Five Things

Including a self-love enhancing blush and a really good summer read

Have you ever had a week where the manic gerbil who operates the treadmill of anxious thoughts in your brain decides they’re training for a marathon? 

Too many visuals? I’ll simplify. 

This has not been a smooth last few weeks. 

I truthfully haven’t fully felt ‘myself’ for a minute. Or five. Mostly I’ve just been off from routine and it’s got me out of sorts, some type of way, like the very last drops of an ink pen, etc. It’s hard to admit when we’re not okay. It’s even harder to remind yourself that this is not who you are and tomorrow is another opportunity to try. But onwards we trudge, right friends? 

New vocabulary word: Glimmers. This feels particularly necessary to remind myself of this week but I loved this post all about ‘glimmers’. They are “the tiny moments of awe … [that] allow us to feel hope when lost.” Mmm. I’ll take five of those to go, please. Today it was opening a new bag of frozen blueberries to find round, bouncy summer ones instead of piddly shrivelled ones from a winter harvest. A friend texting out of the blue to go for a stroller walk around our local park. Sliding my key into the door just as a song was ending. Ahhh. 

A creamy lip and cheek tint. After a few days of ‘false summer’ when Vancouver managed to hit 22C/71F for multiple days in a row, we’re back to our regularly programmed clouds. I happened to reach for this plummy blush shade that feels more fall/winter but that I threw caution to the wind and decided to pat on both my cheeks and lips. I had a mirror moment of surprise and a, “Hey! You look good!” actually audibly escaped me. Consider it a new gold star beauty pick.  

Bravely tackling my reading slump. 2024 has been a slow reading year for me. I am now checks FIVE books behind target. I don’t think has happened to me in many years. Possibly ever? It’s downright frightening. But I think what might cure it is my good friend Olivia Muenter’s thrilling debut. Doesn’t it sound so good? I’m so proud of her! glows

Big klutz? Buy a perfume. In the latest episode of “Bella Swan had no god damn idea”, I clumsily knocked over a beloved fragrance in the bathroom. Time stood still. The glass shattered. Sadness took hold. Needless to say I scooped up as much as I could and put what EDP I could salvage into a tiny glass tupperware(!!!) that I now dab on my wrists and pulse points. Good grief. The grace of this entire situation is that if there is one highly specific and useless talent I have, it's being very good at guessing candles and perfumes I’ll like - scent unsmelled humble brag. So I nabbed this one that seems to have all the woodsy but sweet and complex vibes I typically go for. (And okay I also grabbed a candle while I was at it. This one is a forever favourite). 

We are just adult-sized children. I recently had a slumber party with my group of uni friends (highly recommend slumber parties as adults). We ate pizza, stayed up until 3am giggling and chatting (it hits different when powered by red wine), and even tucked into a candy bar spread (I haven’t had a coca cola gummy bottle in decades!). One thing that made me laugh? Even as my friend was balancing her newborn baby on her lap she still made sure to reach over to put … ranch (ew?) on the side of her pizza for dipping. Some childish ticks we just never grow out of. 

I still yell “COWS” multiple times on a roadtrip when travelling through rural patches of a drive. I will go out of my way to step on a leaf or a pine cone that looks particularly crunchy. And on many occasions in my youth my mother would walk into my bedroom, positively irate that I was running up the electric bill because I had fallen asleep with the lights on, a book slumped half open in my hand. I eventually graduated to the ‘blanket tent and a flashlight’ method to avoid detection (that I’m sure ultimately contributed to the stellar lens prescription I have now). As an adult my husband most nights needs to gently pluck my eReader from my pillow when he wakes me up in the morning. If there’s one thing about no longer being a kid it’s that a tender kiss to the temple from a loving spouse and the silent, but warm, bequeathing of a fresh cup of coffee is a much nicer way of waking up. 

And five things for you: 

• What ‘glimmer’ did you notice today? 

• What childish habits do you still have? 

• TTPD track that grew on you the most?

• Dream (or nightmare if missed) Eras Tour mashup? 

• What is the superior pasta shape and why is it definitely rotini? 

Have a great week, friends!