What’s new in your world? I haven’t had time lately to share all of the little things going on and I thought I’d share a quick list of recent things. Tell me what you are reading, watching, planning, doing, loving etc. in the comments section.

Just Read: Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult with my book club. I got a lot more out of this book than I was expecting to. The varied narrators forced me to get inside the minds of people from many different walks of life, even when I didn’t want to, even when it was uncomfortable. I liked that every person in this story was coming from a different place, had different things going for them or against them, but none of them were perfect, none of them felt like they had the upper hand in life. This is an emotional and uncomfortable story about racism in America – a timely topic that I was hesitant to read but I’m so glad that I read it.

Just Bought: new cutting boards. I’ve been cooking recipes with fresh produce a lot more lately – which entails a lot of cutting board action. My old tiny cutting boards were not really cutting it and it was making dinner harder than it needed to be. Rather than fall back on old habits, I went to Target yesterday and bought larger, sturdier cutting boards (this one and two of these) and I can already tell a difference just after cooking one meal with them.

Just Cooked: fajitas last night from Hello Fresh. So far I am still loving this meal delivery service. It’s a little pricey (about $30 a 4 person meal) but the meals are all healthy and we’ve enjoyed just about every meal we’ve cooked. I’m getting more comfortable cooking meals that are outside of my comfort zone and learning how easy some foods are to cook that I assumed would be more complicated. I’ve fallen hard for kale, mastered meatloaf, made my own Italian Wedding Soup and I’ve even noticed my kids trying new foods that I wouldn’t have expected them to enjoy. If you are in a cooking rut or want to sharpen your cooking skills, I highly recommend trying it out.

Just Celebrated: my son’s crossover ceremony from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. I cannot stop marveling over how big and grownup he is getting. He also went skiing for the first time this month (without me there to say “Be Careful!” every five minutes) and he had such a great time. One of my good friends was chaperoning and took the pic above and reported that he was a total natural. He’s been purposely trying a lot more sports this year than in previous years and I’m so proud of him.

Just Finished Watching: Awkward, an MTV show that is streaming on Hulu and Amazon Prime. The show centers around a girl named Jenna who begins her Sophomore year of high school feeling invisible and suddenly finds herself the center of attention but not for reasons anyone would want. It’s a fresh, funny comedy that feels very real – the cast of characters is eclectic and the writing is sharp. I fell for it hard and fast and watched all six seasons in about a month. Which means I’m now in major withdrawals.

Just Started Watching: Victoria on PBS which we’ve been recording since it premiered in August. It stars Jenna Coleman from Doctor Who and I have to say it’s fantastic so far. Dramatic without being gut wrenching, it’s pretty perfect. This afternoon I watched the first episode of Big Little Lies on HBO (which I’m subscribing to via Amazon Channels for anyone following along on my Cord Cutting Journey). Big Little Lies is based on a novel by Liane Moriarty. It’s a murder mystery set in the middle of suburbia and the mini series is starring some big names like Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Adam Scott and Shailene Woodley. I started to read the book but had to put it down for a book club pick awhile back and never got back to it. So I have no idea whodunnit or even who it was done to – I’m looking forward to finding out.

Just Planned: a quick spring break excursion to make up for our summer plans being thrown into the air like confetti. We’re going to get in a little indoor water park fun and hopefully some paintball and frozen yogurt. Also busy planning several small camping trips to keep us from going stir crazy this summer.

What have you been up to lately?