This is a regular list of things I can’t stop thinking about — from essays to ideas to recipes to face creams. Take what you like, leave the rest :)

Have been feeling like getting my thoughts down lately, so wrote this list of this I can’t stop thinking about right now from the bed of a Best Western in the middle of Pennsylvania the morning after a lovely family wedding, with my toddler still snoozing next to me at 7:53am which never, ever happens.

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The concept of glass > rubber. I am not exaggerating when I tell you this Instagram post that flashed across my screen has fundamentally changed the way my mind prioritizes things. Glass > rubber — easy!

Decluttering the hidden piles of clothes and mail and three-year-old baby bottles I’d certainly never let touch a newborn’s lips touch and all of the other mini mountains of stuff that have been collecting dust in the closets of our home. When I finally get around to doing it, going to look to interior designer Tenlie Mourning’s four-hour guide for inspiration.

Turning my cellphone into a landline. We are all addicted to our little pocket computers and it’s making us weird! So when I saw the idea for docking your cellphone when you’re at home, as though it were a landline of old, my luddite curiosity was piqued. I know everyone is bricking, but the idea of having to pay for a product to control this addiction I never asked to have feels annoying to me in a way I can’t even put into words. I have yet to implement the landline method (see: addiction), but am planning to try. 

Life lessons from the Correspondent. I was not expecting, when a friend lent me her copy of the Correspondent, for it to be a life-changing text. I was just looking for something to do other than doomscrolling when I inevitably wake up at 2 a.m. every night. (Like, help.) But it turned out to be the first book that has made me want to join a book club, just so I could talk to other people about it. (Want to talk about it? Let’s!!)

Authenticity, and the joy in seeing people recognize and share their gifts. After Dolly Parton passed (RIP to a REAL one), I saw so many people comment on her authenticity over her talent. Like, obviously she was immensely talented. But what seemed to strike so many people was that she was so fully herself and it shone through everything she did. I have a sticky note that reads “Authenticity paves the path to abundance,” and she’s the perfect example of this. (Although cheers to her for refusing to be greedy about it.)

Striving for a slow life, as perfectly described in this note from Hannah Bay. We have some big decisions to make in our life in the coming months and it’s forced me to think about what I want my days and larger life to look like longterm. Slower and more spacious are words that keep surfacing. 

The evolution of shopping, and the sadness of it, too. Shopping is so not what it used to be (remember what going to Limited Too was like???), and Haley Nahman’s recent newsletter got me a little nostalgic for good ol’ mall days and dressing rooms and just dilly-dallying around a store. Online shopping could never!

The Lindsay Clancy trial, but especially the bright white lights it puts on maternal health and care, and how often this country’s healthcare system fails women. In this case to absolutely devastating degrees.

My absolutely awful Instagram algorithm. At one point, Instagram only fed me sad adoptable dog content. This was not good for my mental health. Now it only feeds me videos of content creators breaking down their income for the month, before inevitably directing me to their $47 guide on how to become a content creator and make $50,000 a month. This also is not good for my mental health. Hence taking refuge on Substack.

Also: Someone come take my phone for a couple of hours and fix it! 

Unrequited love, and its grip on my content consumption. I sent a text to my group chat the other day about how unrequited love is my kink. I’ve realized all of my favorite books (currently reading Heart the Lover), TV shows and movies (I think it all started with Love and Basketball; I watch the Past Lives trailer when I have three minutes and need to feel something; don’t even get me started on Heated Rivalry) center around unrequited love. It just does it for me, way more than the simple stuff. If you feel the same, let’s start a club and exchange recs.

This Substack note from Sophia Roe: “Confession: I had my daughter a year ago, and have no clue who I am anymore outside of being her mother. I’m sad because I wonder if I’ll ever have the career I once had while simultaneously not giving a shit because I’d rather be with my daughter. I miss how certain I was about where my life was going at the same time as I celebrate the unknown that is raising a human. Being a mom is easy. It’s all the other stuff that’s kicking my ass.” 

