Naming the Good Stuff No. 6: When Life Hands You LOTS of Lemons

Happy Friday friends! I am loving the flexibility of these “Naming the Good Stuff” posts to write a quick post on Fridays about what’s good, what I’m thankful for, and what’s been on my heart this week. And this week, I’m feeling so very thankful for my lemon tree!

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen me post stories and pictures about our lemon tree. I just can’t get over what a gift it is! I’ve laughed out loud so many times seeing the huge bags of lemons I’ll pick—I’ve probably picked close to 200 lemons this winter. I can’t believe it. What’s most striking about it, to me, is that I’ve done no work whatsoever to cultivate this lemon tree. It was here when we moved into the house (it was off-season, so I barely noticed it). It doesn’t even really have soil; it’s growing on the edge of our driveway wedged up next to a fence. The weather has been all over the place this year in LA—a super dry, hot summer, followed by an incredibly rainy winter. Smoke has filled the air from fires across our county. And yet, this lemon tree just keeps on making lemons.

And we’re not talking scrawny, scrappy lemons. These are huge, beautiful, juicy, better-than-grocery-store lemons! The smell is intoxicating right when you pick them (also, I’ve learned, the branches are spiky and getting cut with one feels like you’ve had lemon juice poured into a wound. But worth it). I would honestly say that this lemon tree is one of the top 10 things I’ve been grateful for this winter. And it’s taught me a few poignant lessons.

First, radical generosity. We didn’t plant this lemon tree. We did nothing to earn it. And yet, it just keeps making lemons for us, and I’m overwhelmed with what a generous gift it is. There have been so many lemons that I’ve had to come up with new and creative ways to use them. THAT is radical generosity—giving not just enough, but in abundance.

Second, rekindling childlike wonder. I have felt such magic seeing lemons ripen seemingly overnight, climbing in the branches of the lemon tree (yes . . . it’s so big there are lemons I can’t even reach!), and reflecting on how this amazing plant came to be. From ONE little lemon seed—the tiny things I fish out of a lemon slice before squeezing it into my tea—this tree grew. Big enough that birds perch in its branches.

And third, simply gratitude and balance. The funny thing is, we’ve lived in this house for two winters now and this is the first one that I’ve enjoyed the lemon tree. Last year, I was so busy and juggling WAY too much, and I probably got a handful of lemons all winter and the rest fell on the ground and rotted. I’m by no means an expert on achieving balance, but right now, I feel pretty good about it :)

Here are some of the fun things I’ve done with my lemons!

Used them in all kinds of cooking (soups, roasts, sheet pan dinners, salads, etc.):

Gifted bags upon bags of them to friends:

Made preserved lemons (kind of like dry-pickling lemons in salt, sugar, garlic, and paprika, turns them into an AMAZING pickled pantry staple):

And made sheet pan roast dinners using the preserved slices:

And last but not least, made my lemon bars!

Thank you, lemon tree.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Why I Changed My Last Name

In the seven months since I became a Baldridge, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about that decision! Not about my decision to marry Grace—I think most people who know me know that’s been my dream since I met her—but to take her last name in place of mine. I think this is an interesting, layered question, as is my answer to it. So today I want to share a little bit more about my heart on this topic.

I’ll start by saying that growing up, I always imagined I would change my last name. I grew up in a place where it was extremely common for women to change their last name after getting married, and that’s what my mom and grandmothers had all done. That said, I also grew up with friends, family, and role models who got married but did not change their names, so I’ve always seen that as a valid, great decision too. But I was predisposed to changing my last name from the start.

To me, a person taking their spouse’s last name in place of theirs is all about two families becoming one, a brand new start of “who you are” as your identity takes on the component of being 1/2 of a married couple, and honoring tradition. That’s why I’ve always been surprised at how often I get questions about why I still changed my last name even though I married a woman. Don’t the reasons why most people change their names still apply just the same in my situation?

I know there is (understandably) some backlash to the idea of changing one’s last name at all. But I would like to challenge that—to me, if it is an intentional, thought-through decision, I believe it can be beautiful, an act of selflessness, and even feminist to change your last name after getting married. And of course, anyone can make this kind of intentional choice to change their last name, not just ladies.

