Well, welcome back and welcome fall! True to a trend that's developed here at CakeandEdith.com, we'll start with the weather: Minneapolis continues to be weird. After an arid winter and torrential summer, we've been hot, windy, and entirely devoid of precipitation for the last six weeks. And by hot I mean highs in the 70s half the month, culminating in an-unheard-of 85 degrees on Oct. 22. To put that in perspective for you non-Minnesotans: usually we've had our first dusting of snow by now and our sandals have been packed into boxes and stored in the basement for a good three weeks. It's hard to complain (even though it of course feels ominous) because those of us who live here all know that the subzero lows will, eventually, come. Plus - we literally don't have anything to complain about compared to the rest of the country's recent experience of changing climate. There's something disconcerting though, wearing a sundress and flip-flops while the ground is littered with red and yellow leaves.
And now about those Billies. In college, I used to get obsessed. Correction: as a child, teenager, twenty-something, and thirty-something, I used to get obsessed. Typically, the object of my obsession was a boy of the not-into-me variety. But sometimes it was something else, like a play or a song or a Betsey Johnson dress. My roommate Jenn once told me that she could tell by the tone of my voice which obsession I was about to lament. During a particularly obsessive era, I had a ________ voice, a ________ voice, and a Billie voice. "Billie" was a Betsey Johnson dress that I desperately wanted. It was one of my rare requited loves, in fact. We are still together, twenty-four years on.
Lately, I've wanted to do that thing a lot of longtime bloggers and inspiring Substackers are doing: regularly posting a curated list of good things they've encountered and consider worth sharing. I love these lists! I'd call my own good things This Week's Billies, in honor of one of my oldest and most steadfast delights. (Caveat: let's be real. We all know "regularly" has never been my forte, so these will appear sporadically.)
In the future, these will be shorter! But this time...
Drum roll please... here are This Week's Billies.
1. Vote!
Our world is moving so fast. Both the scope and limits of information thrown at us on a daily basis preclude the profound work of solving complex problems and finding compromise even where values are in conflict. As a lawyer (true story), I fear the high-level casualties of our overwhelm and division might include pragmatism, prioritization of the greater good, and - at the risk of undue catastrophizing, which frankly I don't think is undue right now - democracy.
Photo from Lincoln County Clerk website
This year, I am going to be recovering from surgery on Election Day. I am
going to vote early because I believe this really is the most important
election of my life, maybe of all time, all lives, in the history of our
country. Everything seems at stake. Fortunately, there are many ways to vote early. If you are in Minnesota, you can find thorough and user-friendly information on how and where to vote early on the Secretary of State's website. PLEASE VOTE!
Fun fact: I learned at a recent Election Law CLE that absentee voting has existed since the Civil War!
2. Nourish, Move, Love
I've long been a fan of at-home workout videos. Like, I attribute my impeccable dumbbell bent-over row form to
Cindy Crawford, circa 1992. Currently, there are about four sites I use in rotation, but I wanted to kick off my Billies with a shout-out to Lindsay Bomgren of
Nourish, Move, Love. She is Minnesotan! And while I don't know her, I feel like I do because she brings her whole self into her workouts. She's funny and encouraging, self-deprecating and really flipping strong.
Her website has a ton of resources and videos for all levels of fitness. Usually you just need dumbbells and as little as 20 minutes of time. She's constantly trying new things and she shares a charming rapport with her workout partner, Rachel. My therapist tipped me onto NML a few months ago and now I get an email every week with a 5-day workout plan. This sounds like some kind of paid promo but in fact, it's just a Billie! Lindsay motivates me the way I'd hoped the Peloton videos would, only something about the Peloton videos annoyed me, whereas Lindsay and Rachel never do!
3. Cookies and Cream Brownies
My littlest turned 8 this week. We celebrated his birthday three times in three days and got bored of cake. On his actual birthday, we celebrated with Chipotle bowls for dinner, followed by a batch of
Joy the Baker's cookies-and-cream brownies, which did NOT disappoint.
This recipe is not a revelation or the sum of something greater than its parts. Better yet: it's exactly what you hope to make when you look at the recipe and decide to go for it. Fudgy, super-sweet, evoking of one's delicious childhood. Warning: these brownies go down a little too easily. Best followed by a workout.
Thanks for reading! xoE-NC
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