Two-plus years into motherhood and feeling the same, and it’s comforting to know that even those who seem to have this mom-and-career combo mastered are figuring it out too. 

Becoming a one-step skincare routine girlie. Someone asked me recently what I collect and I replied “nothing,” (SAD!) but then did a quick switch and claimed “skincare!” Later I realized, at this point, that’s not even true. And honestly, I’m kind of proud of my newfound minimalist ways.

After having my son, I had a raging case of perioral dermatitis all over my face that ultimately could only be taken out by antibiotics, but the PTSD lives on, and I do get little flares every now and then, especially when trying anything new on my face. 

This Danucera Cerabalm, however, is like a skin sedative — chills her the f out. I’ve been using this and only this on my skin, as my face wash and my moisturizer (love a two-fer), for about the last six months and I’ve received many a “your skin looks great!” comments. Good news after being asked if I had hand foot and mouth disease while at the grocery store about a year and a half ago. LOL. We all must be humbled occasionally! 

When I am rich, I will gift this to all my loved ones in their Christmas stockings, pinky swear.

Now off to find the closest coffee shop in this town. If you made it to the end, cheers!

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Shaky Ground is a little plot in Internet Land where you’ll find musings on wellness and babies and motherhood, recipes (including faves from REAP Mini Mart), interviews with friends in the wellness space, recommendations, and more. For the full experience, if you’re into it, upgrade to a paid subscription <3 xoxo, Adjua

This regular list of things I can’t stop thinking about — from essays to ideas to recipes to face creams — is Shaky Ground’s version of a recommendation list. Take what you like, leave the rest :)

The world is a veritable dumpster fire right now, and my Instagram algorithm only shows me terrible news that makes me want to set things on fire.

So, in lieu of doing that, I’m combatting the rage by sharing some things that are good. Some things that have put a smile on my face recently, or made my days better. Things I simply can’t stop thinking about. Hopefully something resonates.

1. How the humble tuna melt is benefiting from the Heated Rivalry obsession

We love to see an underdog get the appreciation it deserves! I know many think pairing seafood and cheese is a hard no, but I’ve always loved a good tuna melt. Food and Wine recreated the Heated Rivalry version (iconic turning point in the series), and it looks divine. The recipe for that is here.

For the record, I also cannot stop thinking about Heated Rivalry as a whole, and was delighted when Mother Esther Perel gave her take on it. But there’s enough fan obsession about the show out there, so I’ll save you from that.

2. The idea of editing itty-bitty moments of your life

When your life feels like the embodied version of the 56-second rant of Lisa Barlow calling Meredith the biggest whore in New York (i.e. a shit show; my Housewives fans will know), changing it can feel overwhelming. So I really liked the idea that Sam Tahan put forth on her Instagram about editing small moments of your life, which add up. There’s something about the word “editing” that just feels more chic than “fixing.”

I’ve implemented this in little ways that have already benefited me: I’ve started lighting a candle during my shower. The candle was always there, I just never lit it. This tiny act changes the whole vibe, and improves my day, even if nothing else about my day improves.

In every day moments, I’ve started looking around more for what I can tweak, and then taking action right then.

I also started reading at night instead of scrolling on Instagram, which led me to the book Hunt, Gather, Parent and in that I found my next obsessive thought

3. The concept that you actually don’t have to center your life around your children

One thing I’ve found dazzling (and a little annoying, tbh) in watching Zach, my husband, parent our son is the fact that it doesn’t seem to interrupt his day. He needs to clean the house? He hands River his tiny vacuum and gets to work. He has to fix his bike? He puts River’s bike next to him, hands him a wrench, and they tune it up. He has to cook dinner? You know River is right there, stirring some sauce into some pasta.

Meanwhile, for so long, when I had River on my own for the day, it was a mix of hot wheels and hot-mess house, with some god-awful Blippi (IYKYK) thrown into the mix. During his nap? Work for me. Or cleaning the house. Not fun!