I LOVE having the same last name as Grace. Absolutely love it. I’m so proud of the fact that our little family is the Baldridges. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Another question I get a lot is - “Why didn’t Grace change her last name to yours? Or why didn’t you hyphenate?” The truth is, we didn’t really talk about those options, which I think just means neither of them felt like a natural choice to us. I think focusing on this kind of misses the point. Of course hyphenating is awesome for those who choose it. But I never felt like I needed to know that Grace would change her name for me, too, because now that we’re married that just isn’t something we keep score over. Grace serves me and sacrifices for me in a million ways. This “sacrifice” of changing my last name (which I was actually very excited to do) doesn’t really have an equal (unless you hyphenate and both change your name), and that’s okay. That’s what (I’m learning) being married is all about!

Want to know what the way harder decision was? What to do with my middle name! I knew I didn’t want to have 4 names (I like odd numbers and just didn’t want to have that many names), so it was either drop my maiden name entirely, or drop my middle name and take my maiden name as a new middle. I ultimately decided to drop my maiden name entirely and keep my middle name (Holland). My middle is my grandmother’s maiden name, and it’s very special to me (as is my relationship with her). I also love that Grace and I both have our maternal grandmothers’ maiden names as our middle names (Grace’s middle name is Semler). I felt like if I dropped Holland, it would vanish, never to be spoken again. Why would it? No one ever asks what your middle name before you got married was, if you took your maiden as a new middle. Whereas my maiden name will always be my maiden name, and basically everyone I’ve known in my life up until that point knows me with that last name. And of course, my whole immediate family still has that last name. But I’m the only one in my immediate family (or in my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins, etc.) who has my particular middle name. I also liked the sound of Elizabeth Holland Baldridge better than Elizabeth Capel Baldridge.

At the end of the day, these choices are so very personal and as long as you are making the decision intentionally, with respect for your new spouse and your parents/other family, I don’t think you can go wrong. I just wanted to share a little bit of my “why” in making the decision I did. Also, if the complication of changing your name is a mental hindrance, don’t let it be! As of 6 months out, I had changed everything from my driver’s license to social security card to credit cards to passport to business cards. And with very little headaches along the way. It’s surprisingly easy. Now that it’s done, booking hotels or making dinner reservations under my new name feels like a dream come true.

If you are wrestling with the decision, I encourage you to go with your gut. Getting advice from others is helpful to a point, but it’s hard when you get conflicting opinions (I know I did). It’s your NAME, so make sure you can own it with pride :)

Did you change your name after getting married? What about your middle?

March Goals + February Recap

Happy March! My favorite season is Spring. All things becoming new, light out of darkness, redemption, Eastertime . . . it’s just the sweetest and most life-giving season to me. But I have to say, for the first time in my LIFE, that Winter flew by! I realize there are still about three more weeks of winter technically, but March just sounds like Spring in my mind. I’m so excited!

February packed sooo much in to a little month. As a result, I blogged less here and got less done on my goals. So a few of them are carried over into March. Here’s how I did last month:

• Celebrate love: our 6 month milestone of marriage, and Valentine’s Day—yes! You can read about our low-key Valentine’s here.

• Do our taxes (first time filing jointly)—nope. Carrying over to this month!

• Month two of my spending challenge—yes. Believe it or not, I have not purchased anything for myself aside from groceries and essentials (like running out of dishwasher pods) since 2018. I’m loving it and will write more about it soon!

• Spend some time doing nothing every day—honestly, not really. This is hard for me!

• Walk at least 10,000 steps every day—every day? No. But did I go many more days of walking 10,000 steps than I usually do? YES! That’s what goal setting is all about I think. So I’m making this a goal again in March!

• Read Luke and Acts—only partway through Luke. But, progress!

• Start off every morning prepped for the day (from the night before)—sometimes, and it made a big difference.

And here are my March goals. They’re broken into two categories: financial and for-the-heart. Financial responsibility was a big overarching goal for me, so my monthly goals are reflecting that.

Financial:

• File our joint tax return

• Stick to our March budget + big (some might say crazy) saving goals

• Revamp our retirement account (very exciting, I know)

For-the-heart:

• Finish reading Luke, read Acts

• Make a Spring bucket list (similar to my Autumn bucket list - and I need to blog about my Winter one!)

• Write at least three longer blog posts

And daily, I’m going to try again to walk 10,000 steps every day.

