right now: july 2026

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Making: the same blanket, still

Cooking: recipes out of my cookbooks, for once. I have one from Food52 called Dynamic Chicken, which is a silly title but the stuff I’ve made out of it so far is mostly solid–a chicken-potato-tomato stewy situation and chicken a la king (but with coconut milk and a jalapeno added for extra zing)

Drinking: mostly just water, coffee, and the occasional Coke Zero

Reading: The Unicorn Hunters (only a few pages in, but so far so good) and N.T. Wright’s new book

Wanting: to stretch more (both physically and in other ways)

Looking: at the ways in which I am not honoring God with my body, my time, or my finances

Deciding: whether or not to go to Spider-Man this weekend or save it for sometime later this week

Wishing: we could cut to the part of the year where it isn’t nine hundred million degrees outside

Loving: exchanges with my friend Jenna about Hadestown–we went to see the proshot together, she’d never seen the show, I’ve seen it twice live and have been obsessed with it since I bought the concept album almost 15 years ago, and so we have a lot of things to hash out about it

Considering: signing up to be an election worker

Watching: the aforementioned Hadestown, The Odyssey (it was good!), all the discourse about The Odyssey, campaign 2 of Critical Role

Listening: to a lot of house music for some reason? I blame the DJ sets that the YouTube algorithm decided to dump in my feed

Needing: to figure out what I’m taking to the church potluck on Sunday

Wearing: PJs (what happens when you blog late at night)

right now: june 2026

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Making: the same blanket, still (definitely not finishing it by June)

Cooking: a variation on the same pasta–short pasta (like penne or corkscrews), Italian sausage or ground turkey, jar of marinara sauce, can of white beans, frozen spinach. I think this last batch was it for a while as I have eaten it literally every week this month and now I’m sick of it

Drinking: water, coffee, HEB bootleg Coke Zero, passion fruit sparkling water. I’ve had a terrible craving for peach iced tea, so I will probably obtain some when I go grocery shopping later today

Reading: The Strength of the Few (the sequel to The Will of the Many), Wildwood (in anticipation of the movie coming out later this year), and The Wilderness. Trying to get these done by Tuesday in a foolhardy attempt to get all of the Goodreads reading challenge badges

Wanting: a nap tbh (I’ll probably do that after I finish writing this)

Looking: for my sunglasses and, randomly, my pill container (I set it down somewhere while I was cleaning last week and I have not been able to find it since??)

Deciding: whether or not to go to Barnes and Noble later

Wishing: I hadn’t waited until today to practice for leading music at church tomorrow

Enjoying: videos of all the folks visiting the States and Mexico for the World Cup

Wondering: if I can find a show to go to in July, August, and October–one of my new year’s resolutions was to see a live performance every month this year and those are the only months this year I don’t have something lined up yet

Loving: keeping my brainspace relatively uncluttered over the summer

Considering: that most of our jobs right now as people trying to be relatively sane and normal Christians is to be as sane and normal as possible and yet as radical in our hope in the true gospel as possible

Watching: soccerrrrrrrr

Listening: to the new Poor Bishop Hooper album

Needing: to vacuum (it’s been a month, yikes)

Wearing: this shirt (I can’t explain this, just know it’s a John and Hank Green thing) and green shorts

right now: may 2026

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Making: the same blanket, still, hoping to have it done by June

Cooking: for some reason I really wanted meatloaf this week, so that, with roasted potatoes and broccoli on the side (and ketchup)

Drinking: lots of coffee, lots of water (we are in the time of year where a girl need to stay hydrated, you know)

Reading: The Will of the Many (almost done–I started it in January) and Wrong Place Wrong Time (fun combo of time travel and murder mystery)

Wanting: a Dr Pepper float like they used to do when I was in college at Baylor–just melted to the point of semi-soupiness

Looking: at the World Cup schedule

Deciding: whether or not to take a nap once I get done writing this

Wishing: it were not already so dang hot outside

Enjoying: not having to think about class right now

Wondering: how many of my fellow Texans will actually go out and vote in the midterms

Loving: post-church chats

Considering: how easy it is to only preach part of the truth in the name of being comfortable

Watching: honestly, not a ton lately?

Listening: to the podcast Worlds Beyond Number (I am consuming a lot of TTRPG media lately and should probably take a break soon…)

Needing: to finish cleaning my apartment, yikes

Wearing: a lot of skirts and shorts (it’s already so hot, y’all…)

right now: february 2026

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(Been a while–not that a ton of you are reading this anyway, but this is a good exercise for me and I have fun, so who cares.)

