I know it’s unoriginal to start anything with this sentiment, but wowza, can you believe it’s February?! There’s so much going on and things are moving fast and even with intentionally using my time, I fear that I’m missing more of the good, the sweet, and the slow than I should be. I’ve been really intentional about multitasking and mono tasking at the right times because I don’t want to miss our life. I want to enjoy it and soak it up, but the pace and the to-dos make me feel disoriented at times.
Feel me?
Ballet, full circle
One of the things that has been taking our time lately is Friday evening ballet. Hayes has wanted to do ballet for a long time, she was a ballerina for Halloween, and we finally enrolled her to start after the holidays in January. The Friday even thing actually works out well because I usually have a slower Friday afternoon at work so I can go scoop her up and take her there. I get her dressed and situated then head to my car to say “hey” on Instagram stories and spend the rest of the time reading until she’s done.
What’s wild about the ballet thing is that her class is taught by my ballet teacher’s daughter. Which felt so fitting and so right. What’s even wilder is that my ballet teacher has been filling in while her daughter is out for a surgery so for the last few weeks I’ve gotten to catch up with my very favorite ballet teacher. I did ballet for about 4 years and I hadn’t seen her since I was in middle school. I wasn’t sure if she’d recognize me, but she looked over, then looked over again, and finally said “you look so familiar!!” I told her who I was and she said “You’ve gotten even taller!” and proceeded to tell Hayes who much she enjoyed me as a student.
There’s so much time and space and life events between us, but it’s just one of those special moments to see your daughter taken care of by the same lovely human and mentor that took care of you so many years ago.
My new favorite afternoon sweet treat
Have you heard of Hu Kitchen chocolate? My sister introduced me to them and ohhh my gosh. It’s really high quality ingredient, organic chocolate that tastes amazing. I have only tried the dark chocolate varieties and I haven’t found a bad one yet. My favorite is the Cashew Butter and Salty Chocolate — I’m a sucker for that salty + sweet combo.
What I love about them is that I can have two squares and feel really satisfied because it’s super flavorful. It’s also not super super sweet. I don’t know about you but I have to have a sweet option available. I’ve always been a sweet tooth kinda gal and I will continue having dessert everyday without shame!! I’ve found that something like this satisfies my craving and doesn’t leave me feeling icky so I keep this on hand vs. other options. It’s literally in my basket on my desk for when it’s time for my post-lunch afternoon sweet 🙂
You can buy a variety pack of Hu chocolate on Amazon, but I would check out Target or your local health food store first. They don’t have all of the flavors, but they have some good options and they are cheaper.
When does the congestion stop? Asking for my 10 month old friend
I took Willa into the doctor yesterday after weeks of congestion finally lead to her hitting her head, poking at her ear, and some not so pleasant drainage coming out of her ear and crusting all over her face Sunday morning. When the doctor asked me how long she’s been congested I laughed because I swear my kids are congested and have a cough from October to April. I can’t tell where one sickness ends and the next begins, it’s just a continuous stream of sick.
She’s been a trooper, working through this ear infection while welcoming two new teeth to her bottom row. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to the days when the sun lasts past 6pm and the weather doesn’t trap us on the congestion path for months. The end is in sight, even if Punxsutawney Phil doesn’t share my sentiment.