I hope your month is off to a beautiful start! Happy Friday :)

New Year's Eve in New Orleans

Continuing my theme from last week of catching up on overdue blog posts—today I’m sharing all about our FABULOUS week in New Orleans! We spent the last week of 2018 in New Orleans, our first time visiting the city. The last night was New Year’s Eve, which also happened to be our dear friends’ wedding. And Grace officiated! Ever since the trip Grace and I keep saying to each other how it was one of our favorite trips we’ve ever taken together. New Orleans is magical, and attending such a meaningful marriage celebration—especially in our first few months as newlyweds—is something we’ll never forget.

We left for our trip 2 days after Christmas, and we were SO EXCITED!

All smiles on the airplane

We had booked a room at the Hotel Provincial, one of the hotels the grooms recommended staying at. We loved it and would totally stay there again! It’s right in the French Quarter, and beyond charming.

The cute view from our room.

Our hotel had courtyards and wrought iron furniture and charming southern touches galore.

It wasn’t the best weather for the pool, but it was pretty.

Hotel Provincial is on the National Register of Historic Places and is supposedly haunted. We weren’t bothered though—and where better to stay in a haunted hotel than New Orleans?! The location was also just so prime. The first night, we grabbed drinks to go (such a fun novelty) and strolled around to see the charming balconies in our neighborhood!

I loved seeing all the decorations still up for Christmas.

Our first meal was at Cafe Amelie. So good. I got a Penicillin (traditional New Orleans cocktail) and some kind of Cajun seafood pasta. We went to bed so happy and excited to explore the next day.

We woke up and strolled over to Cafe Du Monde for some coffee and beignets! There was a little line but it was well worth it.

Luckily, we beat the rain and made it into the cafe before the downpour . . . but then it REALLY rained. Our strolling and sightseeing plans were temporarily put off.

But right about the time when we were trying to decide what to do in the rain in New Orleans, the grooms (Tommy and Philip) texted us! We ended up going with them to get their marriage license and get Grace registered to be a marriage officiant in Louisiana. I don’t have any pics from that, but it is actually one of my favorite memories of the trip—just getting so giddy and anticipating that our friends were getting MARRIED so soon!

After dealing with the official business, we decided to stop for a late lunch at Coop’s. OMG. There, I had the best po boy of all time.

We continued strolling, sightseeing, tasting, and enjoying. Tommy and Philip showed us the gay corner of Bourbon Street, which was adorable.

About that time, we had to split off from the guys to go on a ghost tour we had booked! There are a ton of ghost tours offered in the city, and while obviously I have nothing to compare it to, I thought the company we used—French Quarter Phantoms—was awesome.

That’s us waiting for the tour to start with our two-for-one hurricanes that came with the price of the tickets. Amazing. We also stopped halfway through the tour to refill our drinks—doesn’t get much more NOLA than that :)

It was dark on the tour so I don’t have pictures, but we saw some really interesting historic places in the French Quarter. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, it’s a very cool historic tour. I’m also glad we did the tour one of our first nights in New Orleans, because the rest of the time we felt like we knew our way around the Quarter better and could use certain buildings (that we now knew to apparently be haunted) as points of reference.

I don’t have pictures from this, but after dinner we strolled out to an awesome, tiny Cuban restaurant and got some small bites. The place, which we loved, is called Manolito.

The next day, pre-wedding festivities began! We started the day with a jog along the Mississippi River, which was gorgeous.

Then for breakfast on the way home from our jog, we randomly stumbled on a hole in the wall where we found the most DELICIOUS breakfast plates! We both got the fried catfish breakfast plate which came with eggs, fried catfish, potatoes, and toast or English muffins. It is one of my favorite things we ate the whole trip! The place is called Johnny’s and it’s cash only. Go there if you are in NOLA!

After relaxing a bit and freshening up, we headed to the first wedding event of the week: Drag Brunch at the Country Club! It was such a fun welcome event for everyone invited to the wedding, and it was great to start to meet some of the other guests we didn’t know. The Queens were awesome and we felt so at home in a new state attending a fun drag show.

Grace getting ready to hand out some dollars.

The adorable porch of the Country Club.

We had some r&r time after brunch (turns out, drinking during the day and eating decadent Cajun food all the time really wears you out), and then for dinner we headed to the INCREDIBLE Cafe Sbisa. Cafe Sbisa gave me one of my favorite dates with Grace, the best and friendliest service, and *maybe* my favorite meal of the whole trip (but that’s a very difficult call to make).

