It’s been a flurry the past couple weeks, as we spent a week at the beach and came back just in time for fall orientation to start for me. The beach was wonderful, though my idea of having lots of time to catch up on reading, blogging, and semester prep was laughably wrong. Beach plus a toddler does not a relaxing time make! Plus, we had groups of friends joining us, and any downtime was reserved for beach time with dear friends instead of solitary work. I will put up a post (or two or five) of beach photos soon, but in the meantime,

Some outtakes from our speedy family photo moment one night at the boardwalk. Because there’s nothing I love like some outtakes. And scattered amongst these gems of family perfection, some little updates of daily life lately.

1. I’m basically in mourning that summer is kind of over. I say kind of because I went back to work, but James is still in his final days of August Recess. This August Recess has been shorter and busier than most, but I still love it because it means he gets home early enough for dinner with us. We’ve squeezed in lots of picnics around DC, and leaned into the slightly slower pace of mornings. Every summer I feel less ready for summer to end. Heaven help the first person who gets excited about the Pumpkin Spice Latte in my presence because you will get the full force of my anger.

2. I know that everyone else hated it, but I am loving Anne with an E on Netflix. Yes, it is adapted from the books rather than faithful to them, but I’m ok with that. It’s been years since I read them and it makes me want to do so, not to nitpick the series, but because I am remembering how universally loved the story is, in any version. Also: Green Gables in the Netflix version is basically the minimalist hygge aesthetic of every hipster’s dream. I want to live there. What are you all watching? James and I are watching The Man in the High Castle and I’m so all in, even if Julianna Crane drives me bonkers.

3.We are on day 9 of another Whole30, and I hate to jinx it, but this one has been the easiest yet. You know I love the lazy Whole30 method, where you just don’t get creative or fancy and just eat simple foods, and this one is even more pared down than the last. It feels great, being kinder to my body than I was over the summer. As always, I’m letting my crockpot do most of the work. Did you know you can throw raw chicken and a can of this in the crockpot with NOTHING else and have magical Whole30 mexican chicken to top “burrito bowls” (cauliflower rice/roasted peppers/ avocado) or taco salad? Magic.

4. The semester starts this week, which means my last first day of school as a student.  It’s been 23 years of school. TWENTY THREE. But I  have a dissertation defense date set for the beginning of March, and I’m going to make it. Some days this task feels easy, like I am so close to being done that I will sail through. Other days I lie on the floor and feel completely overwhelmed at all that I still don’t know about my topic and I wonder when my committee will realize that I am a fake. My advisor and I had a Skype meeting last week where he went on to grill me about my post graduation plans, and I just babbled about “meaningful work” etc, before returning to the floor after our call to feel completely overwhelmed about life after school. But scary or not, the thought of being done in the next year is exciting.

5. How do you all buy kids clothes? A lot was given to us for the first year, but we are past that now. I was hardcore about Henry having a hyper minimalist capsule wardrobe and it worked, though his tiny rotation of clothes got pretty rough around the edges by the end of the summer. Many of them can’t be saved for future kids, which is fine, because we have no storage. I like to buy everything at once. I make a list of all that he needs, spend a couple days/weeks searching, and then purchase things all at once, or at least plan what to purchase at once. This means that he has a cohesive wardrobe where things all match each other. But I would love some suggestions on how you all dress your growing kids, and where you find clothes!

That’s it for the most scattered blog post ever. For now. I seem less and less capable of  stringing together coherent thoughts every day, so I can’t promise I won’t outshine myself one of these days.