I do.
Marriage milestones, maker envy, gym anxiety and dog couches.
This week marks my 20th wedding anniversary, a concept that is both terrifying and somewhat pride-inducing. I mean… it is not easy to stay married for 20 years, especially in the wake of Covid, which – I think we can all agree — really changed marriage for a lot of people. We were not meant to spend this much time together. I was talking about my anniversary with one of my daughters and we were discussing how, in spending 20 years with a partner (with anyone really?), you don’t have to like each other all the time. But if you can still laugh and have fun, I think you’re ok. Also, if you like to watch the same TV shows that helps?
I have some pretty controversial thoughts on the future of marriage that I won’t bore you with, but I do really believe marriage is a social construct that is on it’s way out. It used to be a tool to merge families or allow women access to money or property (or credit cards) but we just don’t need it anymore. I think it’s obviously nice to have a partner, but the traditional idea of marriage feels very outdated to me. Goldie and Kurt knew the deal. Whatever, come for me, I don’t care. Family is the thing, not marriage. Give me two drinks and I could talk for hours on this topic.
Moving on… as most of you know I ran a tie-dye business for 4 years and spent almost every day of that time as a “maker.” And I’m starting to really miss the physcial act of creating. Instagram must have felt my pain because they served me up some Reels on hand-knitting, in which you take this kind of big, chunky yarn and weave it together with your (duh!) hands. This past Saturday I had an empty house and no car so I decided to give it a try and look! I made something?
I’ve actually tried taking up knitting several times over the years and just never really got the hang of it, but this version is a lot easier. I watched a couple of Reels and dove in and the result was not bad. A friend of mine and I keep throwing around the idea of starting a crafting club to support each other in our wacky projects. DM me if you’re interested?
Aside from marriage and making, I took another big leap this week in that I joined a gym. See, back in October I allowed my older daughter, E, to join a fancy gym by our house on the condition that she pay half of her monthly membership fee. It’s not cheap, but she is a workout girl, and I knew she would use it (which she has). I, however, am not a workout girl. I am an ACTIVE person: I walk probably 3-4 days per week, I can play tennis, I am decent at yoga, etc. but I have never been a gym rat like she is. Which may be why my abs never looked like hers. But with summer heat and rain staring us down and my work-from-home routine causing me to climb the walls, E convinced me I should give it a try. (To be fair, they also have a lot of other perks, like a spa, a pool, workspace, every kind of class…).
This means that in addition to getting over my gym anxiety of working out in front of other people, I have to re-evaluate my workout wardrobe. Here’s where I have landed: I like a bike short in the summer because of the heat (the best ones were from JoyLab at Target but they don’t make them anymore) but I like something looser on the top. I stole this Aerie boyfriend tee from my kids and it works. It’s light but not see-through and long but not too long.
E and I hit up the Alo 30% off sale the other night, too. She got this really cute set in navy (and, of course, socks) and I was thisclose to getting these but the line to try on was — no joke — probably an hour long and I did not have the patience. Now, I really regret it because I saw a lady at the gym wearing them and they are so cute. Sigh. Now I have to pay the price, literally. FP Movement has some really good stuff too. This tank and this tee are really good, I might need this and E just bought these for summer and they are REALLY cute on and come in so many good colors. I also just got these New Balance because I had these and they got a hole in them. :(
I’ve also been shopping for graduation presents, which are harder than I thought. I’ve bought these cute neon initials for dorm decor and I know they are always a hit, but if you want something less expensive this Lulu wallet/keychain is really the best. I also ordered this cool little jewelry dish on Etsy for someone, and these cool framed flags and pennants are nice for the boys. Obsessed with the custom pet pillow, this and this little popcorn maker for late-night dorm snacking, this super-cute pouch and this pretty bouquet of college-themed blooms.
Other odds and ends:
The Four Seasons on Netflix was really good. We blew through all six episodes in one weekend.
I got this cute white skirt so we’ll see how that goes.
I bought my dog a couch.
The end! xo
RECIPE OF THE WEEK: I made this and it was really good.