So when I started reading Hunt, Gather, Parent — which is a really fascinating and helpful read, strongly suggest — and the first tenet was the idea that instead of centering your life around your child, you bring them into yours and allow them to be helpers in the family, my first thought was: “Oh! Zach is a parenting expert!”

This realization was, again, a little annoying. But, parenting envy aside, it has completely changed how I do things with River, and genuinely made my time with him more enjoyable. Like, love him. But like, don’t loooove hot wheels for six straight waking hours.

4. The only protein smoothie I’ve ever truly loved

I’ll share the recipe here soon, but for now you can get it at REAP Mini Mart if you’re interested. It’s called the Frozen Hot Chocolate and oh, my god. I Literally don’t stop thinking about it.

5. The moment in the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City when they’re whisper-fighting at the spa, before they get kicked out

Okay, sorry to bring up the Real Housewives again, but in a world that is in full-blown crash-out mode, we need some levity. And these producers are comedic geniuses.

6. This quote from bell hooks

I was having a conversation with a new friend about the evolution of friendships through motherhood, and the different types of friendships that develop, and she sent me this quote from bell hooks that she’d heard recently and loved: “Deep, abiding friendships are the place where many women know lasting love.”

Such a beautiful sentiment. And not a dig at men (relax, to the one man who may be reading this, who’s probably my husband), but more a nod to the women who remain anchored to us through the ebbs and flows of life.

7. The Crispy Rice Crudo at Caletta

Over Christmas, right before this goddamn flu season robbed me of the entire next month (no, really, I have had the flu twice in the last month and been sick for no less than 20 days total. FML), my mom and I went to Caletta and had a bunch of appetizers and wine and non-alcoholic negronis for her and lived our very best lives.

And I have NOT STOPPED THINKING ABOUT the Cripsy Rice Crudo dish they have on the menu right now — think sushi with a Mediterranean twist. It’s a crispy saffron risotto (!), topped with amberjack crudo, served over a peperonata sauce. Genius. Please go get it, sit by the fireplace, and pretend the world isn’t burning!

8. This Josie Maran Argan Oil Body Butter

There’s something about lathering a body butter on after showering that feels so 2012 in the most comforting way. Pre-Trump becoming anything but that sleazy guy who Nene Leakes deigned to be in the presence of. It’s the words “body butter” — not to be confused with lotion, or moisturizer — which had a moment, but eventually got pushed out of the way by body oils and I don’t know, I’m not a beauty writer.

My point: This body butter, which I got as one of my free samples from Sephora and squeezed every last bit out of the tube like it was a life-saving elixir, is glorious. Smells like 2012, too, in a way that could make some cringe — strong vanilla scents, ya know? — but that I personally love.

It’s also very expensive for what it is, so. But in a year of world-news-induced crash-outs, we could all use a little comfort, no? (My finances are a mess. Maybe don’t listen to me!)

That’s all for now! Stay safe and sane as can be out there <3

Shaky Ground is a little plot in Internet Land where you’ll find musings on wellness and babies and motherhood, recipes (including faves from REAP Mini Mart), interviews with friends in the wellness space, recommendations, and more. For the full experience, if you’re into it, upgrade to a paid subscription <3 xoxo, Adjua

I’ve been caught in a neverending mental ping-pong game around my relationship with the Internet: on one side, it gives me the ick — the perpetual stream of bad news, information overload, and general misery it serves all make me want to become a luddite. Or at least throw my phone into the closest body of water. And on the other side, I feel like it gives us all the ability to put things into the world that may bring joy to someone else’s day. What a gift!

So today, in my ongoing mental ping-pong game, the ball has landed in the Put Good Things Out side of the court. Enter my beloved Matcha Milkshake recipe. She, in a sea of world-events-induced despair, is a happy place.

I created this recipe as a special for REAP Mini Mart, inspired by a smoothie I used to get in high school from a chain called Robeks. I think it was just called the Matcha Smoothie (?). This was, alarmingly, 20 years ago so I can’t remember. But it tasted like a milkshake, and likely had the nutrition count of one, too. I would order the jumbo 32-ounce vat of it and squeal with joy at every sip.