Making: the same blanket I’ve been working on for almost a year; a Clapotis in Cascade 220 Superwash, in a now-discontinued colorway called Roses that I got on super sale.

Cooking: nothing of particular note–mostly eating rotisserie chicken and pb&j because we’re at that point in the semester already, you know. I do have ingredients on deck for this and this, so I will report back on how that goes.

Drinking: literally, right now, an iced coffee from my neighborhood coffee place, a concoction called a Reese’s that has, as the name implies, peanut butter and chocolate flavor. i only drink one about twice a year, but today felt like the day for it.

Reading: a new book called Flourish, by Daniel Coyle, who is one of the only self-helpy kind of authors that I don’t think is a hack. Also reading a book called Clash of Visions for class; it’s a lot more polemical and culture-war-ish than I am comfortable with and it’s not sitting well with me so far, but I’ve got to power through it. I think it’s a little behind in where we’re situated now, sociopolitically, maybe about 5-10 years behind, I don’t know. Just finished Esau McCaulley’s great little book on Lent and I want to get the other books in the series immediately so I can read them throughout the year.

Wanting: to go home and watch the Olympics (almsot over!).

Looking: at work bags, as i’m realizing the one I have now is a little too small for all the various stuff I haul around.

Deciding: whether or not I’m going to get ahead with my homework for the next couple of weeks since I’m going to a conference the first week of March…

Wishing: I were not so prone to self-sabotage and isolation :-/

Enjoying: this coffee, the people watching I get to do in a setting like this, writing a poem a week over at my Substack (they’re not good, but they are getting me back in the habit of writing more again), doing creative work in the physical world

Wondering: how my dad’s doing after his (minor!) surgery on Wednesday

Loving: the results of this year’s Project For Awesome–over four million dollars raised for good causes

Considering: whether or not to vote in the Democratic primaries, and who to vote for if I do

Watching: Somebody Feed Phil, the Knives Out movies; I just started Memento for the first time last night; the Winter Olympics; and I’m almost done with Campaign 1 of Critical Role!

Listening: to the new U2 EP

Needing: to knock this out and go finish my homework

Wearing: the t-shirt I got at Revoice 2021 (I’m trying to get back again this year, just need to figure out money), pink pants, Tevas

2025 book list

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Here’s everything I read this year, plus statistics. Links are to WorldCat. An asterisk means it’s a re-read.

total: 37

fiction: 22

nonfiction: 15

graphic novels/memoirs/comics: 0

poetry: 1

e-books: 3

library books: 0! I made it a goal this year only to read books I own and more or less made it; Hatchet was read in one sitting at my friends’ house while I was hanging out with their kids

re-reads: 9

books read for class: 0 (turns out Greek is not really a reading assignments kind of class)

books written by women: 21

books written by BIPOC authors: 14

most read author: Marilynne Robinson, with 4

top 10 (in no particular order): Interior Chinatown, Sunrise on the Reaping, Babel, Everything is Tuberculosis, The Serviceberry, Small Things Like These, Project Hail Mary, Run For the Hills, All That’s Good, How to Fight Racism

2025 movie list

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Here’s every film I watched this year, plus how/where I watched it. Links are to Letterboxd (and follow me over there, I’m @manders76). Asterisk means a rewatch.

total: 29

watched at home: 7

watched in a theater: 22

rewatches: 2

top 10 (in no particular order): Sinners, Thunderbolts*, K-Pop Demon Hunters, Hamnet, Train Dreams, Superman, Moonlight, One Battle After Another, Merrily We Roll Along, The Brutalist

2025.

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Ringing it in on the roof of my friends’ house: champagne, two guys in the corner sharing a cigar, watching the fireworks all over the city, it being surprisingly cold outside

Birthday party: My friends made Playbills as party favors (lol), chatting with folks, drinking an okay old-fashioned, doing trivia, halfway dancing to the music playing over the bar loudspeakers

Snow day: The neighbors and I all taking a walk around to look at it, the crunchiness and softness of it underneath your feet, watching it turn to slush, getting pictures in the group chat of my friends’ kids playing in it

Being on Discord during the insane Marvel announcement with the chairs and chat going nuts (I am on a server that mostly discusses nerd stuff and it’s a lot of fun)

My friend Payton’s birthday: Hibachi in the backyard, having to sit down for a minute because of our other friend’s particularly strong margaritas, karaoke

Marching in downtown Houston on Flag Day with thousands of others protesting this absurd administration, shouting “this is what democracy looks like!” while waving the American flag I received during my naturalization ceremony

The staycation with a bunch of other girls from church where we hung out at a hotel pool and then grabbed dinner afterwards–nothing fancy, but the hangout time was great

So. Many. Hours. of watching or listening to Critical Role.

