Happy Friday, folks! This week flew by for me. Hope it did for you too. Here’s the roundup!
Quote of the week:
Writer Alice Munro passed away this week, so I have a few quotes from her today:
“The constant happiness is curiosity.”
“Life would be grand if it weren’t for the people.”
“That’s something I think is growing on me as I get older: happy endings.”
What I’m reading:
I just started The End of Drum-Time by Hanna Pylväinen. It was a finalist for the National Book Award and I can see why.
What I’m listening to:
I’m in the middle of Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear by Kim Brooks and it’s so good. Every parent should read this.
What I’m watching:
I’m still keeping up with The Jinx: Part 2 on HBO. They release one episode per week so I feel like I’m back in the 1990s. I also watched a light, cheesy movie this week—The Idea of You. It was cute, but I found it laughable that they portrayed Anne Hathaway as “old.” Our society is crazy.
Writing news:
My editor said to expect edits on my novel by the end of this month. I should have an official release date soon—planning for Spring 2025! In the meantime, I’ve been working away on the book that will come out in 2026.
Interesting things I learned this week:
- In humans, the energetic cost of pregnancy is about 50,000 dietary calories — far higher than previously believed, a new study found
- Another Sriracha shortage may be on the horizon if Huy Fong Foods, a producer of the most popular variety of Sriracha sauce, continues to have trouble obtaining the red jalapeño chiles it needs to make the sauce
- Sudan has more pyramids than any country in the world
- With every running stride, the body takes the impact of 2.5-3x your body weight. For a 150-lb runner, this is about 375 lb of load!
- Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Paris has drawn 5x more Americans to the city than the Olympics
- The circulatory system is more than 60,000 miles long
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“bee’s body not made to fly.” I saw something on Facebook that said that a bee shouldn’t be able to fly because of the size of the wings compared to the size of the body. It was presented like this was another miracle of nature. When I investigated, the real science was made clear: “There is a popular misconception that bees shouldn’t be able to fly. In reality, this is not true, because they can and do fly all the time. The science behind how they can fly involves the way they move their wings, and the generation of tiny hurricanes that lift them upwards.” (source)
What I’m grateful for:
- Such a nice Mother’s Day, complete with a breakfast burrito (my fave), 90-minute massage, nail salon with my daughter and sister, and dinner with family
- Seeing my daughter do the pledge of allegiance for her school. My brave girl
- Feeling like I’m genuinely happier than I’ve ever been. Life is hard and complicated at times, but I feel quite content
Snapshots:
From top to bottom: Fresh haircut = mandatory selfie; chillin’ with the pup; Mother’s Day with my girl; Mother’s Day with my mama and sister; kitty office mate; loving my runs lately… trying to decide if I should sign up for a Fall half-marathon or not.