This recipe brings back the nostalgia of that smoothie, but with ingredients that make you feel good, too. I hope it speckles some joy into your day.

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When I was 23, in the heyday of blogging, I bought the domain pantrystalker.com on GoDaddy (what a time!) with the intentions of getting to peek into the pantries of all my favorite people to see what they were eating and cooking with. What kind of water filter did they have?! A Berkey? Faaaaancy! What sauces did they keep next to their stove for easy access?! What recipes did they cook over and over again?

This is the kind of voyeurism I’m into, and while I never once published a piece on that domain (I am a gemini after all! We are constantly onto the next idea, before finishing the first), the concept is finally having its moment here on Shaky Ground. (In the wise words of Stormi, paaaaaatience.)

In this series, we get an inside look at the kitchens of our friends in the wellness and food space. We’re starting with Alli Bradley, the lovely owner of Sanctuary Wellness Studio and all-around wellness queen. Take a peek into her pantry below!

First off, tell us a bit more about who you are and how you developed an interest in food

Hi there! I’m Alli, a wellness enthusiast who refuses to skip dessert and loves a good glass of pinot noir. I’m a Pilates teacher, a meditation coach and a health coach! I own a Pilates and Yoga studio just outside of the city (Philly) and my studio is now 11 years old (I opened the doors of it at 23!).

Even though my studio is mainly movement-based, a lot of my lifestyle is focused on what I eat and how it all makes me feel. When I first graduated high school I got a job as a cashier at a local mom-and-pop organic grocery store. It didn’t take long working there for me to learn all about the difference between organic and non-organic, GMOs, inflammatory foods and the horrible truths behind factory farming. I soon became a vegan for a year, then a vegetarian for six more and a pescatarian for four after that. That job taught me so much and really pulled the lid off of our food industry here in America and it showed me that the way you feed yourself impacts so much more than how you look.

I then began working full-time as a nanny and it was part of my job to cook dinner for the family, and they were vegetarian! I learned so much while I got to pick out daily recipes and pick up groceries at the local co-op grocery store and farmers markets. I went from living with a single dad and little brother where no one knew how to use anything besides a microwave, to cooking butternut squash risotto, three-bean chili, frittatas, endless stir-fries and all kinds of nutrient-packed vegetarian dishes with protein.

While nannying, I opened my studio. My relationship with food then morphed into a fuel: I needed to teach 14 classes a week while nannying full-time. Throughout the years (and now after graduating from IIN’s Health Coaching Program), my affinity for curating a lifestyle around the food I eat has endlessly evolved. Food truly is the cornerstone of my life, from how I connect to others, to how I support and show love to myself.

What’s your personal philosophy around food, in a few words?
Never skip dessert, or your daily dose of greens.

What does your morning bevy routine look like?

I wake up and I chug the (room temp, always) water on my nightstand and then I come into my kitchen and make a matcha (I always go for 2.5 teaspoons because I love to be a caffeinated queen) with frothed Malk cashew milk. I sip it while I meditate. It is hands-down one of my favorite morning rituals.

Then I walk my dog, eat my breakfast and make a double shot of espresso with frothed cashew (or almond) Malk. I usually add some electrolytes (LMNT) to my water bottle and hightail it to the studio for a class.

What condiments are you currently using non-stop?

1.MaraNatha Organic Almond Butter on my banana in the morning, in a smoothie, in my yogurt bowl — you get the gist. It really is the best almond butter, for texture and flavor, I’ve discovered. Smooth and not dry or clumpy.

2. Mother In Law’s Gochujang Paste on every single chicken or salmon dish and especially in all stir-fries!

3. Manukora Raw Manuka Honey
Manuka honey has up to 3x the amount of antioxidants as regular honey. It is beneficial as a prebiotic to our digestive system, supports our immune system and is anti-inflammatory due to its heavy load of antioxidants. Also, it’s richer than regular honey and tastes so pure. Add it to yogurt, cottage cheese, in your almond butter or to any dish and not only is it serving nutrients, but so much flavor.

