So…what is the Monday Poll?
Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve?
We chilled at home because we couldn’t deal with being out and about and cold! I made dinner (basil, corn and parmesan pasta) and dessert (chocolate chip cookies), and then we watched a movie that was good but totally stressed me and Connor out called “The Wolf and the Lion.” At the stroke of midnight, we did all the silly and fun traditions we usually do – we jumped up and down, made lots of noise and opened the front door to let all the good luck in for the new year.
2. What was your first meal of 2024?
Does coffee count? LOL. I ate an Eggo waffle smeared with peanut butter topped with raisins. It was good!
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you?
One night last week after dinner, Connor and I got *this close* to walking up to a coyote when we were strolling around our neighborhood.
4. When’s your next hair appointment?
I don’t have one set yet, but the last time I got my hair cut was October. I usually like to wait four to six months between cuts, which means I’ll be due again for another cut sometime between March and May.
5. One small thing you need to do today?
I gotta do a little bit to start taking the tree down! It’s time. I’m going to miss having it in my living room.
Hello and happy New Year to you! I think today is a great day to be extra nice to yourself. Maybe make yourself a yummy meal or treat yourself to some time with a book?
There are lots of good things on the horizon for us in 2024. I just know it. 🙂
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve? I made vegetarian lasagna with salad. We played some board games and listened to music and were probably asleep by 11 o clock.
2. What was your first meal of 2024? Sourdough pancakes with marionberries from Oregon.
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you? A friend who knows I don’t have pierced ears hand-made me a beautiful set of clip on earrings for Christmas.
4. When’s your next hair appointment? Friday. That will be the last cut before Spring as I don’t want to have to cancel an appointment because of 2 feet of unexpected snow.
5. One small thing you need to do today? Put some bread in the bread machine to go with the Hawaiian vegetable stew that’s in the crock pot.
1. Alone and at home. Mostly watching the PBS marathon of “Downton Abbey,” which seemed like the best option available (and I have cable TV!). I’ve seen the show in its entirety a long time ago, and I don’t even think it’s that good (story lines are straight-up soap-opera material). The acting, set design, and costumes are what make it worth watching.
2. Thawed-out, leftover ham from Christmas.
3. I too, saw a coyote about one block from my residence a few days ago, walking straight down a road in broad daylight. This is my first suburban coyote sighting (a bobcat was in the backyard last summer). The coyote thing stunned me more than the bobcat thing, as there have been plenty of bobcat sightings within a 25 mile radius. I emphasize that this is NOT a woodsy, nature-preserve kind of area. Wildlife is coming back into the city whether we want it or not.
4. Don’t know. My mother cut my hair about twice a year for the last 35 or so years. I guess I’ll have to make an appointment within the next few months.
5. Drive to the PO to mail a letter.
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve? We didn’t do anything special. My husband was a bit under the weather and went to bed quite early. I watched TV, read for a while, and then went to bed about 10:00. Not very exciting, I know.
2. What was your first meal of 2024? I brewed a pot of tea to go with fresh from the oven manakish.
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you? I went to Costco the other day to buy a tenderloin and was surprised to see a large group of elderly people just wandering around looking totally lost. They weren’t buying anything so I figured they must have been on some kind of organized outing.
4. When’s your next hair appointment? I don’t go to a hairdresser.
5. One small thing you need to do today? I need to take our sweet husky for a nice long walk up in the hills.
Happy New Year, everyone!
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve? It was the twenty-fourth anniversary of my husband and my first date. We took the kids to a community event with s’mores, hot cocoa then came home and had Chinese food. After the kids went to bed, hubby and I rang in the new year with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen.
2. What was your first meal of 2024? Scrambled eggs with spam.
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you? My credit card bill.
4. When’s your next hair appointment? Like all the other great divas (Bey, Tyra), I wear wigs. No appointment necessary.
5. One small thing you need to do today? Get my returns ready for the stores.
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve?
We decided to go to Reykjavik, Iceland for New Year’s. It’s our 4th trip to Iceland & 2nd wintertime one. Icelanders have bonfires & fireworks on NYE – LOTS of fireworks. After we got back to our hotel, they were setting them off in the streets directly in front of our hotel. Definitely the longest & best fireworks show I’ve ever scene
2. What was your first meal of 2024? A cardamon pastry & a hot chocolate
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you? The siding on our house is done! Only surprising because this reno has been going on for 10 months!
4. When’s your next hair appointment? Next week – I have short hair so I go every 3-4 weeks
5. One small thing you need to do today? Nothing! Still on vacation
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve? Making potato salad (one of the dishes we ate on New Years).
2. What was your first meal of 2024? Eating the potato salad.
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you? Can’t think of anything recently.
4. When’s your next hair appointment? Haven’t made one yet, but I’ll have to do a haircut for sure.
5. One small thing you need to do today? Pay a bill.
It’s funny about superstitions. My mom had told me that my grandma had said don’t sweep on New Years Day because you will sweep the good luck out. To this day, we clean before New Years!
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve? My small northern Michigan town had their first annual shamrock drop. My town’s sister town is in Ireland, hence the shamrock. It was really nice, not too cold, lots of people showed up, and I was in bed by 12:15.
2. What was your first meal of 2024? I work at a hotel, and we get the breakfast there, I think it was pancakes and bacon.
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you? My sister and her family are flying to MI from CA for Spring Break! I’m so excited!
4. When’s your next hair appointment? I have no idea, I haven’t found a hairdresser in MI yet, I’ve been here 18 months. I’m really good at cutting my own hair.
5. One small thing you need to do today? Make a grocery list.
1. How did you spend New Year’s Eve? Went to bed early. I stopped staying up for New Year’s years ago as I’m not a night owl at all.
2. What was your first meal of 2024? I think it was an egg and cheese sandwich on an english muffin.
3. Something that happened recently that surprised you? DH and I didn’t get Covid after our trip back from CA. Given all the obviously sick people at the airport and on the plane, that’s fairly miraculous (we were masked).
4. When’s your next hair appointment? This coming Tuesday. This one will be a minor cut/shaping but some semipermanent color around my hairline. Parts of my hairline are 75-100% white but the bulk of my hair is probably only 10%. If the really white parts of my hairline would grow long, I’d leave it, but that hair breaks so it just looks like a bare patch.
5. One small thing you need to do today? Need to catch up on meal prep for the week ahead.