Learning to be a Wife

Tuesday, June 16, 2026

Life Lately: Week 24

This is what the past week looked like.

Legs for days.

I've moved on to Judges.

These suuuummer niiiiiiiiiights.

Egg bites on repeat.

My sidekick.

Tofu salad.

I think all the hype raised my expectations too much, but it was still an addictive read.

Favorite quotes:

"Friends are like oxygen. If you've been blessed enough to have always been surrounded by friends, you might think I'm overplaying this. I don't blame you. If you'd always been surrounded by air, you wouldn't think to credit it for your very existence either."

"I choose you. It's hard to imagine a nicer thing to say to a person."

"It strikes me that, with all the cruelties in this world, there is still nothing quite as dangerous as kindness."

I prefer my chicken salad with maximum crunch (read: an absurd amount of celery).

Sweet summertime!

The first part was a little cringe, but then it got me laughing.

Aldi’s chicken sausages are seriously good, don’t sleep on them.

Sunset cruise.

Manny at sunset.

Good cloud evening.

BC Farmer's Market.

In office day.

Team lunch.

Electric sunset.

Sushi is always a good idea.

Whatever floats your boat.

One of my favorite meals is sweet potatoes and tofu mixed into the last bit of cottage cheese left in the container.

Friday vibes.

Cottage cheese tub as big as my head (and thankful for good friends who think of me while at Costco).

Spent the perfect afternoon enjoying sushi with a friend at Horrock’s beer garden.

The flowers are everything.

Summer sunsets are my favorite.

Celebrating my aunt's 80th birthday.

Doesn't he look great for 80? ;)

Prepped a quiche for the week and officially declaring feta the reigning champion of quiche cheeses.

Oof… Monday is coming for me way too early.

Summer is magic.

Meditated on this verse this week.

Good reminder.

"The happiest people are the ones who are good at noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary."

The cutest library.

The World Cup is here.

A James Clear newsletter gem.

Pickling.

"We need to be nostalgic about the present."

Convicting.

The more you know.

I love enjoying my mortgage.

Bahaha.

For more life lately:

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Life Lately: Week 23

This is what the past week looked like.

Caesar salad with chicken nuggets on top is a lunch favorite around here.

Old man Manny.

I volunteered at our Culver’s library fundraiser and was having so much fun that I completely forgot to take any pictures of us in our cute blue aprons - so all you get is this shot of the food G picked up for dinner!

I gobbled this book up in two days.

Reading it felt like sitting down with a friend who was sharing all the juicy details of her life and marriage.

I haven't felt that connected to a memoir since Jessica Simpson's.

Favorite quotes:

"Wouldn't your own story look different if you knew how it was going to end?"

"I could see the cost for feeling safe was being controlled. They were two sides of the same coin - protection and control."

Chicken stir fry is what's for dinner.

My neighbors' flowers were striking during golden hour.

There's no better stress relief than an after-work boat ride.

New favorite creamer from Whole Foods has me feeling like I'm cheating on Trader Joe's.

Mexican night at book club.

We talked about Theo of Golden, and the more we discussed it, the more I appreciated the book.

Coffee catch up with a friend.

That's a wrap on lunch.

Caught a sighting of the Battle Jacks mascot from Battle Creek's minor league baseball team.

Feeling Zen at Horrocks.

Happy hour with my amazing team.

I love how "going down to scare the geese" unexpectedly resulted in such a gorgeous, artsy picture.

I brought lunch to my parents’ neighborhood pool for a relaxing day… and the joke was on us.

Crowded pool, freezing water, clouds rolling in, and nonstop lawn mowing in the background.

We lasted until the weed whacker started, then we called it.

Margarita: juice cleanse for cool people, ha!

I love a funny dish towel.

This ally just makes me happy.

We left the pool and did a little shopping in Howell.

My mom and I met a family friend for dinner at Cello and this limoncello martini was 10/10, no notes.

The lemon spaghetti was just as amazing as I remembered.

Sugar face.

Peony season.

6/6: First jump off the boat of the year.

Manny after dark.

File this under: things that made me smile this week.

Reunions are usually my least favorite part of the show, but Summer House this season is the exception - I’m all in on this one.

Watercolor sunset.

I read The Five Resets for work book club and loved the practical advice.

I adore the idea to ask "what matters most to me?" instead of "what's the matter with me?"

Favorite quotes:

"One common thread linking all of these stories is their will to want something better for themselves finally overtook their need to stay the same. They chose their future self."

"Living a lifetime in a day is about incorporating the six elements that make up an arc of a long and meaningful life - childhood, work, vacation, community, solitude, and retirement - and building each of those into one single day. By practicing how to live a lifetime in a day, you can gradually redefine your sense of time, which is your most cherished and endangered currency, in a new and welcoming way."

"You are the sky. Everything else - it's just the weather."