It’s been a snowy, cold, two-days-of-school week and I am ready for the weekend. I have also been allowing myself to scan the news once per day for ten minutes, in case you want to try that technique. It keeps me moderately informed but tempers the anxiety a bit. Let’s have a little randomosity instead of thinking about The News.
- I Am Really Terrible at Giveaways! You may or may not recall that I planned a little baking giveawayback in, oh, 2024. As with gift giving, I have lots of enthusiasm for thinking about giving and then I run out of steam with the actual giving part. Anyway, the winner of the rolling pin is Michelle G. from MG Doodle Studio! Yay! Michelle, I hope the rolling pin helps inspire many fun and delicious baking projects.
- Fleece Lined Leggings. Due to the cold this winter, I have discovered that my threshold for walking outside is 20F. I can do it at 18F, but it takes longer for me to feel warm and my face is always numb and immobile at the end. Is there such a thing as a hooded sweatshirt that has, like, a pull-up face warmer thing? If so I would like to own one. Anyway, my favorite leggings for walking in the cold are fleece-lined leggings from Athleta. (Are we saying “athLEEta,” like “athlete” or are we saying “athLEHta” like “sweat-ah”? I say the former and my daughter is constantly correcting me with a tone like I am the most embarrassing person in the world.) After an encounter with one of the neighborhood puppies, my leggings now have a hole in the thigh. This was enough of a slight for me to tell my husband I NEEDED new leggings, but the Athleta ones were out of stock, so I bought my first ever pair of Lululemon leggings, these fleece-lined running tights. The Lulu tights are everything Nicole has been saying and more – they are comfortable, they are warm, they are fitted rather than bootcut (hard no), they stay up, which has been a big problem for me with my beloved Athleta leggings (except for the fleece ones – those do not fold up beneath my jelly roll). But… they are not quite as warm as the Athleta fleece leggings. I can wear those for hours and stay warm. I can “play” in the snow with Carla in just my jacket (also from Athleta) and those leggings and be roasty toasty the whole time. Maybe I just bought the wrong pair of Lulu fleece leggings? They also have these thermal tights… not that I can tell at all how they differ from the running tights. Or these adaptive state fleece joggers (although I look terrible in joggers, so I am resistant to these). Maybe I need to expand my search criteria? These Title 9 fleece lined tights popped up in some articles about “the best fleece lined leggings,” they don’t get great reviews on amazon, but ooooh you can buy them straight from Title 9 and they DO get great reviews there. These Arc’teryx leggings also show up on searches for high quality fleece leggings, although they are just as pricy as the Lulu option. L.L. Bean has a version of fleece leggings at a more appealing (to me) price, but the pant is mid-rise, not high-rise and it looks like a lot of sizes are sold out. I suppose for now I will continue wearing my Athleta pants, complete with hole (yes, I realize I could sew it up or patch it but those things are beyond my capacity; I am barely making it out on a walk at all please don’t give me another assignment) and the Lulu pants on slightly warmer days.
- Height. I kind of go around assuming all my Internet friends (that’s you, dearie) are approximately the same age and height that I am. I don’t know why this is. But recently I saw a photo of someone I’ve never met in real life, and I was shocked because she looks at LEAST 5’10”. I am somewhere in the 5’5” to 5’7” range, myself. (In fact, I refused to be weighed at the doctor the other day which meant I was also refusing to be heighted and the medical assistant asked, “Are you 5’7”?” and I said, “Something like that” which I am only just now realizing is not a helpful comment when someone is trying to record my actual physical statistics.) Anyway, what I want to know now is: How tall are you? The likelihood that I will promptly forget and go back to thinking you are in the 5’5” to 5’7” range is high, but I’m curious.