Your go-to supplements right now:

1. PURE MAGNESIUM GLYCINATE, always
Being as deficient as we are in magnesium as a society, I truly notice when I take it (before bed). I’m more relaxed, I sleep better and my digestion feels more regulated.

2. Cymbiotika's Liposomal Glutathione (Psst: We sell this at REAP Mini Mart)
My functional health doctor suggested this to help with my melasma and honestly, it’s almost gone. Glutathione is an incredibly strong antioxidant, and in liposomal (gel) form, it’s really easy for our bodies to digest and access. It helps with inflammation and maintaining healthy cellular function, but the real benefit is what it does for your skin! It can help reduce redness, fine lines and brighten your complexion.

3. Fatty15
I just started taking this new(ish) supplement that was discovered by a veterinary epidemiologist who studied a concentrated group of dolphins who lived the longest with far less aging-related conditions than other dolphins. The difference was in the type of fish they were eating, and more importantly, the dolphins living longer and with far better health were consuming a fatty acid in a certain fish called C15:0 (aka FA15™). They created a supplement of this same odd-chain saturated fatty acid that is more pure and higher performing than any omega-3. It strengthens our cell membranes to protect us against aging (aka cellular degeneration) and inflammation, and it activates receptors in our body that regulate metabolism, immunity, mood, sleep and appetite. I’m so excited to see the benefits after I finish my first 3 month supply!

What Instagram or TikTok can you not stop stalking and why?

Maxi’s Kitchen on instagram for healthy, easy recipes — many are Asian-inspired and so delish. I’m also always a Half-Baked Harvest girlie but I modify everything to make it gluten-free and healthier. I also love Devin Brugman’s (of Monday Swimwear) instagram highlight on her cooking, because girlfriend makes a mean salmon bowl and honey mustard chicken.

By far my new favorite subscription is to New York Times cooking app. You can find a recipe for literally anything, and I always love to make things my own and modify ingredients to fit my own preferences (weeknights I’m gluten-free, lighter on dairy and don’t go too carb-heavy since it disrupts my sleep).

What’s a recent meal you can’t stop thinking about?

The Spicy Miso Chicken Katsu Ramen by Half Baked Harvest. I use rice flour noodles to make it gluten-free and half the time I forgo the chicken and add lots of spinach and mushrooms for more nutrients. The broth is 100/10 unreal. Make it!

What’s does your dream food day look like?

I live in the Philly suburbs so sometimes good, clean food can be hard to come by unless I make it myself but in my dream world: I’d wake up and go get a foamy almond milk latte at Char and Stave in Chestnut Hill, followed by a breakfast sandwich (bacon, runny egg and cheese with avocado on a fluffy roll) at Wake Coffee in Ambler. Then I’d bop over to Cake in Chestnut Hill for lunch and I’d get one of their many fresh chopped salads (probably the lemon chicken cobb) with their sea salt chocolate chip cookie for dessert. For dinner, I’d go to Alessandro’s Wood Fired on the Main Line (Wayne) and get their roasted beet salad (dreaming about it every night) and penne alla vodka (best vodka sauce) with a glass of pinot noir. Afterward, I’d come home to the chocolate chip tahini cookies from P.S. & Co. stored in my fridge for dessert with some peppermint tea.

Go-to post-workout meal?

A custom smoothie from a spot down the street from my studio called Aloha Smoothie Co: spinach, raw peanut butter, almond milk, banana, unflavored Truvani protein powder, cacao and a splash of cold brew. It’s currently my go-to favorite and the protein and pb fill me up!

A snack you keep in your bag?
Currently Chomps beef jerky, the jalapeno flavor only.

Favorite recent health-food discovery?
I’m obsessed with castelvetrano olives and I love making myself a random plate of those, macadamia nuts, soft-boiled egg, and whatever else is lying around thats higher in fat because I truly notice a difference when I get more fat and protein in daily. I’m so much more focused and satiated with more steady energy.

Leave us with a couple of recipes you can’t wait to make!