The photo above is Cafe Sbisa’s courtbouillon, kind of a cousin of gumbo—but in my opinion, far superior. This one had a rich creole stew/soup base with rice in the middle, surrounded by lump crab meat, tiny bay shrimp, mussels, and catfish. I seriously DREAM about this meal. It was that good.

The next day: rehearsal day! We started off the morning with a visit to the gorgeous venue of the wedding, the Marigny Opera House.

It’s an old converted 1853 church, then an opera house, and now a venue and events space. Here’s Grace practicing her officiant role for the wedding!

After the morning rehearsal, we headed to Brennan’s for the sweetest rehearsal brunch. I LOVED the idea of a rehearsal brunch so much—almost made me wish we had gone that route (as opposed to a rehearsal dinner).

The grooms!!

One of the signature drinks, pictured above, was a New Orleans breakfast punch. It was a rum punch with a milk-based base, that honestly tasted like the most delicious cereal milk imaginable. Maybe that sounds gross to you, but trust me, it was amazing. A little cinnamon on top was the perfect touch.

After brunch, we strolled and explored.

And on our walk back to our hotel, we saw a dog who looks like Casper. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Casper was our first dog together, and I’ve never seen a dog who looked like him. This one was so sweet and I got pretty emotional meeting him. For reference, our two dogs (the New Orleans dog first):

We had some rest time in our room (becoming a theme), and then headed to the next wedding event: the welcome party! It was such a fun gathering in the home of Tommy and Philips’ friends who live in New Orleans. It was also another chance to sample more delicious New Orleans traditional food.

The cutest idea for napkins for a welcome party!

One corner of this GORGEOUS New Orleans home—Grace and I couldn’t get over it.

After the welcome party we left and Grace got a tattoo to commemorate our time in New Orleans. It’s a heart with a ghost in it. I feel like for many people getting a tattoo wouldn’t be such a casual thing, and I get that, but I also love Grace’s collection. That’s just Grace!

The next day we woke up and it was the last day of 2018, and WEDDING DAY! Oh my goodness, I could never begin to describe all of the wonderful things about this wedding. It was just BEYOND. But here are a few:

• Vows that took my breath away, and that Grace and I still talk about

• About 200 glasses of champagne all lined up with tiny escort cards with our names balanced on top—one of my favorite creative escort card displays I’ve seen

• An elegant tented dinner outside

• A second line (like a mini marching band for those who don’t know the term) where we danced around the entire neighborhood with a police escort after the ceremony

• An amazing dance party to ring in 2019

• The most fun live band

• Confetti showers at midnight

• A super fun (maybe TOO fun) after party in the French Quarter

And so, so much more. A few favorite snaps from the wedding:

As good as the food in New Orleans was, as colorful and inspiring as the city was, as sparkly and fun as having New Year’s Eve there was, none of it compares the joy of seeing our friends get married. And, a big part of that is that this was our first gay wedding as guests. Seeing how Tommy and Philip’s communities rally around them and how this was the event of the YEAR for so many people made me cry multiple times throughout the week. After we left, Grace and I commented how we felt like we’d been at summer camp and made a bunch of friends that we can’t wait to see again. It was just all so good. Tommy and Philip, thank you. We love you!

Naming the Good Stuff No. 5: Valentine's Edition

Happy Friday! I hope you had a sweet Valentine’s Day yesterday. Today’s Naming the Good Stuff post is going up a bit late in the day and I’m dedicating it to Valentine’s Day - there was enough Good Stuff yesterday to fill a whole week!

I should say, I am NOT one of the “I don’t really care about Valentine’s Day/Valentine’s Day is dumb” people. I love Valentine’s Day. Always have, always will. Loved it single, loved it dating, loved it engaged, loving it now married. As a kid, I was obsessed with the Valentines you’d give the whole class, and before I got married I sent out Valentine’s cards to all my friends instead of Christmas cards (I wanted to save Christmas cards for when I was married). I feel like it’s cool to hate Valentine’s Day, but oh well :)

This first-married Valentine’s Day happened alongside a recent revelation for Grace and me. We are feeling super passionate about our finances as a married couple and wanted to come up with an idea for V-Day on a budget. And it was one of my favorites yet!

