On My Mind | Vol. 5 - Purely Nora

WORD OF THE WEEK | Relax. This doesn’t always come easily for me, but C and I are making a conscious effort this week to relax, unwind and unplug a bit. We’re currently up in the Adirondacks at Lake George, a prime relaxation destination! We drove up here Thursday morning and leave tomorrow night – the perfect extra long weekend. We’ve been spending our time reading, puzzling, snoozing and eating excellent home cooked meals. We’re also doing a few things that I’ve always wanted to do, like taking the boat to each end of the (pretty long) lake!

LOOKING BACK | This month was full of ups and downs! On the personal front, I’ve been feeling particularly down and discouraged. I mentioned it a bit on Instagram and had to take a few days away to sit with myself and process my feelings. I personally find it helpful to acknowledge where I’m at, sit with the discomfort and work through my thoughts and feelings, whether that means journaling, talking to my therapist or talking to C. We’ve also had some tough conversations about next steps for our little family. More on that to come, but for now I’ll say that we’re putting our adulting pants on and making some changes. If you’re struggling to navigate life as we know it – I see you and I’m right there with you. And now for the ups – highlights this month included meeting up with a few friends (and meeting our dear friends’ baby for the first time!), going on a date and finally going peach picking! I’ve been wanting to pick my own fruit all summer so we went to a local farm and picked peaches, green beans and apples. I love how it all came full circle – I picked the peaches and then made a peach crumble for everyone in the house to enjoy! I used this recipe and changed the fruit, obviously. I also made a delish peach marg!

ONE THING I LEARNED | Change is inevitable and so is growth. As we’re navigating these different times, one thing that C and I have found to be particularly helpful is to focus as much as possible on the here and now. Whenever we catch ourselves thinking about last year or “easier” times, we try to check ourselves. What made them easier? What is hard about right now and how can we put that in perspective? I find talk of “let’s go back to 2019” particularly challenging because, while I understand the grief and frustration of the present, we simply cannot go backwards. And honestly, I don’t think we should. Why focus on the past when we can create an even better, albeit different, future? My therapist always says that we move towards growth, and I have to believe that the growing pains we are all going through this year are important and necessary. I think that applies to so many aspects of life and the world we live in, too.

WHAT I’M EXCITED FOR | All things New York! I mentioned that we’re upstate right now and next week we’re headed back to the city – I truly cannot wait! I miss everything about it and am so looking forward to hitting up some of our favorite spots and exploring areas we haven’t been in months. The Met reopened which just about had me in tears! The Met is in our neighborhood and we’ve spent many an afternoon getting lost in its halls and exhibits. With that in mind, our end of summer / early fall bucket list is absolutely enormous! C and I are finalizing it as we speak and I can’t wait to share it. Last but not least, I have some fun projects in the works – both for the blog and Beautycounter – that I’m really excited about. More on that soon!

ONE THING I’M PROUD OF | I meditated almost every single day this month! I mentioned my journey with meditation here and it’s become a big part of my morning routine. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stick with it consistently but I’m at the point where I genuinely look forward to sitting quietly and spending 10-20 minutes just being. If for some reason I don’t do it in the morning I tend to feel a bit off and always end my day with an evening meditation to re-center myself. I also started using Calm soundscapes at night – I love “light rain” to help me fall asleep – and it helps tremendously!

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

Walks in the suburbs with my crew / The freaking BEST GF turkey sammy (turkey, bacon, onion, cucumber, tomato, spinach, avocado, sriracha) / my fave summer dress

Back in the kitchen making sheet pan salmon / Etta in a loaf pan / Views from home aka our NYC apartment

Peach picking x 2 / Mornings with Bean

My fave pjs (click here for 15% off!) / Baby Etta / A quote from Headspace

BROWSING, READING, LEARNING, LISTENING | In my last On My Mind I promised I would round up all the books I’ve read in Quarantine so far, which I did here. I’ve also been talking about being behind on podcasts for awhile now and for the past few weeks I’ve really been making an effort to listen to them on my walks or in the shower (I do my best thinking in the shower tbh, so adding a thought provoking podcast to my routine seemed like a natural move). The common theme with the ones I’m sharing below is that they all focus on Anti-Racism. I actually keep a note on my phone where I type key points and quotes from podcasts as I walk, so I’ll share some of that below, too! Here I’ll focus on episodes versus shows, but keep your eyes peeled for a post on the latter 🙂

WTF with Marc Maron and Stacey Abrams – Ohhh man oh man oh man. If you’re not familiar with Stacey Abrams, you should be! Stacey is the only black woman ever nominated for Governor by a major party and though she lost the gubernatorial election in Georgia, it hasn’t stopped her from making moves and pushing for change nationwide. She chats with Marc about COVID, racism, inequality and does an outstanding job articulating the authoritarianism of our current administration. She’s pushing for free and fair elections via voter education and participation and her organization Fair Fight.

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown on Shame and Accountability – Y’all know I freaking love Brené. This is an outstanding episode, a solo session with Brene about shame as it relates to racism and anti-racism. She talks about the difference between feeling shame and being shamed, and why shame is an ineffective tool for social justice. My favorite quote from the episode: I am here to get it right not to be right. Noodle on that.

Good Ancestor Podcast with Layla F. Saad and Rachel Cargle – Two of my favorite writers and activists sitting down and talking about what it means to be a good ancestor? Yes. This episode is from early 2019, and was the first of Saad’s Good Ancestor podcast. They touch on self care, boundaries, anti-racism work and more. One of my favorite quotes was in their conversation about ancestors, when Rachel says “…although we’re not dealing with the dogs or the hoses or all of those other very violent things that happen to the bodies of our ancestors, it’s coming from the same source of hate.” The same source of hate. Powerful words from a powerful woman.

Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and Ibram X. Kendi – This was my first time listening to Armchair Expert / Experts on Expert and I have to say, I’m a big fan of Dax and an even bigger fan of Ibram. I’d read some of Ibram’s articles in The Atlantic and his book, How to Be an Antiracist, is on my reading list but I had yet to hear him speak. He ties everything back to policy and exposes truths about racism in America and I found their conversation about racism and addiction to be particularly enlightening. My favorite quote: “Denial is heartbeat of racism.” – Ibram X. Kendi

Unlocking Us with Brené Brown and Austin Channing Brown – After listening to the podcast I immediately ordered ACB’s book, I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness and am excited to delve into it with my Anti-Racism book club in September. Brené and Austin are friends, and this episode felt like a fireside chat between friends who aren’t afraid to talk through the hard stuff, ie: oppression, white supremacy, proximity and what the ego has to do with all of it. My favorite quote: “Every time you have an uncomfortable honest conversation, a piece of the system falls off” – Austin Channing Brown

Unlocking Us with Brene Brown and Ibram X. Kendi – I learned so much from Kendi on Armchair Expert and was thrilled that Brené sat down with him, too. In true Brené style, they sat down and had a candid conversation that paralleled but also added to his episode with Dax. My favorite quote: “Racist and anti-racist are not fixed identities – we can be a racist one minute and an anti-racist the next…what we say about race and what we do about race in each moment determines what not who we are”. If found this definition of racist to be particularly helpful when speaking with others.

If you end up listening to any of these please let me know – I’d love to talk through them together!