January is always one of my favorite months of the year because I love jumping back into that “normal life” schedule again after the holidays, and as much as people love to complain about “New Years Resolutioners”…I love to hear about peoples’ hopes and dreams and goals for the new year! This year, aside from having things I want to start or accomplish in the full twelve months, I’m trying to pick one or two things to focus on each month. This month, I told myself that I would commit to a yoga class every Monday…and I did it! I was proud of myself for sticking to this goal, and I felt so much better starting off each work week with a Monday morning yoga class! So good, in fact, that I think we’re going to try and carry this into February with us!
January 2019 in Review
READING:
I’m currently in the middle of reading Michelle Obama’s book, Becoming. A friend of mine gifted a few of us this book for Christmas, which I thought was such a fun and thoughtful gift idea! Hopefully I’ll make a little more time for myself to read this month and finish this one!
WATCHING:
We watched Mary Poppins Returns, which I thought was such a great continuation from the original. Mary Poppins was one of my favorite movies growing up, so it was cool to see it sort of remade for this next generation of kids. It had a lot of little nods to the first one, and I thought the music was great!
We saw Vice, the movie about Dick Cheney, which was actually pretty funny. I wasn’t quite expecting the humor that it consisted of, so that sort of threw me for a loop, and while it’s not on my list of top movies, it was entertaining enough.
The Netflix documentary about The Fyre Festival was absolutely fascinating and very well done. I’m currently working on a documentary, so I’ve really been watching them differently lately. Al and I were actually following the whole scandal as it was happening, so it was neat to watch the doc as we were already somewhat familiar with the subject. Apparently Hulu also has a documentary out on the same subject so I’d be interested to watch that one and compare the two!
We watched Game Night starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams, which is just a fun comedy! It’s about a couple who hosts game night for their friends every weekend. But one weekend, Jason Bateman’s bigger/better brother comes into town and wants to host one. What is supposed to be a kidnapping mystery party turns into an actual kidnapping!
And on Netflix, I enjoyed the fifth season of Grace & Frankie as well as the premiere season of Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. For any of you who have been following along on my blog for awhile, you might remember me mentioning her book a few years back. Well now, she’s turned into a worldwide phenomenon with her new show where she helps families declutter their homes and choose items that clearly spark joy for each of them. I don’t think you can watch the show without feeling inspired to dump all the contents of your closet onto your bed and refold everything in your dresser drawers. I’ve been slowing “KondoMarie-ing” our home since watching the series, and it feels so good!
MAKING:
I’ve spent the month working on one of my very favorite weaving commissions … a neutral and grey piece for a nursery! I’ve especially enjoyed working in my new little guest bedroom studio, and I’ve already got another commission ordered because someone liked this piece so much!
COOKING:
Lots of really delicious recipes were consumed this month! These Roasted Cauliflower Tacos have turned into one of my all-time favorite go-to recipes, because 1) they’re delicious, but 2) (and more importantly), they’re suuuuuper easy. The first time we made them, I didn’t have cabbage so we chopped up spinach instead. But the second time I used cabbage and spinach and I think that’s the way to go. The cabbage gives it a nice crunch. I also suggest doubling the cauliflower part of the recipe but not the avocado crema. I did this the second time around and the ratio was much better. It fed four of us perfectly! Serve it with a side of rice!
This Chickpea Chili is healthy, delicious, and great heated up the next day on the stove top if you just add a little extra vegetable broth to it! Any kind of chili is always a hit in our household, but this one had a really nice flavor to it.
These Swedish Meatballs were a huge hit with the neighbors. They’re made with pork and beef, and although they require a bit of work (luckily, I had my Sous Chef, Lauren), you only really need to use one pan and one bowl so at least they’re aren’t many dishes! Also, the creamy sauce is just so good…serve over egg noodles and you can’t go wrong!
And if you can’t get enough meatballs, try out this Meatball Shakshuka recipe. Shakshuka is normally a breakfast dish served with eggs, but if you substitute the eggs for meatballs, you suddenly have dinner! We had these over spaghetti noodles. Of the two meatball recipes this month, I preferred the Swedish meatballs, but these were good too! I think I’ll make the sauce with eggs as a breakfast dish next time!
These Buddha Bowls with Tahini Sauce (or any kind of Buddha Bowls, really) are always a good way to pack in a lot of healthy fats, proteins, and vitamins into one meal. We served ours over quinoa and had lots of leftovers for lunch throughout the week!
DRINKING:
A new coffee shop opened up just down the road from us and it is superb!! In fact, it’s one of the best latte’s I’ve had in town, and the owners are so knowledgable about all things coffee-related! Pursue Coffee on Aviation sits right next to our favorite pizza joint in town! And the best news is that it’s only about a mile and a half from where we live so it’s a nice little morning walk on occasion 😉
Al took me on a fun Christmas Adventure to The Blending Lab to learn how to blend wine! But more on that in my next post about our Christmas Experience gifts!
LOCAL EXPLORATIONS:
As my Christmas Experience to Al, I signed us up for a rock climbing class at Stoney Point through REI. But more on that in my next post!
We spent an afternoon with some friends in Playa del Rey at Playa Lagoon. It was just one of those beautiful Southern California days where we just wanted to be outside. It’s a nice little spot to post up with some breakfast burritos and just people watch or bring your dogs to!
I spent an evening with Josh and Laur at The Comedy Store in Hollywood, for a late night $5 show in The Belly Room. We watched roughly 15 comics (of varying experience) get up for some 10 minute sets … it was a lot of fun! Some of them were really hilarious…and some of them weren’t! ha! But that’s the fun of it! It was a cool thing to do, especially after watching so much Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and being on a comedy kick!
GOING:
We took a weekend trip with some friends — seven of us, total — to Vegas for a weekend! We grabbed a late flight after work on Friday night and flew back Sunday evening. Al and co. taught me how to play Craps and I actually won a couple hundred bucks! We ate good barbecue, played Top Golf for the first time (so fun), danced some Dance Dance Revolution (what a throwback, right?!), and visited Fremont Street and the Neon Sign Museum! I’m not *normally a huge fan of Vegas, but I think this trip may have changed my mind maybe even just a little bit 😉
CELEBRATING / LOVING / FEELING:
As I mentioned before, we celebrated the new year this month! Alex, Josh, Laur, and I stayed in and cooked a giant feast of meat and seafood and brussels sprouts. We watched the ball drop and drank champagne, and went to bed by 12:30 which was probably the greatest part! 😉 The best way to ring in the new year, is with your best friends!
I was also lucky enough to receive a visit this month from one of my very best friends and college roommate, Kaylie! Kaylie was in Palm Springs for a work event over a weekend, and was kind enough to pop on down to LA for two nights! Although it rained pretty much her entire time here (why does that always happen!?), we enjoyed a nice little walk up in PV that Sunday and filled the rest of her time here with our favorite Thai food and wine, two classes at the gym, and lots of Marty snuggles! She claims she made the trip to see me, but I think we all know she came to see the real star, Marty Party 😉 It was such a nice little weekend … I hope that I can find my way to NYC for a little trip soon to repay that full-heart-feeling!
And now, February here we are! Our weekends are already filling up, and I know this short month is going to be over in the blink of an eye, so I’m going to do my best to be present in every moment!
thanks for stopping by!
xo!
LAUREN LIVES 