My Valentine’s Day started the night of the 13th, when Grace came home with a huge bouquet of pink roses for me. It was so big, I split it up into three separate arrangements for different parts of our house (one of them, on our coffee table, is in the pic above).

During the day on the 14th, we had a slow day at home, both getting some work done and just enjoying the simple joys of our little house. We have the most amazing lemon tree behind the house, and I went out and picked lemons in the afternoon. Probably my biggest harvest yet!

It rained so much in LA on Valentine’s Day. In the evening after feeding the dogs, Grace and I got dressed to go out (a little bit dressed down, given the rain), and headed out to our perpetual fav (and perfect budget-friendly date night): Hamburger Haven! It’s cheap comfort food at its finest. We got a veggie burger and a tuna melt and had the whole place to ourselves.

After dinner we walked across the street to Salt & Straw! The best ice cream around. Grace got the chocolate hazelnut praline, one of the February seasonal flavors, and I got the honey lavender, which I probably get about every other time I go there. It’s so good.

Another sweet thing was that while we were eating our cones inside to avoid the rain, we ended up chatting with a cute couple standing beside us. They were two guys and had met at their temple so we bonded over attending gay-friendly congregations. It was just awesome. As we were walking to our car, Grace and I were both saying this is what we LOVE about living in West Hollywood. These days, it’s great that there are so many gay friendly places to live in the US, but there are very few where it’s more common than not that the couple sharing ice cream next to you will also be gay. It’s hard to describe to other people why that’s so good for the soul . . . but it is. I can’t imagine living anywhere else, at least not at this stage of life :)

Lastly, when we got home we watched a movie on our little temporary home theater—a projector and 80-inch screen we rented recently. It definitely elevates the at-home movie experience. We watched Silver Linings Playbook, which I realize is old but I’d never seen it. And it was very cute. I thought it would be kind of sad and was relieved that it wasn’t.

The end!

Best Friends Palm Springs Roadtrip with Two Dogs

This post is long overdue, but I am so excited to share about my roadtrip to Palm Springs this past December with my best friend—and two of our dogs in tow! I’ve written about visiting Palm Springs here and here, and honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever get sick of Palm Springs. This trip was especially sweet because it is part of a tradition my friend Sarah and I have of going on trips together to dream about our goals and renew our friendship. In the past we have gone to Asheville, NC, the Chesapeake Bay, Lake Arrowhead, CA, and now Palm Springs. Culling through photos from the weekend to write this post, I was getting chills remembering what a beautiful, restorative, and life-giving weekend we had. Making it a priority to get away for “bestie weekends” is sometimes hard in the hustle and bustle of life, but so worth it!

Photos in this post are a mix of iPhone photos (taken by me) and DSLR photos (taken by Sarah). Chances are, the really pretty ones are taken by Sarah!

We stayed at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, and it was my second time staying here—I love it and would definitely keep going back. Best of all, it’s super dog friendly!

We set out on our trip on a Friday afternoon. The sunset was unreal, which we both took as a good omen for the weekend ahead :)

On the way, as any good California roadtrip starts, we stopped at In-n-Out for dinner.

We got to our room and got settled in for the night! We had booked a room with a patio and outdoor fireplace, which was a huge highlight. We spent the first night chatting and enjoying some rosé! Both our boys (I brought Bean, and Sarah brought her corgi Butters) got cozy for the night.

We are both early risers (something I love having in common with Sarah) so we got a jump on our one full day in Palm Springs and went to Cheeky’s for brunch! I’d been to Cheeky’s before and it’s amazing, but it always has a long line. We got there by 8:30 and there was no line, and we got to sit right outside on the patio with our dogs. Heaven.

Little oranges (I think?) growing on the property at the Ace. So lovely!

The pups situated at Cheeky’s.

My bloody mary served in a glass boot!

My order: the vegetarian tamale plate.

Sarah’s order: french toast.

Plus a flight of bacon!!

After breakfast we headed to the Palm Springs art museum trail to do a quick hike. It’s a gorgeous but STEEP trail (which we didn’t quite realize), and to be honest, it was a little difficult for both of our dogs. So we walked up a little ways and then headed back, and that was fine with us! The views were still amazing even though we didn’t hike the whole thing.

After going back to our room at the Ace, showering, and dropping off the dogs to hang out inside during the warmest part of the day, we set out to the Moorten Botanical Garden. I firmly believe no trip to Palm Springs is complete without a visit here.

