Greetings! It’s Saturday…well, mostly still Saturday. It’s really Saturday night, and it seems like the most of Saturday, is mostly over, but that’s neither here nor there. What is here, is that in an effort to try to be more regular, and meet some blogging goals, I’m actually writing a blog. I’m calling this ‘Seven Snippets from Saturday’ because I really like alliteration. Here are a few things that are on my mind on this loverly day evening.
I got a new winter coat. I’m really excited about it, and really want to wear it pretty much all the time. For the entire month of January it was SOOO cold that I was having coat wearing fantasies. I think it hardly made it over 25 as a high, and we all know that’s no kind of bikini weather. The problem is that the day (possibly even right at the second) the coat arrived on my door step, the weather magically transformed into the mid-40’s. It’s a down coat, and perfect for the 20’s, it has a beautiful fur rimmed hood (like it’s out of Russian Winter or something) and so I’ve been trying to pretend that it’s cold enough to actually wear it even though I’m not really cold enough. I went on a walk this afternoon and was afraid that I’d look foolish wearing my parka—this fear was multiplied when I walked out the front door and saw one of the neighbors gardening in a t-shirt. But I persevered. Thankfully, it actually did turn out to be windy where I went, and when the sun went behind the clouds, maybe more in the mid-30’s. Not too shameful for a coat—it’s decent coat weather—so it has had its premier wearing (despite my overly zealous springtime-feigning-neighbor) and it served me well. I am definitely looking forward to many winter walks buried under its furry down fluff (even if they don’t happen THIS winter.)- I’ve updated my blog over the last couple months—it’s only taken me six months to tweak all of about five things. I rewrote my introduction, and I’m in the process of reorganizing my categories. Instead of having like TWELVE things that I’m categorizing, I’ve narrowed it down into four broader areas (which I explain more in-depth in my new introduction). My
hopeplan is that I’ll start actually posting things—Saturday’s and Tuesdays—or Tuesday’s and Saturday’s if you prefer it that way. I think I said it Saturday’s and Tuesdays because today is Saturday, and that’s on my mind. Nonetheless, more frequent blogging, more frequent chronicling. That’s the plan.
- A few years ago I decided to be really intentional about bringing new music into my life each year. This year I started off the year with Güngör. It’s one of those bands that keep coming up in my Amazon ‘suggestion’ list, and as it turns out Amazon was wise beyond my knowing. I’m in love with their liturgical-post-rock and just can’t get enough. So if you haven’t checked them out, I’ll be your Amazon—and recommend them to you.
Today, when I was trying to decide what I should do, I just got in my car and started driving. I wanted to take a walk–but as I mentioned above I was having coat insecurity–and besides that, all the new places seemed so far away, and all the old places seemed so …unadventurous. But I finally found my way to a familiar place, but I took an unfamiliar path. It was a kind of adventure, and I found some new views that I hadn’t found before. I think I need to remember that I don’t always need to go so far away to find something new, and no matter how exciting the place you are, if you stay there long enough it will be familiar too. But also, sometimes the familiar can be just as fun, and enjoyable–maybe even more so because it’s like an old friend.- My latest obsession? Watching YouTube channels. MY latest YouTube discovery? Ze Frank. The guy has offered me all kinds of encouragement in the last few days. Particularly noteworthy? I would suggest these two offerings: Be Brave (for those hard conversations that start with the words ‘we need to talk’) as well as Notes on Friendship (just because it’s really well said.) I found both to be very helpful and relevant to my life right now.
- New author discovery is Brené Brown. If you haven’t checked out her stuff I’d start here with her TED Talk, and then also her blog, Ordinary Courage. She is a social work researcher who studies shame and vulnerability. I realize that may not initially get you excited (it actually DID initially get my juices going, so I’m not sure what that says about me) but I assure you, it’s a subject that is probably relevant to everyone’s interest (even if you don’t know it yet.)
- Including today, there are 23 days until I turn 30 years of age (and as I already mentioned today is well on the way to being over, so really that’s just 22 days). I’ve been working on feeling excited about this birthday, for the last two years. Yeah, I know—but as early as 28 I could sense that I was going to be afraid—that I’d be dreading turning 30 and I didn’t want to dread getting older. I’ll probably write more about all my thoughts on this sometime in the next 23 er 22 days, but for now, the clock is ticking and I’m pretty excited about the upcoming decade of life. Thirty, flirty and thriving; it’s happening. Stay tuned.
That’s all I have from Saturday. I hope your day has had at least seven noteworthy smiles, blessings, and just plain good-vibe- kind of things! Cheers,
~ZeGingerqueen