Kelly’s Tuckernuck Dress (Comes in lots of colors/patterns. She’s wearing the black.) / C.Wonder Bag / Black Pumps (Newer version)
New wheels! Just kidding. It’s our rental car.
Mitch here!
Not to brag, but I’m sitting here writing this post with the Pacific Ocean spread out before me. Just thought I’d mention that. Here are a few—I don’t know; maybe 10—things that come to mind this week:
- I take it all back. The Hydro Flask is legit. I’ve been relentlessly making fun of Kelly’s obsessive water drinking habit for the last 1.5 years, and I need to publicly admit that I was wrong. I got a Hydro Flask for our trip to California (to hike Iron Mountain) and now I’m sucking down more H20 than Aquaman. In my first week of true hydration, I discovered that I have more energy when I drink copious amounts of water. Unfortunately, much of that energy is wasted going to the bathroom every 15 minutes, but it’s fine.
- I’m planning a trip to Colombia! I’m not going to lie, I’m having extreme Chicago winter anxiety. So I’m trying to calm myself down by planning some warm weather travel throughout the winter. My buddy/business partner is going to a wedding in Bogota and I was like “Can I tag along?!” So now I’ve got Trip to Colombia pencilled in on my calendar and I feel pretty good about that.
- My taxes are done! Well, at least they’re done for now. The thing about taxes is that they NEVER STOP—especially when you’re running two small businesses. None of this would be possible without my incredible CPA Riki Singh. So if you’re interested in having the best accountant in the history of the world give Singh and Associates a shout!
- My garage is full of products and supplies again. I own and operate a small private label retail/investment company, and because of both an increasing demand for my products and the global supply chain meltdown, I’ve had to resupply a year’s worth of inventory in the last month. As a result, I’ve filled my warehouse, garage, office and my car with pallets and boxes of product. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to have inventory. But I’m looking forward to the days when I can do more on-demand ordering from my manufacturers instead of holding everything on hand at home. And I think my wife is, too.
- Emma and Lucy have discovered “Annie” and it’s the cutest thing ever. I grew up in a family with all boys so I’m experiencing the “Annie” obsession for the first time. Emma is planning to be Annie for Halloween and Lucy is spending her days singing ‘Morrow ‘Morrow at the top of her lungs. I love it.
- Our weekends are full of kids birthday parties again and I’m starting to enjoy it. Emma loves making friends and we benefit from that as well since we get introduced to new people and potential friends as a result. Now that she’s five, we’ve developed great relationships with these families and we get to see them every weekend at their kids birthday parties. I’m not sure if every parent feels the same way, but I’m grateful for it. It’s like a built-in weekly social calendar, and we almost always do something afterwards!
- I bought a Peloton Bike on Craigslist but I’m afraid to plug it in. Now that I’m getting older, I’m taking my doctor’s advice and trying to elevate my heart rate 20-30 minutes per day to keep my body functioning. I used the Peloton Tread throughout the pandemic but it was recalled earlier this year. Even though I loved the Tread, it did take up too much room in my office… so I was happy when I found the (much more compact) bike on Craigslist at a super discount. But I don’t know. I’m super intimidated by it so I’ve just been running outside instead. Don’t kill me, Peloton people! I’ll be one of you soon. By January, at least. 😂
- It’s raking season in Chicago and I have some thoughts. I moved to the city to avoid doing garden chores. I spent my childhood mowing lawns, pulling weeds and trimming hedges, and I vowed to avoid that stuff as much as I could as an adult. Luckily, all the plants on our property died after we moved in and I replaced them with artificial ones. But fall leaves are unavoidable. The one thing I’ll say is that it’s kind of fun if you make an afternoon out of it. Turn some tunes on, break out the autumnal beers, and chat with your wife/neighbors while the kids scoot up and down the block. If you hate raking as well, try it!
- On a related note, I planted ‘hearty’ mums and they instantly died. As mentioned above, I’m no green thumb. But when I saw these festive orange and yellow mums at Aldi, I thought it could be a fun little project. The ones I found were only just starting to sprout so I absolutely drenched them in Miracle Grow to get them growing. Unfortunately, I clearly used too much because all eight of the mums died an excruciating death in the first couple of days. They now look like they were set on fire. I guess they weren’t hearty enough to handle Mitch Larkin.
- We have a light flickering issue in our house and it’s driving me mad. Think of this as an addition to my “Everything is Broken All the Time” post from a few months ago. We have three rooms with a light flicker so strong I feel like I should be playing disco music throughout the house. I’ve changed the bulbs and I’ve changed the light switches, but the best solution I’ve found is to just unscrew the lightbulbs and sit in the dark. An electrician I spoke to thinks those rooms might need to be regrounded which is apparently a thing that electricians can do. Okay, rant—and post—over!
Mitch. OUT!
