Friday Things
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Friday Things

This week simultaneously moved by so quickly and so slowly…I’ve been trying to keep post-work plans to a minimum since, like everyone else, I overstretched myself towards the end of last year, and other than a dinner with some girlfriends at Mexicue (SO good, and great service) last night, have spent every evening at home. Millie has been getting longer walks, we’re finally making a larger dent in Downton, and we’re eating at home…all great things! This weekend will also be low key with a few fun plans…I have a session with the personal trainer I’m trying out at our gym, and Diana is in town so she, Katie and I are grabbing brunch at our beloved Le Diplomate tomorrow, and J and I are trying Punjab Grill’s Restaurant Week brunch on Sunday. Whatever you’re up to, hope it’s a great one–TGIF!

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Food
1.15.20 3

Recipes I Tried And Liked Vol. III

Something I–along with many other bloggers in this space, it seems–want to focus on this year is more intentionally starting and following through on different post series. I’m happy with how consistent A Quick Chat With… has been in 2019 (and there are no plans of stopping!) but there are a few others series that I’ve started in the past and ended up abandoning after a handful of posts. One of them that saw just two posts was a variation on weeknight dinners–here’s the “most recent” one–it’s literally a year old–and I’m bringing it back because I love the idea of sharing our regular eats more often on here. It’s something I do often on Instagram (there’s a highlight called Easy Eats, if you’re interested) but as we get increasingly more into expanding our cooking skills, I’ve love to share some of the hits over here! So consider this a new series that’s actually here to stay: Recipes I Tried And Liked!

Farro and Kale Salad with Goat Cheese

Merritt has posted about this salad (among other Cookie & Kate recipes!) a few times on her IG Stories and I caught this in late December when we were about to grocery shop after a few days away. The idea of a delicious salad sounded great (because #holidays) and both J and I have been weirdly intimidated by kale because of it’s gritty texture and bitter taste. I figured five days at home before starting work for the new year would be the best time to get over this unreasonable mental block so we picked up the ingredients, got to massaging our kale, and are now total converts. We made two huge batches of this back to back and it was so easy! The salad is filling, is a great base for protein (if you choose!), and doesn’t require obscure ingredients–everything besides the kale were things we already buy regularly. Plus, kale keeps well as leftovers and arguably tastes better the next day, even once it’s been dressed. Not having to take a little container of dressing to work is a huge plus and makes this a solid choice for office lunches!

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Life
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Around Here XVIII

A little bit of life lately on this dreary Monday…it felt like late spring here in DC this weekend and while it didn’t do great things for my sinuses and I’m definitely a cold weather girl, it’s hard to complain when you could go outside without a coat and people have a spring in their step, are dining al fresco, and nearly every dog in the city seems to be having the time of their life!

Job change

I’ve kind of alluded to this in the past couple of weeks but I’m starting a new job at the beginning of February! I promise to share more soon but while I’ll still be a graphic designer, there are a lot of exciting changes that come with this new position. There’s going to be some new content surrounding the change and I’m really excited to start pulling it all together…I hate being cryptic but promise (hope?) this will be worth it!

You Need A Budget

J and I first downloaded the budgeting app You Need A Budget nearly a year ago (I actually talked about it in this post, ha!) and while we plugged in our expenses and sort of got started, we abandoned it within a couple months because the platform was complicated and honestly, we just didn’t put in the time to figure out how to make it work for us. We’ve read so many reviews from people who did figure it out and have had incredible results, so we’re committed to giving it a proper shot this year. I’m currently halfway through the YNAB book and am excited to see how things pan out! We have a lot of expenses coming up in the next year and a half and are hoping to hit some lofty savings goals.

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