A Few Good Things

Including an update on our veggie garden, a visit from my sister, and a great new murder-mystery show

Happy Friday!

How was your week? Our kids are off school today, so it’s a three-day weekend (the weekend before school gets out for summer—go figure!), which means we’ll be spending it out at our farm getting as much work done out here as we can. It feels like there are never enough hours in the day to accomplish what we want or need to, so we’re determined to make the most of it this weekend.

When I was deciding which photo to use for this weekend’s Good Things post, I was deciding between two of PJ. One was him in this cute tank top eating guacamole in Cancun while drinking chardonnay by the ocean, looking every bit like a model you would see in the pages of Vogue. The other, which is the one I ended up going with (above), is him on the farm, shirtless, roaming around in his shorts like he always does out here, also drinking some wine, nonetheless.

It got me thinking about how we as people wear many different hats. My husband, for example, is so comfortable doing both: he can dress up, look like he’s about to walk down a friggin runway, and head out to dinner, never thinking twice about it. The next day, he can put on his old farm clothes and go wrangle up 15 sheep, getting bruised and sweaty and dirty in the process. He’s at home in either role. Both are him. Both are an accurate depiction of the man I married. But if I had to choose one that best describes PJ, I would probably go with the farm picture. It’s him at his happiest, truest self, amongst his sheep, on his land, with his family. And I love both very, very deeply.

I’ll share the other photo next week, deal?

Hope you have a great weekend, and here are a few good things from the week.

1. An Update on Our Veggie Garden

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve talked about our little vegetable garden we started at home, so I thought we’d give you an update. Everything is moving along nicely! PJ waters them every night and it’s become a little routine that I can tell her cherishes. We planted tomatoes in the three raised garden beds we ordered and look how much they’re growing! You can see everything else in the background getting so much bigger, but it’s still too early for anything to be producing. I’m thinking probably in the next two months we’ll see some veggies? Maybe? Hopefully?

2. Family Comes to Town

My older sister Amy, her husband Joel, and their oldest son Jack came to stay with us for a night this past weekend! They haven’t spent the night at our house in years, so I wanted to make sure I savored every minute with them. They got in late, so we ate dinner and put the kids to bed and then stayed up until almost 2am catching up. The four of us settled into the living room with extra glasses of wine and talked about everything: family and friends and kids and politics and careers and the future. Amy and I are probably the most alike out of all my siblings and talk pretty much every day. Every time we’re together we always stay up way too late catching up because we never know when the next time we’ll see each other will be. I did my best to talk her and Joel into moving their whole family up to Tennessee in the next couple of years. We’ll see if it worked!

3. Imperfect Women

If you loved the show Big Little Lies, you will love Imperfect Women on Apple TV. Based on the novel of the same name, it’s about three lifelong friends and the aftermath of one of their murders. There are lies, betrayals, secrets, and twists and turns galore, basically all of the things that make an addictive TV show. Plus, the three leads are SO GOOD in it: Kerry Washington, Elizabeth Moss, and Kate Mara absolutely kill every scene they’re in, and each episode left me guessing and wondering what was going to happen next. Just when you think you have it figured out, something else happens to throw you through a loop. It’s so good! I think you’re going to love it. Plus, the homes in it are so dreamy, which is always a plus.

4. Dig In!

If you’re not already following Erin O’Brien on Instagram, you must stop what you’re doing and go follow her immediately. She makes the most delicious, comforting, cozy meals out of any food blogger I’ve come across, and she’s just released her first cookbook, Dig In! We’ve been following her for years and just adore everything she puts out into the world. She radiates joy and positivity and every time a video of hers pops up, I stop what I’m doing and watch it because I know it’s going to be good. If you’re a cookbook fan like me, Dig In! should absolutely be the newest addition to your collection.

5. Stripes for Summer

J.Crew is having a huge 40% off sale right now, and this Johnny-collar striped polo immediately caught my eye. You know my love for stripes knows no bounds, plus it’s currently 41% off (regularly $91 but currently $52). It would be perfect with some khaki shorts (I’ve been really into wearing long sleeves with shorts lately). I also have my eye on these seersucker swim trunks, these 5 inch shorts, and these chinos, which are a fun color for summer, don’t you think?

PS: my favorite rugby shirt from J.Crew (that I’m wearing in the photo above with my brother from this past Sunday) is also on sale for $58! I’ve never seen it this low before. I paid $90 last year and I’m wishing I would have held out for a sale like this. I also have it in green.

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1. Retro alarm clock

2. Natural fridge odor eliminator

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This Week’s YouTube Video

In this week’s vlog, we’re sharing episode two of Brewed Together, our monthly series on YouTube where we sit down with important people in our life and discuss all the things over a few cups of coffee. In this month’s episode, we’re chatting with our good friends Mo and Justin about parenthood, marriage, and so much more. I hope you enjoy!

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Tuesday’s Letter

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If you want to start receiving emails for Keep & Delete, our daily journal, you can do so by following the instructions below:

1. Go to your Substack account

2. Click on the publication you want to subscribe to (Okay McKay)

3. Click Manage Subscription

4. Find the Subscriptions section

5. Slide the toggle next to each section you want to receive notifications about (Keep & Delete)

6. Save your changes

If you want to see all the Keep & Delete’s so far, you can tap the link below. We also end each one by asking you to share your own Keep & Delete for the day, if you feel up to it.

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What about you? What have you been up to recently?
PS: last week’s good things

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