January is the strangest month. You start out with lots of energy around the new year, filling in crisp, empty planners and setting goals for yourself. Then by the end of it, you’re cursing the lack of daylight hours and making bets on how many more days you’ll have to endure before the thermometer bumps back above freezing.
Or is that just me?
Maybe it was going back to work after being on maternity leave since September, but I’ve been in a real dichotomy of feelings lately. I’m happy to be back at work, contributing to an organization that I believe in. I’m also finding it difficult to be spending time at work when Spencer is at home with the baby.
It’s like I’m finally understanding the whole “there are two wolves within you” idea. Except both of my wolves are flirting with seasonal affective disorder…
But it hasn’t all been difficult. I’ve had some great days in the office, spent some quality time with family, and gotten a head start on some of my goals for the year.
Not to mention the five favorite things I have to share with you below. So let’s get into it!
I was so excited to discover the second season of Alice in Borderland had dropped on Netflix in December. We watched the first season with my brother when he was living with us in 2020, and it was fitting that he now lives close enough to pop by and watch season two. We binged it in three sessions (because there’s no bingeing ten episodes straight with a baby!).
I will admit that it was a little slow to start, especially compared with season one, which we watched beforehand to remind ourselves of everything that had happened. However, it really hits its stride in the second half of the season, and it finishes strong. While Arisu and Usagi are still obviously the main characters, the second season does a good job of focusing in on some of the secondary characters, and there are a few games that don’t have either main character in them at all.
Overall, if you enjoy dystopian settings with thought-provoking quests and a ragtag team of characters, you’ll like Alice in Borderland. If you do watch it, leave a comment or reach out on Instagram. I want to know what you thought of the ending!
If you read my recap of 2022, you know that I didn’t hit my Goodreads reading goal last year and dropped down to thirty books for this year. Right now, I’m chugging along with four books completed in January, and the best book I’ve read so far is Sea of Tranquility.
When I saw this one start to pop up on lists of favorite books from 2022, I knew I would enjoy it. Station Eleven is one of my favorite books, and St. John Mandel does such a good job with futuristic science fiction. This one masterfully flits between times and character perspectives and finished off with an ending I didn’t see coming. I gave it five stars and would absolutely recommend it!
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I went back to work this month after about fifteen weeks of maternity leave that I cobbled together between FMLA, my company’s leave allotment, and PTO. As a new mom who is trying to find her place back at work while maintaining a milk supply to keep her baby fed, I truly mean it when I say the Ceres Chill Breastmilk Chiller has been a game changer for me.
I should probably write an entire blog post about going back to work after having a baby. For now, I’ll say that this little part water bottle, part cooler gave me such peace of mind and made pumping at work fast, easy, and virtually mess free! The best part? I was able to use my HSA dollars to purchase it!
While Spencer is on baby duty for his paternity leave, I’ve been trying to help out with dinner more. We had some extra Italian sausage in the fridge, so I whipped up these Italian Sausage Stuffed Peppers from Delish, and they were so quick and easy.
These peppers are super filling and come out to one pepper per serving. I actually doubled the spices, rice, and mushrooms and ate the extra stuffing for lunch the next day, too. I would recommend precooking your bell peppers unless you don’t mind them being very crisp!
It seems like every year I get surprised with a new installment in the Truly Devious series because Nine Liars was not on my radar at all. Overall, it’s just as delightful as all the others. Stevie is a great, relatable, wonderfully flawed protagonist, her group of friends feels real, and the mysteries are always lush and multifaceted.
This one also gave me If We Were Villains vibes because the mystery (and flashback scenes) all center around a group of nine theater friends who get caught up in a murder. I gave it four stars and think it’s very much worthy of the Truly Devious series. I hope there are more!
Buy from AmazonWhat made your January just a little bit brighter?
P.S. Looking for more books like Nine Liars? Check out these books for spooky season!
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