I can’t wait to make fresh shrimp and veggie spring rolls! I’ve been watching videos and in the past I screwed up the wrappers, but I’m ready to give it another go. I also want to make egg bite muffins with veggies for mornings (savory breakfasts keep our blood sugar from spiking!) and I would love to start making my own almond and cashew milk.

Shaky Ground is a little plot in Internet Land where you’ll find musings on wellness and babies and motherhood, recipes (including faves from REAP Mini Mart), interviews with friends in the wellness space, recommendations, and more. For the full experience, if you’re into it, upgrade to a paid subscription <3 xoxo, Adjua

Explain to me how I had more disposable income as a 16-year-old working at a bagel shop than I do now. And THEN, explain to me how I spent ALL of that bagel-slinging money on Caramel Frappuccinos. And Chipotle. Caramel Frappuccinos and Chipotle were my 16-year-old diet, and tbh, wouldn’t change a thing.

But that’s not the point — the point is this: I have invested enough money and done enough field research to consider myself a blended-coffee-bevy connoisseur. And when we opened REAP Mini Mart, naturally, I wanted to have a coffee smoothie that felt indulgent like the lifeblood of my youth, without the weird ingredients and sugar high that sustained my 16-year-old self. A coffee-meets-milkshake moment that works for your morning, rather than working against you.

Enter the Macaccino, one of our most popular smoothies at REAP Mini Mart. It’s basically a coffee milkshake (the maca gives it a kind of malty flavor), and it offers a good dose of healthy fats and fiber, which help with avoiding that jittery caffeine high to eventual crash.

Today, I’m sharing my personal variation on the Macaccino, which trades cacao for vanilla, and adds a dose of blood sugar-balancing cinnamon. In my opinion, it’s just perfect.

You get about five grams of protein here from the tahini, and I’ll sometimes add a couple of tablespoons of hemp seeds to up it to around 12, but this is also a very easy recipe to throw a scoop of chocolate or vanilla protein powder into, if you’re into that kind of thing.

See the recipe below and enjoy for life :)

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This regular list of things I can’t stop thinking about — from essays to ideas to recipes to face creams — is Shaky Ground’s version of a recommendation list. Take what you like, leave the rest :)

1. I don’t know if it’s becoming a mom, but I now have a deep desire to become a person who makes pancakes on the weekends. Reminds me of when I got pregnant and wanted to sleep all the time. Like, the urge to make pancakes feels almost primal? Anyway, this Our Place griddle pan makes my pancake-making fantasy feel more achievable. Plus she’s non-toxic, quite cute and currently on sale. Have not stopped thinking about her since she popped up on my Instagram feed.

(And speaking of making pancakes, if you too have this urge, the Sweet Laurel pancake mix, which we carry at REAP Mini Mart, is SO good and just so happens to be gluten-free. A FEAT! River loves them, too, and kids don’t lie. )

2. I stumbled upon Zoe Johnston on Instagram, and the vegetable spreads she makes, sometimes in collaboration with big brands like Nike and Khaite, have lived rent-free in my brain for weeks now. They are so stunning and a reminder of the food philosophy I want to carry into 2025 with me (and forever and always): Eating well can and should be beautiful and abundant, not scant and sad.

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Once, at the tender age of 18, I made the mistake of warming up a can of tomato soup from the grocery store and consuming it, thinking it would taste good. The hype got me! It’s the most famous tomato soup around! It got the Andy Warhol treatment! It had to be good, right? Absolutely, 1000 percent wrong. As wrong as the comeback of low-rise jeans. As wrong as Janet Jackson taking the fall for Justin Timberlake’s mistake. As wrong as pineapple on pizza. (I said what I said.) So, SO terribly wrong.

It was like tomato juice, but worse? Felt like I should’ve taken a straw to it.

Anyway, my point is: that single, sad can of soup soured the whole genre for me for a while. Until, that is, a delightfully creamy tomato soup from a cafe in Arizona redeemed it. It was like a hug in a cup! Soul-soothing! Even better with a crusty piece of bread dunked into it. I think I ate it every day for like two weeks, which is a true testament in a climate where a winter coat is irrelevant.

