Fall Events!
I signed up for a variety of new events this year. My spring events were all cancelled, but at this point the fall events are still a go (you can see the full lineup here). I’ve heard from the organizers of the first two events (both hosted by branches of the Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce – and outdoor events) in the last week. The Farewell to Summer event in September will take place on the Triangle in Emmaus and they’re planning on roping the area off and limiting attendance inside the Triangle to no more than 250 people (vendors included). In thinking about fall events, these are the precautions that I’ll be putting in place to keep myself and event attendees safe.
1. I will be masked during the event.
2. I will be asking attendees who are not wearing their mask properly to adjust it.
3. I will wear gloves when I bag orders and handle money, changing them in between guests.
4. I will have gloves available for guests who would like to use them to handle my products.
5. I will have hand sanitizer available for myself and guests to use.
I truly love selling at in-person events – I like the interaction with customers and being able to talk about my products. I am ready to approach the fall season with optimism and a lot of caution!
Checking in!
I certainly did not intend for it to be so long between blog posts. As strange as this summer is, it certainly seems to be flying by! We’re spending our days going to the pool, kids have a short list of things they need to get done every day (reading, some math review, chores, etc).
We have hit that point of the summer where we all start looking forward to the start of the school year. Our district is offering modified in-person instruction or online instruction through virtual academy that they’ve been hosting for many years. The in-person instruction includes half of the alphabet attending Monday/Tuesday, everyone online Wednesday and the end of the alphabet (where my kids are) attending Thursday/Friday. My husband and I have also opted out of bus transportation this year, so we’ll be driving the kids to school. I’m very thankful that I have the flexibility to be able to support my kids through this type of schedule and I absolutely recognize that not everyone does. I think it will be a few weeks into the new year before we all get the hang of this schedule. I know I will need to continue to make adjustments to my schedules (but I’m thankful the kids will be around to help with chores more!). I’m praying that the return to school goes well. I’m fearful of a new (continued?) outbreak in September and October in Pennsylvania.
One thing that I’ve sort of lost sight of during the last 6 months (can you believe it’s been almost 6 months since this started?!) is how I take care of myself. Even though there are no races on the schedule, I’m continuing to work with my coach and getting my workouts done (for the most part…). I have been staying up too late and then wondering why I’m always so tired. One more thing that is key for me to feeling well is my water intake. I know when I wake up nauseous and with a raging headache that I’m underhydrated.
As far as business… I have no idea. I have a bunch of fall events that I’m looking forward to, but do not know if any of them will happen. I do have some really cute new products coming out and I have some products for teens and adults in the works too! I’m always open to feedback and input about what you’d like to see from Gingersnaps Bows or how we can better serve you… reach out anytime to sarah@gingersnapsbows.com
Have a great week!
Reading Update – July 14
For the last 3-4 years I’ve set my reading goal in Goodreads to the last two numbers of the year (so 17 in 2017, 18 in 2018, etc). I did this when my reading life was struggling as a way to challenge myself. So naturally I set this year’s goal at 20 and I hit it on Sunday!
I’ve written before about a couple of reading challenges I’m taking part in this year. I started off the year with the Modern Mrs. Darcy 2020 Reading Challenge. I hit that one hard in the early months of the year, but shifted gears around May for two reasons. She released her Summer Reading Challenge around mid-month (which was to be my plan for the summer), but then I made a personal shift to better educate myself on racial issues and have been tracking my reading using this google doc.
So… here’s where I am!
MMD 2020 Reading Challenge (I filled in the books I’ve already read):
A book published in the decade you were born – The Bluest Eye, Toni Morrison
A debut novel: Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng
A book recommended by a source you trust:
A book by a local author – Mrs. Everything, Jennifer Weiner (from Philadelphia)
A book outside your (genre) comfort zone: 11/22/63, Steven King
A book in translation – The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupery
A book nominated for an award in 2020
A re-read – Acts of Faith, Erich Segal
A classic you didn’t read in school
Three books by the same author – Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, JK Rowling
MMD Summer Reading Challenge:
Big Summer – Jennifer Weiner (I love Jennifer Weiner but this book just didn’t do it for me)
My own personal challenge:
I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness – Austin Channing Brown (this book was excellent)
The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas
So You Want to Talk About Race – Ijeoma Oluo (this is a great first book if you’re looking for a place to dive in)
White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism – Robin DeAngelo
Other books read this year:
The Year of No Nonsense: How to Get Over Yourself and On with Your Own Life – Meredith Atwood
Life’s Too Short to Go So F*cking Slow: Lessons from an Epic Friendship That Went the Distance – Susan Lacke
Untamed – Glennon Doyle
Rage Against the Minivan: Learning to Parent Without Perfection – Kristen Howerton
Rodham – Curtis Sittenfeld (LOVED)
The Queen’s Secret: A Novel of England’s World War II Queen – Karen Harper
Our Week Away – Where, Why and How
Where & Why:
We are home from our trip to the Midwest! My husband is from Wisconsin originally and his whole family still lives there. We have been planning for more than 6 months to go out to celebrate my niece’s first birthday, and in May we decided that we were going to stick with our plan. Several factors went into this decision.
