June Mishmash
Good morning! It’s June! Well, I guess by the time you receive this, June is pretty much over. In my mind, June is officially summertime. Summertime means reading in the hammock, cooking outside, and so much daylight—my fave! This June has been pretty grey and rainy until the last week of the month, and I haven’t really enjoyed any of these things yet! Compared to May, June has flown by way too fast. I am doing my best to take things day by day and stay positive.
Food!
I have mentioned my favorite coffee roaster before, Reforma Roasters, but I wanted to mention them again because if you buy coffee from them through July 4, they are donating 100% of proceeds from the sale of their bagged coffee to If/When/How, a non-profit organization that offers legal protection and funding to folks that are now criminalized by SCOTUS decision to repeal Roe v. Wade (a decision which is complete BS btw!). Treat yourself to delicious coffee and support a great cause at the same time! (I know coffee isn’t food but I wanted this at the top!)
I haven’t been cooking much, but have many thanks to offer to friends for bringing food and sending gift cards for food delivery. If you are not sure what I am talking about, please see the Misc. section of May Mishmash. I miss cooking but it also is a lot of effort, when you consider planning out meals, grocery shopping, prepping so many veggies, etc, and also cooking, not to mention the clean up. It’s been very nice to not have to worry about what’s for dinner.
When I have cooked recently, I have been falling back on meals that are fast, easy, and familiar. One such recipe is this Paneer with Cherry Tomatoes & Snap Peas! This is a really fresh take on matar paneer, and we love it!
Books!
Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett is my favorite of the books I read in June. Well, I listened to the audiobook which was read by the author. I related to a lot of this story in a way I did not expect going into it. As a child of addicts, it hit a bit close to home in some parts. I really enjoyed Mikel's storytelling; raw, honest, hopeful, and warm.
If you like the idea of experimental fiction loosely based on true crime events, you might enjoy Dear Miss Metropolitan by Carolyn Ferrell. Definitely a unique book that I finished in June.
The Final Revival of Opal & Nev by Dawnie Walton would be a great summertime read if you liked Daisy Jones & The Six. It uses a very similar interview/documentary style of storytelling, but is set in a completely different musical genre/scene that feels more culturally relevant. I listened to the audiobook which had a full cast, and it was well done.
Projects!
After taking a month off, I finally got back to work on the puffy quilt! It’s coming along nicely, and I think I will be finishing sewing together all the puffs this coming weekend, and then I can move onto attaching the backing fabric and binding it (not exactly sure how that is going to work yet, might have to do both these parts by hand?) . Quilts are a lot of work, y’all, but this puffy quilt is another level of time consuming.
Miscellaneous!
We took a trip to the coast and had a great time. (Big thanks to our friends J&S!) Being able to work remotely sure has its perks! After a couple of canceled coast trips over the past year+, it was nice to get away and have a change of scenery. Remi is not too sure about the beach, unlike every other dog. She seems confused by the amount of free open space and lack of sidewalks and grass. I thought all dogs loved the beach! She is definitely a unique little weirdo.
I went to see HAIM in concert, and it was so much fun! Lots of audience sing-a-longs, cute sister banter, and a giant confetti bomb at the end. Live music is something I definitely missed during COVID!
I got myself a “smart” water bottle, that syncs with my Fitbit. Matthew got one of these a while back and I thought it was ridiculous, but I have to say that it is kind of neat to see that I am actually drinking plenty of water. I will need to stay super extra hydrated during upcoming treatment (see below), so I thought having this might help keep me on track. So far, it is a fun game I am playing with myself to see how much water CAN I drink in one day?? My current goal that I set for myself is 120 oz daily (about 3.5 liters), which I have been completing, but may be a bit excessive. If I have influenced you to buy one of these, there is a ‘social’ aspect in the app where you can view your friends’ water drinking stats, so make sure to add me as a friend! (wow, what a nerd.)
We recently finished watching Hacks on HBO and if you haven’t watched this show, I recommend you start asap! We started it on a whim, and ended up loving it, binging through both seasons very quickly! It’s fun and funny and I laughed a lot watching it, which is always a nice change of pace from the generally dark/dramatic things we watch a lot of.
Medical!
In medical news, after meeting with a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist, we have made a plan for treatment going forward. I will be having chemotherapy (4 treatments over 3 months), followed by radiation (20 treatments, M-F for four weeks), followed by anti-hormone medications (early menopause). Adding the chemotherapy into the plan was not something we were expecting, and was a very difficult decision to make, but the science shows that it will reduce my chance of a distant recurrence within 10 years (from 12% with just radiation+hormone treatment to 5% with chemo added to the mix). I will continue to have medical updates, so now we have a whole heading in this newsletter for this stuff. Hooray! In all honestly, I am glad to have made the decision and can focus on moving forward. This was NOT an easy decision, but chemo + radiation is 4 months out of my life that could potentially give me more life. There is no way to be sure cancer won't return, so might as well give myself the best odds. The rest of this year is going to be difficult on many levels, but 2023 and beyond will be filled with loads of fun, travel, etc.
In conclusion, FUCK CANCER, get those routine screenings, and I love you all.
Remi!
Remi’s favorite nap spot at the beach house was this little rug. She’s so darn cute.
Goodbye, until next month!
xoM