Greek–trying to learn verb conjugations and noun/adjective declensons, Google Hangouts and WhatsApp chats with my study group, slowly starting to be able to read the Greek New Testament

Getting a text from my friend Austin one Thursday asking if I had time after church the next Sunday, and then getting the news that my small group at church had pitched in money to buy me a guitar 😭

Chats with coworkers in the hall, in the break room, before/after meetings, at tables at outreach events, etc.

Conference: Wandering around downtown Charleston, SC; having a bunch of people stop by my poster and ask questions; dinner with a bunch of people I hadn’t met before that we spent talking about all the crazy crap happening under the current administration (but also drinking cocktails and eating shrimp and grits)

Starting to host trivia again: Hanging out with the regulars and the wait staff, constantly trying to get my friends to come play (and a few of them did!)

Movies; plays at the Hobby Center; reading during lunch at work; getting back into writing a little bit

The whirlwind that was December: Trying to finish my translation project for class, taking the final (I did way better than I thought I would, thank God), multiple parties, the Behold the Lamb of God concert with friends, shout-singing with the rest of the band from church from my friends’ front porch for their Lights In the Heights party; Christmas eve candlelight service at church; Christmas with my extended family (and some acknowledgment of our busted family dynamics, which was nice), my nephew, niece-in-law, and their two little guys coming through to visit

right now: october 2025 (just under the wire!)

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Making: plans for the weekend and for my conference in Charleston next week; plans for November and December; plans for 2026 Q1 (yes, already)

Cooking: soup (my family has a tradition of making this particular soup the first time it gets cold out–it’s ground beef and the canned tomato sauce and canned mixed veggies, although I’ve switched over to frozen because those don’t include lima beans; it’s very straightforward but it hits the spot, and it takes to whatever spices or condiments you want to put in there)

Drinking: French roast coffee, HEB bootleg Coke Zero, lots and lots of water

Reading: very slowly working my way through Augustine’s On Free Choice of the Will, which is short but a lot more dense than I was expecting; also just started Frankenstein for the first time since college. Recently finished Cemetery Boys and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

Wanting: to shake off whatever funk I’ve been in for the past few months

Looking: at vocab words for Greek (I have a test due tomorrow at midnight)

Deciding: whether or not I’m going to renew my lease

Wishing: I had some Benadryl on hand, I had gone to bed earlier, and that the Blue Jays had won tonight

Enjoying: the actually nice weather outside–it has dipped below 80 degrees around here and it’s been sunny and lovely

Waiting: for the semester to wind down both at seminary and at work; for the local election results (which should be posted on Wednesday)

Wondering: what I can do to help folks in need of food support right now, how to be a better steward of my money

Loving: that the band at my church is already making plans to do Christmas music on my friends’ porch during one of our neighborhood’s annual events

Considering: the fact that I started a Substack and I’ve posted there, like, twice

Buying: nothing, really, although I am eyeing some clothes over on ThredUp and a couple of things in the Anna Sui collab at Old Navy, of all places

Watching: so much Critical Role still (campaign four started earlier this month and I’m also still working my way through campaign one); the New York mayoral race

Listening: to a ll of Bruce Springsteen’s discography, since I watched Deliver Me From Nowhere recently

Hoping: something happens to get our political leadership to get their heads out of their butts and start, like, leading

Needing: to seriously clean my apartment

Smelling: the essential oil I put in my toilet tank to get rid of the smell

Wearing: pajamas–these black floral pants I got from Target who knows how long ago and a t-shirt from Old Navy that’s even older and is full of holes

right now: september 2025

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Making: the blanket and the hat, still; plans for when I go to Charleston for a work thing at the beginning of November; plans for the holiday season (yes, already)

Cooking: banana bread; also very slowly starting to get back into soup season, although I am waiting until it’s actually cold outside to break out stuff like chili. I did a pork shoulder in my Instant Pot the other night and that was quite good.

Drinking: the usual regimen of coffee, water, and the occasional Coke Zero around here. Starting to get back into tea in the afternoon as well.

