it's lily's world and you're all living in it

It's been a few months now since I've become a mom, so I thought I'd give you all an update! And what can I say, I love my child! He now goes by "Brad" (I had bread on the mind ok), and I should really call him our  child, since Daniel claims joint custody even though he only really partakes in the fruits of Brad's labor (a.k.a. eating). He'll be more present in the lives of our future human children, I'm sure of it! Anywho, I've found this whole parenting thing to be stressful at times, but for the most part very enjoyable. Sometimes Brad will be a little temperamental, but the solution is pretty much always the same: he's just hungry! After all, he is a growing boy, but with a rather strange feeding schedule that my own schedule doesn't always accommodate well. For other/future sourdough bakers out there, an actual useful tip is to take discarding seriously, because the more starter you have, the more flour you have to use and the more fr...

You know when you start becoming impressive simply because you're old (shoutout to my 100 year-old grandpa! It truly is impressive), or — this might be racy but I swear I'm drawing on recently acquired academic teachings and case studies — because you have something like a physical disability and the world expects nothing of you but then you do something completely within your realm of possibility and people are disproportionately impressed? Basically, you become impressive for just being you (I swear I'm going somewhere with this!). Well, the past week has made me look at humanity in a whole new light — albeit not very much light because sun exposure is still quite limited (also I just learned how to type an em dash on purpose, can you tell!? I swear I'm not using AI! ) — or rather, anyone who lives in sub-20 degree conditions on a regular basis in a whole new light. Chicago got so cold last week that some news reports were saying it would feel as cold as it does on A...

Happy New Year! I have decided that 2026 will be a year of knowledge, for myself and for all of you lucky folks. I therefore decided to create an ongoing list of questions that frequently cross my mind, and that I'm sure the general public also wonders about. I was originally just going to list the questions here, but then I thought of something better: I could also list the answers! Ignorance can certainly be bliss, but in this Age of Information, I see no good reason why I shouldn't take a few minutes out of my day to dispel my wonders.  So here it goes: 1) How many layers does an onion have? How many do you remove when cooking? After extensive research (ok I'll admit, I wasn't willing to spend more than like 15 minutes doing this) I decided to consult the only trustworthy-seeming site out there on this subject matter: the National Onion Association (founded in 1913!). According to a handy dandy handbook they published, it is advised to begin cutting onions by "...

A few short weeks ago I inherited a life form. For me, motherhood is something I thought I wouldn't tackle for another decade or so. After all, I just moved to a new city and started grad school, so my social and financial worlds are kind of in a development phase. But sometimes, you just have to be willing to adapt. And what can I say? I tend to be pretty adaptable.  And I really like free things. So when a neighbor was giving away free sourdough starter, I decided to take the opportunity and run with it (actually I walked at a slower pace than usual to avoid spillage). This actually did seem like fate though, because I had been considering trying my hand at sourdough since, let's face it, it's basically free bread if you get good at it (I've learned this is actually not that true because flour and other materials can be expensive, but it's definitely cheaper than buying sourdough loaves) and I have been itching to get a pet but know I'm not quite ready for tha...

When I moved into my own apartment, one of the things I was most excited about was being able to host whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted. For the first time, I was also excited about decorating my place of living and making it feel like a true humble abode, to be enjoyed by all the new friends I'd make and by me, myself & I. But as they say, be careful what you wish for.  In the last couple of weeks, I have made some big (actually literally very small) enemies and have started to go a bit insane. You've seen them. You've been annoyed by them. You wish they didn't exist... ... ...dramatic suspense... ... fruit flies! ... You know when you're too scared by the answer to something that you don't want to even look up the question? That's me with fruit flies right now. I don't want to know if they spread disease, how they lay their eggs, where they came from, or really anything (except for HOW to get rid of them, that I have researched for obvious reason...

A new favorite pastime of mine has become taking selfies while on the train (known as the 'L' in Chicago) as my reflection becomes visible across from me.  This is also now a safe space I have created for myself to report on my own personal reflections while on the train. So enjoy this nice multimedia:  1) Daniel and I during move-in week: 2) Daniel and I (you can see a theme here), maybe the 'L' really stands for love 💗:  3) Myself with Isabella and Dan, some very happy visitors (because they were staying with me of course): 4) Reflection moment: these shoes should not exist. But maybe if I wore them I would move like this on public transit too. So maybe this dude is onto something. Regardless, I will never be able to unsee this: