Alabama + Graffiti

This year has been fucking ridiculous, right?  I know that the ridiculousness doesn’t end at the stroke of midnight on December 31st – and sometimes that can be overwhelming.

With the extreme rise in Covid cases, I hold my breath every day – waiting for our school to become 100% remote and thus causing me to be 100% work from home.  I don’t know about you, but all of that causes my heart rate to increase and all of those worst-case scenarios to come to the forefront of my mind.

BUT this weekend, I got a gentle reminder from a good friend.  She is running a virtual half marathon for St. Jude, and I donated to her team.  She wrote me back a thank you email and it said, “Miss your face and your amazing positivity.”  And what honestly went through my mind was, positivity?  What positivity?

And so I thought back to when she knew me best – she was my boss when I worked at a previous company.  And you know something?  I did start every day there with a much better attitude than I have now.  Granted, I am in a very different place than I was when I was there – I have a kid, a much more demanding job and different responsibilities.  But even with all of that – why can I not choose to start the day with a much more positive attitude?  I do the best I can at my job, I’m the best mom I know how to be – I need to stop beating myself up over every thing and that especially includes anything that I can’t control.

I’m going to make it a point to try to start the day with a different mindset – I will do what I can at my job, I will not let it eat me alive and drag me down into that dark hole.  Changing my mindset will be something that is fresh and on my mind while we try to make it through this last month a half of the most garbage year ever!

Ok, ok – I know that we see a TON of these chocolate chip cookie recipes ever, but honestly, this is the best.  THE BEST.  I have never ever ever browned butter in my life (like what this recipe calls for), and I did it.  So if I can do it, so can you.  Let’s go!  (This recipe came from Honeysuckle – you can find her YouTube video making the cookies here.)

HOW YOU DO IT

// Melt and brown 8 tbsp of butter – she swears by the Kerrygold brand – I used the Land O’Lakes unsalted butter and they came out just as good.  Pour the browned butter into a large mixing bowl.

// After the butter has semi-cooled, add the following to the bowl and mix.

* 1/2 cup white sugar

* 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (again, I used light – no big deal)

* 1 egg

* 1 tsp vanilla

* 1/2 tsp kosher salt

* 1/2 tsp baking soda

// Once it’s a ribbon-like consistency, add:

* 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

* 1 cup chocolate chips.

// Mix well, and scoop into round balls onto a baking sheet. I have this cookie scoop – trust me – it’s one of the most used things in my kitchen: get you one.  (Note:  this recipe doesn’t make a ton of cookies – I get maybe 10 or 11).  Sprinkle with salt.  Chill if you must ( I always skip this step because GIMME MY COOKIES!).  Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Cool and serve.

And there you have it – I loved this, because the cookies were delicious and I got to learn a new baking skill.  And with all the Christmas baking coming up – you definitely need to add these to the Christmas cookie list!  Enjoy!

 

 

 

(slow reading month for me – I was in a massive reading funk, but luckily have clawed my way back.  Linking up with Jana and Steph for SUYB)

Anxious People – Fredrick Backman // I am a huge huge fan of Backman – and this one surely didn’t disappoint.  A book about a bank robbery gone bad – and relationships with people really.  The character development in this book is amazing, and you find yourself getting super attached and interested in their fate.  So glad this one was Lindsay’s Virtual Book Club pick.

The Shadows – Alex North // This is the second book of his that I’ve read, and it is so creepy and wonderful.  I loved how sometimes I had a hard time discerning between real life and the lucid dreams, and there was in no way that I saw the ending coming.  Such a good, make-you-look-over-your-should read.  If that’s your thing, definitely add this one to your list.

The Other Mrs. – Mary Kubica //  I cant’ really say much about this book, because I’ll give it away.  It is very much a typical Kubica book – twisty, mental thriller type book, and I loved it.  I can say I only saw half of the ending coming, and whew – what a doozy.  If you’re normally a fan of her books, you’ll dig this one, too.

Yep, it sure is almost a week past Halloween 2020, but in my defense, this week – work wise, personal wise and whatever else wise has been ridiculously ridiculous.

On Halloween, we had plans to go over to our friend’s house since like the beginning of October.  Luckily, everyone was still healthy, so we kept our plans.  We went over with costumes in tow, as well as snacks and beverages, of course!  We got over to their house, and they had another friend coming over and these three were so sweet together.  They did tie-dye shirts, and multiple rounds of trick or treating on the small block that they lived on.  Our host had graciously already supplied the houses with bagged candy, so the kids just visited the same houses in different costumes, and collected their candy.  It was such a sweet night, and so thankful that we were able to give the kids some sort of normalcy for Halloween in 2020.

On Sunday, we were lucky enough to have my sister watch Sheff so we could have some time alone.  It had been a bit since our last date, so it was well overdue.  We started by getting some breakfast sandwiches at Hero’s downtown, and then walked a bit around Railroad Park.  After our walk, we headed over to Monday Night Brewing to watch some football!  I was lucky enough to find our tie that we brought hanging up on one of the high spots on the wall – B thinks it’s because I tagged it #bhamstrong, but it was still really freaking cool to see it up there.  After Monday Night, we headed over to Rougaroux for beverages and our second team, the Saints.  We got some amazing pork rinds and fried shrimp, with some delicious drinks and called it a night.

 

It was much needed and Monday Night in Birmingham is such a cool spot – their beers were amazing and our service couldn’t have been better!

I’m hoping that this upcoming week will be way better – I’ve somehow caught my reading mojo back – Sheff has his bball evaulations tomorrow, and I just feel like it’s going to be a good one!

I’m not here to talk politics – I have before, and if you’ve been around me for any length of time, you know where I stand with them anyway.

I’m here to talk about the experience of yesterday.  We always take Sheffield with us when we vote – we think it’s important to show him the importance of voting, so we went right after we picked him up from school. When we pulled up into our polling place, there were cars parked everywhere.  During the last presidential election, we seriously stood in line for fifteen minutes – in and out.  This year – there were so many people in line!  We actually couldn’t believe it – and everyone was wearing a mask!  Everyone!  Even while outside in line.  People were chatting – and not about politics.  Just being nice to each other.  It was pretty amazing.

At some point we were told that we were the polling place with the longest wait time, and that they had already run out of ballots (EEP!) once that day.  At some point, the poll workers brought pizza around!  I had heard of the Pizza at the Polls thing, where people could send pizza to people waiting in line to vote- and thought what a great thing to do.  Sheffield was definitely a fan.  I love that the slice of pizza is as big as he is!

All in all, we waited about two hours and fifteen minutes to cast our vote.  And it may have been a pain in the ass to wait in the cold, but it was also amazing to see all of those people showing up to vote.

We always snap a family pic after we’re done!!  I love how they always give Sheff a sticker, too.  The man last night said, well you had to wait in line too.  It was so sweet.

After that, we headed downtown to see the Dia de los Muertos altars.  It’s always been something we’ve enjoyed doing, and ever since Sheffield has watched Coco, he’s gotten a better understanding of it.  My two favorites were the John Lewis and RBG altars.  So appropriate for voting day!  Aren’t they beautiful?

When we got home, we all got changed into snuggly clothes- Sheff had his dinner, and then came in to join us on the couch for the Great British Bake Off.  We had made the decision that we were not going to watch the returns, so after Sheff went to bed, we made a charcuterie plate and binged all of the old seasons of GBBO and enjoyed a bottle of wine.  It was a really nice ending to the day.