Reading: Run For the Hills by Kevin Wilson (although I haven’t picked it up in a few days). Recently finished Rise and a book about Ecclesiastes called Living Life Backwards which was quite good, although it gave me some pause when it quoted Douglas Wilson (I guess even a broken clock is right on occasion)

Wanting: to get my brain back in order–I feel like I’ve been somewhat out of sorts the past few weeks

Looking: at starting a bimonthly working hours group–once a month at my apartment and once at a coffeeshop or the library or something

Deciding: which class to take next semester (this statement brought to you by the advising appointment I just had)

Wishing: I had gone to bed earlier last night because my brain feels like mush today

Enjoying: the gorgeous fall weather we’re having (well, at least what passes for fall in southeast Texas)

Waiting: for it to get cool enough to break out the flannel shirts and thicker cardigans

Wondering: why it is that it’s so easy for me to shame-spiral (but also: I am grateful to have received tools to counteract it when it does happen)

Loving: cowriting this essay on Sinners and K-Pop Demon Hunters with the lovely and talented Ruth Buchanan

Considering: starting to write over on Substack or something, which I would try to make a markedly different vibe from what I’m doing here

Buying: really practical stuff like a new kitchen trash can, but also it is Pizzamas and I kind of want this shirt

Watching: Critical Role (got up to episode 65 of campaign one–very much looking forward to the start of campaign four this week!) and The Great British Baking Show (my first time! what a delight). Also recently saw The Long Walk (not transcendent, but its message of “we get to carry each other” is kind of nice and needed right now).

Hoping: the government doesn’t shut down tonight (yikes)

Needing: to make myself go to bed earlier tonight, good grief

Smelling: not literally right this moment, but my friend got a candle for me that smells a little floral and cedary and it’s really quite nice and subtly autumnal

Wearing: jeans, a floral blouse I got off of Thredup who knows how many years ago, a chunky black cardigan (it is very air conditioned in this building) and black pointy-toe flats, all of which I’m pretty sure are Old Navy

right now: august 2025

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Making: note of the fact that I started this draft in June and am just now getting around to writing, yikes. but also i’m knitting a blanket and a hat (although I might need to restart the hat because of a serious mistake I made, but that’s okay)

Cooking: this cowboy caviar which isn’t so much cooking as chopping and mixing, but it has been my hyperfixation meal all summer, along with cycling through all the different tortilla chips at HEB to go with it. I started working out again and I also have been taking Greek I over the summer, so food of late has been mostly what will get nutrients and calories into my body. I did make the green bean and bacon pasta out of Hailee Catalano’s cookbook a few weeks ago and that was really good

Drinking: so so much water, with the occasional white wine; I haven’t had a gin and tonic this summer yet and I need to fix that before it is no longer summer

Reading: Still working through Rise, and I’m finally getting around to Jack, the fourth book in the Gilead quartet, which reads almost like a play in places. (I do wonder if there’ll be a fifth book; I can very much imagine a story about Robbie Ames and Jack’s son Robert, maybe during the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, since they’d be of that age.)

Wanting: the fall to get here already, dang it

Looking: at running shoes (what’s good for wide feet?)

Deciding: I’m going to pull a verb from my stack of Greek flashcards and run it through all the conjugations I’ve learned so I can better cement those conjugations in my head

Wishing: my brain was better at retaining information without a lot of repetition (this wish brought to you by how badly I think I did on my last test for Greek…)

Enjoying: the hangouts I’ve had the past few weeks

Waiting: for Greek II to start–I literally took my last test a couple of hours before sitting down to write this and I have a week off before we get right back into it

Wondering: how the heck I’m going to pull off school this upcoming semester, especially since I have a trivia hosting gig again

Loving: pushing myself to learn something even though I feel very bad at it

Considering: how one of the best things for me to do right now is to live well and pray and be aware of what’s going on and do what I can do to the best of my ability

Buying: this shirt

Watching: Critical Role still–I’m on C1E49, so it’ll be a while before I catch up entirely, but I am glad that C4 is going to take place in a different world so I don’t have to be caught up to understand it

Hoping: something happens to shift the trajectory the United States federal government and the Texas state government are currently on

Needing: to figure out a better study regimen than I had this summer

Smelling: the sunblock I put on earlier; the ginger tea I’m drinking

Wearing: workout clothes (I’m about to go to the gym); in general, a lot of dresses and skirts because it is hot af right now