TV Star Miscellany

2024 just took OFF this past week and I was still hoping to catch up on the rest of 2023, so we'll dive right in. This has been a super busy work week, which is great- I feel like so many of the threads I've been weaving over the last nearly two years are coming together, but my jam-packed calendar threw a big wrench in my previous five-months-long committment to daily exercise. And I was doing SO well! But life is life and I've decided it's okay to pick a glass of wine and an extra hour of sleep over a workout every now and then.

On Monday the kids were STILL off school, so I was the only person in my house awake when I left to get my run in before work. To get myself excited about leaving my cozy house with its fuzzy blankets and purring pets post-run, I wore the skirt my sister got me for Christmas.

I love it. And I love how Bonnie has helped shape my wardrobe so I know exactly how to put this outfit together and already have the solid color staple pieces to make it happen. The nearly 4" booties, while gorgeous, were perhaps not my best choice for the first day my feet were not in fuzzy crocs, but look how pretty:

On Tuesday I was very proud of the fact that I got home from work at 4:45 pm so I could fit in a run before dark, even though I was on a call my whole drive home and as I was changing and I literally RAN out the door as soon as the call ended instead of changing into fleece clothing and cuddling on the couch with Milo like I wanted to.

And look at the gorgeous cotton candy sky and sunset that kept me company until it all turned dark 40 minutes later.

And yes, I did type "run" (multiple times!) above.

In the last month, I've somehow started running. At first it was just because I still wanted to do my 4 mile path along the lake, but I only had 45 minutes isntead of the hour it takes me to walk it. So I alternated running and walking by song on one of my old barre playlists. That felt good, so a few days later, I went to walking 1 song and running 2, then repeat. Then walking 1 song and running 3, repeat, then 4, and last week I started walking 1 song and running 5. I'm slow, but it feels good, in a way that running never has, and I was genuinely sad when I couldn't even fit that into my schedule Wedneday - Friday of this week, but I'm heading out as soon as I press post this morning. (Wait no, I have a call at 10, but THEN I'm going.)

Part of the reason my exercise schedule got off track was because I found out Tuesday night that I was going to be on CNBC's Squawk Box the next morning and I was up late accepting a Zoom invite from "NBC Universal" like that's a normal thing to do and then I couldn't sleep for fear I couldn't wake up at 4:30 to get TV ready. Next thing I knew it was 6 a.m. and I was on live TV, wearing pink (it was a Wednesday), beaming out from my home office, with no prep or warning on questions I'd be asked and it was all terrifying and exciting and over before anyone else in our house is awake.

So yeah, I was on TV! It took me all day on Wednesday to actually watch the segment, but while I wish I'd known better where the questions were going and I wish I didn't have a stutter that still pops up and makes me get stuck on words at completely random moments, AND that I had a hair and makeup team and better lighting in my study before the sun rises, I feel good about it.

I had a moment realizing that the first person I probably would have texted about my TV apperance would have been my Grandpa, and now I couldn't. Grief hits at surprising moments. But I wore my grandma's pearl earrings he gave her when they were married, and the pearl necklace my Aunty Mary gave me when I turned 18, and while my grandpa and aunt are gone and my grandma is both gone and still physically here, I loved feeling them with me. Like when I wear the beautiful garnet ring that was my Grandma Jo's, I've really become attached to the special, tangible items I have from those I've loved who are gone.

And my Aunty Lee happened to be visiting my Grandpa Jim, who is still very much with us but not a texter, so he got to see my interview and respond through Lee!

Grandparents are so special.

Post-interview, and still very early in the morning, I changed into a slightly jazzier ensemble that I knew wouldn't have translated as well on TV, but that made me happy and almost able to forget that I'd gotten about 3 hours of sleep.

I love that houndstooth blazer and I got to wear the gorgeous Chanel necklace James got me for Christmas for the first time. I adore it. Maybe one day one of my granddaughters will wear it with the earrings from their great-great-grandmother and feel as happy and sparkly as I did.

The kids all went back to school on Tuesday, so here we are in the back-half of Landon's sophomore year (what/how), Claire's last year of middle school, and Cora's second-to-last year of elementary school.

Speaking of children, a few random updates I didn't post before because they weren't related to Christmas or skiing:

On December 31, 2023 we marked the end of an era.

Landon has been doing the dishes every night since he turned 13. It takes him anywhere from 25-65 minutes. He often stops for musical numbers or a dramatic retelling of the day's events. He sings to the cats, tells long-winded stories, and sometimes pauses for some almost deep thoughts on life. He's had to take a break for cereal because he's taken so long he's hungry again, and he has made us laugh about a thousand times. Doing the dishes for the last 3.5 years has meant that Landon is obsessed with how many dishes are used in a meal (“No Claire! Your salad can ALSO go ON YOUR PLATE” and “Mom! just reuse the same pan!”) and that James and I could sit at the table and chat when dinner was done, in what was sometimes our only direct conversation of the busy weekday. It has been lovely, even if (and sometimes especially when) Landon interrupted frequently with notes of his own.

We’ve always felt strongly that it takes a lot to run this house and there’s no reason everyone in the house shouldn’t help. But Landon recently pointed out that Claire is now 13, and he doesn't get home from swimming until 8:15 and also he's taking 5 AP classes, and we agreed it was reasonable to pass the torch. And so on the last night of the last year, Landon hung up his scrubber brush. As he washed that night he asked if he will receive a plaque and/or if he can film a "how to wash dishes class" to sell online “because I have a lot of knowledge.”

So far the transition has been uneventful, with Claire noting on her first night of dishes that "this isn't that hard, why did Landon take so long?"

Speaking of, Claire is doing okay. We're working through it and no one in this house is sad that middle school will be over for her in just over 4 months. She has joined Cora's swim team and that is going great. She needed an activity and even if it's not her favorite, swimming is something she is so good at and we'd love for her to swim in high school. Swimmers are a welcoming bunch and I think she'd love it, but we know well that ideas work better when they come from the subject themself, so I'm just playing it cool, secretly whispering thoughts of swimming fun in her ears while she sleeps.

Before the break, our little elementary schooler was in the school spelling bee!

She made it through many rounds and did not get embarassed or cry and we all considered it a great success. She's excited for next year.

She also built a robot named Bob. Bob had to show three types of energy (she chose thermal, sound, and light) and she spent 3 weeks steadily and carefully creating him. Absolutely no parental help, no last minute work, just Cora being Cora- doing things on her own with a mapped out scheduled that ensured she'd be done at least 3 days before the due date so she "wouldn't feel stressed."

It will always blow my mind when I see how different my children, who I grew and birthed and raised, can be from me. It's one of my favorite parts of parenting.

Milo also loves Bob and is glad that he is back in our house.

Also in the last two months, I got my first mammogram. Then I had to have a follow up mammogram and then an MRI, but all is well. I'll see the squish machines again next year.

Alright, it's time for my call and then my run. We've lived in this house for 14 months now, and living this close to White Rock Lake remains my very favorite thing about it.

Happy Saturday all.

Stay warm (and safe).