my week in photos — week 28

My week in photos is a weekly post where I share some of the photos that I took during the week that (mostly) didn’t make it to my Instagram feed. I’m always looking for ways to improve my photography skills and welcome any comments.

Even with the holiday, it was a super chill week around here. I actually had to look at my calendar to remind myself of what we did this week.

I’m always on the lookout for interesting plants to photograph while we’re walking. This purple spiky guy caught my attention one evening. The plant itself was about four feet tall and only the top had these blooms. (Are the really blooms if it’s just a pile of colorful spikes?) At any rate, I had to have a picture of them.

Since getting home from Michigan, getting my steps has been difficult. I think some of it has to do with the yoga challenge that I’m doing. With two hours of my day gone for yoga, it’s been hard justifying using my remaining time for walking. This coming up week will be better.

Speaking of the yoga challenge, Justin has been a trooper. He goes with me whenever his schedule will allow. On the Fourth of July, we went to a special, holiday-themed class that included patriotic songs and every version of eagle wrap imaginable. We’re both very sore. I may have told Justin that my hips feel like a Barbie doll’s legs that have been popped in and out of their sockets a few too many times. There are 2.5 weeks to go and I think I’ll make it.

Food costs and food waste have been on my mind for quite some time. While Justin and I are pretty good about not wasting the food that we buy and we compost, there is definitely a lot of work that needs to be done at the macro level.

The other day, Justin headed out to run some errands. While he was out, I decided to watch a documentary about food waste that had caught my eye — Just Eat It. (Here’s a link to the trailer. It’s on Amazon Prime right now.) A big part of the documentary was discussing reducing food waste produced by grocery stores. Since people seem to think that only “perfect” produce is worth buying, grocery stores have put pressure on farmers to only send unblemished produce. Much of the rejects end up in the trash. Horrifying, I know.

Grocery stores will sometimes significantly markdown food that is about to reach its sell-by date. That’s how Justin ended up buying us a tub of potato salad. I haven’t bought potato salad in a long time, even though it’s one of my favorite foods, because it comes in a plastic tub. I let the plastic tub slide just this once since it would be better for the food to be eaten instead of trashed.

Our big event of the week was game night with some new friends. We played Machi Koro and King of Tokyo. It was fun sharing a game that we like quite a bit and learning a new game in the same night. Part of what I like about doing game nights is that the food is an ancillary benefit. In other words, the reason for the event isn’t food. We did bring some snacks though including an array of carbs (bread, chips, and crackers) and spreads (guacamole, nut cheese, and hummus). I really thought that I went overboard with the amount of guacamole that I brought, but all of it was gone by the end of the night. That will teach me to not underestimate a fellow millennial’s love of avocados.

How did your week go?