College Move-In Essentials

The pic above is me with some CLEARLY ESSENTIAL purchases, which totally fits the theme of this post because we have boiled the daunting college move in experience down to a perfectly reasonable shopping list.

Shower caddy

Shower shoes

Two of every toiletry or grooming product your kid uses

At least 2 charging cords and cubes for your kid's phone

An extra laptop charger

A couple of power strips

Small vacuum: a mom can dream, ok?

Laundry detergent sheets

Blue bags for move in-- seriously, these are great. When Harry came back and forth on the bus his freshman year, he'd even use them to travel, and he still brings laundry home in them from time to time (even though laundry is FREE in his dorm...)

Mattress topper: this is a MUST

Two sets of sheets: Probably these sheets will never get changed, but what the heck-- might as well have a spare pair.

Blanket for the bed: the cheaper the better! I actually really like these and have 2 for every kid bed at home (one to wash and one to wear), but you probably only need to send 1 to school because is your college kid really going to change the sheets?

Towels: I really think 6 is the perfect number.

Comforter: Duh. Any bed in a bag is fine-- you definitely want something small enough to fit in a washing machine.

Throw blanket: Harry REALLY appreciated having a cooling blanket, and you want to buy something light and small enough to be thrown in the wash but soft and big enough to be cozy. Harry also has a heavier throw that he trades out at the semester when he trades of his jackets for extreme down coats, but dorm rooms are tiny so there's no need to have too many.

Fan: Even a dorm room with a/c gets stuffy

Bedside shelf: Or, maybe a caddy.

Organizing cube shelves: We definitely bought these in Eau Claire post move-in for Harry and might do a Peoria Target run for Jack after he figures out the layout of his room a little better

Shoe storage- honestly, Harry just used a giant tupperware.

Hangers

Laptop: LOVE this computer! Harry went with a MacBook Air, but Jack is excited to try the Neo, especially since his university gives everyone a 5G iPad.

Oh my gosh, you guys. THAT'S SO MANY THINGS. And I swear this is a PARED DOWN LIST.

We have been buying our college kids a fridge and a microwave the Christmas before they move to college, which has worked out really well, and all of our older kids have their own TVs and Alexas, and everyone even Minnie had their own gaming system, so no need to worry about those (lol/sob/we're the worst).

We got our life partner big kids a Costco membership to split, so we know they can keep themselves in cheap gas, $2 lunches and junk food, and everything feels pretty done and dusted, you know?

A friend of mine with kids a few years older than ours said to always bring an extra thousand bucks to college move in weekend, because there are lots of last minutes things, t-shirts for sale, and kids to take out for one last dinner-- and this is really good advice.

I did buy Minnie's dance pics, and I have zero regrets.

June/July and summer fun when there is still work to do....

I got the BEST random sales email yesterday from a local coffee shop. The tag line was CHEERS TO A MONTH OF PURE SUMMER FUN, and that is exactly what July is! No school! At ALL! Anytime this month. ALL FUN. 

SuchI a good reframe.

Especially for me. Especially right now. I love summer and everything about it AND ALSO my summer class ramps up this week and I have two adjunct online sections this term-- I do have work to do in the midst of all the fun. And yet! The kids are staring at a rolling wave of pool days and friend hangs and movie nights, which is of course, exactly what I want for them. I just need to figure out how to balance all the fun and all of the things I have to do.

So, with that in mind, here's a little mini review of my summer so far

Swim lesson session one was a raging success-- both the timing (right before the pool opens for open swim and in the sort of middle of dance driving, which has made Coop really step up as a big bro) and the lessons themselves. Minnie passed level 3 and is ready for level 4-- stroke refinement, She has strokes to refine!

JUNE

✅Run, lift weights, and do yoga before 7:30am: THIS WAS SO GOOD YOU GUYS SO GOOD.

✅Get dressed in real clothes every day: ONLY 1 FAIL and it was because we spent the whole day in the pool, so I put these running clothes ion over my suit

🟡Read my Book of the Month books that have been hanging around: As of this writing, I have read THREE of the FOUR but I also ordered one for July

🟡Take a quick walk after every meal: Extending this one because I mostly forgot about it after the first week of June (still walked for 60 minutes every day, so I'm not totally slacking.

