What's been helping

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what helps during a break-up | Amanda Zampelli

FLOWERS // 

This beautiful bouquet from Farmgirl Flowers were gifted to me by my two beautiful friends, Erica Canant & Nita Patterson.

After John moved out, I didn't touch anything in the apartment...not the dishes, the keys he left on the table, the sheets strewed about: nothing. For four days, everything was stale and still, but on the fifth morning, I got the urge to vacuum and straighten up and put things back/away and later on in that fifth afternoon, these flowers arrived to 'say' JOB WELL DONE. And as my angel-friend, Erica put it: "God's timing, my friend." That's exactly what it felt like.

BOOKS //

I'm currently reading three books in rotation, that I pull when I need a 'friend'. Most mornings, I'll have my cup-and-a-half of coffee with Michele Cushatt and her book I Am (which I decided to read after hearing Michele in this podcast episode).

I pull the second book like a little snack to nibble, or for a tequila shot of creativity in the moment: Austin Kleon's Steal Like An Artist. It also happens to be our book for The Crafty Ass Female Bookclub this month, so devour it I shall. (Oh, you're not a member? You can sign up HERE to become one.) 

The third book in rotation is one I stumbled upon after researching 'lifestyle blogs you should be reading' (or some other lame phrase like that) and arrived serendipitously at thebloggess.com and Jenny Lawson and her book Furiously Happy. I ordered it after reading that Lawson battled depression, anxiety and a host of other disorders all her life, and wrote this book "less as a manual on how-to-survive-mental-illness and more as a compendium on how-to-thrive-in-spite-of-your-brain-being-a-real-bastard." HELLO! I'm in! It arrived the first weekend after John left, and I spent that first Saturday night on my couch laughing outloud (!!!) 70 pages in! This book is medicinal, and I highly recommend it - especially if you're craving  a lot of wit and a little something different.

A Change of Scenery //

Lately, this has been driving the twenty minutes to my mom's house to sit at her backyard patio table with my laptop. I'll take a quick dip in the pool if too hot, put my feet up on the lawn chair w/ Kleon's book and the sun beating down (vitamin D ... 'D' for DO IT), and spend time looking up at the sky. 

I love my apartment, but when I'm in it, I'm inside it, and there is no replacement for the sun on your skin and fresh air in your lungs. 

Mindless Pinterest Browsing //

When I was in full-on anxiety mode earlier this year, Pinterest was NOT the place for me to be.  It's important to know yourself and feel yourself out about these things. However, in this odd period of sadness and loneliness, Pinterest has become a comfort again. Maybe it's because it has reminded me what it feels like to cultivating beauty...? Maybe it's because I'm learning website tricks through it, and working on this new web space has made me feel the slightest pinch like myself again...? Maybe it's both and more, but who cares, it's working, so I keep at it in the impending long silences.

Morgan Harper Nichols Quotes // 

Lastly, let's talk Morgan Harper Nichols (whom can be found in a variety of contexts thanks to mindless Pinterest browsing). I've been quoting homegirl on my Insta these past few months like it's my business and she's my boss and I'm getting paid to. Spoiler: she's not paying me to do this - in money. She's paying me in exactly encapsulating the few lines of feeling I need to read over and over again to make it through. I am so grateful for this.