It cost $5 to go and it is THE coolest place. It’s a botanical garden, including an awesome, funky greenhouse, filled with the most strange and beautiful plants imaginable.

The colors, shapes, textures, and patterns are amazing. I could truly spend the whole day here.

They also have some baby cacti and other plants that you can pick up to take home! Sarah ended up getting a few things that are now living happily in her apartment.

We went shopping for a bit after Moorten. Downtown Palm Springs is super charming, and we shopped for some Christmas gifts and I also got a Dole whip. Yum!

We’d initially planned to go out to dinner, but once we got back to the Ace after an afternoon of exploring and shopping, we were so content we didn’t want to leave! We canceled our dinner reservations and dined on delicious snacks and cocktails by the pool, followed by a room service dinner.

Sweet Butters.

There’s something so simple yet satisfying about ordering room service in your robe with your best friend :)

The next morning we woke up and knew we needed to check out by 11am, so we took a slow morning staying in the room (after walking the boys), ordering room service breakfast, and dreaming about our 2019 goals.

My order: an everything bagel, two eggs over easy, and soy chorizo!

Sarah’s order: a bagel with lox and pickled red onion.

We also both got coffees and date shakes. Date shakes at the Ace are my FAV!!

And there you have it—a simple, sweet, dog-friendly trip to Palm Springs shared between two best friends. Palm Springs is one of the easiest and most TRULY dog friendly getaways in Southern California, in my experience. I cherished this weekend and can’t wait to plan the next one.

Thanks for reading!

Naming the Good Stuff No. 4

Happy Friday!! In the midst of a packed January and February without as much blogging as I’d like, I’m popping in with some of the Good Stuff from the past week.

1. The flower confetti my camellia tree has been raining on my front steps recently, shown in the picture above.

2. This brand/flavor of almonds - my new fav snack while I’m working.

3. This article I recently read that just GETS me! I relate so much and would be curious if anyone else does, too.

4. These cookies my best friend made me—tahini, with a maple glaze and baharat-sea salt topping. So good. She went to culinary school, if you can’t tell.

5. This picture of my constant companion, Bean, and how much he looks like a PUPPY even though he’s 1.5 now! I can’t handle it.

6. The lunch bowls I made this week. I ended up eating the same thing three days in a row because they were so good and I kept craving them!

6. Speaking of cravings, I cannot get enough roasted veggies lately for dinner. Pretty much no matter what, I’ll make a protein for dinner alongside a big sheet pan of whatever veggies are in the fridge. Olive oil + salt + 20-30 minutes at 415 degrees and they’re perfect!

7. Lastly, I’m feeling super grateful for Grace. I’ve been honestly kind of tired and cranky lately and Grace has been such a literal embodiment of “love is patient, love is kind”… just feeling sappy about it!

Hope you have a beautiful weekend!

February Goals + January Recap

I’m here (2 days late) with my February goals! I started the month in Miami for work, where I snapped the pic above. Because of that today feels like my February 1, and I’m spending some cozy time writing my goals out and getting the house, kitchen, dogs, etc. prepped for a great month!

Over the past couple of weeks I started hearing some inspiration for my February goals spoken into my life. One of them is to walk 10,000 steps every day. That might sound like a rather basic goal - every gal with a FitBit has probably done that at some point - but ever since I got mine I have been frustrated to end most days with about 8,000 steps. Just pushing myself to hit 10k every day is a big and meaningful goal for me, no matter how simple it might sound.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have felt myself called to infuse my day with more of the “sweetness of doing nothing.” Maybe that looks like just eating a meal by myself without feeling like I also need to be on my phone, jotting things down in my planner, or working on a blog post at the same time. Honestly, even just watching a movie without also checking email or posting something to my IG story would be an upgrade of “doing nothing” versus how my life has often looked lately.

Among a few other things, I’m also continuing my spending challenge into month 2! I can’t wait to share more about how not buying anything other than food and essentials (i.e. if we run out of laundry detergent or whatever) has challenged me and reshaped the way I think about STUFF.

So I’m very excited about my February goals! First, here’s how I did in January:

• First month of my spending challenge (no purchases other than food and essentials for January-March—part of my overall savings goals for the year)—yes! Feeling good going into month 2.

