Simple Joys of the Week, March 17th Edition

Happy St. Patrick's Day! And a shout-out to my brother Patrick, who always thought this holiday was a special day for him when he was younger (and probably still does, haha!). 

I hope you had a good week and are excited about this weekend. We had a lovely week around here--the best week of sleep we've had in MONTHS, a surprise non-snow snow day for Ben, and Charlie Mae started *very slowly* at the new in-home daycare that we're trying out after a bunch of failed attempts at having caretakers come to our house (I'll share more about our childcare journey/nightmare in another post). Hooray!

And with that, lets talk simple joys. What brought you happiness over the past week? My simple pleasures are below...

HEAR: Monday's Fresh Air episode, "The Rise of Addictive Technology"
While this podcast episode isn't necessarily a "joyful" one, I think it's a must-listen. Technology addiction is a very scary thing, and listening to this interview was extremely eye-opening (and made me reflect quite a bit my own phone usage). Quick crazy fact from the episode: when young people are asked whether they'd rather have a broken bone or a broken phone, 46% said broken phone. Yikes, huh? Oh, and I should mention that the "simple joy" part of this podcast was having the time to listen to to it while painting this week; it had been a while and it was lovely. 

SEE: Our new storage ottoman
For now, while we have a little one who will soon be pulling up to stand on things, we've had to retire our coffee table and purchase a soft storage ottoman, instead. I'm actually psyched about this upgrade because we can store some of Charlie Mae's toys [which we're accumulating quickly!] inside the ottoman, we now have a place to put our feet up, and the ottoman is smaller than the coffee table was, so it gives us more open floor space in our living room. In Ben's words, "Where has this ottoman been all my life?" Haha!

TASTE: Big Dogs Barbecue at The Orleans Bowling Center
This is a local shout-out, but it needs to happen: if you want the BEST bbq on Cape Cod, here you go. It sounds weird, but it's at this restaurant inside of a vintage bowling alley. We went there last weekend and although my meal wasn't 'healthy', per se (it was all the same color and that color wasn't green...), it was DELICIOUS. 

SMELL: Mighty Leaf Organic African Nectar Tea
On Sunday, Ben stayed with Charlie Mae while I went out and met a friend for tea at a local coffee shop. We sat and talked for over an hour and it was SO nice and fun and rejuvenating! As crazy as it sounds, I haven't done anything social without the babe in a really long time, and it felt great to have that free time and wonderful conversation, all while sipping a cup of this delicious + aromatic tea. Ahhhh. 

​TOUCH: Charlie Mae's gums as she gnaws on my hands, chin, nose...
There's no question about it, Charlie Mae is teething. I know parents often blame everything on teething for months before their baby actually gets a tooth, but this girl spends almost all day every day chewing on something and drooling, so we're sure of it now. My favorite "teether" that she uses? Me + my body parts. I can't help it--I love feeling her little gummy gums and *super strong* jaws gnawing on me. Especially when she chews on my chin; it cracks me up! I'll be sad when she gets a tooth and this no longer feels good...

So there you have it! I hope you can find a few minutes to reflect on your week + your simple joys today...

Have a great weekend;  I look forward to seeing some of you at my workshop tomorrow!