I have written 6 different newsletters this week and none of them felt quite right so instead I’m going to do something a little different. I’m going to do a life update. I hope you’ll indulge me.
Instagram and I are currently in a tumultuous relationship— I love her, but she makes my brain feel bad. I’ve resorted to using the One Sec app, which delays your opening of the app by a few seconds and makes sure it’s what you want to be doing. I’ve also been using time limits and that’s helping. I thought about quitting altogether, but that doesn’t feel good for me right now, so I’m trying to find a more sustainable way to stick with it, while making the overall experience gentler on my mind. This is in no way some moral stance on Instagram, I’ve just not been able to hang lately and I’ve needed to work on finding joy in that space again, as well as joy in my everyday life.
Limiting my use of my phone to doom-scroll on social media has opened me up to a whole world of fun in my day-to-day. I’ve found time for things I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and I’ve lavished in the planning aspects of the next couple of months. I’ve also been listening to music in my headphones while cleaning and it’s made that process a lot more mindful, and a lot more enjoyable. I feel like I’m entering into a better, more centered phase of life— or at least I hope I am— you never really know do you? Things that normally feel like big stressors to me, like packing for an upcoming trip or cleaning the house, feel fun, or at least feel like they can feel fun. This is a big accomplishment for me. Winter and I haven’t historically gotten along, so finding any joy while it’s cold out feels like a win.
Speaking of, Lately I’ve been finding so much joy in making things by hand. I enrolled in a ceramics class, and despite not being very good at it, I do love it. Building things out of clay has felt really impactful.
I’ve also… drumroll please… taken up sewing again.
I can’t describe how incredible this has been to get back into. I’ve gone through three or four sewing phases in my life, but none since college. My grandmother, Eleanor, is a sewist and quilt maker. Her health hasn’t been great for the past few years, but around this time last year, she got kind of excited about the prospect of me getting into quilting. While I was home during that trip I got to take go through her sewing room and take a bunch of gorgeous fabrics home with me. Being in that room always reminds me of my childhood, many years of which were spent sitting at her feet while she made something brilliant on her machine. I’m going to visit in about a month and I am hopeful I can complete a quilt to show her, made entirely out of fabric scraps from some of the quilts she made. As someone who tends to be the (beloved!) oddball of my family, this has felt like a real connection point. It feels special.
I’ve also been sewing clothes— first 3 wrap tops from this free pattern from Sarah Kirsten, and next a hand drafted dress. I think my next project will be a shirred tank top. Fingers crossed!
As far as the house goes— we’re still in a big saving money stretch to finish the kitchen. It’s turned into an ordeal, as all home projects do, so it’s taking more time than anticipated. We’ll be knocking out a wall, installing a beam, removing flooring, removing subflooring, adding in subflooring, laying tile, and then installing cabinets, countertops, and appliances. If you’ve ever renovated a house, the Mr. Monopoly in your mind just started making cash register noises.
For now our focus is on garden prep, garage doors and organization, and getting a lot of the things done that we can do ourselves.
With that being said, I’ve felt very content in our home as is. It is farm from perfect, but it’s turned into the warm friendship hub I’ve hoped it would, flaws and all. Tucker’s been smoking meats and we’ve been hosting big impromptu dinners and it just feels like what I hoped living in Tennessee would feel like.
I am ready for warmer months. I am ready for less clothing. I am ready for more outside. And I am ready for, as my friend Mary Bryce would say, more life more life more life.
here’s a sun themed link list.
trying to find a swimsuit to purchase for swimming season. so far I’ve narrowed it down to these three options. one, two, three.
decided I wanted to get a tinted moisturizer with sunscreen in it for spring/summer as well, so I grabbed the Saie Slip Tint Dewy Moisturizer in Color 2.
one of my favorite things to do in the summer is to read books outside until I can’t take the heat anymore. a few I’d reccomend are:
Just Kids by Patti Smith
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Klara and The Sun by Kazuo IshiguroBraiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel: Essays by Alexander Chee
we’ve gotten a lot of extra garlic that surprised us from the place that I dumped all of my extra seeds / garlic bulbs that didn’t make the cut for the space I have so we’ve been using the greens for everything. I’ve been dreaming up a lot of garlic heavy recipes because we planted so much and the top of my list is this Crispy Buttered Shrimp with 20 Cloves of Garlic from Molly Baz.
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you have such an eye for capturing lovely things, Chelsea!