Filling My Cup with Merging Friend Groups, Acts of Service, and Working on a 2nd Edition of Quiet Your Mind

I feel like this week gave me a small taste of spring (those few blocks of 60 degree weather were giving me life) and also reminded me that I need to learn how to be comfortable in the slow periods of life. I had a call with my therapist and a session with my energy healer this week all about my brain’s desire to constantly live in the chaos and overstimulation of life. I think because I lived in such a “go-go-go” household I actually feel at ease when there is a lot going on and I crave the chaos when life gets too quiet. This week happened to be a slow workweek for me in the sense that I didn’t have any recordings, I wasn’t in the city at all, and I didn’t have much “planned”. I caught myself feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my own skin when I’d wake up and see that my calendar was blank. I realize that many people cannot relate to this (especially the working from home and for yourself bit), but it is a confusing conundrum to come to terms with: my body doesn’t know what to do in stillness. I then started thinking about all the things I could or should be doing and then caught myself so overwhelmed by the possibilities that I instead found a method to dissassociate (mainly walking outside). So much of my wiring focuses on how to “optimize” everything and if there a days like this I feel like I’m “wasting” something, even though I cognitively know that is not the case. I catch myself aware of this during slower moments of time, but then when I’m thrown back into the chaos I forget about it and convince myself I’m “fixed” (when in reality I’m just busy again), so I really am bookmarking this to come back to and potentially schedule in more down windows to simply just ~be~. As I just finished writing this my friend sent my this TikTok by Heather McMahan and WOW is it spot on - we need to “RISE AND RELAX” bitches

Anyway, that’s my brain dump for the morning. Here’s what I’ve been up to this week…

Conversations with Cam -

What I’m Listening To -

• Call Her Daddy with Ellen Pompeo: As a huge Grey’s Anatomy fan, I loved hearing about Ellen’s journey in the blockbuster series. I also, specifically, loved the clip about working after becoming a mom because my God is it ture.

What I’m Reading -

• The Au Pair Affair - You guys I hate this title and cover art so freaking much, but I have to say I did enjoy the book. I stand by that I wouldn’t recommend the first of the Big Shots series, Fan Girl Down, from last week’s newsletter, but I did enjoy this second book of the series. It included mixed many favorite trope lines: professional hockey player (romance readers know the pull of these storylines), somewhat “forbidden love” (with the female character being his temporary aupair of sorts), the “will they won’t they”, and the “bad boy exterior softie at heart”. Needless to say, I sped through the entire thing.

What I’m Watching

• Summer House - But dare I say I’m… bored? I feel like this season is a little too boring for me and is not at all grasping my attention. Maybe it’s because the cast is older and they’ve matured from the drama that once was? I’d say it’s because I’m older but I binged all of the seasons just last year so I don’t think it’s that. How do you guys feel?

What I’m Wearing -

• Vacation ~Lewks~ - I feel like I’m beating a dead horse with this one, but I am so proud of the looks I put together for our recent vacation. I really wanted to *serve* and I feel I did - especially because when I got home Cindy said she was proud of me! So clearly I did something right. I linked everything I wore HERE for you all to easily reference!

• Red Dress - I do want to highlight one specific dress from the trip because it is such a good Zara find and I feel looks way nicer than the price tag and is so comfortable

• How I Planned My Outfits - Speaking of the vacation looks, I used a new process to plan and pack for this trip that I will now be referencing for every trip in the future. I made flat lays for every outfit and then when it was time to get ready just simply grabbed everything in that image, put it on, and headed out the door.

• Week’s Round of 365 Days of Dressing for Me

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What I’m Writing/Journaling About -

• Quiet Your Mind & Busy Your Hands 2nd Edition is in the works and I got my hands on the first copy!!!!!!!! I love her SO much and am so excited to share her with all of you this May - just in time for mental health awareness month and Mother’s Day. GAHHH!!! I’m sharing a sneak peak for all of you here because I love you so much

• Merging Friend Groups - one of my favorite parts of the aforementioned vacation is that I merged my friends from different walks of my life into one larger group and truly nothing makes me happier. Whenever I talk about this I get questions on tips for doing so and how I go about it, so I wrote out a piece trying to detail as much as possible

What I’m Loving -

• Flamingo Razor - I don’t know if you guys remember this, but when I hit 100K on IG Joe wrote me a little “congrats on 100K!” note on a scrap piece of paper next to a package of a new Flamingo razor and it was one of my favorite gifts he’s given be cause it was a true act of service, my love language. I had been using his spare, dull, razor for the past 3ish years and he kept asking “when are you going to get a better razor for yourself??” and I just kept responding “I keep forgetting” (which is sadly common for me). However, he took matters into his own hands and googled “best women’s razor” and found Flamingo to be the one he wanted to buy me. And boy was that google search right because I freaking love their razors. The moisture plus razor set, in particular, is the perfect addition to my shower and self-care routine. It gives you a close and comfortable shave in one step with no shave gel needed - the dream!! You simply add water to activate the moisture bars (that are enriched with aloe, coconut, and shea butter) around the four sharp stainless blades. I will never, ever, not use one of these razors moving forward. You can buy for yourself: HERE.

• New Nespresso Machine - Nespresso reached out and offered to upgrade my machine and I have entered my full barista alter-ego every morning because I now have a milk steamer/frother attached to my machine?? It is freaking heavenly and makes the best lattes ever

What My Family is Loving -

Post Dinner Family Adventures - I am so excited that Spring is around the corner because my family absolutely loves a post-dinner adventure. Whether we are heading out on a bike ride / walk, going to our local park, or going to our favorite ice cream shop, we are now out of the house between 6-7PM. Personally, I find this window one of the harder ones to parent and is when our youngest seems to fully activate *beast mode* so it is always easier for us to be doing something rather than simply playing in our basement.

How I’m Filling My Cup -

I feel like I’ve beat a dead horse with this one, but my adult-only group vacation really filled my cup. It allowed for quality time with some of my girlfriends, space for Joe and I to have fun together without our kids, time to disconnect my brain from all of the continuous mom/house tasks/thoughts, and to simply enjoy the sunshine.