• Enjoy more items on our winter bucket list—yes, among other things we drove to see snow!

• Write thank-yous for my Christmas gifts—done

• Finish up a few small things for my name change (my legal name change is done but I need to update certain accounts and things)—yes! So much progress

• Set up our printer—yep.

Now, my February goals:

• Celebrate love: our 6 month milestone of marriage, and Valentine’s Day

• Do our taxes (first time filing jointly)

• Month two of my spending challenge

• Spend some time doing nothing every day

• Walk at least 10,000 steps every day

• Read Luke and Acts

• Start off every morning prepped for the day (from the night before)

Hope your February is off to a great start! If you’re in LA, stay safe and dry from this crazy weather!

Naming the Good Stuff No. 3

Popping in for a super quick Naming the Good Stuff Friday post! It was a good, FULL week (even though it was actually a short week-thanks, MLK Jr.).

Some of the Good Stuff this week:

Making progress on my name change (barely anything left now!). Wearing all gray sweats to unwind (pictured above). Getting my favorite flavor at Salt & Straw again (vegan lemon chevre cheesecake). Drinking red wine with my best friend in the middle of the day because we noticed it was made in the year we met (2013). Realizing I’ve known my best friend’s dog longer than I’ve known my best friend OR Grace (long story). Going on a work trip and hitting a big milestone professionally (arguing in Federal Court). Picking dozens of lemons off my tree (and making preserved lemons). A long catch-up call with my mom (love her). Watching the Bachelor with my ride or die Bachelor group (still figuring out how I feel about this season). Making big healthy chopped salads for dinner this week (secret ingredient is pomegranate seeds). Sending out happy mail to friends (what’s up January babies). Finding a new podcast I’m loving (Wild Thing). Drinking apple cider tea before bed (herbal realness).

I’m loving getting more into the practice of noticing and naming these good things in my life. I hope your week was filled with the Good Stuff too!

Taking Our Dog to Find Snow in SoCal

One of the items on my winter bucket list was to see snow. Having lived in California for going on six years, I very rarely see snow and have been missing it! When I wrote it on my bucket list, I honestly had no idea how or when it would happen. I thought we’d most likely have to take an overnight trip up to Tahoe or something like that. While a Tahoe trip would be amazing, I wasn’t sure if it was in the cards this winter.

But after we got back from our New Orleans trip I had the idea to research whether it snows anywhere in Southern California. I quickly realized that there were several places we could go! I picked Wrightwood, California, for its proximity to LA and lack of mountain driving (meaning we most likely wouldn’t need snow chains on our tires).

This gives you an idea of how close Wrightwood is to LA—making a day trip possible.

We decided to bring Willie with us since he had never seen snow (at least since we adopted him-we don’t know much about his life before that). It was SO FUN! Our little snow day is definitely a favorite memory of 2019 already. Here are some favorite pictures and details from the day!

Our schedule for our snow day was to wake up, drop Bean at daycare (chihuahua in the snow = unhappy chihuahua), and hit the road. We stopped for some snacks on the way (Swedish fish are always a must for me on car trips). By mid morning, we were in the middle of a snow storm! It was hard to believe since we’d woken up in sunny West Hollywood. Wrightwood felt like a perfect choice because while a few other people had the same idea as us, it wasn’t nearly as crowded as I’ve heard Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead can be in the winter.

We put a local market into our GPS because I’d read that you have to buy a forest parking pass to park on the side of the road in a Wrightwood. We’ve done this in Big Bear in the summer before too. But when we got there, they said we didn’t need one because there are no rangers patrolling because of the government shutdown. So so weird.

Anyway, we then headed up Angeles Crest Highway (in basically a blizzard at this point) and parked on the side of the road. This was right by the Mountain High skiing area. We walked into a big meadow/clearing where kids were sledding and people were having snowball fights and we just frolicked!

I am very happy to report that Willie LOVED the snow! We had a coat for him but weren’t sure if he would be too cold, as he is a short-haired, perpetually tan, SoCal boy through and through. But he was sooo excited! Throwing snowballs for him to bite was hilarious and he was just prancing so happily. We definitely want to take him to see more snow in the future-he did so great.

Our little snow day was just pure happiness and simple fun. I would spend a whole weekend in Wrightwood for sure, but it was such a cool discovery that we could easily do a day trip to see snow from LA! I think we started a new tradition for our little family :)