects even super heroes. As of writing this, the sixth and final episode hasn’t aired yet, but I can’t imagine it will disappoint given how good the other five have been. If you are a fan of the movies but feel nervous about the stories getting the TV treatment, give it a watch. Also…WandaVision was great but I’m liking TFATWS more.
2. Brookie Bites from Target – You might be familiar with two-bite brownies that are sold in a lot of stores. Or the ones that are a combo of madeleines and brownies. But last week I saw, for the first time, a combo of chocolate chip cookie and brownie bites in the Target bakery section. I bought them just to see if they were any good…and man oh man are they! Like, I am obsessed with them. The texture is super moist and the flavors are just so good together. Anyway, I know some people bake these themselves but I honestly see no reason to go through the effort when the store down the street sells them and I can find nothing that I would improve upon.
3. 2nd vaccine dose! – I got my second shot this morning and I am so excited! So far I’m feeling fine, no bad side effects. Hopefully that doesn’t change throughout the rest of the day, but I’m prepared to just shut down and rest if I need to.
4. Grocery store flowers – Recently, every other week or so, I’ve been grabbing a cheap bouquet of flowers when I do my grocery shopping. Nothing fancy, in fact I find the cheaper they are, the longer they last! It just brings a nice pop of color and cheer to the house. I do have to be careful of what I buy because both the cats seem to love when I have cut flowers in a vase and there are a lot of common cut flowers that are pretty toxic to cats (like lilies). It’s pretty funny though when Buzz sticks his whole head into the middle of the blooms!
5. The jury’s decision in the Derek Chauvin trial – As someone who was not in the courtroom and only read about testimonies and evidence, it seemed pretty obvious to me that Chauvin should be found guilty. I am so relieved that the jury felt the same way. I am also relieved that there will be an investigation into the police department. Because it is not enough to convict one man of using unwarranted force if there is a pattern that isn’t being addressed. This really is so much bigger than what happened with George Floyd and while the verdict allowed for an exhale of relief, a lot of people followed that up with an inhale to ready themselves for next steps.