Feel Good Flow: Episode 18
Hi Friends,
I’ve been back to daily walks with Dolly, and sometimes Saoirse around the neighborhood. There is no cardiovascular benefit to these “walks”, it would be more accurate to call them sniffs. Dolly stops so often that when I record my heart rate, it’s so low that my app tracker asks, “are you dead?”
So I use the time to notice things. Notice the birds, notice the trees and today, I noticed this enormous and perfect magnolia bloom. Just at human nose level. I stopped and took a big sniff.
Dolly looked up at me, seemingly proud. You get it now?
To all the dog moms, plant moms, moms to tiny humans, teen humans and ALL the humans. Happy Mother’s Day.
Especially to my own mom. I’m so sorry you once spent mother’s day mopping the floors. I had no idea back then everything a mother does. You’re a tough Moutha and raised me to be the same. Thank You.
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Quick Hits for the Week:
1) LISTENing
Yesteryear
Everyone and their mother is reading it… and I can see why.
The novel touches on the complexities of modern motherhood and influencer culture. I just started listening to the audiobook this week and I find myself popping in my earbuds whenever I can, finding excuses to keep listening.
2) PACKING
A nerd way of packing that (no surprise) works
I’m a sucker for a simple system.
I LOVE a well packed suitcase. But as a creative, it can be a struggle to rein it in. I’ve often felt like it’s a puzzle and Christina Ashbaugh, a Shark Tank alum, proves it is and the solution is in a visual strategy. She calls it packing sudoku. So long as it helps my stuff fit in a carryon– I’m game.
3) TOTING
A Basket Full of Daisies
There are roughly a bajillion straw bags out there.
For years I’ve been seeking my holy grail of straw bags. Turns out I’m less a knight of templar and more a Goldilocks kind of seeker. I wanted it big, but not too big, sturdy, but not too stiff, enclosed, but easy to access… wait, what am I talking about here??? I happened to pop into Sezane at Ponce City Market and ended up snagging this purdy lady, also available without the cutesy daisies. It’s a splurge for a straw bag, but not as stupidly expensive as this IT bag.
Here’s a slightly blurry pic of me with my new find:
4) LEARNING (AND LOVING)
All About Oak
I was down a rabbit hole, trying to identify the exact species of oak tree in our yard (Laurel Oak).
And that search led me to the Live Oak. When you think of the south, the Live Oak is usually what comes to mind, it grows as wide as it does tall, its branches dripping with moss, canopying roads so that you feel like you’re driving in a cathedral. It’s the kind of scene that leaves me full of wonder here in Georgia. Fascinatingly, it's considered an evergreen tree, despite its deciduous appearance. It’s also been protected for nearly two centuries. That’s right, one of our early presidents was a tree hugger.
5) CAPTIVATING
Juliette Jourdain
A photographer mother uses her son as a model for her fantastical images.
A photographer mother uses her son as a model for her fantastical images. Yesteryear seems to question the morality of using our children to promote our presence on social media. This feels different. Or does it?
My hope for you this weekend is that you’ve had a moment so enthralling with wonder you’ve forgotten the urge to pull out your phone to document it. And that maybe it leads you down a fantastical rabbit hole.
Or just making the time to notice and sniff.
Dolly would be so proud.
Shine on,
Maggie