Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

5 on Friday

First Friday Five {November}

Once a month, I’m taking time to tell you five things I’ve been loving in the past 30 days or so. You can catch October’s list here.

And now, November!

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  1. Soup. Chilly temperatures, finally, mean that soup is on the menu at least once a week, but usually more. I love all kinds of soups and making all kinds of soups. There’s something satisfying about stirring together a bunch of ingredients and slurping the warmth straight out of the bowl. Pair with crackers and bread. Heaven. Do you have any favorite soup recipes? I have a hard time choosing just one!
  2. Fall foliage. In the last week or so the colors have really popped around here. I love the burst of colors as I round a bend in the road. Or the way the sun illuminates the leaves first thing in the morning. Fall temperatures took their time getting here this year, so to see the trees change colors was confirmation that the season had officially arrived. I know it’s just leading up to winter, but I mostly welcome the changes each season brings. wp-1477672775000.jpg
  3. Cubs baseball. We are unashamedly Cubs fans, and October gave us more baseball to watch than we’ve had in past years. We donned our favorite shirts every day they played and watched highlights with the kids when they couldn’t stay up for games on school nights. wp-1477672928274.jpgWe put together a Wrigley Field puzzle and kept it on the table throughout the playoffs. And sure enough, they won the whole darn thing! Go Cubbies!
  4. The ’80s. I was born just prior to the ’80s so there is a special place in my heart for certain aspects of this decade which seems like an eternity ago. Especially the music and movies. I stream the All 80s station on Amazon frequently, and I’ve found myself taking comfort in movies like Adventures in Babysitting, Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off lately. Thank you, Netflix. (A side note: Amazon Prime includes a streaming music service, which is one of the major benefits of Prime, in my opinion. Also this is an affiliate link, which costs you nothing but offers a small amount of compensation for me.)
  5. My kids. I’m not super-sentimental most of the time, but lately, I’ve really been enjoying my kids. They are 8 1/2 and almost 7 and they are so much fun. Whether it’s hanging out with them on weekends, seeing what they make and do in school, or watching the Cubs with them, we just laugh and smile so much with them right now. (There is also some yelling and frustration and lots of drama, so please don’t interpret this as some kind of perfection. It’s far from it.) I’m glad when they go to school, but I look forward to their company, too.

First Friday Five {October}

A while back, I was publishing posts on Fridays listing five of something. (You can read some of those here, if you’re interested.)

I miss that, a little bit, so I’m bringing it back. Sort of. I can’t commit to it weekly, so let’s try it monthly. On the first Friday of every month (okay, most months), I’ll list five things I’m loving at the moment. It might be books or music or TV or food or I don’t know. At the very least, you’ll get to know all my quirks!

Here we go, then.

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  1. Jane the Virgin. Right away, I’ll just let you see my guilty pleasure Netflix show. It’s based on a telenovela, and it is hilarious. I’m almost embarrassed by how much I love this show (and even more embarrassed to tell you how quickly I watched season 2 once the kids went back to school.) Jane, the lead character, is a writer, and the show is one of the best examples of cliffhangers from one episode to the next that I’ve seen. I’m debating whether to watch season 3 in real time.
  2. The Enneagram. The what? I know. Say it with me: Any-a-gram. It’s a personality inventory, I guess is the best way to describe it. Like the Myers-Briggs only not at all. The Enneagram evaluates personalities on a number system, 1-9, but it’s so much more than that. I read a book about it earlier this year and kind of forgot about it, then one of my favorite authors co-wrote a book about it and launched a podcast, and now I can’t stop talking about it. Knowing my number and how I act or react in certain situations, as well as how I am at my worst and best, has been freeing. Any other Enneagram fans out there?
  3. Related, podcasts. I had no interest in podcasts until recently. I’m more of a visual, hands-on learner than an auditory learner, so I resist things like audio books and podcasts. But I’ve found that podcasts are basically like listening to talk radio on specific subjects, and I am now a changed woman. I have several favorites: The Road Back to You, Revisionist History and The Liturgists top my list. Two new discoveries: The New Activist and Scribble & Jam.
  4. Roasting food. The worst part about summer is not being able to use my oven when it’s so dang hot outside. (No central air in our house.) Roasting vegetables is the easiest way to get so much flavor out of all that garden goodness. And I practically swoon with giddiness when I take the opportunity to roast a whole chicken. It’s proof of my ability to behave domestically. Potatoes, vegetables, meat. Almost nothing is safe from the roasting.
  5. Older comedic actors. Ted Danson in The Good Place and Lily Tomlin in Grace and Frankie are reminding me of the comedy gold standard they have achieved in their careers. I don’t mind today’s crowd of comedic geniuses but these gray-haired actors I’ve been watching for what seems like my whole life are gems not to be forgotten.