- Smoothie Cupdate: One of my longings over the past couple of years has been for a travel cup for my daily smoothies. It would be so nice to drink them in the car! Or take them to meetings for the group I volunteer with in a vessel that does not imply I am guzzling alcohol at eight o’clock on a school day. (I may or may not have, in desperation, brought my smoothie in something similar to this to a recent meeting.) But I am very picky. I hate straws – HATE – so I don’t want anything with a straw. I cannot stand plastic cups. I cannot stand handwashing things. So my ideal smoothie cup would be dishwasher safe, non-plastic, straw-free. I got TWO smoothie cups for Christmas, which was such a delight! The first one is this Simple Modern affair, which comes with a straw but also comes with a “chug lid.” The second is exactly what I had in my mind’s eye when I pictured The Ideal Smoothie Cup, although it is plastic. I will have to see if it bothers me. The double-walled heavy-duty material feels less like plastic than any of the sporting-events plastic cups we have around the house, so it will probably be just fine.
- Speaking of Holiday Hits: A sleeper hit in our household was this last minute surprise my husband and I got Carla for Hanukkah. We were wasting time in Dick’s for a couple hours (yes) until picking up our kid from a sleepunder and he spotted a rack of sweatsuits and thought she might like one. Sure, I thought. Why not. We got her a pink Nike matching oversized sweatshirt and sweatpants. It turned out to be one of her favorite gifts of all. She’s worn it pretty much non-stop. I kind of want to get her another one.
- Milk Magic: I have long bemoaned Carla’s dislike of milk slash anything with protein or calcium. But I think I have finally
trickedpersuaded her to drink milk through the magic of Starbucks. Apparently, the sixth grade set is big on Starbucks, and some of them bring drinks to school with them. Which of course prompts my kid to want Starbucks of her own. Because I am a Mean Mom, I made a rule: you can only get Starbucks if you get a steamer. A steamer is PURE MILK. Well. Sometimes with a splash of sugary flavoring, but still: MILK. Calories and calcium and protein. So Carla complies with this rule. And, since I only allow her to get Starbucks once a month (again, Mean Mom), she has begun requesting steamers at home. My husband has a fancy Nespresso machine that makes steamers and he’ll make them for her on the weekend. On weekdays, I make her hot cocoa. The kid won’t drink chocolate milk, but warm the milk up and add cocoa powder and mini marshmallows and voila! She’s all over that. Thirteen grams of protein, thirty percent of her daily calcium, we’re completely ignoring the sugar.
- The Book: Sixth grade is not just about Starbucks. It is a strange new world, let me tell you. These kids are into ALL the grownup stuff. For instance, I feel like curse words have become very interesting to Carla’s friends. (I have no problem with curse words in the right context.) Another example is The Book. Carla expressed an interest in reading a few very specific books recently, so my husband and I took her to Barnes & Noble. I am never going to refuse a request to READ. (Also, The Book was not available at the library, we did look there first.) Carla made some comments that implied maybe her friends would be surprised that I would approve of this book. It had some trigger warnings for some Adult Topics, but I am wary of censoring books from my kid. (There are surely exceptions, I just haven’t come across them.) Carla read it in about a day and loved it and then she gave it to me so I could read it. Simultaneously, one of my mom friends mentioned The Book, and that kids were passing it around and reading it in the bathroom, which I find SO charming. Of all the things to sneak around doing, reading has to be the most wholesome. Anyway, I have finished The Book and it is… very adult. And I disagree with some of the messaging, for sure, but it’s rife with topics I now have an easy opening to discuss with Carla. But it made me wonder: did you have The Book when you were a tween/teen? I vaguely remember It being passed around my eighth grade classes because there was a sex scene in it. But since I was reading Scruples I wasn’t particularly fazed.
Well, that’s it for me, Internet. I hope you are staying warm and dealing with All the News as well as can be expected.
Dorothy got a NIke sweat suit with a matching sports bra, and she lives in it and wears it for dance minus the sweatshirt. Love it! Also, I got her a pair of Lulu leggings for her dance team uniform, and they are so flattering I am buying a pair for myself. Like, she looks noticeably cuter and more fit in them than in her Athleta ones, and she is a tiny little perfect human specimen, so imagine what they can do for meeeeeeeeeeee who needs ALL OF THE HELP. Also it’s ath-leh-ta I’m pretty sure.
Thanks for the pronunciation clarification – although it irritates me to not be LEE. Please report back on the leggings!
I remember two The Books: Forever, by Judy Blume; and Flowers in the Attic, by V. C. Andrews.
I am absolutely on board with the idea of ignoring whatever add-ins it takes to get the kid to eat the nutritious thing. Chocolate milk / hot chocolate: YES.
I wonder why Judy Blume wasn’t bigger with my classmates? She’s so fabulous. I didn’t read any of her adult books until recently – like within the last five years.
Hi Suzanne! Wow! I’m so excited about winning the rolling pin! Thank you so much! ❤️ I can’t wait to bake something!
🥰
Being a curious type, I’d love to know what The Book actually is. (or did I miss something?) I read “The Godfather” when I was young and it was too adult for me. I had nightmares about the horse head. I’m grateful that my parents never censored my reading though. I didn’t do so with my girls either although I did restrict their film watching. No R rated movies until they were much older. I’m sure they snuck some at friends’ houses though. Oh, well.
The Book is If He Had Been with Me by Laura Nowlin 😊
I am opposed to R rated movies, too.
Judy Blume’s Summer Sisters! Was probably not ideal for the 12-13 year old set, but I remember discussing it in fervent whispers at tennis camp! My parents were fairly strict about what we watched on tv, and my mom didn’t love Seventeen Magazine, but I was left alone to read whatever book I could get my hands on!
I never really went to sleepaway camp but I bet is a great source of book recs! Love Judy Blume so much.
Yep, Forever by Judy Blume was The Book for us! Now i’m curious about the one you’re talking about- I might have to check it out.
Once when I was in Athleta I asked one of the people working there how it’s pronounced, and they said “Ath-leht-a.” I guess they could be wrong, but I’m going with that.
I want one of those oversized sweathshirts!!! And… I’m 5’7″ 🙂
It was a quick read, Jenny! I listened to it on audio and it was just fine. Apparently there is a sequel from the main boy’s perspective and my kid enjoyed that one too. I’m not super excited about reading ANOTHER book like this one, but if she wants me to read it, I will.
Thank you for the definitive ruling on Athleta’s pronunciation. I am disappointed but glad to know.
WELCOME TO THE LULULEMON FAMILY!!!! I am SO excited. Honestly, their stuff lasts forever and THE WAIST STAYS UP.
I have never heard of the book, but that’s probably because I have no young tweens in the house. And the funny thing is that I just got Flowers in the Attic from the library to reread. I read it illicitly when I was like 11 or 12. Hoo boy. Cannot wait to read this psychotic novel. Also, Clan of the Cave Bear. Forever was a book I also read but because Judy Blume was so popular for the younger set back then, no one really thought twice about it. To be totally honest my mom didn’t know what I was reading most of the time (ROMANCING THE STONE!) because I had a much-younger brother and she’d probably just given up by then. Oooh Sweet Valley High, I just thought of that too. I had a friend whose mother would not allow her to read any of that “junk” which just meant she was reading it on the sly.
I’m 5’7″! Sister! I was 5’7″ by the time I was in grade 7, which was terribly awkward, but now I’m so happy to be that height. It’s easy to buy clothes that don’t need to be hemmed or lengthened, I find. I mean, sometimes sleeves are short because I have long arms, but pants are so often sold by length now.
Everyone shits on sugar, and sure, it’s not great for you, but if it helps get the medicine down, so to speak, then who cares. WHO CARES?? I’d much rather have my kid have milk with cocoa and marshmallows and sugar than no milk at all.
Yes, WHO CARES Nicole! That’s the attitude I am taking with me!
I was whatever height I am in sixth grade! Awkward middle school tall girl twinsies!!!! I am not typically too fussed about being this height, but once in a while I think how nice it might be to be shorter or taller.
Depending on the doctor I go to, I am either 5’4″, 5’4 1/2″, or 5’5″. My favorite doctor is the one who said I am 5’5″, but that was a one time thing so I suspect I’m really 5’4″. When do we start shrinking? I’m 59, so maybe I’m not even 5’4″ anymore. THANK YOU for thinking I’m taller than I am, please think of me at 5’7″, as that is my ideal height.
When I was in 6th grade, THE BOOK was Forever, by Judy Bloom. We all got it from the bookmobile that went to neighborhoods that were not walking distance to the library. A few years ago I read that the reason she wrote the book was that her daughter wanted a story where a girl had sex without having horrible consequences. No VD, no unplanned pregnancy, just the emotions of that first serious relationship. I remember a girl on the school bus telling me that when she read certain parts of the book, it made her feel like she had to pee. I guess we were pretty innocent back then. I don’t think any girl who read Forever went on to name her son Ralph. (IYKYK)
Also, please think of my as looking like my little avatar picture that pops up. That was taken at my 40th birthday party, which was just a few weeks after I started my blog back in 2005.
Also, *Blume* not Bloom. Sorry to clog up your comments. 🙂
That is exactly how I think of you!!!!
Hahahaha – I forgot about Ralph!
Maybe I need to recommend Forever to my kid and it will become the new Book????
The Book they are currently reading has not one but TWO unplanned pregnancies, and they both turn out happily ever after for everyone involved, which… seems like a limited viewpoint of the situation.
OK, you was an update on how the doctor visit went! Did you get through all of your questions and concerns? Did they do bloodwork? I might just text you to get the details because I’m nosy and curious like that! And I want your concerns to be at it quickly handled! I am 5’7”!
I have to know, what is a sleep under? Is that a regional term for a sleepover or something different?
Because I’m not hip at all, I say Athleta the wrong way or the way you do. Can’t wait for my kids to start correcting me. Not. (And I’m showing how not hip I’m not by using the word ‘not’ like it’s still the 80s or something.) I would say the hip book of my youth was maybe the flowers in the attic series? I gobbled those up which in hindsight is kind of creepy since they’re about incest lol.
LOL – I will write an update on the health stuff, I promise.
A sleep under is a term for kids who are invited to a sleepover but don’t want to spend the night. (Or, as in my case, the parents don’t want their kids to spend the night. I have a lot of anxiety about sleepovers.) They can last however long the parents agree is okay; we picked Carla up at around eleven from her last sleep under.
YESSSS. AthLEEta is the way to be! Let’s stay wrong together.
My kid says, “No,” in the most sarcastic voice possible, which kind of seems like her version of “not”? It’s not directly translatable though.
Oh, I like the idea of a sleep under! I remember how much of a jerk I was when I would come back to sleep sleepovers as a child since I would barely sleep. That sounds like a much better set up.
OK, I’m waiting with bated breath for this health update!!! I hope you were delighted by the physician!
I need new leggings, so enjoyed the rundown of different options.
Oversized EVERYTHING is in these day (apparently, girls are now buying very large jeans and tying them up WITH SHOELACES for belts). I don’t hate the trend. It makes it easier to find my daughter clothes that fit and modesty is basically a given since everything looks like a flowing paper sack. Fashion trends are hilarious.
High rise is God’s gift to women. I love, love, love high rise. With my hips, they are the only way to go!
High rise is THE BEST. I feel so tucked in and warm.
I love that you are walking around assuming I’m 5’7. Sorry to disappoint, I’m somewhere around 5’0 – 5’1.
Sugar is not evil. If that’s what it takes to get Carla to drink milk; so what? It’s not the end of the world.
My mother didn’t really censor my reading so I guess my Book; would have probably been Flowers in the Attic. I never really censored my son’s reading either (I wonder what his Book was?) because I’m of the mind that reading is reading and reading is fundamental. Plus, as you said, you now have a perfect gateway to certain important conversations.
Yes, reading is reading! And now I am wondering what The Book is for the boy set! Do you think they have A Book??? I know lots of boys in Carla’s grade who are avid readers, so it seems possible.
I am distraught about the news, and so I am just going with what I see my friends posting on Zukc’s Evil Social Media which I cannot quit right now.
I need to buy one set of tights (with feet) to wear with a dress. I have spent so much money on tights that do not fit me or fit at first and then slouch down. So I am stuck because I don’t want to spend any more money which means I can’t try any new brand.
I love steamed milk! But everyone else I know thinks it’s gross.
Dress tights are such a scam! They are a winter necessity and so hard to find and so expensive and I ALWAYS run them. Always. So I am sending you my condolences as you search for your tights.
Mini bought fleece lined leggings to wear with a skirt when she went to Florence. It looked like I was seeing her flesh thru the leggings, I was like, Wait? Huh? She explained that they were made look like she’s just wearing tights. Oh, hang on. These were fleece lined tights, not leggings. OK, I’m not deleting, because this is just proof that I’m old and uncool. But, since I’ve changed the topic – have you seen these fleece lined tights? They’re very convincing but warm. I guess. I cannot weigh in on the fleece lined leggings. I run outside but it needs to be around 40F, maybe 35. I just wear regular running tights, but the slow pace of my job manages to keep me warm, believe it or not. By the way, I’m close to 5’10” ,but I’m old (see above) and I’m pretty sure I’ve shrunk. Hooray for the milk drinking in whatever form that takes. I’ve not heard of this book. Don’t you love a gift that is such a hit and wasn’t even something they begged for. Oh, I say Athleta the same way as you, so your kid would be correcting me too. I don’t say it very often though, because I don’t shop there much. I find what I need to Von Maur usually. 😉
It was a super brrr week for us. School was closed for two days, and since #2 is a senior we keep joking that each snow day could be his last.
My company is having an in person meetup soon, and the thing that I am dying to know is how tall my coworkers are! Because of my job I already know how old they are and how much money they make, so it’s the last thing to learn about them. I’m 5’5″ if I really stretch, and I would not have minded being just a little bit taller.
The boys were very solidly into Harry Potter so there wasn’t a lot to censor, but I just can’t imagine putting a no on what they were reading. I grew up in a reading house, where the library card was a ticket to the world. I started reading adult books in middle school, and sure there were plenty of things that I didn’t understand but also some important ideas that I picked up.
I’d like to think I’m 5’10, but I’m 5’5 at the most. 🙂
I’m glad Carla likes her matchy sweatsuit, they seem to be all the rage, and I love that they’re so comfy. I prefer seeing my young people in them rather than in the hole-y jeans they were wearing through Michigan winters last year.
I’m not censoring any books, but I think “the book” for us in high school was “Lace.” We passed it around like true contraband. My parents were kind of innocent in retrospect–if it was hardback and from the library they kind of assumed it was literary, so I consumed tons of literary porn.
Chances are, you are the most embarrassing person on Earth, because she’s 11 and you’re her mom.
I’m 5’2″ and not the shortest person in the family, that would be North, at 5’1″. Even Noah is only 5’8″.
Steamers at Starbucks. That makes me nostalgic. North drinks coffee now but Noah doesn’t care for it, so he gets the warm caramel apple cider in the cold months and iced tea/lemonade in the warm ones.
I’m 5’5, so we’re probably the same height. I have noticed I’ve been shrinking a bit—pre-menopause, I was 5’6.
I say Ath-leta too. I never thought about pronouncing it Athlete-a, but that actually makes more sense! I love their clothing.
The Book! Aww, Carla is growing up so fast. That made me think of my generation’s version of The Book, which was Forever. ❤️
Hi! Daria from momofchildren.com
I am gawking at how expensive those fleece leggings are… I actually do need a couple. I want outside to be a daily habit but it’s been so cold that I haven’t gone.
Also, for many years I thought I am 5’9’’ until I got measured at the doctors office- turns out I am 5’7’’ 😬
Okay, okay. So I pronounce it Athleta, like chedda, haha, or, or, let the dog out. Let me tell you, not LEET like sleet. But I am definitely not cool. I am in France and have been saying Al-say-ce instead of Al-sauce (Alsace) and I got told the other day. Oops. I blame my je ne sais quoi!
Also I am in the 5’5″ to 5’7″ camp so you pegged me perfectly! I think the average is probably around there so you have a high chance of being right if you just assume everyone is that tall.
Also, I have been looking for a pair of leggings that don’t fall down, but am not ready to take the Lulu plunge. Those suckers are expensive! Plus I have backpacks and Smartwool socks to buy instead. There is always something!
Not to be the “well, actually” guy, but the average height of women in the US is 5’4″, so that range is definitely above average. I feel like a normal sized lady, but I am definitely taller than most women I meet!
I can not remember any book with that secrecy or impact in my teenage years to be honest. I just read whatever I wanted and what I came across. But apparently it is a thing these days….
And since you are curious I am 5’6” at least that is what google made of my height in your measurements…
I’m just a smidge under 5’7″. Most bloggers I have met make me feel like a giant.
I have a couple pair of fleece-lined tights and they’re fine, but if it’s really cold, I just pull on a pair of snow pants to walk the dog. Or I wear SmartWool base layers under my regular pants. But since I mostly wear dresses/tunics, I am a lady who wears snow pants. It’s easier!
A hearty hurrah for anything like the steamed milk here that gets a slightly restricted eater to add in more nutrients – the little bit of added sugar is far outweighed by the calcium and other goodness!
I seem to be a bit of an outlier amongst your readers so far and am just over 6ft – I also find a lot of things like lovely fleecy leggings to be just too short to be properly toasty, whatever the pronunciation of their manufacturer! 😫😢😄
I was about to yell NICOLE’S REREADING FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC, I figured she probably would have told you first, lol. I’m not sure I know what The Book was other than that. I have not heard of this The Book, but I let Eve read anything she felt like she could handle. My mom didn’t really have any idea what I was reading, and I don’t think it would have occurred to her to gatekeep any of it.
Totally agree, give her the milk, who cares about the sugar. Someone in my book club said “well sugar is evil, we all know that” and I was like hold up now, don’t frigging include me in that we.
I find fleece leggings too hot – big shock, I know. I think the ones I got Eve were just Costco. I buy Angus Lululemon but I have in my head that they are nasty fatphobes who don’t make clothes for me – I haven’t bothered to verify that recently, though, so I could be unfairly maligning them. I feel like they can probably take it.
I am 5’ 7”, so you hit the nail on the head for me! And I am indulging in heeled boots and wedge sneakers and platforms and what have you, currently- so in shoes I appear taller now. My husband was 5’10” so I was always considerate about the heel height I wore… but now I am resolved to take up ALL the space I can for as long as I can… I guess we all need goals? Or mild distractions. Something.
I remember reading some Stephen King and Dean Koonz I was much too young for, and this one Piers Anthony that was just straight up porn- was it Firefly? Whatever it was I gladly dropped it back off at the library and never told a soul about it. How that dude got it published I’ll never know.
Only leggings I can handle are 100% bamboo ones, and they are far from warm, but all others irritate my skin these days. So I don’t wear many leggings once it gets really cold- they’re more fall fare for me.
The Book for me was definitely Flowers In the Attic. I feel like it was even earlier, like 5th or 6th grade. Scandalous. I think about that book now and have no interest in that kind of subject. I love that you aren’t censoring Carla’s reading. As the mom of a boy, I will report that in my experience, they were not at all interested in illicit (romance) reading. Reading was for fantasy/escape/graphic novel/hacker-type stuff (my kid loved The 39 Clues, Percy Jackson, Maze Runner, etc.)
I am 5’2″ and I say “Ath-leh-ta” (although I admit I’ve never bought myself either that brand OR Lulu. My daughter, of course, has a TON of Lulu – it’s practically all she wore for her first 2 years of high school lol).
I like your mean mom approach to calcium intake a la Star$. Well done. I am 5’6″ tall so in your height range. I’ve never thought about how short or tall any blogger might be. Why has this opportunity to be curious escaped me?
Okay, so here’s the thing. I used to be 5’7″. That was where I stopped when I was growing and being measured regularly. And I have continued to think I was 5’7″ and I have answered that whenever anyone has asked me for the last twenty years (including at all my doctors- they have just trusted me instead of checking for themselves.) Well, then Elizabeth started growing in height and getting really close to my height. But she was only measuring in at 5’5″ when people started to say “she’s nearly got you.” So I measured myself and I HAVE SHRUNK. If I try my hardest, I can come up to a bit above 5’6″ but I’m probably walking around at 5’5.5″ on a good day. Alas. But anyway, I fit nicely into your imagined range for me, whether it is my true height or the lies I have been telling myself apparently.
And now Ryan is almost taller than me. We haven’t checked in a few weeks. He probably is taller than me now.
SCRUPLES. I stole it from my mom when I was a teenager. So risque (at the time) – I must have read it and its sequel Scruples Too a dozen times.
I love that they are sneaking a book too! I don’t remember one like that when I was a kid. But I was SUPER unpopular so it was likely happening and I had no clue LOL.
I am “5’8” in the morning,” which means I’m as close to 5’7” as 5’8” at the end of the day, after gravity has had its way with me. The last time they measured me at the doctor she said 5’7” and I said, no I’m not. Don’t write that. But I think she did. I keep telling myself I was slouching, and I’m not shrinking yet (I’m only 44!)
I am too cheap for Lululempn; but my mom got me a pair of dance pants from there over 10 years ago and I still wear them! I do Athleta only on deep discount. My big splurge for comfy clothes is Vuori. I have many of their super soft joggers.
I hope you find a smoothie cup you love. I have been looking for the perfect coffee travel tumbler, but I don’t know if it exists.
I buy waaaayyyy too much at Athleta. Love it!
They had the best ever polartec leggings and joggers a year or so ago. Now the same line is no longer polartec…booo! If you search eBay for Athleta polartec and either joggings or leggings some will pop up (usually nwt but from an outlet or something). I wear the joggers in particular all winter long and can happily be outsider in them even when it’s super chilly (and I HATE the cold).
I love finding out people’s heights. I am 5’2 so I’m forever shorter than everyone around me. I’d love to go through a growth spurt (at 37, ha) so I could redistribute my weight a bit, ha.
Ooh, my friend read that book you mentioned because it was such a big tiktok sensation. I don’t think she liked it but adults are obviously not the demographic here, right?!?! That’s for the younger generation, haha.
I know Judy Blume books were definitely censored, although my mom let me read them. She didn’t like me reading Sweet Valley High, though. And I definitely wasn’t allowed to read Harry Potter, but that was an evangelical Christian thing – wizards and witches, that’s demonic! Sigh.
I remembered more stuff I wanted to say! Now i’m forgetting most of it again. I was going to room with a blogger I only knew online the one time I went to Blogger, but she was coming to Toronto in my province a few months before, and I was going to be visiting a friend nearby, so I drove into the city to have lunch with her. I saw her and idiotically said “oh. You’re tall.”
I’ve never SAID Athleta, but in my head it’s letta not leeta.
The Book reminds me of myself and my friends at that age, and it was all about Judy Blume!
I’m barely 5’3. Ok, maybe I’m 5’2. I don’t mind being weighed or heighted (is that a word?). I remember years ago realizing a blog friend of mine was shorter than me and I’d always thought she was like 5’7—she looked tall in photos. I think I imagined you being about 5’6, so maybe that is the correct height for you. 🤣
I love how clever you are with Carla and the Starbucks milk!
Fleece-lined leggins are awesome and I wear them here in the winter, even though it never gets below freezing LOL
I am 5’7″ btw 🙂 Oh and I love that you tricked Carla into drinking steamers – I think the steamed part does the magic! Or maybe that it’s warm and sweet and comfy.