Sunday Summary - 1.22.23
Reading & Watching
This book has been sitting on my shelf for almost a year, and I’m kicking myself for not picking it up sooner. If you’re a fan of Disney, Pixar, or any of the works from those two companies over the last 35 some-odd years, I think you’d find this fascinating. It’s part history-of-Pixar, part great-leadership-tips, and I can’t put it down.
For all the non-book readers out there, here are podcasts and TV shows I enjoyed this week:
Podcast: Anna Kendrick on Armchair Expert — This has gotten a lot of buzz recently, and I get why! It’s a pretty long and vulnerable interview, a side to Anna Kendrick she doesn’t often show.
Podcast: The Monetization of Self: Personal Brands and the Business of Influencing on The Money with Katie show—Whew, this podcast hit home with me. If you’ve been following my YouTube channel since it started in 2016, it’s probably obvious by now that I’ve taken a huge step back. It’s been hard to put into words why, but this podcast does a pretty good job. I did my best to explain myself on Instagram late last year, and the cliff notes version is: at a certain point I just wanted my life and my interests to be…my life and interests. YouTube, or any sort of lifestyle content creation, is a slippery slope. When your life is your content, everything seems sharable and there’s often no off switch. At one point it felt like I wasn’t actually living my life because I spent a majority of it filming and editing and very little time savoring it and relaxing. Mad props to people who love it and have found success, but it’s not for everyone. I love having it as an option for a creative outlet, but I have also come to appreciate the down time I’ve gained from paring back on my “extras.”
TV Show: Break Point - I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again: I love a docuseries. I would describe this show as the tennis version of Drive to Survive. The interviews and the pacing feel so incredibly similar, so if you liked learning about Formula 1 in Netflix’s format then go ahead and add this to your watch list. I’ve taken tennis lessons twice in my life, once at 8 and once at 23, and I admittedly never really nailed down the scoring system. This show does a great job of explaining the scoring system and getting you into the headspace of the elite athletes featured — highly recommend!
Cooking
These recipes were on our menu last week, so I can confidently recommend and warn you about a couple of these!
Jambalaya - This recipe comes from Disney’s Port Orleans resort, and we loved it. Fair warning: It makes more than enough to feed your entire street or apartment building. I would recommend halving it or hosting friends when you make this!
Spicy Potato Soup - After all my talk of “lightening up” our menu, we ended up adding a potato soup back to the mix when the temps dropped. This one is a bit different from the Instant Pot version we typically make, but it was great!
Black Bean Burgers — I’m never excited to make these because you have to dirty a lot of dishes, but they typically turn out great! Don’t skip the chipotle mayo (we made that mistake this week and they were a little dry!) We paired ours with jalapeno chips — delish!
Weekly Favorites
I am one of those people who still uses a traditional planner for work, but this year I opted for a notepad format. Rather than writing a topic or goal in the header box for each “focus area,” I write the date and keep a running list of to-dos for the day in each column. It also has a habit tracker at the bottom that I’ve been using for exercise, but what I love most is there is no wasted space. If you also work from home, you may love this, too! If you commute for work, this may not be the best option because the pages could get messed up in transit.
Random, but stick with me. Recently we had this event at work that allowed us to pick a gift, and one of the options was a variety 5-pack of Yellowbird Hot Sauces. That’s what I ended up choosing, and I got more than I bargained for because they sent 3 SETS! (aka, 15, 20-oz bottles of hot sauce) We ended up repurposing one as a Dirty Santa gift around Christmas time, and it was the most stolen gift at the party! These hot sauces are fantastic, and they pair well with so many dishes. If you’re looking to spice things up (pun intended), look no further! They have mini and full sized variety pack options.
We’ve really been enjoying games lately, and this is the newest one of the bunch (and the most fun for two people, in my opinion!) This is a quick-thinking word game where you draw a category card and a rule card, and you try to be the first to shout a word that fits the category and adheres to the rule. For example, the category may be “A movie star” and the rule card reads “Starts with a W.” You could shout Winona Ryder or Will Smith, and if you’re first, you win the card. The person with the most cards at the end wins!