But love it as I did, the tomato soup wasn’t reason enough to stay put in the drive-everywhere desert, so I left and I didn’t have another tomato soup that hit the spot like that until Zach created our Creamy, Dreamy Tomato Soup for REAP.

I am such a fan of this soup, and I am not alone — it’s one of our most popular items at REAP Mini Mart. It’s creamy without being food-coma-inducing heavy (it gets it creaminess from cashews instead of dairy) and every sip feels like putting a pair of fuzzy socks on before slipping under a blanket to watch The Holiday. Read: Cozy AF.

Zach graciously shared the recipe with us, so find it below. But if you know you’ll never make it, you can also come get the goodness at REAP Mini Mart all winter long.

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But eventually, as adulthood creeped up on me, my desire for the dopamine rush that comes with setting goals and crossing items off of a to-do list overruled my fear of my most vulnerable thoughts being skimmed over by anyone but me.

Since about 20 years old, I’ve relied on journaling to both keep me on track — for the day, and for life in general — and keep me aware of my thoughts. To paraphrase the wise words of some Instagram quote somewhere: Our thoughts create our reality. So, it’s important to be in cahoots with them, IMO.

I’ve used many guided journals, and we always carry guided wellness journals at REAP Mini Mart (and actually, one of my 2025 goals is to create one), but I always add this daily prompt in, no matter what journal format I’m using, and I feel like it is the one question I need to ask myself every day, especially during times of stress or when my routine is heavily interrupted. (Hello, holiday season!)

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This regular list of things I can’t stop thinking about — from essays to ideas to recipes to face creams — will be Shaky Ground’s version of a recommendation list. Take what you like, leave the rest :)

It’s a weird time to be alive, and sharing anything on the internet honestly feels kind of silly when the world feels like it’s going up in smoke? That said, it’s times like this when the good moments — like reading an essay that makes you feel seen, or stumbling upon a recipe that you want to make over and over again — are most important. So here, I’m sharing some of the good stuff I’ve come across recently. Hope it brings some good to your week, too.

1. I’ve been bopping around Substack lately and a lovely discovery has been Haley Nahman’s newsletter, Maybe Baby. This piece on the chasm that forms across relationships after having a baby is interesting and is something I’ve thought about a lot.

This sudden disjointedness is something I wish didn’t happen — but I, like Haley, don’t know how it can be avoided when suddenly your reality is ruled by thoughts of milk production and sleep schedules and a whole host of other all-consuming subjects that sound like mind-numbing nonsense to anyone who is not living in Babyland.

And maybe this chasm is temporary, and there is no fixing it — after all, it’s likely been this way forever? Anyway, this essay made me feel seen, and if you are in a similar stage of life, same may go for you.

2. I love following Lily Harris of Lily Feeds You on Instagram. Her take on wellness is approachable and holistic, which is how I feel it should be. When she posted this Umami Crunch Tuna Salad recipe, it sounded so strangely delicious (when I say strange, see this abbreviated list of ingredients for reference: thinly shaved red onion! Almonds! Coconut Aminos! Balsamic!) that I have not stopped thinking about it since. I have yet to make it, but certainly will be soon. For a vegetarian take, I feel like substituting chickpeas for tuna would hit just right.

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Shaky Ground is a little plot in Internet Land where you’ll find musings on wellness and babies and motherhood, recipes (including faves from REAP Mini Mart), interviews with friends in the wellness space, recommendations, and more. For the full experience, if you’re into it, subscribe <3 xoxo, Adjua

I’ve always wanted to be a smoothie girlie. There’s something about having a smoothie every morning that just makes you feel like you have your shit together, even when you, um, to put it kindly, do not. Like the breakfast equivalent of color-coding your to-do list, or casually mentioning dividends in conversation.