🟡Read all the random Amazon First Reads kindle books I have waiting for me on my Kindle before I buy new books: My library holds have been amazing, so I have not read this OR bought new books.

❌Work outside the house 2 days a week: NOPE NOPE NOPE. This month??

✅Water my gardens: YESSSSSS

✅ Attend 3 dressy events and buy ZERO DRESSES for me OR the girls. DID IT! Thanks to our niece for the clutch dress loan for D.

JULY

1. Visit Eau Claire

2. Have a cheesy family 4th of July celly with a Jazzminton tourney

3. 2 date nights OUT OF THE HOUSE (driveway fires do not count, but grocery shopping together might)

4. Keep exercising by 7:30am and getting dressed for the day (pool clothes count)

5. Maximize pool days/ minimize TANNING. I get so tan so fast with sunscreen. Current strategy:

6. Stay on top of all deadlines (work, personal, volunteer-- THERE ARE MANY BALLS IN THE AIR)

7. Master my summer schedule by July 9th (because it changes a bit in August, but there's no way I can call myself a master before then)

8. Keep the dinner bowl menu train on the tracks

9. Renew my commitment to my daily planer-- stuff is falling through the cracks, and I am still not motivated to check in. I need to go back to making a nightly to-do list for the next day. My nights have just skewed so late and I have been getting up so early and bah.

10. EMAIL MADNESS-- fix it!

Halfway DAAAAAAAAY

Summer running is the literal worst

2026 so far!

The postives

I have made little changes to my every day that are terrific, especially in terms of exercise and honoring commitments to myself. 

The negatives

LOTS OF THINGS TO DO IN THIS SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR.

The seasons

Season 1, first semester: FUN-- was it??

Season 2, Summer: BALANCE-- will it be?

And, of course, THE LIST:

BIG GOALS:

❌creative writing: LOL I have done nothing

🟡professional development: Some stabs but not super focused.

Hobbies and Home:

❌Re-design my blog: Nope

✅Keep track of blog content: Yes, but not sure why

❌Use IG to promote blog posts: Not once

✅Read a book a week on my Kindle: YES!!!!

🟡Meet up with 2 new blog friends and keep current connections:

No new meet ups yet!

❌Buy: lamps, pillows, duvet covers, seasonal candles:

LOL no, but an IKEA is opening 2 miles fro. my dooooooooor!

🟡Buy a house in Peoria?: Still looking

✅Perfect toll house cookies: YES!!!

Fitness:

🟡Increase run to 40 minutes/day: Working on it

✅Run just about every day in 2026 (think about what to do if I can't):

Every day so far

❌Run 3 races including a 10K: I don't think I want to do this

🟡Hit protein and fiber macros MOST day (how many is most? 90%?):

I HAVE been more mindful of this, especially protein, but I still default to mostly carb options

(which means my fiber goals are CRUSHED most days.

🟡Take a barre class: Still want to

❌Ingest less sugar : Erm.

🟡Get a new friend for Annabel (that'll make me walk more):

Still shopping

❌Join a gym with Cooper: I don't want to...

Celebrations:

✅Make a big deal about milestones: YES!

❌ Make sure to book Xmas pop up restaurant and outdoor globe

Need to get on this

❌Buy flying wish paper for NYE 2026

NO reason why I haven't

🟡Bake a variety of cookies for Christmas 2026

I will!!

🟡Stuff my own stocking

I will!

✅Shop early for holidays: Loving this so far

🟡Make Hanukkah special (December 4-December 12): Can't wait

❌/🟡Visit BU and UW-EC once each semester:

We did NOT do this last semester, but I have an EC thing on the books...

June: What I Read

 How is the reading year HALF OVER? It really is a sign of advanced age that the world is flying by, huh? ANYWAY, I read some excellent books this month-- pool days, you know? Here they are in order from least favorite to favorite:

🎧If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares: Ugh. I mean, the whole point of this book is awareness, so I guess you should read it. (Less about bad actors and more about the idea that humans will get in the way of AI's needs, and once they can live without us, they will).

📱Life After Life by Kate Atkinson: I am very intrigued that this is a #1 in a series... I will read more about the Todd family.

