Excited about my second cookbook's launch! The e-book version is officially on sale today, so you can order it and receive it right away. If you want a hard copy, they're still in pre-sale but will be available May 9th. It's been such a whirlwind writing and promoting this new one, but I'm so happy to see it get to this point. 

Looking forward to a few days at home. We've been so busy with our trip to North Carolina followed by my trip to Denver, and this weekend one of my brothers-in-law will be here with his girlfriend, so I'm trying to use today through Thursday night to get organized, catch up on a few things, and also just rest--Pure Barre teacher training wore me out!

Watching Sex and the City, for some reason. Rob and I always have one old show on rotation at night and right now it's that. Shows I haven't seen yet but want to start: The Crown, Silicon Valley, and finally the last few seasons of Downton Abbey. What are some of your favorites?

Listening to S-Town. I'm only a few episodes in but I'm totally hooked.

Drinking iced coffee! Tis the season. Also I've really been into chai tea lately. I just brew it at home and add a little splash of half & half--maybe a little honey if I'm in the mood.

Dreaming about having a house where every room is clean all the time. Does anyone else struggle with this? I can get the kitchen or bathroom and/or living room spotless and vacuumed and dusted, but our bedroom or the guest room or our little dining room becomes a tornado of clutter. If you have any tips, I want to hear them--I'm so tired of this being one of my weaknesses! It bugs me so much.

Feeling simultaneously motivated and a bit overwhelmed by all the things I have going on right now. I'm really excited to be adding Pure Barre teaching to my schedule, but before I do that officially, I have a lot of learning and memorizing to do. Wish me luck!

What are you currently excited about, looking forward to, watching, listening to, drinking, dreaming about, and feeling? 

Happy Friday! I'm having the best time in Denver for Pure Barre training--it's been really fun (but also kind of exhausting) so far. I'm missing my pup and my husband a lot, but I'm trying to make the most of some alone time every afternoon! I'm such an introvert that after training ends every evening I've just been going to my hotel room and hanging out on my own--last night I took a shower, ordered some dinner, did a little reading, and watched a whole lot of Food Network before calling it a night well before 10:00 PM...okay fine, it was 9:00.

Before I sign off for the rest of the weekend (and actually try to meet some people at this training #introvertproblems), I thought I'd share some links I've been hanging on to for a while:

To Read:

• What You Should Read About the "Girls" Season Finale. I was disappointed, anyone else? If they had just left it with the penultimate episode and released the "finale" in a few months as an epilogue I would feel much differently. 
• Why it matters that Mike Pence won't have dinner with a woman who isn't his wife. I was nodding my head "yes" through this entire piece.
  • Related: this hilarious article from The Onion.
• This 75-Year Harvard Study Found the 1 Secret to Leading a Fulfilling Life. Spoiler alert: it's not money or things.

To Watch:

• When you have an anxious puppy. So cute.
• Gordon Ramsay with kids vs. adults. I laughed so hard. If you're in public you might want to watch this with headphones, there are quite a few f-bombs.

Wish List:

• Loving these shoes--I feel like you could wear them with anything, and these are kind of a more wearable alternative.
• I don't wear a ton of color but I'd make a big exception for this cute dress.
• I can't resist a good tee shirt dress, and this one is no different.
• How cute are these sandals?

That's all for now! I hope you have a great weekend! Any fun plans?

This post contains affiliate links.

This year I wanted to simplify but somehow I've managed to take on way more than I have in a long time. I've always been so irritated by people who are constantly sighing, responding with that word--busy--any time you ask them how they are.

And yet, as I've started branching out a bit more in my life and work, suddenly I'll notice that months have gone by since I called some of my friends and even family members; I sometimes go days between blog posts; and there are some mornings where I need to catch my breath so badly that work takes a backseat to cleaning the kitchen or just savoring a few hours of sleeping in next to Rob and Ender.

The last time I wrote a cookbook, the exhaustion hit me right away and I knew exactly where it was coming from. This time, with the second book, it kind of creeps up on me and I wonder why I'm feeling so creatively zapped and sort of unsuccessful in general. "You wrote another book!" Rob always sweetly reminds me, and that always helps me put it in perspective a bit.

Is everyone else out there so afraid of not being enough? I know it can't just be me. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm actually busy or just overwhelmed.

I'm writing this blog post from a big empty king-sized bed in Denver, with takeout Pad Thai and a big bottle of water next to me. I have a borderline irrational fear of altitude sickness so I'm loading up on carbs and fluids before the morning, when I start Pure Barre training to become an instructor! I mentioned in a blog post a few months ago that I had been thinking about making the leap from Pure Barre client to teacher, and I'm finally doing it, even though it makes me so nervous to think about being on a microphone while I figure out the learning curve. Going to barre regularly has been the main thing that really gives me a routine and sense of belonging in the Bay Area, so I think it's going to be really great to make it into even more of a home base.

So yeah, maybe my New Year's Resolution was to take on less. But I think I'm going to do this instead.