The problem with my quest to become a smoothie queen was this: nailing smoothie ratios so that the end result is actually edible, as opposed to fruit and vegetable slop, is like doing a math equation. When you get it right, it’s perfect — but when you get it wrong (and, in the many attempts in my earlier years, I almost always got it wrong), it is absolutely wrong. I repeat: slop. Sludge. Sad, inedible smoothie disaster.

So, I gave up on my smoothie dreams — until we started research and development for REAP Mini Mart. This gave Zach and I a valid excuse to play around with smoothie ratios for hours on end, and finally get them juuuust right. And at age 30, I became a smoothie girlie. And sorry to tell you that, a few years later, I still don’t have my shit fully together (do we ever?), but, boy, does a morning smoothie make me feel like I’m on track.

My all-time favorite smoothie is our Berry Bliss from REAP Mini Mart, which gives adult AB + J vibes. This smoothie, called the Love Potion, is a close second, and the reason I’m sharing it now is because it’s a great smoothie for fall, with warming cinnamon and hearty oats weaved in.

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Not to start off as a complete downer, but if I had to name this past year of my life, I’d call it the Big, Hard, Almost-No-Fun Year I Had a Baby.

It feels like one of those pivotal years that I’ll tell my grandchildren about when they come to me looking for life advice. (LOL the blind leading the blind out here.) One of those: “Trust me, kid. Life comes at you fast but you can do this,” kind of years.

I should have known this, and to a degree I did, but you don’t really get it until you go through it: Having a baby really rocks your world. (“No, duh!” I can hear mothers across the world screaming.) And having a baby while trying to simultaneously run a small business — your girl was on her laptop from the hospital bed — has felt, for the most part, like trying to tread water while ankle-deep in quicksand: it’s a constant pull in different directions, and I’m forever metaphorically gasping for air.

Throw in navigating a very broken healthcare system as a self-employed person, a post-birth infection that knocked me on my ass, inflation completely turning our small business upside-down, unexpected tax bills showing up in the mail, pumping four hours a day for eight months (the. worst.), covering employee call-outs with a newborn strapped to me, having no childcare because childcare is an obscene expense in this country, hormones (!) and you’ve got yourself a Big, Hard Year.

Not that it hasn’t also been sprinkled with the absolute best moments of my life. I mean, my child is basically a human ecstasy tablet, which is perhaps the only reason I’ve made it through the past nine months unmedicated. Other nice things include: We went to Italy! We got to spend so much time with friends and family we never see! Our support system showed up for us in such big, unexpected, could-cry-just-thinking-about-it ways!

Life is nuanced, and somehow this chapter could also be called Everything Is the Best When It’s Not the Worst.

And what’s been illuminating is that this experience — this nuanced, joyful-but-difficult, hard-to-manage season of life — is universal. We all have our Big, Hard Year/s. And they aren’t necessarily baby-induced.

There are health troubles, and grief, and break-ups and natural disasters and all sorts of world-rocking moments more difficult than birth. The kind of life-will-life events that put you on shaky ground. And the goal, it seems, is to simply try your very best to keep your balance.

One of the greatest realizations I’ve had this year is the importance of turning to my wellness practices when trying to find my footing. It’s these unsteady times, when I’ve felt like I can hardly take a second to run to pee let alone sit down and do a 14-minute meditation that I need that meditation most. Moving my body has helped my mental health so much. And eating foods that make me feel good has been truly invaluable.

I feel really grateful to have knowledge around and access to these foundational tools, which I believe are key to staying upright when your world feels off kilter. And while I’m not a pro at much in life, my career — first in writing and then in food — has always centered around helping others to feel their best (or try, at least!) amidst the shitshow that is often life.

So this Substack—aptly named Shaky Ground—will be a place to share no-BS musings on life and wellness and babies, along with recipes (including client-fave REAP recipes), and hopefully interviews with people I find inspiring in wellness, and who knows what else? It will evolve but, ultimately, I’d like to create a place to connect over the Big, Hard Times of life (which is a lot of it, it seems), and better find our balance—no matter how shaky the ground may get.

I’d love to have you along for the ride if you’re interested :)