This Week's Survival Kit

Easy recipes, morning playlists, and sweating

Happy Valentine’s Day, sluts. Hey, just so we’re all on the same page — this “holiday” is dumb as hell. Honestly, unless you’re in a position like Pam on The Office when she’s dating Roy and has to sit at the front desk signing for flowers and chocolates for Phyllis all day, it doesn’t matter. I can’t think of one good Valentine’s Day I’ve ever had, single or attached. It all just feels so forced. Like, I remember one time, I did the whole strawberries dipped in chocolate sauce and lingerie thing with my long-term college boyfriend and it was so awkward. We, like, stood at my dresser eating the strawberries in our skivvies and it was messy and not even kind of cute or sexy and then my lingerie was off in 3 seconds and the whole thing was just dumb.

The worst Valentine’s I ever had was actually with Zac but it wasn’t because of him. It was February 2021 and in a span of, like, three days, it had snowed/iced over in Dallas and the entire city was experiencing blackouts, my friend’s father passed away, there was an active shooter on our fucking street that ended in a murder/suicide (yeah), and Bowie and Cece got into a scuffle, resulting in Cece’s lower eyelid being slashed open and we sat at the emergency vet for 5 fucking hours waiting to be seen only for them to send her home in a cone with “let it heal on its own” instructions. We went to a different vet a few days later and got it sewn.

Anyway.

I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t sweat this silly holiday. If anything, treat yourself to something small today (be it a massage, a manicure, a Target stroll, some ice cream, or literal box of chocolates), tell your people you love them, and move on. Personally, we celebrated Z Day last night (the day we had an IUI done that possibly gave us Ziggy but maybe we made him on our own. We’ll never know) and are taking it super easy tonight. I’m going to make Grossy Pelosi’s new chocolate pudding with coconut whip he just posted and call it a night.

Here’s where we ate last night. It’s called Le PasSage and it’s absolutely stunning. SUCH a vibe. Great cocktails, great food. So fucking expensive, so we won’t go back for a long time but we definitely will go back. Just has to be a very special occasion!

And now for this week’s small list of things that got me from Monday to Friday.

Once again, Brocc Your Body’s Trader Joe’s recipe collection

This week, I made her Hamburger Helper with Orzo, Gochujang Turkey Lettuce Cups, and Blackened Chicken & Jalapeño Crunchy Salad and they were all marvelous. It really doesn’t get any easier than buying every single ingredient you need at Trader Joe’s and whipping these fancy-sounding-but-simple-to-make-recipes together. The salad was actually my favorite. I had never tried TJ’s literal jar of Jalapeño Sauce and now I’m addicted.

Our nanny

She is a gift from heaven, I STG. I was so nervous about hiring anyone else to look after Ziggy a few days a week, but OMG — she is just so special. I’ve been working through some guilt with feeling privileged for having any help at all but I’m realizing how good handing Ziggy off to someone else is for me and how much it allows me to re-center so I’m an even better mom when I’m on my own wit him.

The SWEAT app

All these years later, and I still can’t quit Kayla Itsines. Well, sort of. She has a team of instructors who each have their own programs within the SWEAT app, and to ease back into the rhythm of a steady workout routine, I decided to start the PWR program. I did it years ago and really loved it and guess what? I’m really loving it again. It’s lifting focused, and I just can’t tell y’all how good it feels to be back in a gym, sweating and listening to trap as loudly as possible in my AirPods. It’s been a solid year and a half since I was in routine. I’m back(ish), baby!

Reddit

Man, Reddit is such a blessing and a curse. On one hand, I have seen some seriously evil shit said about me over the years (VERY proud to report I haven’t gone looking for it in probably a year and a half). On the other hand, it’s a constant reminder that no thought or problem is unique. No matter how specific your life situation is, someone on Reddit has lived it and has a solution or, at the very least, advice. Strangers on Reddit unknowingly helped me solve the saga of my son not eating, and all it took was me Googling “baby won’t eat any formula reddit.” I saw this and screenshotted it because it’s too real:

Homemade granola bars

Breakfast annoys me. I wake up starving but with very little motivation to solve said starvation because nothing is easy enough. Cereal is just empty calories, I love a soft scrambled egg but I fucking loathe dirtying up a pan then having to clean it that early in the morning, oatmeal is whatever, yogurt is an afternoon snack to me, and I’d eat pastries every day if I could and I did basically my entire pregnancy and PP up until last week. So I decided to make these granola bars this week for an easy-to-eat breakfast and OOOOOOMG? They are SO good. I toasted the oats, soaked the dates in hot water for 10 minutes to get them soft, and added dark chocolate chips for some decadence and DAMN. Like, these may be a weekly staple around here.

Bathroom laundry hamper

Zac and I are both terrible about laundry, and by terrible I mean let it build up to ungodly heights, do it all at once, and then spend two weeks actually putting it away in its right place. I’m the bitch who is constantly littering our bathroom floor with whatever I wore that day, so Zac had the bright idea to throw a small laundry hamper in the corner of our bathroom and it’s… been life changing? I’m still not doing laundry regularly, but the fact that I have a place to throw my clothes that isn’t the floor has made a big difference. I have my own hamper, Zac has his, the bathroom has one, and Ziggy has one, and the only laundry that gets done consistently is — you guessed it — Zig’s.

A morning playlist for Ziggy

Getting up with Zig at 7am is my life now, so I’m building a sweet morning playlist that can be our little thing up until his first nap of the day. I want it to only feature upbeat songs that are an ode to the sun/daytime/morning/life, so if you can think of any I don’t have on here yet, drop a comment so I can add it!

Happy Valentine’s to all and to all a great weekend!

— EGM