In the last two months I’ve felt the need to go a little quiet. It wasn’t a conscious choice, rather me going with the flow of my energy. September went by and I realized I hadn’t published a single blogpost!
So here’s a quick catch-up of the last month and a half:
I turned 29 last month on the 1st! I had a lovely birthday with Joel and it was so relaxing. I baked my classic chocolate cake and let myself eat as much of it as I wanted haha.
Joel and I had our 11 year anniversary! I am so happy and excited that I have had him in my life for so long. He is such a blessing for me and my heart just overflows with love.
I finished reading Beyond the Shadowed Earth by Joanna Ruth Meyer and it was such a wild journey. She’s incredibly imaginative, I have no clue how she comes up with the crazy stuff she writes but I’m so glad she does haha! That’s the fourth book I’ve read from her and I’ve got one left called Wind Daughter that is high up on my TBR list! I’m currently reading A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness which I am loving.
I joined a new gym and it’s a hundred times better than my previous one! I’ve been enjoying weightlifting so much because it helps me feel strong and confident. I remember how little I was able to do and lift in January and it makes me so proud of how much I’ve improved.
I have another bigger announcement that will be in the next blog post! It’s something I had on my vision board that came true. I can’t wait to tell you about it! I want to wait though, because I think it deserves it’s own post 😊
With our move to New Hampshire coming up in seven months, I’ve been thinking about how I can make our home better reflect the kind of person I am now and how I want to be, which motivated me to KonMari our apartment again. But this time it wasn’t a whole intense tidy since I did that not too long ago.
This is just a fraction of all the bags we’ve taken to the recycling/donation center! I tried keeping my future self in mind when doing this by reminding myself that there were only three options: take my time and do it now, scramble to get it done later before the move, or never do it and haul all this unwanted stuff to our new home. So as annoying as this can be sometimes, I decided to just get shit done now.
Recycling the electronics was thankfully easy. Amazon has a tech recycling program where you can send your stuff to them for free and they take care of the rest, which is so convenient! All I had to do was pack everything up and drop the box off at the post office. Some other things were harder to recycle, which made me start wondering why tech recycling options aren’t everywhere, since it’s horribly polluting to the environment to chuck any of it in the trash (I think it’s also illegal if I’m remembering correctly).
I’m sure many of you can relate when I say that my home is a reflection of my inner world and vice versa. When there are things around that shouldn’t be there anymore and stuff is terribly unorganized, it’s like constantly walking past a really dusty mirror. I am there, but it doesn’t show how I really am. When I align my surroundings with my energy it’s like wiping all that dust away and being able to see clearly. It also feels like I can breathe better when I only have the things that I love and/or need.
I might sound silly, but Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up really did change my life. If you haven’t read it, I say it’s worth leafing through the next time you’re at a bookstore. To me, her advice not only applies to tidying but to life in general.
When I was going through categories that I didn’t think would need decluttering, I was shocked to realize that there were at least a few things in each group that I didn’t want. It was only when I took a close look at the corners and crevices that I realized wow, there’s actually so many things here that don’t bring me joy anymore. I’m glad I didn’t skip those parts, because all that stuff would still be collecting dust in my closet or at the back of a drawer. I figured if I’m already putting in the effort to declutter, I might as well be thorough about it. I don’t want any stragglers when it comes time to pack up and move!
Thinking and talking about moving has me so antsy now, like I want to start packing already! Thankfully, the temperatures here have started feeling like autumn and it’s not so sweltering anymore. We have a cold front this week, but I hope it’s not just a tease before the temps go right back up. Texas has been guilty of that.
I’m going to go make a cup of tea now,
Hugs,
Julia
