I think (too much),
therefore I am (not there to live my life).
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Well, we’re not even halfway through February, and I already have some favorite things to share!
Thich Nhat Hanh was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and spiritual bigshot, and he recently died. I figured it was a good time to check out one of his many books from the library. The Art of Living explores seven Buddhist concentrations- seven “deep insights into reality”- but you don’t have to be a Zen Buddhist in order to understand it. It’s very read-able, and I’m enjoying it!
I have been loving the Winter Olympics! I know this is crazy talk, but I’m possibly enjoying it as much or more than the Summer Olympics, WHAT??? But there’s no running in the winter games! Guess what else it doesn’t have- BEACH VOLLEYBALL. During the summer Olympics, it seemed like every time I turned on the TV I had to watch beach volleyball, and I just wasn’t into it.
Even though I’ve never participated in any winter sport, I’ve been enjoying them all on TV! I always like figure skating, and the skiing and snowboarding events are exhilarating to watch- I can almost see how snow could be fun. And weirdly, I’m liking NBC’s coverage. I think it’s because I don’t have any expectations or knowledge about most of the sports or the athletes- I just turn it on and have fun watching whatever’s on.
Our weather! I know… you’re tired of hearing about our great weather. But, remember that when everyone up north is enjoying a beautiful spring, we’ll be starting a very long, sweltering summer. It all evens out, and I have to appreciate our beautiful weather while we have it. For Tuesday’s run, it was in the low 60s, which I’ve decided is my official favorite running temperature.
BREAD. This homemade bread, specifically. I’ve talked about it before, but I can’t stress enough how good it is, and how easy to make. This week I had a weird craving for some sort of stew, so I made a recipe I found on the internet. It turned out so-so, which is what you would expect when you randomly google “vegetable stew.” Luckily I made this bread to go with it, and my husband and I agreed that it elevated the mediocre stew to a delicious meal.
Imagine my excitement when I saw a new Denis Morton yoga class! And look what pose Denis is in- half moon (my current favorite pose.) This was a classical flow set to classical music, and I loved it.
So those are some things making me happy right now. Do you have a favorite book, class, TV show, or anything else right now? Please share!
16 Responses
Nothing better than homemade bread! And new Denis classes 🙂 He also had some new cycle classes this week which I am enjoying. Admittedly, I have not gotten into watching the Olympics this time around. Have a great weekend
Thank you Deborah! I didn’t really plan to watch much Olympics, but it turns out I’m watching a ton- makes it hard to get everything else done!
I went on a site visit to one of our 2-year college partners and their pastry students in the culinary department made us cookies and chocolate-covered pretzels to take home. It’s making me excited for Valentine’s Day. Ha!
Ha ha… cookies and chocolate-covered pretzels would make me excited too.
I loved Notes On A Nervous Planet by Matt Haig this month…
Also enjoying the Olympics. I usually read before bed, but two nights in a row started dozing in bed with my laptop open to Olympics coverage and it was…lovely.
Canada typically does well at the winter Olympics so I get all sorts of national pride and it really does help elevate winter sports even though I loathe the cold weather. Somehow it makes winter feel slightly less depressing since it does allow all these feats of super-human ability.
Yes, I normally find winter depressing (not that I actually experience it anymore- talking about my past) but the snow and ice look appealing in the Olympics! The US isn’t doing as well as in the summer games, which I’ll admit makes it slightly less fun. But I’m still enjoying it!
Mmh, I am curious about the recipe you used because vegetable stew in our house (which I just throw together with the basics – onion, celery, carrot, potato and some other vegetable like cauliflower, kale or brussels sprouts -) is ALWAYS a winner. But I’d agree, homemade bread elevates *everything* 🙂
Our stew was okay, just nothing special. I’m not sure what I was expecting! I can always tell when a meal is kind of “blah” because my husband will describe it as “nourishing.” Our stew was definitely nourishing.
That homemade bread looks delicious.
Shame on me but I am not following the Winter Olympics. Getting older the sports I like are always less for many reasons.
At the moment I am following rugby in tv. Because of the Covid limitations (and cancellations) I didn’t risk to buy the tickets.
I’ve never seen a rugby game- but I’ll bet I would enjoy it!
I love pairs figure skating! Well, all figure skating really, but pairs is my favourite to watch.
Homemade bread is so good!
I love all the figure skating. Women’s starts on Tuesday!
I tried skiing as a kid, because my whole family skied, but I didn’t like it. Sometimes my dad would take me up the ski lift with him & then hold me between his knees as he skied down. It must’ve been an easy hill because I can’t imagine doing it! Luckily I liked hot chocolate & drawing. 🙂
I grew up ice skating. I wasn’t any good at it, but I enjoyed it. I took it back up in college, when I took if for gym one quarter. There was a long dry spell when we lived in TX (pun intended), but when we moved here, I started to skate again. Then I started to run and and said bye bye to skating again.
I do enjoy watching the snowboarders (who are simply nuts in my mind) and the skiing, though.
My brother is complaining about the heat in CA right now. It’s all relative. We’re having a heat wave, too. It got up to 50 yesterday. And there’s still snow and ice on the ground . . .
I love that you are so wiling to explore new things, Jenny!
I’ve never skied- our family just wasn’t very sports-oriented so I never did it growing up. It seems like a hard sport to start as an adult. We used to ice skate in elementary school- they would make the field in front of the school into an ice rink, and we could bring skates and skate on it after school. Sometimes we would go and and skate for P.E. I’ve officially given up ice skating now though- it’s not worth the risk of falling.
Haha – there really does seem to be beach volleyball on all the time during the Summer Olympics. I’m looking forward to the next few Olympics being in a time zone a BIT closer to ours. I just can’t handle how late it’s on every day! (#grandma)
What’s making me happy right now? Hmm… a very good vet appointment for Lila (she snuggled into the inside of the vet’s coat and the vet melted from the sweetness, hehe) and a full weekend ahead of me with some very fun plans. 🙂
Well, I can’t wait to hear about your weekend! And Lila… that’s so funny. My cats do NOT act like that when they go to the vet! I’m envious.