Power Nap #135
A very exciting trip, the unexpectedly perfect mom shorts, and tiny mantras for messy moms
HELLO FROM LONDON!!!!!! In case you missed it, Barclays Bank invited Nate and me to come to London to watch a Premier League Football Match and explore the city. Gotta be honest, I totally thought it was spam. To Nate’s great delight (he has never been), it is not a scam!! So, here we are! I will be sharing lots of random tidbits on my Instagram stories as we explore the city. So with that, enjoy The Power Nap, and don’t miss Hannah’s Mantras for Messy Moms.
The brand that needs no introduction - Quince is the first place I shop if I need a wardrobe staple or something for the kids. I looked to see which Quince pieces were the most purchased by the Power Nappers and these were top of the list.
The organic cotton stretch jeans that are only $50 and feel like designer.
Jess’ organic cotton maxi skirt, which now comes in this fun new pattern. She has worn this weekly for over a year — even pregnant and postpartum and still gets the same size. It’s that good.
A shoe that feels worn in the moment you put them on: the Italian leather woven ballet flat.
Also! These adorable red gingham, linen, high-waisted shorts would be so cute for Fourth of July or Memorial Day with the white version of my new favorite linen tank.
The Power Nap is free each week, and sponsors like Quince help make that possible! Thanks for sponsoring this Power Nap, Quince!
In Case You Missed It
This is the secret to the best cookies — and here’s the recipe I love more than any other.
I shared an emotional moment at Johnny’s tennis match that reminded me of God’s love.
I put these on the inside of my trash cans to prevent flies and maggots. They last 4 months and really make a difference. I also use these straps to keep the can closed and raccoons out!
I think these 5” denim shorts for $28 from Target are going to be my new everyday staple! Full outfit here.
Supergoop is still running their friends and family sale with all my favorite products (unseen sunscreen, play lotion SPF, and SPF stick) on really good sale. If you need to stock up, you should get this bundle for an insane deal!
“Someday you will be old enough to start reading fairytales again.” - C. S. Lewis
Nate’s Book Reviews
Asymmetry -- Lisa Halliday -- Two novellas stapled together. One is an intimate, semi-autobiographical relationship between a young editor and a much older, famous writer. The other is about an Iraqi-American economist detained at Heathrow. They don't relate. I very much enjoyed the first one, and the second one was ok. But I liked this joke found in the second one: "When I was a kid, I told everyone I wanted to be a comedian when I grow up, and they laughed. Well, they're not laughing now."
Run -- Blake Crouch -- A man, his family, a sudden catastrophe, and a nonstop flight across the American Southwest while something very bad hunts them. Once it starts, Run does exactly what the title promises. Short chapters, constant motion, zero downtime. Pure page-turner. Not my favorite Crouch book, but, like his others, it keeps you interested.
Art of Spending Money -- Morgan Housel -- I enjoy Morgan Housel's books and I think most people would benefit from hearing his personal finance advice. Psychology of Money remains, in my opinion, his best if you were to read only one.
Your Name Here -- Helen Dewitt -- Dewitt's The Last Samurai (not the Tom Cruise movie) is, I believe, my favorite book. Her The English Understand Wool is in my top 5. But boy is her new book bad. Way too outside the box. Come back in the box, Helen. At least come back around the box. DNF (did not finish). Dewitt was featured in the last "Weird but Great" here at the Power Nap.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025: A Collection of the Year's Most Insightful Essays -- Jamie Green and Susan Orlean -- I enjoyed listening to many of these. Topics ranged from: a woman who could smell Parkinson's before medicine could detect it to do animals perceive death to a first hand account of the Hawaii wildfires to what's it like to camp in the hottest place on earth to wild animals in New York City and more. If I didn't like one, I just skipped it. Interesting if you like this kind of thing.
The Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An Oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb -- Garrett M. Graff -- An oral history, meaning it tells its story through first-hand accounts stitched together rather than a single authorial voice explaining events like a narrator. Compared to a normal history book, oral history is messier and more human: overlapping memories, technical obsessions, blind spots, and moments where no one fully understands what they’re building. This was the first one I've ever read, and I enjoyed it. In particular, this book’s strength is its fixation on the engineering and logistics of the atomic bomb—materials, timelines, construction, logistics, and coordination. Not just the science behind the bomb (it has that too), but everything else it took to pull it off.
Hannah’s 5 Tiny Mantras For Messy Moms
Hannah here! At the beginning of 2026, I chose stewardship as my word of the year and asked God to show me how to better care for what He’s given me (in all areas of my life - relationships, time, our house, work, my body, etc.). One thing that’s become clear in the category of my home: it’s usually the small messes I put off that create headaches later.
So for the past 5 months, I’ve focused on trying to do the slow, unglamorous work of taking care of things as they arise. It’s really not that fun or enjoyable in the moment, but shifting from an “I’ll deal with it later” mindset to an “I’ll take care of it now” mindset has helped our home feel a lot more manageable and grown my self-discipline in small sustainable ways. If you're a type-A queen with a kitchen counter so spotless you could perform surgery on it, none of this will be groundbreaking. But if you’re a liiiiittle more type B, here are my self-enforced ‘rules’ that have actually made a difference:
1. Don’t put it down, put it away.
If I pick up multiple items that have separate homes, I need to take ALL of them to their final destination. Otherwise, I’m just moving clutter around for my future self to deal with.
2. If I start it, I have to finish it.
If I start laundry, I have to finish it that day. If I start cleaning out the freezer, I can’t abandon it halfway through. Unless it’s a bigger project, it has a 24-hour deadline.
3. Don’t leave a room empty-handed.
Leaving the living room? Grab a toy that belongs in the playroom. Heading upstairs? Take the pile of clothes that have been sitting on the stairs for 3 days. Just pick up what you see.
4. Use YouTube timers for distraction-free cleaning.
When I need motivation to clean, especially when a task feels overwhelming, I put on a 30 or 60 minute timer video from YouTube like this one. It’s the perfect solution because it plays LoFi music, helps me visually see that I’m making progress, and I can’t get distracted by something on my phone until it ends.
5. Five minutes now saves 30 minutes later.
Most household tasks *actually* take less than ten minutes to deal with. Ignoring them is what turns them into overwhelming projects or me frantically deep cleaning our pantry on a Sunday afternoon when I want to be having fun or resting with our family.
Love the messy mom suggestions! Great ideas for us type B moms :)
For Nate - the 9/11 oral history from Garrett Graff ("The Only Plane In The Sky") was INCREDIBLE