“The human mind always makes progress, but it is progress in spirals.” – Madame de Staël

Hello again! I ended up taking more time off from writing than I had planned, but it was restful and relaxing so no regrets! December was full of festivities with family and friends and then we basically hibernated through a very chilly and snowy January here in Colorado. February is shaping up to be more of the same, but I can’t stay holed up forever, right? So here’s to the new year, just a month late!

1. Rewatching Star Wars. We have a family trip to Disney World coming up in a few months and it will be my first time getting to go see the new Star Wars land that opened a couple years ago. As a big lifelong fan, I am BEYOND excited to be immersed in a galaxy far, far away. To prep for it all, Tyler suggested that we rewatch all the Star Wars movies. Even including the prequels. We started this week and it’s always fun to jump back into something so nostalgic.
2. (Partial) Kitchen Renovation. Ever since we moved into our house six years ago, we’ve been strategizing how to redo the kitchen. To do everything on our list would be expensive and time consuming. But this year we decided to pick one area to work on and I’m kind of kicking myself for not doing it sooner! We are removing part of a wall that shuts the kitchen off from the rest of the house and reconfiguring the central island. We are putting in new shelves, a decorative beam, and a new butcher block countertop for the island! It’s a budget project and Tyler is doing all the labor, but it’s really going to make a big impact to our main living space. It’s a good reminder that when a big project seems too daunting to take on, sometimes you can find a small piece of it that is more doable and will still move the ball in the right direction.
3. Salmon and Corn Chowder. I love a cream-based soup in the winter. I usually include one in my meal plan for each week and with two of us, most recipes make enough for two dinners. Last week I made a Salmon and Corn Chowder for the first time and it was SO GOOD. I didn’t really use a recipe (what’s new…) but I did look at these for inspiration (here and here). For mine, I cooked some diced bacon in my Dutch oven, removed the bacon and left about 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease. Then I sautéed some diced onions and garlic in the grease for a couple minutes, added a few tablespoons of flour and stirred that for a few more minutes. Then I poured in a few cups of chicken broth and stirred to combine the flour. Stirred in some frozen corn and a can of diced new potatoes at this point (I used a canned so I wouldn’t have to worry about them taking forever to cook). Then added my salmon that was diced into small chunks and stirred that in with a good amount of dill. I added enough half and half so that everything was submerged in liquid and left it to simmer for a bit until the salmon was cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste and finish it off by adding the bacon back in and a few squeezes of lemon juice to help cut through the creaminess. YUM.
4. Wordle. I hopped on this bandwagon a little later than some, but I’ve been enjoying starting my day with the little word game. It’s so simple but still challenging enough to get your brain going. I also find it fascinating how people have independently developed their own strategies for solving. And it is fun to see a small thing that someone made for fun gain so much popularity and love in such a short time.
5. Theme for 2022. For the past few years I’ve noticed themes come up when I’ve made plans and goals. For 2020 the theme was being comfortable in the gray area between black and white, the uncertainty. 2021 was to be intentional about my decisions and actions. And I’ve been torn between two for 2022…so I might just keep both! This year I would like to be more courageous in saying yes and putting myself out there. But I also want to focus on what is essential in my life. I think these two ideas dovetail nicely into a practice of me identifying what is essentials and then using that as a benchmark for saying yes to more things. For example, helping people is a value I hold very highly and feel I haven’t put much effort towards in recent years. But so far this year I’ve had a handful of situations arise where I had to step out of my comfort zone to help people and I’ve said yes with no regrets.