Circle Time is our weekly huddle / digest every Thursdays, in which I share the things bringing me joy, current events to stay informed, recommendations, and thought starters!
It’s funny (not really, at all) how many foods have become Russian Roulette in safety to eat right now, and the unexpected side effect of that has been forcing me to think outside of the box in planning our dinners.
As much as I love trying new dishes and cooking, when my executive functioning is low, I tend to stick to a rotation of go-to meals I know like the back of my hand. But this combo of tinned fish (Fishwife is really great), olives, and my sungold pasta was an easy and elite summer dinner. Tinned fish is a bit of a newer category of foods for me, but is such a convenient and budget-friendlier way of packing in protein and healthy fats.
Next up, I ordered a bunch of bulk dried beans, another new bit of terrain for cooking on my end! Not going to lie, the foray into dried beans as a pantry shelf-stable staple full of fiber and protein was also prompted by reading on this historic El Niño we are in for this year and world organizations advising people to prepare now.
With climate events becoming more severe, we’ve been intentionally not panic-buying, but slowly adding to our preparedness stores and building a basic emergency kit as budget and time allows. I used to feel really overwhelmed by the thought of emergency preparedness because it feels like a million things to think about, but doing it one step at a time over the last couple of years has made it feel not as stressful— one extra item here and there. This is an excellent post with suggestions of various lists for organizing and preparedness.
We celebrated my mama’s 70th birthday last week— made Magnolia Bakery’s banana pudding (w/GF vanilla wafers), one of her favorites.
It was J and my 3rd wedding anniversary this week! Aaaand here are some reasons why he thinks me unsuited for war:
Today is also the last day of the Gap F&F sale of 40% off sitewide (+ an extra 10% off with code GREAT)! Here are all my Gap faves linked, as they’ve really become one of my favorite affordable retailers that makes solid 100% cotton clothing, cute work trousers, and the coziest sweatsuit combos. For me, I snagged this satin bias-cut skirt I was eyeing last year. Trying my best to minimize my closet and clean out a couple items to donate for every addition I make!
Florida: where Trump once again voted by mail, despite doing everything he can to ban it via executive order, to which the courts keep just saying…no.
Governor’s primary: David Jolley, a former Republican, won his Democratic primary and MAGA Byron Donalds won his Republican primary with large margins. Donalds is favored to win the gubernatorial race at this stage.
Senate primary: Angie Nixon, the progressive candidate won her Democratic primary, despite being outspent 16 to 1 by establishment opponent Alex Vindman, in a thrilling victory with a much bigger margin than expected. Yet again, progressive candidates are turning out the vote in unanticipated (by the polls) ways and establishment Dems are needing to get on board before November. She faces off with incumbent Republican Ashley Moody in November for the general.
Alaska
Incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan is up for re-election and facing a challenge from Democrat Mary Peltola, in a race that is a potential gamechanger for Democrats to pick up a Senate seat here. The primary is a joint one, with the top four candidates advancing to the general—as of Wednesday (8/19) night, it’s too early to call, with Mary Peltola in the lead with about 7000 votes and incumbent Dan Sullivan behind her.
The border wall set to be constructed through Big Bend National Park is being temporarily paused by CBP, due to bipartisan pushback. Because who needs a wall when the park
Remember when Trump campaigned on making Mexico pay for the wall back in 2016? Congress gave the Trump administration $46 billion last summer to build a wall from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Our taxpayer money, while he raked in $2.2 billion in 2025 off the presidency.
Trump threatened to bomb Oman because he’s unhappy with the deal with Iran. Women are too emotional though, I hear.
US school vaccination rates plummet again, with exemptions reaching a record high. Coincidentally (not), we already smashed 2025’s record for measles cases and are losing our measles elimination status in this country.
Hayden Panettiere passed away, at 36 years old. While details of her death are still unconfirmed, this came as a shock to many. She opened up about her experience with postpartum depression (and shared on a podcast episode that Neutrogena dropped their decade-long contract with her for doing so), was an environmental and animal activist, recently wrote a memoir, and was one of the too many child stars that were made to suffer at the hands of a predatory Hollywood industry. I hope she rests easy.
