Hello my loves! Happy, happy Tuesday! It has been such a rainy week in LA, which I have been loving. It is so cozy and the perfect vibes for writing blog posts from bed, cozied up with tea and lots of good books. How is the weather where you are? Sending you all love. <3
Let’s get into today’s 12 things Tuesday!
1. I have been on a book binge lately, reading all of the books on creativity, self-help and healing I can get my hands on. I usually go through phases with books, where I will be super into a certain genre for a long time and then I will switch. For the last few years I was more of a fiction gal, but lately it is ALL about the healing & creativity for me. The stack by my bed is a mile high right now, I feel like I should post it on Insta. Some standouts are currently still: Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act, Bradley Nelson’s The Emotion Code, Don Miguel Ruiz’s Little Book of Wisdom, & my daily morning pages from A Course in Miracles.
2. The reading thing for me goes way back. Reading and writing – words, essentially – have always been the language of my soul. In 5th grade my teacher had a contest for who could read the most books each quarter, and we had to write a little note card full of what we had learned from each book so there was no way to “fake” it (this was before the popularity of being able to Google anything lol). I won every single quarter, and I was neck & neck with the same girl each time — and she cried every time, lol. I feel bad now thinking about the fact that she cried but I also wanted SOOO badly to win, I would stay awake *after* my parents had put me to bed and read more books to make sure I would win. I remember reading over 100 books one quarter… this love for reading runs DEEP.
3. Now reading these first two, you understand why I had to give my son the most literary name possible… Atticus Story. 🙂 Atticus for Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, and an ode to my favorite teacher in the world Ms. Lamay who passed away about six years ago. She read us that book and performed it with the most incredible voices you could imagine. She was one of the most special and influential people in my life, and now she comes through (via channeling) from the other side all the time. And of course Story, for all of the amazing stories that Atticus will gather in his life. We also just absolutely loved the name Story as a middle name. <3
4. On to another topic… I have been thinking lately about how we simply do not have enough time in our lifetimes to do ALL of the things we think we want to do. I think many of us get into the rut of thinking we will do what we really love “in the future, when we have more time,” or we think that we have endless time and years upon years ahead of us to do whatever it is our hearts desire. The truth is, nothing in life is guaranteed AND even beyond that, even for those of us who are lucky enough to live to 110, *nothing* changes in life/our schedule/our approach to how we use our time until WE commit to changing it. That’s another reason why I have been reading so much lately… I never want to run out of time to read all of the things and soak in all of the wisdom from the greats that came before us.
5. I have been going to the gym every day as a commitment to myself and it is helping me beyond words. More than a physical release, it is such a mental release to get your body moving in a real way every day. It is also helping me structure my days more and I have been loving every bit of it.
6. My mom got back into town yesterday, and I am beyond thrilled! My parents go back and forth from LA to Sacramento. When Attie saw her yesterday he SQUEALED, screamed, and laughed with delight because he was so happy his nana was back with us. Family is truly everything.
7. I am genuinely obsessed with taking my daily colostrum powder for gut health and helping to heal the microbiome. I feel like I really got my gut health out of whack at the end of last year as I had to take antibiotics for a few really serious things. The colostrum I love is from ARMRA, and you can use the code BALANCEDBLONDE for a discount. (Not sponsored, just telling you what’s working for me!)
8. A mantra I have been living by lately is… worrying about upsetting others often leads to abandoning yourself and what you really want. I am committed to no longer abandoning myself. It is shifting my life in every single facet. HIGHLY recommend. It is deep work to unwind those deep-rooted people pleasing tendencies and habits, but the best kind of work.
9. Ummm while I was writing this, the power went out in our building!! I just walked through the pitch black to make a bottle for Atticus with water that I had luckily already poured into my Stanley, and was worried I wasn’t going to be able to post this blog because of the wifi but then I remembered I could connect to my phone’s hotspot. 😉 Guess I won’t be walking on the treadmill after this… yikes!
10. I started the Murdaugh Murders documentary on Netflix last night, and OMG… it is so good. It is also so heartbreaking. I had so much rage for Mallory’s family and cannot believe that the Murdaugh family was able to get away with so much for so long. I haven’t finished it yet so I will say more next week as far as my thoughts go… but so far I am hooked, it is an extremely good doc. I have an obsession with true crime.
11. I was listening to a podcast yesterday with one of my fave people as the guest, Weslie Christensen. It was The Bad Broadcast (another dear media pod) and it was about the topic of Feminine Rage. Basically the rage we all feel at having to be the perfect wife, mother, friend, daughter, sister, person, and how it leaves no room for the messiness and the REAL elements of life and our multifaceted personalities, and who we really are. It goes back to what I was saying about anger a few weeks ago and how most of us do not even realize how much unprocessed anger lives inside of us. I love love loved the pod and highly recommend tuning into it. It gave me so much to think about as I have been unpacking so much of my own healing in therapy lately… give it a listen!
12. I have finally embraced the fact that I am a forever night owl, and I am not a morning person, and have really just been living my life as such. Staying up late with all the inspo and doing all of my self-care at night (sauna, bath, books, journaling, meditating) and waking up in the morning when my body genuinely wants to get up. Thankfully I have the best husband ever who wakes up with Atticus early each morning so I can do this… and according to the sleep chronotype quiz I am a DOLPHIN so I was meant to be a late nighter, it’s in my DNA! Take the quiz to find out what you are. 😉
…and speaking of quizzes, have you taken the TBB starseed quiz on my homepage?! you must must! & comment below telling me what you are!! & comment in general with your thoughts on this post! Love you all so much, and have been LOVING engaging here with you every week, beyond. <3