Remember my consistency for Vols I-III? Whoops!

It’s been a whirlwind of a few weeks, and I am just now coming up for air before I bound out for Nashville at the end of the week. The last two weeks of March were a rollercoaster, but offered some great clarity across a few key areas– career, friendships, mahjong!

Ok, here are the things that have been working:

• AM poetry– I stole this idea from Jen Shoop of Fashion Magpie who reads and often shares works from Mary Oliver. I decided to follow Jen’s lead and do a little morning poetry myself, and have been working my way through the complete works of Lucille Clifton. The screenshotted piece Spring Thought for Thelma clung to me the past week. I absolutely love the lush imagery of a Southern woman tending to her garden, but even more exhilarating is the relentlessness of old desires calling and blooming like a forgotten branch of a rose bush. A great reflection on the work, and the interconnectedness of the Black Southern experience.
• Geek Squad– somewhere since I last wrote, my doctor confirmed I have a pretty bad eye infection. “Don’t be discouraged, but it is a long road,” she shared in her hilarious and gentle way! I have been forced to not only do regular eye drops, but most dramatically, wear my glasses mostly. I hate anything on my face so this has been a journey but my eyes feel less stressed and I have decided to lean into the brains x beauty of it all! I am eyeing adding an aviator style like this from Warby Parker.
• Birthday surprises– I had the chance to surprise one of my sweetest, dearest friends from college for a birthday dinner. Her husband and I surreptitiously organized everything months ago, and I went into party mode as soon as I landed in Dallas the day of! As I gathered a birthday crown, funny cocktail napkins and some goodies from Jonathan Adler, I realized how much fun I was having just in anticipation of the surprise. By the time I was running out to the car for the official reveal like a lunatic, I had decided to forgo all pride and go full-tilt on celebrating my good friend. Throughout our very fun dinner, I kept saying “We are at a birthday party!” and as many times as she rolled her eyes, I knew she loved it! Lesson– who cares about being “embarrassing,” when it comes to birthdays? Buy the crown, plan the surprise and belt out my favorite song– “Happy Birthday to you!”
• Castor Oil– IDC if it’s placebo, I have been slathering castor oil on my eyebrows and lashes for the past week and I’m pretty sure something is happening. I swear a gap in my left brow is filling in! I ordered this brand from Thrive Market and swear it will be buried with me, it is so huge.
• The Gem– speaking of Dallas, I made a beeline for smoothie spot The Gem as soon as I landed, and stumbled on some of the freshest prepared food I’ve ever had. Their 3-bean salad and chopped veggie mix were both impeccable and saved me from falling into a TX Meat Abyss! I will be recreating and sharing the recipes soon.
• The Try-On– this may sound so basic, but I opted to try on every potential outfit for my Dallas trip, rather than pack a bunch of random shit and hope it all came together. A game-changer! I ended up with two no-fail work options and a very, very great surprise birthday dinner look. It made packing more streamlined and I got away with hauling a lot less.
• Offline– I have been deleting the Outlook app from my phone on Friday evenings as a total disengagement from work email. IG is not the only mindless scrolling we’re doing!
• Mahjong– very much holding strong. My girls and I have been playing weekly, and hunny, I have been stacking up the wins! I’m psychotically competitive, so will spiral out if I don’t win a game, but it is capital F, really fucking fun. If you’re not mahj-ing, you’re missing (out)!
• iPhone FaceTime– my little nephew is at that age (5!) when he doesn’t really want to talk on the phone– too many Pokémon cards, not enough time– so the rare moments when he will actually engage via FaceTime are jewels. We did a full 30 minutes last week, and it involved screen effects, Pokémon, dinos and singing our made-up song “December89.” Family Over Everything!

That’s it for this week! Hope you are enjoying these early April days. As my bff Jackie said, “April Showers really playing its role!” Xx