What Ana Does

Last Spring I started a meal delivery subscription, so they'd send me two complete, vegetarian meals each week. That left me with just two-three meals a week I had to plan and shop for, and a lot more brain space for other things. I couldn't believe how much weekly stress it took off me. I looked forward to those boxes and quickly preparing the simple meals.  Well, we ended that last week when the subscription prices got hiked up and I just couldn't justify the expense. And I had to contemplate my first week back to cooking all the meals. On my own. Every night. SIGH.  I LIKE cooking and preparing a nice meal for my family. And we're lucky that we don't have a lot of after-school activities that make it more complicated to sit together. And I work from home, so you'd think I have a leg-up on the commuters, but it's still a lot to think about, especially on days when I'm thinking about a lot of other things.  Anyway, I decided on a sure-fire strategy. Thi...

At the end of the summer, after working from home, with the kids, during a major kitchen renovation, managing work responsibilities, contractors, subcontractors, the dogs, making dinner, etc. I realized I was spending too much time at home. I had no social life, outside of what Dave set up. And nothing on the schedule that was for me, just me. Hermit life.  So I came up with a three point plan to get myself out of the house and meeting new people.  Point 1: Sign up for a class. My first thought was pottery, since there's a center in a beautiful, historic building so close to the house and the girls took a class there last summer. And I've always been interested in learning about throwing pottery, etc. And LO and BEHOLD there was ONE spot left in the Tuesday night class. A sign from the universe, for sure. So I signed up! (And it's been GREAT!!) I also want to sign up for a Spanish brush-up class, but the one I found was on the same night as pottery (bummer) so I'll wai...

One of the last shopping items on my list was to find matching chairs for the kitchen table. My first idea was to find thrifted chairs and paint them all black. I've seen the look on Pinterest many times and it's awesome.  But after digging through all the online shops and striking out at the ReStore (twice), I found black metal chairs that matched the white metal stools at the island. Great idea, right? And the price was less than most of the chairs I was looking at.  (Here's the Wayfair link to the black metal chairs I bought.) Notice that I have two matching light-wood chairs we bought from Crate & Barrel back when Leah was born -- 16 years ago! -- and are no longer sold by that company, unfortunately.  The matching black matches the light fixtures all over the kitchen. And they're more comfortable than you'd think.  And last ... here's the kitchen table area with the finished floors. They're almost a light blonde and giving some Scandi vibes and I LO...

I have to say, that happened a lot quicker than I ever thought. When I made the goal in January, I was curious about how fast I could read, if given a goal. And I really wanted to read a lot more books than I did last year. So, I set the 100 books goal.  I divided out between audiobooks and books. And some books were on my Kindle and some I bought or rented from the library.  MY FAVORITES OF THE 100: The Flatshare  by Beth O'Leary Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman Nora Goes Off Script  by Annabel Monaghan  Book Lover  by Emily Henry Birds of California  by Katie Cotugno A Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches  by Sangu Mandanna  The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood  The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abi Waxman My Killer Vacation by Tessa Bailey Maggie Moves On  by Lucy Score Finley Donovan is Killing It   by Elle Cosimano  Beauty and the Mustache  by Penny Reid (the whole series) Homecoming Kin...

 I can't take enough pictures of our new kitchen. It's been a total game changer EVERYDAY.  I love all the light fixtures and options to light the space. I love the huge sink and cleaning it up each night. I love that I can see the TV, so I can watch Ted Lasso while I'm making dinner by myself. And that all of us can be preparing food in there at the same time, because there are several prep space options.  On the other side of the kitchen, I'm so glad we added these cabinets, in BLUE, to the space and basically doubling the size of the kitchen. It's amazing! I have my coffee station over there and all the cookbooks and baking pans are in the cabinet. It's handy. And PRETTY. The Nova color on the cabinets in the kitchen table area is just my favorite!  Then I added this horizontal panels to this part of the wall, an attempt to do that design trick and "tie" it in with the wood oven hood. It's rustic and interesting. It's the first thing you see...

During our kitchen renovation, our walk-in pantry got outlets! (Nope, there were no outlets in there before -- crazy, right?!)  That was a huge addition to this wonderfully useful room that houses all our small appliances and servingware, like bowls and glass jars. We can now use those small appliances in the pantry, rather than carting them out to the kitchen counter.  It's on the list, at some point, to replace the Formica countertops, laminate floors and add a backsplash in here, but not at this time. So I painted the room this moody blue and came up with a FREE solution to the backsplash.  Chalk pen!  This was too easy. I got a level and a scrap board and made horizontal lines along the wall with a white chalk pen. Then, added horizontal lines to connect. Voila!  It was really just as easy as that.  The best part, it's all chalk, so if I decide I don't like it or want to try another design, I just wipe it off with a wet sponge.  There's nothing I a...

This is our first kitchen renovation, we'd done bathrooms and basements before, and I'm learning a whole lot about how this is all done. Sure, I've learned a bunch from my HGTV shows, but it's obviously far from the real thing. 1. Put your plan up on the wall! As much as I like our contractor Bruce and the guys he brings in to do the jobs, he forgets a lot about the details of the OUR VISION. A perfect example: the plumbers had to come back and hide more plumbing because he forgot we're not having upper cabinets. Taking the advice of some Instagram home designers I follow, I tacked up the cabinet plan and other views on the wall of the kitchen. So I, or Bruce or anyone else around, can reference them.  We've pointed to them so many times in the last few weeks, they're super super important. You have to expect these guys are working on other jobs, so they don't have your plan memorized. This helps so much.  2. Be on sight as much as possible and check in...