The Lindsey Clancy case has really put a spotlight on maternal mental health and postpartum mental health. Loved this video talking about this conversation.
In case you missed it, this unusually late summer wave of Covid is here and its projected peak to happen in early September.
Unlike last year (thankfully), a 2026 fall Covid vaccine has already been approved and projected to be available in early September, formulated on the XFG variant (a JN.1-lineage strain) to more closely match the current strains going around.
Public health messaging around Covid has been kind of a mess, due to the heavy politicization of nearly every thing about it, but the science and facts remain. Jess Steier, DrPH an epidemiologist I love following, explains it perfectly here why it feels to many that it’s “not a thing” anymore. She also expands on this in her great Substack here.
Covid and flu are most often spread in the days before testing positive/having symptoms.
40% of Covid infections are asymptomatic— with children making up more of the asymptomatic infection cases than adults.
Severity of symptoms is also not an indicator of severity of infection.
Testing: Testing is a great layer of risk mitigation, but current at-home tests are also not reliable to detect current variants of Covid. One negative test is not reliable confirmation of no infection. If showing symptoms or wanting to take extra precautions, multiple tests over 24 hour periods are better indicators.
Anecdotally, Flowflex tends to be the most sensitive at-home test, but proper testing method is more important than test brand. Like any saliva test, it’s best to not drink water/eat 10-30 mins prior to testing, and swabbing both upper nasal cavity and back of throat tends to lead to more accurate Covid testing readings.
Masks: Y’all have seen me sport my favorite everyday KN95 masks (MINNA25 for 25% off) that come in both popular shapes, tons of colors, and kids sizes. Great to have on hand, even for air quality smoke conditions, flu, and RSV. The 3M Aura N95 is my preferred one for higher-risk situations like airplanes, medical facilities, crowded indoor spaces, and during peak surge times. It’s also best for smokey wildfire air, second to P100s.
Air ventilation + filtration: The key to easy risk reduction, bonus for doing both both. Opening doors, windows, turning off recirculated air in cars, and HEPA air purifiers are great tools to increase fresh air and not breath in other peoples exhaled air.
Tracking: Wastewater data like this is the best tracking indicator we currently have of caseload, especially with a compromised CDC and now that most people are not reporting (or testing at all) their positive home tests to databases.
Some recent and updated studies that indicate it’s worth practicing risk mitigation:
Mild covid has long-term brain impacts with alterations visible on brain scans to the parts of the brain that affect dopamine and physical response, most commonly showing via symptoms of brain fog, worsening memory recall, fatigue, and loss of motivation.
40% increase in dementia risk for adults over 50 after Covid infection, similarly with flu. Alzheimers Association also has ongoing studies that link Long Covid and associated increased Alzheimers risk.
Risk of heart attack + stroke double (especially for >50 y.o. people and those with previous history of high cholesterol, cardiac conditions) with Covid and flu.
Covid, flu, aka viral infections can awaken dormant cancer cells.
Acute Covid infection and long covid can reactivate dormant viruses like Epstein Barr (the virus behind Mono, that is linked to autoimmune disease like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, certain lymphomas and gastric cancers), HSV (cold sores + herpes), and more.
I answer more FAQ’s on vaccines, especially the misinfo around the Covid vaccine, and the list of my favorite public health and epidemiologist experts in this post from last year!
As with all disease prevention, it’s all about layering tools for success! Love this “Swiss Cheese” model for a visual representation. Not every tool is possible all the time, so it’s about doing what is possible.
I like to think of masking / vaccines / ventilation or air filtration in this analogy: vaccines are like buying a safety crash-tested car, masking is your seatbelt, and ventilation / air filtration is less cars or obstacles on the road to crash into.
Currently feeling desolate on Sundays without my dragons of house Targaryen, but there’s almost too many great TV shows out that I’m overwhelmed and we’re heading into the fall premiere of many beloved shows coming back for a new season.
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