what I’m learning and loving: may 2019
It is time to review what I have been learning and loving lately . I have found this practice to be SO helpful each month, and I encourage you to try it for yourself.
What I’m loving
Sun shirts and floppy hats. I reeeaaallly don’t like sunscreen, but I’m married to a guy who has worked for a dermatology company for over a decade so if I don’t want to sleep on the couch, I have to be protected from the sun when we’re working out in the garden all the live-long-day in the spring. I bought these a few years ago, but I have been wearing the heck out of them lately (Jazzy and I can share an adult men’s XS, so I just bought them for us in several colors so we can share). They are rated as UPF 50+, so I don’t have to worry about sunscreen ALL day long, plus they’re actually pretty cooling to wear despite the long-sleeves. I have a few swim shirts that I like for the pool, but I don’t like wearing something so tight when I’m working in the garden so these are perfect.
Grant also bought me something like this last year (I think he got it at Costco), so between my sun shirt and big floppy hat with a neck flap, I can skip the sunscreen all together, which makes me so happy. Depending on what I’m wearing and how long I’ll be working, I do have to put some sunscreen on my legs and this stuff is my current favorite for me (we use this on the kids).
A skincare regiment. I don’t even know who I am right now writing this, but I have actually stuck to a “skincare regiment” over the last six+ weeks, words that I never thought I would hear coming out of my mouth. Go ahead and make fun of me because I would have made fun of myself even six months ago, but my skin is looking a little lackluster lately. I decided it is probably better to stay on top of it than try to play catch up later.
Here is what I’ve been using/my steps:
- At night, I wash my face twice (TWICE, I know! At first, I thought this was super dumb, but it actually makes a difference to really get all of the gunk off). First, I use this oily cleaner, and then I use this. In the morning, I just use the Cerave.
- Then I put on a toner, which I haven’t used since I was approximately twelve when I was obsessed with that Clinique three-step thing. I use this, and just put a little in my palm so I don’t have to use those cotton swab things (plus, it makes the toner last wayyy longer).
- At night, I put on this after the toner. In the morning, I put on this Vitamin C serum. In the morning, after the Vitamin C, I put on this serum from Seduisance, a local company whose products I love.
- After all of that, in the evening, I put on this stuff from Akamai (side note: Grant loves this stuff to use as an after-shave) that I’ve written about before. In the morning, I put on the deep moisturizer with natural sunscreen from Seduisance.
I never thought I would be a person with a many-stepped skincare regime, but here we are. I do notice a difference in my skin, and I also just really like the ritual of it, which is mostly why it has stuck. I am pretty sure that Jamie Golden’s Instagram account is what got me here, but you should follow her even if you could care less about skincare because her Instagram Stories are hysterical.Related: all of the stuff from The Ordinary is way cheaper to buy directly from them versus Amazon.
The twenty-second hug. I am reading Burnout right now, so I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this. But I started implementing the twenty-second hug with my people immediately after listening to this interview with one of the authors. To give a very simplified explanation: we’re all walking around without finishing off our stress responses. A twenty-second hug (among other things – read the book) finishes the stress response, even if you don’t know what originally triggered the stress. So now I use this as an excuse to snuggle a little extra with Grant and the kids, counting to twenty in my head before letting go. It releases all sorts of endorphins too, but I feel good about finishing the stress cycle for both of us – the hug giver and receiver – multiple times a day.
What I’m learning
May is bananas at our house. May is bananas for everyone. Even if you don’t have school-aged children, there is Mother’s Day and graduations and the nicer weather brings ALL. OF. THE. THINGS. In addition, at our house, we have three birthdays in the month of May. I loooove birthdays, but I do wish we could spread them out a bit more. I wound up feeling really tired for much of the month because I didn’t plan ahead better. I have already set myself a reminder for the beginning of next April to better plan ahead for the craziness of this month.
You can grieve someone you don’t know. RHE died on my birthday. I don’t think I realized how much I looked up to her as a teacher and mentor until she was gone. I can’t recall a time that I’ve been this much in a funk about someone’s death who I didn’t know, but her death has taught me to 1) appreciate your teachers who are here with us while they’re with us and 2) it’s okay and even beautiful to grieve for someone you don’t know personally.
Everybody is different. Well, duh, Sara, but I swear that I have to keep learning this one over and over again. I have written about before how eye-opening it has been to learn about the seasons of a woman’s cycle. There is a typical flow that happens throughout the month for women, much like the seasons of the year except all in the same month but, after tracking my symptoms, moods, and energy levels for awhile now, I’ve realized that I don’t fall into the typical cycle.
I really like Claire Baker on this topic (every woman should read her book), but on this topic, I’m realizing, AGAIN, that while generalities are helpful, you really have to study yourself and determine what works best for you.
I am ready for June and the summer schedule, and I want to know what YOU are learning and loving lately!
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