Welcome back! The plan I think is to cover both what was accomplished last week and set up goals for this week (what a delightful way of doing things). I’m continuing to daily track in my planner (Quilter’s Planner – I love this thing, highly recommend, not an affiliate link) and while I missed Tuesday’s daily tracking because I was out of the house for most of the day, sitting down early Wednesday allowed me to write down what I accomplished at the very least. So, here goes!

Goals:

Career/Life:
I found another job and applied for it on Wednesday! I’m going to keep looking, but I feel mostly okay about it, mainly because they’re looking for someone bilingual which gave me the opportunity to submit my resume in German and the writing in English.
As far as blogging goes, obviously I continue to be on track. M is looking at redesigning my site, which would be a big win for us both – something he can use in his portfolio, and a facelift here. Stay tuned, if it happens, it will be an interesting shift I think.
This week: I need to apply for another job. I’ve started looking at new themes for the blog – my job is content and design, his job is making it happen. This feels like a bit of a long burn, but we’ll see.

Sewing: I needed last week to finish one cow and baste one quilt, and if I did both of those I was allowed to cut out a new one. Well, not only did I finish one cow and baste one quilt, but I quilted that one and bound it off yesterday. It’s hang drying now and I’m REALLY happy with it. It’ll be off to its new home this week!

I finished up the fourth cow in the nine cow series, and she was in honor of Justice Sonia Sotomayor. I’ve continued to worry a bit about how this might be interpreted, but the reality is that they are meant to honor and not mock. So far, we have cows honoring Florence K. Murray, Sandra Day O’Connor, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and now Sonia Sotomayor. I have 5 more to go and we’re starting to get to the point where I can start assembling rows. I’m excited to see how this quilt turns out!

The quilt I finished this week was a retirement gift for a former boss and friend. I used the pattern “Homecoming” by Lo & Behold Stitchery and checked out the hashtag on Instagram for some palette inspiration. I chose a teal, yellow, and grey palette because I wanted something reminiscent of the organization where we both worked without being blatantly those colors (they will forever remind me of middle school, and pass). The effect was absolutely perfect. I quilted it myself on my Bernina 570QE (aka Bettie) using straight lines. The long sections are quilted at 0.25″, 1.25″, and 2.25″, the offset sections are quilted at 0.125″, 1″, 1.625″, and 2.375″. The corners are echo quilted triangles at 0.5″ intervals, and the two tiny grey sections have offset 0.5″ lines and 0.5″ echo quilted squares. I think this might be the first time I’ve actually sat down with a ruler to mark quilting lines and while it still wasn’t perfect, it came pretty close! I do anticipate that I’ll be marking lines for quilting more often, and I am definitely hoping to break out my Bernina Stitch Regulator at some point soon to practice, since I think the cows might get more of that one!

This week: I’ve cut out a Grow quilt (pattern from Suzy Quilts) and am hoping to get at least the blocks pieced. I am working on cow number 6, and I am planning on doing the backing and basting of another quilt – the Knitted Star I finished in December. The little one it is for is due in a couple weeks, so it would be nice to get it out soon!

Reading:
Ahead of schedule! Depending on how well I stick to this goal, it may have to turn into its own post. I have a page dedicated specifically now to a quick update of rating each book and where you can pick up a copy. Note that I don’t have affiliate links, and I’m going to try to stick to independent bookshops for links.
I finished “The Alienist” by Caleb Carr on Tuesday and I highly recommend. I found it extremely gripping and surprisingly not as graphic as the show (was it a TNT show?). If you love a psychological thriller, this is a book for you, and apparently it’s a series, but I haven’t picked up any of the other ones.
Thursday’s finish was “Step Aside for Royalty” by Eileen Parker. Another recommend – I was correct that it was going to be a quick nonfiction read. This is a memoir from the wife of HRH Prince Phillip’s private secretary (Mike Parker) and goes up to about the conclusion of the Princess Margaret-Peter Townsend affair. It’s notable that most of the scandals from The Crown are absent here, but there is significant detail about other pieces of royal life that surprised me. Overall a good, light read and worth the few hours to get through it if the British royal family is something that interests you.
This week: I’m reading “Mr. Murder” by Dean Koontz. I’m enjoying it – it is unsettling in a good way!

Exercise:
Mostly on track! Monday: 30 min power zone ride, Tuesday: 10 min restorative yoga, Wednesday: 45 min power zone ride, Thursday: 30 min power zone ride, Friday: Stretch, Saturday: nothing, Sunday: 45 min power zone ride.
This week: Week 3 of Discover Your Power Zones program. I also want to maybe try to run one day.

Non-Goal Things:

M came home Thursday afternoon sicker than I’ve seen him since his second dose of Pfizer. And possibly actually sicker than that. He stayed home Friday and was starting to feel significantly better Saturday, so we ran out to the bakery and did a couple errands before coming back home with a paper for me. By Saturday afternoon I was starting to feel sick (mainly dizzy, but also queasy) and there is the reason I missed a workout. Fortunately, it did not turn into whatever he had but it still knocked me out Saturday afternoon and evening.

Because he’d been sick, we skipped fun dinner this past weekend and are hoping to pick it up this coming weekend. We’re planning on a cheese ravioli with a fancy meat sauce, so we’ll swing through the farmer’s market and the Markthalle this week to get the good stuff for it!

We’re also working on finalizing details for our trip to Dubai next month. We have our flights, we’re looking for a hotel, and then we need to finalize our plans for what we want to do and when. We’re not super structured on vacation, but when you travel with celiac, you do have to do some significant planning ahead for meals. We are hopeful that the…more well off clientele in Dubai means that I’ll be able to get good food, but we’ll see. Fingers crossed this isn’t a France situation.

Once we get home from Dubai, we’re hoping to get a pup and then plan a trip to Italy in March with said pup. I’m going to apologize now for the absolutely ridiculous amount that the pup will likely feature in photos once we get one. He’s going to be adorable.