Happy International Women's Day!

I hope that today's events lead both to a continuing groundswell of the progressive actions that have been going on for years but came into focus for many more with the Women's March in January, and to a greater recognition of International Women's Day in the United States. Interesting reading: this Slate article ( Read more... )

Today has been a bit of slow holiday/travel prep -- baking, laundry, cleaning the house, a last-minute shopping trip (I'm getting on a plane Tuesday and remembered whilst in the shower this morning that I hadn't yet replaced my broken travel headphones), wrapping a few gifts. My uncle who lives in Sacramento is hosting the family Christmas dinner ( Read more... )

I've seen a lot of commentary about the difficulties of going home for the holidays in these divided political times -- people stressing out about the prospect of political arguments, coming up with strategies for dealing with the bigoted uncle, and so forth. Although I have my own family stresses, I count myself very lucky that politics is not one ( Read more... )

It can be rough to find things to be thankful for in these troubled times. And yet overall I remain relatively happy and content with my life. I am fortunate in so many ways: my stable marriage to a good and caring person; my healthy kitty who stayed healthy; wonderful friends in my daily life, my online life, and around the world; a job where I do ( Read more... )

Various events will be changing up my usual holiday celebrations this year. Because my cousin who's hosting Thanksgiving wants to spend the day with her late mother's family -- it's their big all-family gathering day -- we're getting together on Friday instead. So tomorrow, for the first time ever in my life, I will be having Thanksgiving dinner at ( Read more... )

Thanks to the reminder from
( Read more... )

Spent the day with family up in Santa Rosa, starting with a visit to my parents' place to exchange gifts with them and hang out a little, and then we went over to my uncle's to eat. We made the mashed potatoes, from a new recipe, and they came out quite well. My younger brother, who moved back to California this year, joined us for dinner, so this ( Read more... )

Today, I am thankful for Jessica Jones, which I just finished. I thought it was excellent, and I hope they give her a second season. I will have more thoughts when it isn't 12:30am ( Read more... )

I made two desserts in one day, with only one unscheduled trip to the grocery store (I misjudged the amount of cream cheese I would need). Apple crisp and pumpkin cheesecake bars, both of which have been popular with my family in the past. So it should be good ( Read more... )

In Nashville for my brother's college graduation. It's sort of a weird time because he's also (very) recently (and somewhat suddenly, from my perspective) divorced, and also lost his job not too long ago, so lots of personal changes all at once. My parents are also here, and his relationship with them is a little bit strained, so I anticipate a ( Read more... )