Feel Good Friday 61
Hello, my friend! I hope you have had a wonderful week. I don’t know about you, but I am certainly full of hope at the moment. I watched the inauguration alone on Wednesday as Wilder was at school, Chris was at work and my older kids were e-learning. The moment that Madame Vice President walked up the stairs, I started crying. No matter where one’s beliefs lie politically, it was a huge moment for women in America, and to witness the shattering of that glass ceiling is something I will never forget. After the ceremony, Emmy came out of her room on a break from classes and told me she’d heard me clapping along. I was just so proud – we finally have a woman in office in the White House. I explained to Emmy that I was just so excited for her because she gets to see this as a child still and she gets to believe, to really believe and see, that anything is possible for her. Well, let me just wipe those tears from my eyes again, and let’s check out the other things that made my week and will make your weekend! (This post contains affiliate links, and I am an Amazon associate.)
New Recipe of the Week
As I’ve mentioned, we’re doing one new recipe a week (at minimum this year), and it’s been so much fun to try new flavors! For the most part, I select healthy bites. Last Sunday on Half Baked Harvest, I saw a recipe she shared for Herbed Garlic Buttered Scallops with Lemony Feta Dressing. While I typically try to stay away from things that have a ton of butter, I also have to find balance with what my husband likes. We both love seafood and had talked about scallops recently but hadn’t made them, so I ran this recipe by him and he was game. It was actually quite quick and easy to make, and the verdict was that we will make it again! It was delicious, and the feta dressing had green olives in it, too… so good!!! We served it with a fresh salad and crusty bread Chris bought – damn, him! I couldn’t resist, as you can see. I am doing dry January, but apparently I’ve just traded in and have renamed the month Carbuary. By the way, I used the leftovers of the feta dressing to make myself a cauliflower crust pizza with sautéed baby bellas and a sprinkle of vegan cashew mozzarella; it was a great way to use the extra. Waste not, want not, right? (By the way, both the cauliflower crust and the vegan cashew cheese came from Trader Joe’s. Their vegan mozzarella is my go-to.) Here’s the pizza:
Inspiring Poet
If you did catch the inauguration, perhaps you were as enamored as I was by 22 year old poet, Amanda Gorman, who beautifully recited her work, “The Hill We Climb.” To see a very young Black woman up there reading her original poem was so powerful. She is living proof of what’s possible for our future. Her poem can be found here, and ended with these words: There is always light. If only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.
PS- I watched her instagram account skyrocket that day from 60k in the morning to over 1 million by 3:30 pm that afternoon and 2.5 million by noon yesterday when I was finishing this post. WOW. She’s also releasing a children’s book which I will be buying!
Leadership Book That’s Helping My Parenting
At the onset of 2020, I stormed into the year on a mission to improve myself, grow my blog business, and make a difference in the world while supporting my family. As we all know, 2020 had other ideas for us. (Cue the world’s tiniest violin playing for me.) However, at the beginning of the year, I bought several personal development books including Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. As the year dragged on, I lost that mojo and settled into survival mode, as many of us did. On January 1 of this year, I dusted it off and dug in, only to be distracted by a thrilling mystery. Well, I finally disciplined myself (after two mysteries – oops) to read the damn book and I am so glad I did! Daring Greatly truly opened my eyes to the burdens our society places on men (as well as women, but those I knew), and the final chapter on parenting was life-changing. Highly recommend this book to anyone in a leadership position – I’m looking at you, parents! You don’t have to be a CEO or manager of a business to be a leader.
OK, But Back to Thrillers: A Must-See Series
After hearing all of the buzz, Chris and I watched the HBO series, The Flight Attendant, and WOW. This show follows a flight attendant (duh) who wakes up in bed next to a dead man, sure that she did not kill him. She’s a bit of an alcoholic mess herself, never committing to anyone – friend or partner. In this 8 episode premiere season, you’ll follow Cassie (great name, obviously) as she tries to figure out what happened while clearing her own name from the FBI’s suspect list. Kaley Cuoco stars, but I have to say that Zosia Mamet absolutely stole the show for me with her dry wit and precise delivery. Rosie Perez and Michiel Huisman also played their parts phenomenally. (Speaking of Michiel, you may know him from the place I first fell in love, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, or, if you’re more like my husband, GOT.) This who-dunnit will make you think while you laugh. Check out the trailer:
Perks of My Job
One of the highlights of my job is getting to visit all of the brand new businesses in Greensboro to get a sneak peek. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had a couple of fantastic opportunities! Earlier this week, I met with the owner of Clutch Coffee Bar, which is an NC based business that is opening its fourth location in Greensboro next Saturday. FYI, if you are local, they’re offering free coffee drinks for all that day!!!! They are a drive-through business, so you don’t even have to get out of the car to caffeinate. It’s an awesome concept with fabulous drinks, smoothies and more! I grabbed a caramallow (caramel and mrashmallow) shake to bring home to Emmy. I did try a little sip gulp and it was DIVINE – like tasting the sweetest cloud from heaven! It’s also within walking distance to my office, so I have a feeling I am going to be a Clutch regular, a Clutchy, a Clutch-Much. (I asked the owner if I’d be allowed to walk through. ;P)
Another really cool place I got to check out is the brand new Bull City Ciderworks in Greensboro. Greensboro is This business is also NC based with other locations in Durham and Lexington. They offer several unique flavors of hard cider, and have an awesome hangout vibe that they keep as safely sanitized as possible. There’s a gorgeous mural (pictured above) and even a fire pit outside. I headed over with my kids last week, just to have a little tour, but I will be back as soon as Dry January is over. Then it will be time to get sauced!
Gifts for the 14 Year Old Girl
That precious little peanut turned 14 last Sunday and I can’t even believe it! She’s grown into such a beautiful young lady and I am incredibly proud to be her mother. Admittedly, as of late I’ve felt a little disconnected from her and was struggling to find common ground. My greatest fear was that she was slipping away from me – she’s always been my little sidekick. Of course, I realize she is growing into her own complete person, but I still want to have activities that are special to the two of us. I know that part of that is brought on by the pandemic and the inability to do the things we used to together. Anyhow, we recently bonded over the Amazon series, The Wilds. It’s a little trashy teen drama and I am not ashamed to say, we are here for it! This show had us cracking up, tearing up and hanging in suspense! We’re anxiously awaiting Season 2. In the show, Fatin is a bit of a rich diva and her wardrobe consists of lots of snarky-but-bougie pieces like a “Le Trash” tee and a “More Issues Than Vogue” sweatshirt. I decided to take a risk and buy Emmy a similar sweatshirt from Etsy.
Emmy also loves to decorate her devices with stickers so I got her a ton of stickers from The Wilds, like this one which cracks me up! We love to say this in Shelby’s Texas accent.
She died of laughter when she opened everything I gave her, and afterwards gave me a big hug and said, “Not to hurt anyone else’s feelings, but I liked your gifts the best.” I feel like I’ve got my girl back, and I love that we bond over sarcasm. It’s my love language.
I also took her with me to Sephora that afternoon because I needed to grab something. I made her pose by this mural, but the white winter sky was blinding. That is her, “Mom, I’m being blinded” expression.
And on that note, the future’s looking as bright as that sky was! I mean, it’s Friday and the weekend awaits. Enjoy, my friend!