Q2 2024 << REWIND <<
Time for another REWIND — read on for what I've been up to from April-June 2024
Welcome to the second installment of our quarterly REWIND — a summary of the past quarter with some little insights sprinkled in.
The past 3 months have absolutely flown by (and if I’m being honest, I’m just starting to write this mid-July…so some of it feels quite distant. These have the tendency to get long fast, so let’s just dive in!
Q2 Breakdown
April
April started quietly, which is similar to how March ended. Our son hit 9 months, and it seems like his enthusiasm for eating solids really picked up. I dropped from three pumps during the work day to two, which felt like a massive alleviation of my mental load. Our son also spent his first long weekend away from us at home! This was hard, but ultimately crucial. Something that is really important to me is that I raise my kid in a way that allows him to have strong attachments with other important people in our lives, and I think of my parents as those people. I’m also committed to still living our lives, going to events, etc. We have two weddings this year that we need to travel for (one was in May, one this month in July), and so this weekend away with my parents was mostly a trial run. My husband and I had a pretty chill few days, but did enjoy a nice dinner at Harry’s—their Beef Wellington is stellar.
We saw a partial eclipse!! I thought that was pretty rad. Total obviously seemed better, and I really wanted to head to Rochester to my friend’s house, but with all the travel I endured in Q1 — and the travel I have coming up — I needed to stay closer to home.
I spent way too many hours and brain space navigating some bureaucratic B.S. having to do with my Brazilian citizenship. It included two trips to the consulate, two trips to the Post Office for money orders (totaling $35), a request to get another copy of my marriage license from the State of NY, lots of Google Translate, and probably an entire cartridge of printer ink. It’s mostly sorted now—now I get to print out more things and get another money order and make another trip to the consulate to renew my passport. Dual citizenship isn’t for the weak!
Some simpler moments: Nolan and I saw some of our baby friends and I took myself out on a solo date to a new neighborhood spot, the Bobbed Bandit. So far I really love their BLT, and it seems like a great place for brunches and happy hours alike. Got to enjoy peak cherry blossom weekend at the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, as good BBG members do. I got Ninja Creami (gift from my husband) and a new set of adjustable dumbbells1 (also gift from my husband).
May
May is my birthday month and so by default it is my favorite month! Devlin had to travel for work, and I survived my first week solo parenting. I had friends over for dinner two of the nights, and Devlin prepped me some food to make lunch and dinner easier2 🥹. It was nice to know that I could do it all alone (and since it was mid-week, really only had to do mornings and nights). The most difficult part of all of this was having to both drop off AND pick up Nolan to/from daycare EVERY DAY! It’s simple, but it’s one of those things that made me appreciate having a partner.
I felt a LOT of emotions as my birthday (Friday) and Mother’s Day (Sunday) came and went. It’s too much to fully articulate now, but I’ll say I was filled with a lot of gratitude to make it another year and I truly feel it is a gift that I’ll get to celebrate my existence and Mother’s Day the same week every year! Before I became a mom, I thought I’d hate sharing my birthday, but now I can’t imagine celebrating any other way. I took my birthday OFF work (something I think I’ll always do from here on out), took myself to Greenpoint3 for a haircut4, got a coffee, got a Frankel’s P.E.C.5, and treated myself to a few records at Brooklyn Record Exchange. I had my birthday ‘party’ on Saturday, which included a meet up at Wild East Brewing Co in Gowanus. I ordered pizza from a shop nearby and a cake6 from Clementine Bakery7. Beer + pizza + cake = the way to my heart! On mother’s day, I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a delicious homemade brunch, and overall quality family time.
I saw Illinoise on Broadway after one of Devlin’s coworkers couldn’t use the tickets anymore. It was a beautiful show and I cried8. I went to cheer on a friend running a half marathon, did some gardening with Devlin, and had a series of normal outings (going to the plant shop, grocery store, coffee shops, outings for onigiri, etc). Had a great meal at Thai Diner at some point too. Of course we ordered the Massaman Disco Fries, and Nolan had his first taste of Roti (unsurprisingly, it was a hit). The booths were too small to nurse in, which made us both a little cranky.
At the end of the month, we flew out to Detroit for our friends’ wedding and had a blast. Nolan got to go back to his grandparents’ house and also had a blast. Our Airbnb was horrible, but we survived!
June
June started in Detroit, rounding out the trip after our friends’ wedding, and we enjoyed our weekend with friends. We had a night gambling at the MGM Grand, went to the Henry Ford museum, and got driven around by the groom, who’d been gifted (a rental) a massive Lincoln Navigator for the week. I learned what ‘Faygo9’ is, and don’t need to drink it again.
We celebrated Father’s Day, dealt with a leak in our ceiling, and had a little sidewalk sale (I somehow made $30010?) I met up with some coworkers to work out of a WeWork for a day and then we went to dinner at Thursday Kitchen and played Pinball at Barcade after. I went to a “Disco-Themed Dance Party11” for one friend’s birthday (which really just played Abba all night and then a bunch of not actually disco music), and then went to a Cyclones game for another friend’s birthday. I fully fell out of my routine in June, but that’s okay.
Also, Grimace (yes, from McDonalds) threw the first pitch at a Mets game and it has started a bit of a winning streak??? We’ll see if this keeps up!
Another solid quarter!
Note: I am skipping the REWIND list this time around. I’m not sure if it adds anything? I’ll see how I feel in future quarters, but it is something I kind of have to keep track of as the months go on (and I very much did not do that this time).
What do you think? Should I bring it back next quarter? Is it redundant?
He made this Chicken Larb recipe from the Woks of Life, which is one of my favorites
Greenpoint is impossibly annoying to get to from my neighborhood, but I absolutely love Jedd at Kept Studio. He’s been cutting my hair since I moved back to NY in 2019 and I can’t recommend him more. Instagram | Booking
My mother very sweetly DMed Jedd on instagram to PAY for my haircut ahead of time! So sweet!
Pastrami Egg & Cheese. Keep up!
Lemon cake w/ lemon icing
Vegan parents = vegan cake
Because I can’t listen to Casmir Pulaski Day while washing the dishes without crying, let alone in a dark theater with evocative dancing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faygo (specifically the ‘Rock n Rye’)
with more to sell honestly - if you read the footnotes, tell me where people sell their clothes these days???
It’s called ‘Gimmie Gimmie Disco’ and I can’t really recommend it but I’ll share the link if you want to learn more. It was one of those things that was very fun because of the people I was with though!