Turning Forty, the device I can't live without, and the greatest luxury I have right now.
the weekly R.E.P.O.R.T 2.27.26
What is the Weekly R.E.P.O.R.T? I wanted to create a fun weekly format to share food, reads, hobbies, items, shows and more that I’m currently loving or making my life easier. I also want to hear from YOU. What are you enjoying? Comment on the post anything you’re loving in a R.E.P.O.R.T category.
I just finished my sixth The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion. The sixth book was slower but ended with a bang. I immediately started book seven. Book seven has been my favorite so far of the series, and I’m about half way through it. I’m truly bummed that I only have one book left right now. It has been my favorite series that I have read in a long time. I do subscribe to the author’s Substack and she did say book nine is coming out this year and that there is a special announcement the first week of March. I know this is going to be the next big series and will most likely get turned into a TV series. I would bet money on it.
What I love so much is the long character development and the witty banter. Is the storyline realistic? Absolutely not. It is truly light and funny with complex characters. Jane Austen likes to shine light on women’s plight with marriage being their only prospect in life, while I do like how this book series shines light on the amount of freedom men had over women during the Victorian era. It’s just a truly delightful series and I’m so glad there are plans for twenty four books.
This week I finally dove into my postpartum diet with specific work that I’m doing for my thyroid. (It actually looks great, but I want it more optimal at my next appointment!)I’m cutting out dairy for a month to try to move the needle on my bloodwork, so you’ll see more dairy free content here for a bit. I know my body is in a season of stress recovering from growing a somewhat tiny human, a sprained ankle, sleepless nights, and I’m turning forty this year.
I don’t know what it is about turning forty but that makes me want to kick it into high gear in taking care of myself. I also lost a lot of muscle mass the last trimester of pregnancy, so I’m upping my protein take a bit.
I’m excited to share simple, easy meals that can get on the table in 20ish minutes next week. I’m starting a series called “Plan. Prep. Plate.” to demonstrate a weekly rhythm of meal planning, prepping and cooking. Be on the lookout. You won’t want to miss it!
The food I’ve been loving this week is yellow potatoes cut into wedges with some avocado oil, salt, garlic powder and onion powder. I air fry them at 400F and cook time varies for how thin you cut them. It’s anywhere from 14-18 minutes until crispy.
I have debated sharing this, but it has brought me so much joy lately. We got a landline for the kids where they can call family and friends. I can control everything from my phone for it, so its secure and safe. Only programmed numbers in the app can allow calls to go out or in, and no spam calls!
We went in with a group of friends to bulk order the phones, and so they had a group of friends to call. It has been my dream for like a year to do this because I think phone skills are being lost as well as the autonomy of calling your friends. I wanted my kids to be able to talk to their friends and family without needing my phone or the distractions of FaceTime. It has been really fun teaching them phone skills and hearing bits and pieces of their conversations with friends.
Another bonus is it has a long cord that they love to fidget with while they talk. It’s so cute. You can find it here. Feel free to drop any questions about it!
I just repurchased my third pot of RMS Beauty’s master radiance base. Now that my skin is back to normal after pregnancy hormones, I love to wear it alone with some of the under eye brightener when I don’t want to wear much makeup or I mix it with my UnCoverup foundation. It gives a nice glow to dull skin and makes me look more alive even when I’ve been up all night. It’s a top five product for me.
A way to save money at RMS is to “Build Your Own Bundle” and select three products to save 25%.
You can find all my nontoxic favs here.
My favorite Black Friday purchase was getting a Brick device. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a device that you can select what apps you want to prevent from being used during a “brick” session. You can also create different modes depending on what you want to focus on. I debated it forever but realized I am an iPad kid when left to my own devices. I absolutely have overridden every single app on helping me control my screen time. What I love about it is that I have to physically get up and walk to my fridge to “unbrick” my phone. I “brick” social media on the weekends because I was just wasting so much time on it. I now use my time more intentionally. I’m going to start setting up some automatic “brick” time to.
What have I done with my extra time? Been more focused and read waaaay more. The first weekend I used it, I read an entire book.
I like to Brick my phone when leaving the house, writing or editing, and the witching hour because I definitely need to focus then. I typically brick my phone overnight too so I’m not tempted to scroll at 4am when I can’t get back to sleep after feeding the baby. I have been reading instead and that has brought me so much more joy and prevents me from going into a spiral of all the things I have to do for the day.
Sleep is my biggest treat right now- ha! I take my sleep very seriously. Blue blockers at night, sunshine first thing in the morning, cotton bedding, etc. A few months ago, I was looking for a silk sleep mask because my other mask had worn out. Every one I found was like $60 which is kind of bonkers. I found this $10 one on Amazon, and I think it’s the perfect gift for friends too. I was shocked at how it improved my dry eyes too! I now sleep with this affordable silk pillow case (2 for $20 like Chilis!) and this sleep mask. It’s made a massive difference in my skin and hair too. I also have all my bedding favorites linked here. One last note, it took me a long time to find a good sound machine and we own two of these. They have a real fan in them and the only way we all sleep!
You can find the rest of my bedding favorites here.
Let me know any of your recommendations below! I would love to hear them.
