Happy Friday! I have to take my daughter for karate picture day in five minutes, so this will be a very quick roundup!
Quote of the week:
“Love has never been a popular movement and no one’s every wanted really to be free. The world is held together, really it is, held together, by the love and the passion of a very few people.” —James Baldwin
What I’m reading:
Crush by Ada Calhoun. I love her writing, generally. Just getting into this one.
What I’m listening to:
Just finished Entitled: How Male Privilege Hurts Women by Kate Manne. Very thought-provoking and maddening. I’ll start my next audiobook soon.
What I’m watching:
White Lotus Season 3. The one-episode-a-week thing makes me forget to watch it, but my friend reminded me last night. I finished Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix, about a health influencer gone wrong and am now watching the documentary related to the same story (The Search for Instagram’s Worst Con Artist). I’m also watching the new season of Formula 1: Drive to Survive. Love.
Writing news:
I’m working on edits to my 2026 novel, which is due to the publisher in about 2 weeks—ahhhhh!
Interesting things I learned this week:
- Moms handle 79% of family’s daily demands, according to a study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family
- Astronomers have discovered that Saturn has a bunch of moons they didn’t know about. They had identified 146 previously and just spotted another 128
- A new survey of 2,000 parents found the average American parent spends 67 hours “in negotiation” with their child every year, striking an average of five bargains every single week
- Only 1 in 10 adults get enough fruits and vegetables
- A four-year-old Wisconsin boy called the police on his mother because she ate his ice cream. The cops came to make sure all was ok. You can watch the kid make the case for why mother deserved punishment here
Weirdest thing I googled this week:
“non-browning banana.” I heard they were coming out with genetically modified non-browning bananas so had to look it up. From the Guardian: “The banana, developed by Tropic, a biotech company based in Norwich, is said to remain fresh and yellow for 12 hours after being peeled and is less susceptible to turning brown when bumped during harvesting and transportation.” It’s said this will help reduce food waste.
What I’m grateful for:
- Rainy days. I’m ready for sun again, but it’s been nice to have some rain in California
- My neighbor’s foster puppies. They are adorable and I’m really hoping she keeps at least one of them
- A clean bill of health after my yearly physical
- A great-feeling 18-mile long run this morning. Can’t believe Boston is NEXT MONTH
- My daughter’s karate belt test. She got her yellow belt and it was so fun to watch her
- Our local Mom & Me book club. So cute! They talked about Matilda this time. Next up: Ivy & Bean
Pet snapshots of the week:
