Sunday Scratches #43

Sunday Scratches is where I share the little stuff that has happened throughout the week. In hockey, “scratches” are people who are on the roster but do not play in the game. On the blog, “scratches” are the things that have happened to me throughout the week that aren’t necessarily big enough to be an entire post.

Please note, this post may contain affiliate links that I could make a commission off of. Learn more.

Happy Sunday! And even better, happy Sunday-of-a-long-weekend! Sean and I are celebrating our first anniversary tomorrow, and we’ve been able to turn it into a weekend-long celebration. Here are the scratches!

The Week in Review

Last weekend, I mentioned that I was donating blood in order to find out my blood type. And I’m happy to report I didn’t pass out, and on Friday I found out my blood type! I’m A+.

On Monday, I went to the library to pick up 3 books I had on hold: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, White Rage by Carol Anderson, and When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago. I have officially transitioned from books about the Holocaust to books about racism. And when I posted about them on Instagram Stories, my friend Kelsey recommended I check out The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, so I’m waiting for that one to be ready for me.

I started reading The Hate U Give this week, and I keep going back and forth between “wanting to read it because it’s so good” to “needing to put it down because it makes me so mad.” I just have to say this: Black lives matter. It’s really not that complicated.

On a happier note, when Sean and I got married last year, we made the conscious decision not to freeze our cake. It was so delicious that we didn’t want to waste any of it when we knew it wouldn’t taste good after a year in the freezer. So we ate the whole thing and said we’d reorder the exact same cake on our first anniversary. And luckily, we moved back to Michigan, which means the place we ordered it from is only an hour away! On Friday I drove up to Grand Rapids to pick up our cake from The Cakabakery, and it was such a good decision.

Yesterday we hit up Gonzo’s BiggDogg for dinner and got another stamp on our Give a Craft Brewery Passport!

And today, we’re hitting up a double feature with some tacos in between! Because we have the AMC Stubs A-List membership, we get to see 3 movies every week, and our local AMC just brought back The Incredibles 2 and Jurassic World, so we’re seeing both today!

The Links

There are so many sales going on right now! Normally I don’t take advantage, but this time was different. I love the Teddie Sweater from JCrew Factory, and they’re currently on sale for only $22 each, so I got 4 more colors. No shame.

I also bought something what wasn’t on sale, but I have no regrets. Since moving back to Michigan, I’ve realized I don’t really have a good winter coat. It’s been fine because northern Kentucky got so little snow, but on the west coast of Michigan, I’m definitely going to need something better. Since The North Face has an awesome partnership with Girl Scouts, I decided to go with a jacket from there! I got the Carto Triclimate 3-in-1 jacket and I’m so excited for winter now!

This makes me wish I lived closer to San Antonio! Did you know you can adopt puppies who failed TSA training?

This checklist is so helpful now that I’m a homeowner.

I so appreciated this article. “I try to remember that my life and my day job are my priorities. Side hustling will always come third, and that’s ok.”

A really good, thought-provoking article from Sarah!

FINALLY. Someone sets the record straight: plaid and flannel are not the same thing.

I loved this explanation of compound interest!

Articles about the struggles black women face in the workplace just make me mad. And more motivated to help however I can.

This interview with Caitlin Riggsbee was so interesting! And not just because she has the best first name.

I really appreciated this post from Amber about the struggles she faced this summer. It’s really important to hear some of those behind-the-scenes snippets from your favorite bloggers.

A really helpful website checklist!

Yessss. Build white space into your day!

Learning about the Zeigarnik Effect has helped me make so much sense of my tendencies.