I’m not usually on here to freak out about a kitchen gadget but I just made beet chips in our new air fryer and they are probably the best non-potato vegetable chips I have ever had in my life. All I added after slicing them with a mandolin was some olive oil, salt, and pepper. Fifteen minutes in the air fryer and these were perfect.
Okay, that’s all. :)
Photo by Manuel Cosentino on Unsplash
I’m so excited – we booked tickets to Japan for April! This will be our longest flight and biggest international trip since Switzerland back in 2016. Jeremy and I are so, so excited. We have a lot going on this spring and it’ll be so good to punctuate it with this trip! Can’t wait!!!
I love when the new year rolls around because it’s a celebration of new beginnings. Loads of people are looking at ways to improve themselves and it’s a psychological “reset” for some of us over the last year’s challenges and failures. It marks the beginning of slowly lengthening days – something that’s important to me. I celebrate winter solstice every year in my heart because it means the darkness is going to start subsiding and my warm days and verdant landscapes are on their way back.
One more thing I was really looking forward to in particular was checking out Yayoi Kusama’s exhibit here in Atlanta.
It’s been an absolutely wonderful holiday season so far! Apart from a couple of winter bugs Jeremy and I caught, I can say it’s been pretty great.
I finished my latest Sanderson book – Warbreaker last week. I really enjoyed the lore in this book – it was different and let me experience a fantasy world that wasn’t imbued with the typical magic found in this type of literature. As always, Sanderson’s characters are written so well – built with humanity and relatability despite their supernatural attributes. I enjoyed the action, well written politics, and length of the book.
While I encourage purchasing this book – Sanderson is amazing and has provided it in HTML format for free.
It felt good to get out and vote. I hope you chose to make a difference, too.Â
Guys, I am terrible at playing the piano.
This is a good thing – because I hate letting myself be terrible at something I want so badly to do well.
I can almost play Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’Â
ALMOST. It’s pushing my ability to both focus on and play two different things on my hands. MAN I wish I had learned how to play the piano as a kid.
The next song I want to work on is Fur Elise – a song my left hand can play the famous bits to but my right hand has no idea what to do. It might be six months before I really understand how to play it decently well.
In any case, I am happy I’ve stuck to it for a few days – and I still want to play. I am glad I followed my gut.
Well – we have another thing happening here in our family – I am now the person making a shift in her career. I will start a new job in November – with some old friends. I’m going to miss my friends at my current office – but I know real friendships transcend the workplace where you met and I am looking forward to hanging out with these guys in Atlanta in the future. So, with this change, I have a week off in between jobs. I want to travel to at least one international destination this year and this is my chance! So we have booked flights to Aruba! Guys, I am so excited! It’s gotten pretty cold here already so I know in a couple weeks I’m not going to complain about sticking my feet in some south Caribbean sand. I have also promised myself to USE my drone!! The poor thing has been pretty neglected since I bought it. Stay tuned for some beachy pics – and some aerials too!
I’ve wanted to learn how to play the piano for as long as I can remember. The feeling swells within me as I’m writing code and listening to my favorite soundtracks in piano solo format. Sometimes, when I get on the train I walk by a piano put out as a community project and I feel the inadequacy in my fingers because inside myself, I want to play that instrument so bad.
I daydream about playing the piano. Sometimes silly daydreams where I’m skilled and can play all my favorite songs. Or sometimes I am playing for a friend and they’re really enjoying it. But today I laid in bed and watched the FlowKey video for the millionth time of Yiruma’s A River Flows In You and I had a moment. What is it exactly that I am waiting for?
So today I picked up a little 44 key keyboard. Â
I’ve only ever learned to read one line of music at a time, and I’ll need to learn how to think about two.
It’s an exciting thought. Â
Since Jeremy works much later hours than he used to Monday through Friday, I think learning to play some of my favorite songs in their simplest versions will be a good use of the extra time I have for myself . Â
I’m a little nervous because I don’t want this to be yet another thing I pick up until I get bored and leave behind – but I think this is a little different. The feeling inside is very similar to the feeling I get when I first started up with photography – and that’s been something I’ve been able to develop, enjoy, and even monetize for more than 15 years – with no end in sight.
Tuesday’s the day it arrives! I can’t wait!Â