Hey gang! Another week, another Weekly Balance. Let’s have a look back at the past seven days in my life and what I’ve learnt from it.

What went on in my doctor life…

While the COVID-19 pandemic continues, I’m going to leave out this section of The Weekly Balance for now. I can’t share the specifics of my day to day work – its not appropriate for many reasons, but confidentiality is the main one. I would also guess that many of you, like me, enjoy taking time to switch off from all things pandemic, and I hope these weekly posts might help with that a little. I hope you guys can understand that, and thank you! I am continuing to share COVID-19 update posts on my Instagram at least once per week – you can check those out here.

What I’m thinking about…

November. It’s such a strange month isn’t it? The beginning of winter – truly dark evenings and mornings, typically in Ireland a fair bit of rain, and of course, the rush to get Christmas presents and plans sorted. With Halloween behind us, I think we can officially start talking about Christmas! But of course, this year is a year like no other, and so for many, plans that would normally be made at this time of year, are up in the air. In Ireland, we are in Level 5 restrictions currently until December at the earliest, meaning our November looks very different to those gone by.

This year, I’m going to do my best to shop local, and shop Irish brands for Christmas gifts, doing as much of that online as I can. That’s of course not feasible for many people, particularly in a year as economically challenging as this one, but if we can, I think it is great to support local home grown businesses. The run up to Christmas is also an important time to stay connected to your family and friends. Even if we can’t do that face to face in many instances, we can use technology to our advantage to keep in touch.

One day at a time gang, one day at a time.

What I’m reading…

This week I finished The Most Fun We Ever Had by Claire Lomardo. I’ll be honest and say I didn’t LOVE this book. It was definitely a slow burner. BUT I did enjoy it, for sure. This novel is the story of the Sorenson family – parents Marilyn and David, and their four daughters Wendy, Liza, Violet and Grace. The book is told through the eyes of all six characters, each chapter flitting between their perspective, and back and forth from the childhood of the girls to adulthood.

It’s a book that depicts the complexities and dynamics of family life and love over the decades that children grow up, and examines how their relationships with their parents and their siblings change and evolve, for better and for worse. Set in Chicago, it explores not just the theme of family, but also love, friendship, loyalty and parenthood.

As always, let me know what you’re reading in the comments below! My current read is The Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult. I also recently finished Just Like You by Nick Hornby which I’ll review in next week’s post.

What I’m listening to…

I started another new audiobook this week – Holding by Graham Norton. I loved his last novel Home Stretch (reviewed here last week), and I’m enjoying this one just as much. He is a great narrator as well as a great author, and I’ll share a full review of this one next week!

My other current audiobook is Green Lights by Matthew McConaughey, his memoir, and it is SO FUNNY. Full of great anecdotes, hilarious stories and memorable quotes. Definitely one to try, especially in audio format since he narrates it!

Plus – podcasts I loved this week were – Dawn French on Table Manners, and Joe Biden on the Brene Brown podcast.

Recipe of the Week

The recipe I’m loving this week is my Aubergine Lentil Lasagna recipe a quick dinner recipe favourite for me, with a good few veggies packed in there too! You can find the recipe here.

And that’s a wrap for this week gang! If you want to get in touch, you can find me @theirishbalance on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. I hope you have a lovely week ahead folks – remember, stay informed with the advice from your local health authority, stay safe, wash your hands, keep your distance and be kind!

Ciara  x