We had the very best kind of day today, full of family and friends who feels like family, sunshine, good food, gorgeous scenery, road trip snacks, great music, ice cream, swimming, and more. It was the kind of day where you expect (and hope) your kids will fall asleep by 7 because they’re exhausted, but then they stay up until after 11 because they’re so wired from maximum fun. I am simultaneously happy and tired is what I’m saying.
Festival of Shawn
It’s Father’s Day weekend so Shawn got to pick the festivities, which is how I’ve ended up in a very small “queen” bed (seriously, this thing is the size of a double) with two sweaty kids while Shawn starfishes it solo. Poppy is a hotel bed roller so we can’t trust the kids to sleep together (why are hotel beds so high? Why are there so many sharp corners adjacent to the bed?) Usually I sleep with Poppy (and build a pillow blockade on her other side) and Grady sleeps with Shawn, but we got to the hotel late and the kids were a ball of tired emotions and wanted to sleep together. So that is how I’ve ended up here, Poppy’s feet in my face and Grady snoring in my ear.
Tomorrow we’ll drive to Leavenworth for the car show. We’ll eat sausage in the beer garden and enjoy the sun and hopefully when we return, the sweaty bed hogs will want to sleep with their Dad. Happy Father’s Day indeed.
Read. Watch. Listen.
Today was a full day and my brain is struggling to make the words go so here’s a short list of things I’m currently loving.
Read
I just finished Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. Technically speaking I listened to it on audiobook but I’m a rebel who counts that as reading. Listen, I’ve read different arguments for and against calling consuming content via audiobook “reading” and I’ve come to the conclusion that I literally don’t care what others think on this subject.
So I just finished Big Magic and I loved it. I’d heard good things but it took me a while to check it out because I was never a fan of Eat, Pray, Love. Big Magic made me feel like maybe there’s hope for this tired creative to reclaim some spark. I definitely rolled my eyes a few times but I rolled them in a “oh that’s twee” kind of way, not a “what’s up with this chick?” kind of way. It’s an important distinction.
Watch
I hate movies. I do my best to avoid them. I find movies really hard to sit through because they’re so long and often so violent / dumb / pointless. I hate blood and suspense, which greatly reduces the number of movies available to me. Netflix has been kicking out some pretty great movies lately though. We watched Always Be My Maybe last weekend and I loved it. The soundtrack was killer, the story was light and fluffy with just enough meat to make it satisfying. It was funny and smart and genuine. Plus parts of it were filmed in Vancouver and it’s always fun to spot the local landmarks.
Listen
Lizzo. My god. If you are not listening to Lizzo’s album Cuz I Love You, I don’t know what to tell you. Play it, loud, and just try not to dance. It’s physically impossible.
What are you currently reading / watching / listening to?
Pivot
I was talking about meditation with a friend and I admitted one of my deep, dark secrets which is that I downloaded a meditation app over a year ago and set it up to remind me nightly and I’ve yet to actually use it.
When I set it up, it asked me what time to send the notification and I chose 9:30 at night. My reasoning was that by 9:30 the kids are asleep and I’m in wind down mode, but the first night I got my reminder, Poppy was refusing sleep and I was in full toddler rage management. When the reminder popped up on my phone I rolled my eyes and that was that. Every night since, at 9:30, my phone encourages me to meditate and I tell it to shut up.
The really dumb thing is, I told my friend, is I actually do want to meditate.
“So why don’t you change the time the app sends you the notification?” she asked.
And I was speechless because the thought had literally never crossed my mind. What I’m doing clearly isn’t working so why not just pivot? It seems so simple and obvious but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t immediately come up with a handful of reasons why I should stick with 9:30 even though I have over a year’s worth of proof that 9:30 is not my prime meditation time. What can I say, change is hard.
So now I have to come up with a good time to meditate. Mornings are bonkers, and I’m not super into the idea of waking up earlier specifically to meditate (but I’ll consider it if you have a compelling argument for me), but meditating in the afternoon feels weird to me for some reason. Do you meditate? Do you have a set time, or do you go with the flow and meditate whenever it fits into your day?