✍️ October 2025: Oops I skipped September

Starting a blog sounds like a great idea when you're not busy.

Then life happens and it's the first thing to fall by the wayside. Mind you, it doesn't take anything crazy to get there - nothing massive or earth shattering happened in the last two months, just a lot of small things that sucked up my energy. And this was the first thing to fall away. So, if you like reading these, sorry I was gone for a minute. If not, you can definitely unsubscribe - it's cool.

Just looking back through my photos has made me feel like the last two months were actually a few years. September started off with us getting back from the beach? I'm already planning Christmas stuff. Theo and I built a couch in September? It's already got cushions, stain, polyurethane, and has been a staple of our porch. I think Theo's gotten two haircuts in that time (or at least close to it).

I'll keep posting photos in this blog, but I wanted to mention that you can always check out My Shared Photo Album if you want to see more photos. I'll keep updating that throughout the month as well.

So, what did we do in the last two months?

• Em started school (she's now the 6th grade dean, which is so much fun!)
• I biked the Twin Lights Ride
• I took a lot of meetings with clients in the city, attended a few conferences/meetups, and helped film* an event at Symphony Space
  *hung out
• We started having friends over for weekly dinners
• It was Em's birthday (and I made a cake - see below)
• I played a bunch of D&D at the library
• I've logged almost 700 miles on my new ebike!
• Theo and I built a couch for our porch.
• We all went to the Grange Fair, apple picking (twice), the San Gennaro Festival, and Hilltop Hanover a whole bunch!
• Theo and I went to homecoming at Lafayette!
• We made a ton of soup for the winter
• Theo dressed up as Donald Duck for halloween

What else is new?

• I'm trying to severely cut back on my screen time. It's...tricky. But, if it starts to take me a longer time replying to your texts, that's why!
• We started having friends over for dinner every week! If you'd ever like to come by, just let me know!
• We're hosting Thanksgiving this year! Em's family is coming down and everything, so we're gonna put our new oven to the test (once we were down to one working burner, we knew it was time to get a new one)
• Work's been busy, but we're just finishing up hiring for a few positions, so hopefully it'll cool down a little bit.
• Theo's been doing lots of cool stuff at daycare (mostly asking "why? why? why? why? why?"), so that's fun!

I'm going to get better at regularly updating this, I promise. I know you're on the edge of your seating at the beginning of every month, desperately waiting for this email. But in all seriousness, it's nice to know that I have a way to stay in touch with you, even if I don't get to see you all that often.

What have I been...

📺 Watching: 
The Yankees' season come to the miserable end they deserved...
The Paper (yes, the Office "sequel" - it's surprisingly charming)
Game of Thrones

📚 Reading: 
R. F. Kuang's Katabasis
Delia Owens' Where the Crawdads Sing

🎧 Listening to: 
+44's When Your Heart Stops Beating
KPop Demon Hunters
Macklemore's The Heist
Magdalena Bay's Imaginal Disk
Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool
Motion City Soundtrack's The Same Old Wasted Wonderful World
Olivia Dean's The Art of Loving
Panic! At The Disco's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out
Rachael & Vilray's West of Broadway
Say She She's Cut & Rewind
Sigur Rós' ( )
System of a Down's Mezmerize
Taylor Swift's The Life of a Showgirl
The Wonder Years' Burst & Decay (I, II, and III)
The Wonder Years' The Hum Goes on Forever
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Yellowcard's Better Days

🍳 Cooking:
Butternut Squash Ginger Chicken Stir Fry
Ali Slagle's Chili (this recipe is a partial inspiration, but really just do whatever you want)
Mark Bittman's Roast Chicken (I also made soup from this, but I don't have a recipe - just put in stuff you like, I guess)
Kendra Vaculin's Sheet Pan Chicken Souvlaki
Melissa Griffith's Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing Casserole
Sarah DiGregorio's Slow Cooker Chicken Stew with Spinach, Lemon, and Feta
Kendra Vaculin's Soy Glazed Salmon Bowls
Melissa Clark's Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Spiced Winter Squash Soup with Asian Greens
Sommer Collier's Thai Panang Chicken Curry

With love,