What's IN/OUT this week

I finally cracked and decided to see what all this gratitude journaling is about. So most mornings this month I’ve sat down with my coffee and I write about a couple of nice things that happened the day before. I am incapable of being precious about it, which is what kept me from ever trying this before (you know, “I am so grateful for my beautiful, healthy children” or something). Instead, most of what I write is along the lines of:

Went to my favorite grocery store and got the good Italian wafers.

Congrats to all of my neighbors who got to see how nice my hair looked yesterday.

Vacuumed.

IN: Skeletons. This is easily my favorite Halloween decoration because I love to see the way people create little spooky dioramas. A grown man or woman decided that these three skellys should be playing poker in their yard, then spent their limited free time figuring out how to sit them upright, wear visors, and hold a deck of cards. While visiting family in Pittsburgh and Ohio last weekend, I drove past two skeletons getting married, and I think it’s wonderful that whoever composed that set-up said: “The officiant of this skeleton wedding would obviously be a jack-o-lantern wearing a cape.” OUT: Childish cocktails. There is a very annoying morning show in Pittsburgh that my parents like to watch, and a reporter visited a Halloween bar pop-up that featured over-the-top mixed drinks with too many ingredients and too much decoration. If you order a cocktail that would appeal to children, you should be treated like one: That means getting kicked out because you are too immature to be boozing. Do your eyes light up at the idea of a pumpkin-spiced espresso martini with whipped cream and candy corn? You will be immediately kicked out because you will undoubtedly be The Worst and Loudest Patron.

IN: Benicio del Toro doing his little dance in One Battle After Another. OUT: The man sitting next to me during OBAA who couldn’t seem to keep his fingers out of his nose or mouth. The theater is dark, my friend, but you are not invisible.

IN: Revisiting a favorite doughnut. (Do you like that I spell doughnut ~the fancy way?~) My family has long made trips to Geneva-on-the-Lake, Ohio, a little summer spot on Lake Erie that’s had its heydays for both vacationing and opioids. It’s a cute place, honestly: Arcades, mini golf, T-shirt shops, an annual Thunder on the Strip motorcycle gathering. But it’s also home to Madsen Donuts, where you will find my favorite doughnut in the universe: Cake with chocolate icing. I was visiting Geneva for a cousin’s wedding last weekend and snagged the doughnut one morning. Sometimes when you revisit a childhood favorite food as an adult, you will be deeply disappointed. Not this time, not this doughnut. I have no idea what they’re doing at Madsen but this is a constant thing of beauty. Where the dough wrinkles a little in the center, it gets a bit crispy; the chocolate is applied at the correct thickness; the crumb is perfect. It makes me want to fly Paul Hollywood in from the UK to shake the Madsen pastry chef’s hand (I assume it’s just Some Guy who works the fryer the way he was instructed to). OUT: Ohio wine. My little sister and I stopped at one winery on the strip so we could have a glass (plastic cup) and look at the lake. This may have been the worst wine I’ve ever tasted. Ohio’s Grand River Valley is still cranking out some of the sweetest wines your loudest aunt can handle.

IN: Teasing your nephews. Do I know anything about Legos, Minecraft, or whatever the younger one was trying to tell me about? No! But do I know how to ask silly questions that make them giggle, like whether they sleep upside down like a bat/vampire at night? Yes! Teasing children is an art and the trick is to carefully watch their faces so you don’t accidentally go too far. (I have made mistakes.) OUT: Going to bed early. Because when your aunts are around, you get to hang out in your pajamas in the hotel lobby and eat snacks until you can barely keep your eyes open.

Tell me what you hated this week!