Happy August friends! We are two days into this month and not to toot my own horn (toot toot) but I have read an entire book, and knitted two hats. I started another book I hope to spend a lot of time reading in the next few days, and as long as Fed-Ex doesn’t let me down, I should have six new skeins of yarn from Wool and The Gang showing up at my door around the time this reaches your inbox. Seriously, if you want a knitted hat please reach out to me because I love knitting them so much so I keep doing it but I don’t think I need to have a new hat every day in fall and winter.
Full disclosure, I am not normally this productive. I’m starting August out strong because I’m feeling invigorated from deleting Instagram. It’s weird, but the moment I hit that delete button I feel this sense of freedom to just lay on my couch and spend two hours reading, or sit on my back deck and knit an entire hat while my kids make fairy gardens on a giant tree stump with the neighbor kids. Nothing has changed, I had the freedom to do these things the day prior when Instagram was still an app on my phone, I just didn’t. I know it's a goal of social media to have you spend countless hours consuming, but when the effects are staring you in the face, it just feels icky.
This week has been weird. I’ve felt crabby and just in a funk. I am assuming it is because the week started with one of my best friends from Tennessee leaving after a long weekend visit with her family to go back home. I enjoyed their visit so much, but I was also exhausted and a tiny (ok, fine, A LOT) crabby. I was reading The Right To Write by Julia Cameron, snuggled with a knitted blanket on my couch, and I got to a chapter titled Drama. I read the chapter and it was like Julia had spent the day in my home and knew the temperature just was not great, and I was the thermostat that just kept rising and rising. She writes “Will I keep the drama on the page, in other words, or will I engage in a drama that will keep me from the page?” And friend, I was engaging in all of the drama that kept me from the page. I decided I’d follow the prompt at the end of the chapter and start a list of one hundred things I love. I have the list open and I continue to add to it as I think of new things, but instead of sharing it all at once, I have an idea.
For August, on Wednesdays, you’ll receive an email with a new 25 things I love. Maybe it’ll include a story, maybe it’ll include a photograph or two, or a recipe, or all three, or nothing but the list. The point is this- I want to spend the month of August focusing on the lovely. I want to keep my drama on the page. I want to write. And maybe, just maybe, this will encourage you to do the same. Let’s get this party started, shall we?
An incomplete list of things I love:
The way the sun peeks through the backyard woods at sunrise.
Cool mornings outside, with a blanket, book, and no bugs.
The way the light dances in the living room when it’s windy outside.
Everything about golden hour, but especially the way the light hits just right and makes my daughter’s hair glow, warm and beautiful.
Quiet, slow, mornings.
Hot coffee
A warm knitted blanket.
Fresh flowers, particularly from Trader Joe's because they are beautiful and relatively inexpensive.
Picking wildflowers and making tiny bouquets.
A candle that makes the entire room smell.
Candles that smell like warm baked goods fresh out of the oven.
Baking, especially with my kids.
Warm baked goods, fresh out of the oven. Both the smell and the way that first gooey bite tastes.
Seeing other people take the first bite of something I baked.
Cooking and breaking bread with people I love.
When people curl their feet up on my couch and tuck them under a blanket like they would at their own home.
Staying late because the conversation is just that good.
Arriving early.
Bonfires.
S’mores. When kids learn how to roast marshmallows.
Pizza hobo pies cooked in cast iron in the fire.
Reading a good book
Laying out in the summer sun, but near water so it is easy to cool off.
Sun-kissed cheeks.
Freckles, especially the ones splattered across my daughter’s nose.
I hope this inspires you to search for all the things you love in your days, and leave the drama where it belongs. I know it’s already been a pretty great practice for my heart.
Also, baking donuts with my kids was pretty great for my heart too. (see number 12)
“Staying late because the conversation is just that good.” I thought this was normal?? Give me 1 hour with someone and I know when their next period starts 🤣🤦🏻♀️ always getting right into the good stuff HA! Must be that Wisconsin-nice. 😉 I love this prompt!
I loved reading this! How good is this prompt?! 💛