not necessarily in this order

  One , a leaf fell on my head while I was hiking earlier; if that isn’t “fall”, I don’t know what is.  Two , when I got home, I bent down to say hello to Maysie who was sitting like a human on her mat. When I went to stand up, she put her paws on my shoulders and pulled my face close to hers; if that isn’t love, I don’t know what is.  Three , I was driving Lil Momma to rehearsal last night, which is when I get to hear the bits of her day and heart. She told me about an unexpected interaction at school and the excitement in voice was so sweet and real - I almost teared up; if that isn’t motherhood in a nutshell, I don’t know what is. Four , the Mr. and I have been realizing that we won’t get 1:1 time in this season of life if we aren’t intentional about it. We made a plan to go out to a quick lunch during one of my weekly work from home days starting next week; if that isn’t something to look forward to, I don’t know what is.  Five , all of your kind words and though...

This is a bit of a sad one (pet loss and feelings), so please skip if that’s what serves you best right now! This week, we mostly unexpectedly* lost Bella, our 12-year-old Maltese Yorkshire Terrier mix.  *  “mostly unexpectedly” because Bella was part of the senior population of pups and had some health challenges, but ones we’d thought were more of a “in the next year or so” conversation… Bella was my parents’. Right after I had Lil Momma, they decided to get another dog and no matter how I begged them to get an old and slow dog for their older and slower years, my dad took one look at a Morkie puppy and that was the end of that.  They called her “Bella from Hella” because she was such a handful, especially after we lost my dad. She ate baby LM’s socks, bit all of us, and tripped my mom multiple times. I tried to get Mom to work with a trainer, but she somehow ended up with a pet psychic who would tell us how Bella communed with my dad and wanted more respect around the ...

In a season where baby steps and consistency are the name of the game, I’ve had trouble seeing wins because of everything I feel like I should be doing. I should be doing all the strength workouts and moderate intensity cardio and protein and fiber and, and, and… I should be done with this Estate and my house should be declutterred and read more and better and, and, and… I should be making more intentional memories and traditions before Lil Momma goes off into the world in like 5 years and my own Estate planning and what do I want to do with my one wild and precious life and, and, and… All of that in my head at all times AND how I very much know habits are built brick by brick and jumping ahead because of the noise in my head is why I crash and burn, alongside this darn “ avoid/procrastinate if it can’t be perfect ” vibe that’s more than a little exhausting. I’ve been encouraged to try and lean into things that make me uncomfortable in this season of life, so I decided one “experime...