The Brightside Vol 9

March 13th, 2020

friday the 13th, stay spooky out there!

ON REPEAT:

When You Were Made, The Growlers 

Ugh. This song is always in my head. I love it.

WELCOME TO THE BRIGHTSIDE

It's fridaayyyyy. Google announced a recommended work from home policy until April 10th, so it's been a virtual whirlwind since getting back from LA on Tuesday. Although I work from home often, I'm trying to be really good about time management and self-care so I don't go crazy this next month (especially working out of a windowless bedroom. Literally, I'm scheduling time for outdoor breaks).

How's your mind today?

I'm ok. The news is harder to read than ever these days, and living in such a big city makes me feel hyper-aware of just how DIRTY everything is. Our flight back from Los Angeles had 55 people on it ... out of 178 bookable seats. It was awesome, yes, but scary too. I don't want to dwell on COVID19, but stay safe, healthy and be smart out there. Eat your vitamin c, people!

PS, I loved this light comic about the whole shebang that was featured on Cup of Jo.

I finished my two books!

I did what I set out to do last weekend: I finished 1Q84 (!!!) AND Never Let Me Go.

Book #1: 1Q84

4.3/5 stars for me. This is high compared to other internet ratings, and I think even Kim would disagree with me on this one - YES the end was hard to get to and YES it was a very VERY long read, but I loved the universe Murakami created. Although I was really hustling to finish it, I was almost sad to leave that world behind. The ending was ... a little bit disappointing—I will say—but the writing style was totally captivating and I'd absolutely recommend it if you're looking for a project read.

Book #2: Never Let Me Go

4.5/5 Stars Um, one thousand tears. When I told people this was our first book club pick, they were like ... oh god, HEAVY. Are you sure? They were right. I didn't know what we were getting into here—I barely did any research on the book ahead of time, and wooowww, it gutted me. It was beautiful—a quick read though. I think I need an emotional break before diving into another Ishiguro novel, but would still really recommend this one.

Now I'm moving on to Garlic & Sapphires for something light and stalking out my next "project read." Taking recommendations!

Sephora Splurge:

I just ran out of my beloved Khiel's moisturizer decided this was the perfect opportunity to try something new. I loved it for being so clean and scentless, but by the middle of the day my skin felt pretty oily, so I looked for something better suited for combination skin. I'd read a lot of positive reviews about Tatcha's water cream, so I splurged on it when Sam and I took an impromptu trip to Sephora this week (thanks for the encouragement, Sam <3).

Highs:

Watching Stephen run his marathon last week! He's amazing! It was so great to get in some family time, sunshine, and even reconnect with an old friend at All Day Baby, which has been on my radar for MONTHS. It was delish.

Shopping with Sam - I usually put blinders on when I'm running through the Oculus because there are so many dangerous shopping opportunities, so it was a fun treat to go with Sam and bop around. After Sephora, I picked up a few spring pieces from & Other Stories that I'm sooo excited about! (See this purple skirt!)

Lows:

Just all of this freaky coronavirus stuff. I know most of the sweeping precautions right now are preventative - and I wholeheartedly agree with the measures that are being taken, but things just feel off and different and a little scary right now. Trying not to get sucked down into it though and embrace the "new normal" for the time being.

Career Coach Session #2

I had my second meeting with my career coach this week and I can't even tell you how thankful I am that I found her! Prior to our first meeting, a part of me was a little skeptical about the whole thing but that has completely evaporated. Before each session, there's some pre-work or reflection exercises—this week's was all about needs and values. You know how many times in my life I've stopped to think about what *my* needs and values are? Zero times, people. It was a hard exercise, harder than you'd think! But it made for a great conversation. Obviously it's only been two sessions, but I feel like I'm getting to understand myself more and more, which is exactly what I was hoping for in all of this.

This RUG! A blogger that I love (Lee From America) posted it on her story this week, and I was #influenced.

happy brightsiding,

Always here for an email pen-palship, even if (especially if!) we haven't caught up in a while. <3

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