1. We were driving – it’s a 14 hour trip to Milwaukee. We typically split up the drive over two days (which we did this time too) but if something happened or if we didn’t feel comfortable staying in a hotel, we could drive straight through.
2. One of the houses across the street from my BIL/SIL is an AirBnb, and we rented the top floor of the duplex for the week (we typically stay in a hotel when we’re out there). This ended up being the biggest blessing. It was so nice to have a home base so close to our family. We could all get some downtime when we needed it (or when the baby was sleeping), and the kids had a good amount of freedom while we were there. They knew they could go back and forth between our duplex and their cousin’s house as they wanted to. Honestly most days I don’t even think they wore shoes!
I found Wisconsin’s safety guidelines to be a lot like Pennsylvania’s… Masks were required at stores, no inside dining available, most tourist attractions weren’t open. We did stop for dinner in Indiana on the way out, and then stopped for gas. The restaurant was only seating every other table, but there were no signs about mask use anywhere. Yikes.
How:
We’ve been fortunate to have traveled a lot with our kids over the years, and there are three things I always do when we’re packing or traveling:
1. Kids pack outfits for each day in gallon ziplock bags. A full set of clothes goes in each bag – including socks & underwear, Audrey adds hair accessories to hers. Then each morning the kids just pull a bag of clothes from their suitcase and put on everything in it. This method makes our mornings go much smoother and gives the kids responsibility over getting dressed. And we don’t end up the end of the week with mismatched outfits from them digging through their suitcases putting together their own outfits. And yes, I do save and reuse the bags!
2. I pack 2-3 mesh laundry bags on each trip. At the end of the day dirty clothes are put in a laundry bag just like they would be put in a hamper at home. This keeps our hotel room/AirBnb tidy, because with 5 people in our family the laundry adds up fast! At the end of our trip the laundry bags get loaded into the car and then goes right to the laundry room when the car is unpacked. I do also pack the laundry bags when we fly somewhere on vacation. At the end of those trips the dirty clothes get loaded into 1-2 suitcases.
3. As I mentioned earlier, we had two one-night stays on our way to and from Wisconsin. For those nights, I pack a duffel bag with one change of clothes, one set of pajamas per person and our toiletry bags. That way when we get to the hotel, we don’t have to unload the entire car for a short stay… just the duffel bag comes in with us.
What tips makes your family’s travel easier?
A Pivot in my Summer Reading
As a big fan of the Modern Mrs. Darcy blog and the What Should I Read Next podcast, my original pan for this summer was to use her Summer Reading Guide to enjoy some new releases in categories I might not usually read. I still absolutely recommend this option if that’s your speed. But right now it’s just not where my heart is. The recent strengthening of the social justice movement has really hit home. It’s time for me to stop living in my white privilege bubble and read, learn and take action to make this world a better place. That also includes educating and having conversations with my children.
I compiled all of the reading recommendations that I’ve gotten from friends and seen on social media into a google document. I’m sharing this document (here) as a read-only because you’ll see that I have columns of notes for myself. Feel free to make a copy to use for your own purposes. I’ll continue to share my reading progress here. I’m in the middle of So you Want to Talk about Race and I have a few books for my kids that should arrive early this week that I’ll read next before I pass them off to them. A group of friends from my college sorority will also be reading How to be an Antiracist together so we can talk about it. My reading will also include fiction by non-white authors.
I’ve heard from friends who are POC that they’re afraid that white people like myself will stop at reading about these issues and not take action. I understand that fear and take it to heart. I know for myself that I need to be educated on an issue before I take action. I also understand that there are small steps I can take now. To that end, I will be choosing an organization to donate 50% of all sales in July and will match that with a personal donation. More on this to come!
How has this issue affected you and what steps are you taking?
Weekly Menu Plan – May 17, 2020
Weekly Menu Plan – May 17, 2020
Saturday I did my every two weeks grocery shopping. I had my list, but was delighted to also find cherries at Costco! We made this cherry pie that afternoon (I didn’t make my own crust), and it was DELICIOUS!! I love summer fruits and vegetables and cherries are always the first sign that the season is starting!
I always start menu planning by doing a quick freezer and pantry inventory and then asking my family what they’d like to eat. They have pretty standard answers, but I made a list of them to get started. I was feeling very stuck when it came time to rounding out the list, so I grabbed a cookbook off my shelf that I knew I hadn’t used in a while. The book I picked was Dinner: A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach and you’ll see a few of her recipes on this week’s list (I’ve marked them with the appropriate page numbers).
Here’s what we’re eating this week:
Saturday: Ham and Roast vegetables with Polenta (pg. 60-61)
Sunday: Chicken kabobs and corn on the cob, roasted potatoes
Monday: Salad bar
Tuesday: Steak fajitas
Wednesday: Pork tenderloin & pierogies
Thursday: Greek-style shrimp with feta (pg. 70) and risotto
Friday: Chicken, asparagus & potatoes (this is one of the recipes included in my meal planner)
Saturday: Pork dumplings (pg. 141-142) & fried rice
I did make my sourdough starter but then life intervened and I didn’t touch it for a few days. Still feeding it and I’ll report back when we get to bread!
