Morning trips to the gym. When I joined, and started going to, my gym, I was like, "Huh, isn't this nice? A gym for old people and mommies." I never put two and two together and realized that the only reason I never saw any young people at my gym was because I never went past, like, 10:30 a.m. But the other night, after having been inside with Nora, who had a cold, all day, I decided to make a rare evening appearance there once J got home and could take over childcare duties. Ah. Ok. THERE WERE the young people. Everywhere. Sweating, looking sleek and chatting with their friends. Reminding me of the once-upon-a-gym memberships of my twenties, when I was, I suppose, just like them. And I pulled off my sweatshirt, revealed my large belly and thought about how I missed the seniors doing gentle circuits on the machines and the frazzled moms dropping their kids off at the gym daycare. I might try and revisit the swinging youth scene post-bambino, but for now, I'm sticking with my non-intimidating morning crowd. Tana French. She's the author of incredibly well-written mysteries set in Ireland. I read "In The Woods" last year and just finished "The Likeness," which was so good that I spent this one recent Saturday on the couch with it all day, thinking about how it was the best book in the world and I couldn't be happier, and how once I was finished, life would never be as sweet again.

The WTF podcast. People who know me would probably never figure I'd be interested in the private lives of comedians. Because...I'm not. Or wasn't. Until I started listening to this podcast hosted by Marc Maron, which J got me into. It's so funny and surprisingly interesting to hear all about how those interviewed developed successful comedic careers. Plus, now I know weird stuff I hadn't thought about before, like how so many people in the comedy world hate Carlos Mencia. You know, learning new things. I'm all about it.

Vinnie got me this cookbook, "Everyday Food: Great Food Fast," for Christmas and I absolutely love it. It's separated into seasons and full of great ideas that are - for real - easy, made from quality ingredients and are giving our normal repertoire of dinners a badly-needed update.

My new car and it's CD player and auxiliary jack. This past week I listened to albums and bands I'd almost completely forgotten about due to my time in the Hyundai, including LCD Soundsystem, The National, Akron/Family and The Hold Steady. See? I'm still cool.