THE WEEKLY PAGE 📝 No. 252
Meet Murphy 🐾 + what to read, watch, listen to and enjoy...
Yesterday we welcomed home our new pup, Murphy June 🐾
We had a full day at home with her yesterday — a slow, repetitive cycle of playing, snacking, napping and potty breaks. But, if there’s anyone who loves a good routine — it’s me. Here’s a video for those needing a puppy fix — wish I could bottle up the puppy breath or velvety belly and send it your way, too:
During our recent trip to France we both read the book Puppy Brain by Kerry Nichols of The Nicholberry Dispatch — I’ve recommended her book in a previous newsletter but check out her sub for more dog advice! Best methods have definitely changed since we last had a puppy (13 years ago!) or were fostering puppies (9 years ago!), so her information on puppy brain development, dog psychology, and body language has been really helpful — I think it’s a great book for dog owners no matter the age of your dog and especially if you’re dealing with any training or behavior issues.
So far Murphy has convinced us she’s an angel (could be a trick 😆) — our girl has been successfully going potty where she should, slept 7 hours straight through the night (imagine being woken up at 5AM by two humans hanging over the edge of a bed staring at you?!) and is currently napping behind us in her puppy area while we work.
And that is a perfect segue into our theme for May: sleep. Something we spend nearly 1/3 of our life doing and something the majority of us will struggle with in one way or another at some point.
This week I published the post 🌙 This is What Happens When We Sleep where I explained how sleep helps our brain and body restore, replenish, and regulate. Next week I’ll be giving you a crash course in sleep cycles (super interesting!) and ending the month with different ways to improve and optimize your sleep. With any luck, we’ll all be feeling a little more rested and focused by the time June rolls around.
If you want more puppy content you can find it in my Instagram Story — there’s also a recap of our trip to Southern France in a highlight on my profile.
Time for a puppy snuggle,
📚 READ: The MAHA movement in the US is sinister in the way that it takes advantage of very valid anxieties that a lot of Americans (especially women/mothers) have about their health and the health of their families. American policies tend to be extremely reactive rather than proactive and that difference was very apparent to us when we relocated from Minnesota to Denmark. This recent article from The Guardian explores how Denmark has slowly transformed the health of the entire country through whole grains over the past 17 years. In my opinion, this type of long-term strategy is an example of what a “MAHA movement” would actually look like. Click here to read “The Whole Grain Revolution: How Denmark Changed the Diet (and Health!) of their entire Nation”.
📺 WATCH: When I saw the poster for this new Disney+ documentary, Pets, pop up on our TV last night my heart swekked. Kayaking and canoeing was one of our favorite activities with our first dog, Walter, and I can’t wait to sit down with Murphy and watch this over the weekend! (watching these kind of shows is also a great way to desensitize your dog to animals on the TV!).
🎧 LISTEN: Along with getting a new pup yesterday, the world also got a new pope. I wasn’t particularly invested in the developments(not very religious) — but having recently watched Conclave (loved it!) and feeling very curious about what the pope selection might say about the future of the entire planet, I couldn’t help but turn on a live stream to see whether they’d announce a conservative or “progressive” successor. The verdict I’ve seen so far is that Pope Leo is likely on the progressive side (errmm, as progressive pope can be?) and is expected to continue moving the Catholic church in a direction toward equality and inclusion. LET’S HOPE. Given the amount of power typically amassed among both the US and the catholic church the influence here will be noticeable. There’s been a lot of interesting internet chatter and hilarious commentary in the hours since his “reveal”, so here’s a roundup of things I’ve enjoyed:
Podcast Episode: The First American Pope episode from What a Day that summarizes what Leo might say about the future of the church.
Article: You can always count on Heather Cox Richardson to provide a level-headed, fact-filled update on the day’s headlines — including the new pope.
Perspective: This post from Kendra Awesomeness assesses Leo from the view of a queer, disabled, former Catholic. Lots of good info!
Facts: As always, this Matt XIV Post does a great job summarizing bullet points about the new pope.
Laughs: Of course the announcement wasn’t without some hot takes and humor and Read Receipts has a great roundup (the deep dish pizza one had me rolling).
🧡 ENJOY: I’ve had this image pinned on Pinterest for a really long time and decided I’m finally going to lean into my mismatched-glass-collection-lady era! Little antique shops and markets around Europe always have incredible glassware…and sometimes the best ones are the lone survivor of their set — making this a fun keepsake activity :) All I need is to find little shelves like this and so far I’ve had no luck. Either their pegs are at an angle or are too far apart. Is anyone particularly good at this flavor of internet sleuthing?! Let me know if you find something — otherwise I guess I need to find a woodworker?
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