📓🥳Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash: I did not like this book-- I felt like the author was just trying too hard to make everyone quirky.

📓🥳Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer: Meh. I HATED this author's first book, and, while this one was better, it was still not great

📓🥳Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy: This was waaaaaay over-hyped, IMO.

📓🥳Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune: I really do like this author, but this romance was so so so so so predictable. A good pool read, though!

🎧Conform by Ariel Sullivan: Ooooooh this is a great new dystopian take.

🎧Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler: I immediately started the next book in the series the second I finished this. Unfortch, I have been extended my library loan in favor of others...

🎧The House on Fripp Island by Rebecca Kauffman: Ooooh this was a gooood one-- she can do no wrong, IMO.

🎧How to Read a Book by Monica Wood: SO SWEET.

🎧Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser: Fairytale retellings are my jam! This one was dark and sly and funny.  

📓🥳The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn: YES, I love her-- the best light romances. 

📱🥳This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum: OH I LOVED THIS and did not see the whole plot coming. Kind of over the podcast trope, though.

📱🥳The Gulf of Lions by Caitlin Shetterly: ALL THE CLOSURE PETE AND ALICE NEEDED!! (Sequel to Pete and Alice in Maine).

🎧🥳The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff: Such great characters and a really simple, engaging plot.

📱🥳Alan Opts Out by Courtney Maum: I laughed almost the whole time I read this book-- it's about a woman trying to make it into an adult sorority while her husband is divesting of capitalist trappings-- LOVED IT.

🎧🥳Dolly all the Time by Annabel Monaghan: Loved this! Predictable, sure, but the characters were so fun, and the dialogue really sparkled.

📓🥳Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel: Such a wild premise and so charming--  you guys should read this one.

Dance Nats

On our way to the dance studio boat party on Lake Michigan, and you can;t even tell I have eye patches under my sunglasses

We made Dorothy pose with some street art

We did NOT mean to sit right next to Dorothy and friends, but this was the very BEST part of the boat, and WE WERE HERE FIRST

Such a pretty city

On the way to his parents' house, Ben got FOMO in advance about the boat party and bought a ticket

So we dropped Minnie off and made a night of it.

NATIONALS COMP DAY 1-- this is the day that Dorothy had 5/7 dances, and we had to leave the burbs at 6 am!

Minnie stayed at her grandparents' house, and Ben and I got to hang out together all day

First dance!

Second dance!

And then I stopped taking any pictures!

We went to Ben's parents' and had ice cream

And! Ben and I went for a run at 8:30 pm! I was SO PROUD of us!!!

Day 2 was a PAC ATTACK CALL BACK for day 1's first dance!!! And also awards. (Ben and I did an early AM run and I put my makeup on in the car).

WHERE DOROTHY'S DANCE WON BEST IN SHOW! Meaning it was one of the top 15 routines at the WHOLE ENTIRE COMPETITION!!

And we saw a statue

And had Plato's hotdog 

Nationals day 3-- Dorothy's other 2 dances (a hip hop group and her trio) competed, and Ben and I took an 8:00 am run on Navy Pier

I cooled off with a fountain Diet Coke, like one does after a run.

Loved this dance!

(Meanwhile, Minnie continued to live her best life with her grandparents)

Dorothy and I had brunch between hip hop and trio

And then she got ready for one more trio ride (they are a very cute biker gang in that dance).

And you guys! THE MUSIC CUT OUT WHEN SHE WAS DANCING! And she and her friends JUST KEPT ON DANCING! WITH NO MUSIC! They did not miss a beat, and the audience was on its feet screaming for them. It was actually pretty amazing (and they got to do it again with music). Afterwards, Dorothy went out for ice cream in her costume, and people were coming up to her to say congratulations.

Waiting for awards.

Still waiting for awards.

STILL WAITING.

FINALLY! Nationals day 4: THE BEST OF THE BEST face off!!! Out of 1500 routines, only 15 got to perform ONE MORE TIME.

pre-show ice cream

We wore noise cancelling headphones to watch dances

Quick Starbs run

Fave fan:

 Quick trip to the merry go round

WE HAD THE BEST WEEK!!