8 Things I Love Lately
End of summer baby, and I bet I say this every year, but man it went fast.
Sometimes it’s because of my job, which is very seasonal and summer is our busy season. It can feel like the days whip by because I spend every minute trying to keep up with calls and emails. This year was like that, but I also feel like I have been addicted to my phone and screens more than any other summer as well. Something to work on and I’m trying to pay attention to when I blow off an entire hour scrolling instead of reading or sitting outside or basically any other actually wonderful analog activity.
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1 // We are in the countdown to a new school year and I’m clutching tightly at both the summer and the final vestiges of my littlest boy being a little boy. Last night, we laid in my bed and watched Pocahontas together -I freaking loved it so much as a kid and he’s never seen it before - but we both fell asleep before John Smith made landfall on the new world. I stirred enough at some point to turn off the TV and lamp, and made a decision to let him stay in bed next to me. His birthday is in mid-September and that coupled with starting a new school year always feels like he takes a big step towards growing up in a quick 2-week span each fall. Next week is for being 9 years old and in the 3rd grade, but for one more night, I listened to him breathing next to me like the little baby I brought home all those years ago.
2 // I mean, I hate to say I’m loving this, but I picked up this Quit the Bite polish and it’s really doing the trick to keep my fingers away from my mouth. I have really recently picked up chewing my nails and it’s totally out of the blue, but almost a mindless activity. This stuff tastes so freaking bad, it alerts me immediately to take my hands away from my face. Gross, but it works!
3 // Fit for TV: Reality of the Biggest Loser. It’s getting to be TV season again and this is whetting my whistle. I have only watched the first of three episodes of this deep dive into the early 00’s reality show, but I’m really enjoying it. I grew up in this era and it was always in my peripheral, even though I didn’t watch it religiously. I’m not particularly surprised by the drama. I mean a competition to lose the most amount of weight and the judges personally benefit from whoever they can train into winning? Of course there’s going to be nefarious activities! It’s an interesting watch.
4 // Shopping for fall. It’s just been really fun to start picking up cozy socks and wool jackets. It’s not time just yet, so every time I pick something up, I put it in a box in my bedroom and come October, I’m excited to pull out all the little treasures I found. Somethings you just have to buy before they’re gone, you know, even if it’s not time to start using them. A few things I have in the box: these ghost taper candles, this (splurge for me!) Coach bag in a pretty ivory/winter white, this striped pumpkin candy jar, and this belted wool coat from Abercrombie ($99 this weekend!).
5 // I know this is very contrary to my comments above, but I have developed a nice little bedtime routine this summer that just adds to my screen time, and is it the nicest wind-down. Promptly at 9pm, I tuck my kids into bed. Then I put on my pajamas, wash my face, etc, hop in bed with my noise cancelling headphones and catch up IG. Once I know what everyone ate and wore today, I switch to some meditations or something equally soft spoken and soothing and I scroll Pinterest until my eyeballs cannot start open. This whole thing lasts for about 30 minutes and I feel soooo relaxed. Just a nice thing to look forward to!
6 // For the coffee at home crowd, this is really really really good.
7 // Something new to listen to from Kacey Musgraves.
8 // End of season. I live in a tourist area and Labor Day is the unofficial end of the season, leaving September for the locals. It’ll still be nice and filled with warm pockets of beach weather, with the added bonus that everyone went home. I don’t mind tourists and don’t hate the industry, but I do cherish the bookend months of summer that are just for us locals.
