springing into new-ness
welcome to aries season 😈 (whatever that means)
Floor Time
/flôr tīm/
noun
the 15-60 minute time period spent laying on the floor in the middle of the work day, typically as a relief from the soul-sucking reality of corporate America.
Welcome to spring!! And also Aries season, I think (me, an Aries, oblivious to astrological timelines).
Some Housekeeping…
I know it’s been a while since you’ve heard from me. Truthfully it’s because ya girl is booked and busy *hair flip*, and I really haven’t had as much time as I once did to craft a smart, hilarious, distracting newsletter for you each week. But I’m not beating myself up about it…promise1!! In fact, one of the recurring themes I’ve been working on with my therapist this year has been around managing expectations—of myself and of others—and expecting to have 4-5 spare hours each week to craft a worthwhile newsletter is no longer realistic with the schedule I have. The long and short of it is, Floor Time will temporarily become a biweekly newsletter—which will give me some more time to noodle on what to yap about. I’m just a girl!! Thank you for understanding!!!
On to the yapping. I’ve been traveling a bit since we last chatted. I went to my first SXSW (very cool, Austin is weird / awesome and it was nice to finally have some warm weather and sun), then flew to Vancouver to get some final snow days in this season (because I’m a person who does that now??). If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve likely seen a lot of this—but here we have a little more space for me to share the things I did and subsequent life lessons I learned from doing those things. There’s always more to learn, even as adults! What a concept!
What I did: I ate absolute sh*t trying to send it down a giant hill called “Roller Coaster” on XC skis.
Life lesson learned: Alas, there is no documentation of how my technique improved. I felt so much more comfortable on those skinny little Bella Hadid skis. The life lesson learned is that if you, like me, grew up as an athlete, having instruction and being “coached” is kind of always welcome2. It reminds me there’s always room to grow and always space to be curious.
What I did: My snowboard girlie era has entered the chat!! Upon logging my 10th lifetime day on the mountain, my toe side turn finally clicked and I had the best pow day (yeah, I snowboard speak now. it’s whatevs.) in Whistler where I managed to keep up with 7 Canadians (Canadians come out of the womb in skis—that’s just a fact).
Life lesson learned: Falling on your ass and learning a new skill as an adult is insanely humbling and in this case, deeply frustrating. In February I went to a ski trip in Austria where I honestly had two big meltdowns that surprised even myself. Haven’t I been going to therapy for the past 8 years? Shouldn’t my ability to regulate my emotions be better than this? Unless you have also tried to learn how to snowboard at 30, it’s hard to understand the canon event that is shutting down on a giant mountain that—I’ll say this gently—you can only get off by going down. Nevertheless, [I] persisted and the feeling of the ~*click*~ is unmatched. It’s a good reminder that it’s never too late to put in the work and invest in a new hobby (to my great dismay, a very expensive one), because we’re all still young and we should be challenging ourselves with newness as much as we can. All that yap to say: I’m insanely proud of myself and probably won’t shut up about how fun snowboarding is for the next 5-8 business days.
What I did: Soft launched bangs.
Life lesson learned: Bangs, like much in life, are high risk / high reward. They are demanding and require constant maintenance, but ultimately they kinda slay, so… yeah. Some things are worth the slay. That’s the lesson.
Something I Thought of in the Shower
Without Hermione, they all would’ve died and Voldemort and the Death Eaters would’ve taken over the Wizarding World
Something for Clarice
Hey! This newsletter is free and I intend to keep it that way. That said, if you love it and want to show your appreciation, buy me a coffee :)
Something Pretty
The Canada of it all.
Something Palette Cleanser-y
The videos from this tween boy band have been my source of joy all week. So pure, so nostalgic, so talented.
This video incited a giggle fit.
So did this. Millennials 5 ever.
By the way…I’m reading this.
I read First Time Caller on the plane. It was fun. I like that the story puts radio as a thriving media form (…) but it’s still no How to End a Love Story.
And I’m watching this.
SEVERANCE. Some spoilers below (stop reading here if you haven’t watched!).
Some random thoughts:
That finale was crazy.
I am thrilled that Gemma got out and they both at least got to have their kiss moment (that scene where they go through 4 permutations of Mark and Gemma together *chef’s kiss*).
BRIENNE OF TARTH!!!! <insert Elmo fire gif here>.
Helly R, my girl, this would’ve been the time to be the mature adult and send little Mark S on his merry way, but I guess you did just find out your outie’s dad is the creepiest man alive™ and what family were you really going to go back to.
Milchick is so hot and I love the idea that he uses company time to attend Choreography and Merriment rehearsal.
But for real, Gemma’s face card NEVER declining. That woman could slice bread with her cheekbones. Gah.
I am still stuck on this crazy theory that all the severed people eventually have their essence refined into goats and become goat people (Ricken for instance is 100% certified goat). Is that not what they were trying to show us??
So…how’s that tinfoil hat looking on me?
Happy spring!! Go frolic!!! Thaw!!! Nature is healing!! Etc., etc.
‘Til next time, MDR. Your friend,
Clarice
don’t @ me, a recovering type-A capital G girlboss
unless it’s by your SO in which case all I hear is like Charlie Brown parent noises