On My Mind | Vol. 4 - Purely Nora

Hat, Bikini Top, Bikini Bottom, Similar Shirt

Holy heck, the past month has flown by! I can’t believe we’ve been in New Jersey for almost two months! I honestly don’t really remember June and the fact that July is almost over is completely blowing my mind. I’ve found that during isolation the days sort of blur together so it’s really easy for me to lose track of time!

We’ve had some interesting mini travels, fun (and failed) adventures (see: picking summer fruit) and are sort of getting a hang of the whole “living in the country” thing. Truthfully I haven’t nailed down a solid routine, which has me a little stressed. I go between feeling like I have to have it all together and feeling like I deserve to rest all the time. But then, when I actually rest, I feel guilty! It’s almost like the grass is always greener, regardless of where I’m at. Sigh. My natural tendency is to be overly critical with myself and when I get to that point, I fall into a spiral of guilt and shame. I’m very aware of this, so one of the things I’m actively working on is being more compassionate with myself. The quote below from my all time favorite writer and poet, Morgan Harper Nichols, has been really comforting during the tougher times.

art and quote from Morgan Harper Nichols’ storyteller app

WORD OF THE WEEK | PUPPIES! I know, I know. Typically I err on the side of inspirational or a tad more thought provoking for my word of the week but y’all… ever since my in-laws dog had puppies I cannot stop thinking about them, watching them and snuggling them. So, puppies it is!

LOOKING BACK | We’ve been on some serious adventures as of late! In early July we took our first road trip in awhile and popped up to Litchfield to see the Wileys to celebrate sweet Jack’s birthday. Pre-COVID we got together every 2-3 months but we hadn’t seen each other since February. To say we had the best time would be quite the understatement! Shortly after that we popped into the city to check on our apartment, get our teeth cleaned and, in C’s case, visit the barber (PRAISE BE). We were there for less than 8 hours but I managed to squeeze in a long walk in Central Park and a visit to my favorite coffee and salad spots in our neighborhood. I am so grateful to to be out in the country and with family, but it sure felt good to be back! I miss my city routines, the energy and… gasp… even our tiny apartment. Home is home, after all.

ONE THING I LEARNED | Change can be good – so can cutting 5 inches! Last week I got my first hair cut and color in seven months and I feel like a new woman! In an interesting turn of events, my bestie Chloe and I drove to Philly to visit our stylist and colorist. Why Philly? Well, to quote Claire, “long story long” our girls live there! Pre-COVID they typically visited our NYC salon every few months but that obviously hasn’t been happening. So, when the salons opened in Philly we made the executive decision to make a day out of it! We’ve been seeing McKenna and Amber for years and I cannot imagine seeing anyone new – especially right now! Not just for the sake of my hair, but because we really wanted to support them. Was it stressful? Sort of, but the anticipation was more stressful than the actual process! The salon, Richard Nicholas, was well equipped for re-opening and once we arrived I felt very safe. My recommendation? Do your research, check the protocols and weigh the pros and cons. For me, walking out lighter, brighter and with a renewed confidence was well worth the drive and the extra safety measures!

WHAT I’M EXCITED FOR | A weekend getaway! This weekend we are headed up to Lake George, New York to spend some time with a couple of friends who’ve also been in isolation. It’s our friend Andrew’s birthday – he and C have been buddies since high school and he was the best man in our wedding! Andrew’s family has a home on the lake and over the years, the lake has become C’s happy place too. Serious quiet time and a shitty wifi signal are exactly what the doctor ordered!

ONE THING I’M PROUD OF | Hopefully you guys caught this but at the beginning of June I set a goal to donate $1,000 to The Loveland Foundation by giving 30% of my Beautycounter commissions and matching it through my company’s match program. Thanks to my amazing clients and their support, we donated $1,744 to Loveland to support Black women and girls with access to mental health and healing resources, specifically therapy – a cause very near and dear to my heart.

SNAPSHOTS | Some unedited #lifelately highlights from my camera roll…

ROW 1 – fun in Litchfield with Claire, Bun, Jack and Liam!

ROW 2 – my current morning skincare routine, a gorgeous cobalt door on the Upper East Side, cheeseburger meatballs and hand cut friends FTW

ROW 3 – the best sunscreen for hairlines and parts, snuggles with my best boy, dad shoes

ROW 4 – My fluffnugget, double doors in Philly, my new ‘do

ROW 5 – Puppies!, C helping out, a trip to the grocery with my fave hand sanitizer

BROWSING, READING, LEARNING, LISTENING | This past month I’ve really been digging deep into books. Like, sometimes I “read to fall asleep” then end up staying up until 1am reading instead *face palm*. Not ideal for someone who’d doesn’t get much sleep as it is! I love a variety of genres, mainly “chick lit”, historical fiction, personal growth and espionage. I’ll do mystery to a certain extent, but miss me with psychological thrillers. Then I def won’t sleep!

Anyway, when it comes to books I’m still aiming for every other book I read to be by Black or POC authors, which I talked a bit about here. My intention was to give you a quick review of what I read in this post, but it ended up being pretty darn long! I don’t do quick 😉 So, in lieu of that, I’m working on a post with all of the books I’ve read in quarantine so far. Keep your eyes peeled for that next week!

Do y’all keep track of what you read? I like to, and mostly keep track on Goodreads because it easily syncs with my Kindle. Speaking of Kindles, I’ve decided that I am officially a Kindle person. I used to be a physical book person – and if you are, I totally get it – but lugging around books and trying to open them up on the jam packed subway (woah, that feels like years ago) became cumbersome. It was also getting expensive to buy books and annoying to find places to put them! I switched to a Kindle when we went on our honeymoon and am finally coming to terms with the preference. I do still read the occasional book in hardcover (Untamed) but for the most part I rent e-books from the NY Public Library via the Libby app! And YES, you can RENT e-books! Click here for more deets.

I haven’t been listening to podcasts much lately because, sadly, I haven’t been going on walks! It’s something I really miss and hope to start up again soon. On my radar: The Be Well By Kelly Podcast (a new one from wellness and smoothie guru Kelly LeVeque), The Good Ancestor Podcast with Layla F. Saad and the Expanded Podcast with Lacy Phillips. I’m also super behind on Unlocking Us, my all time favorite podcast from Brene Brown. My next walk is going to be a long one 😉

Last but not least, my in-laws were watching Person of Interest recently and C and I were totally hooked! For context, it’s really hard for C and I to find shows that we both like to watch so I’m really excited that this one seems to fit both of our criteria! Any POI fans out there?