Hello my loves! Can you believe it’s almost the end of July?! Crazyness. Life is moving fast and slow all at the same time.
I’ve been posting a lot more poetry lately which has been super fun, but I wanted to come atcha with a Loving Lately list as a quick lil snapshot of what I’ve been enjoying in my life currently!
C.R.E.A.T.E Podcast by Kristin Hanggi and Natalie Roy
I discovered this podcast earlier this summer because Katie Dalebout had Kristin Hanggi on her Let It Out podcast when Kristin was directing a one woman show in NYC. When I first learned about Kristin I was like OMG she is literally my SOUL SISTER. A spiritual being who loves creativity and totally has the same perspective on spirituality & creativity as I do. Like serious twins. I need to meet her.
Anyways, I had been meaning to listen to her podcast, but I haven’t really been listening to podcasts lately, so it percolated in my mind for a couple months, and then a few days ago I listened to one and am now HOOKED. I felt so INSPIRED and refreshed and was just completely on the same wavelength as the hosts of the show: Kristin Hanggi and Natalie Roy. I’m so glad something like this exists and that I found the work of these two ladies because it is SO aligned with what I’m doing right now. God bless!
Lavender Italian Sodas
It’s become a weekend routine for Pax (my bf) and I to go to Mystic, CT the cutest lil sea town nearby and spend our saturdays or sundays in a cafe reading. We discovered these italian sodas and they come in a variety of flavors but I’ve been getting the lavender because its delish and makes me feel like a mysterious witch!
Creating my Creativity Coaching Course
Sooo, once summer started which is when my job gets super busy I knew I wouldn’t have that much time to be working on my creativity coaching business. I was trying to book one on one clients but then that kinda fell off my radar and I was feeling antsy because I wasn’t DOING anything about my business and just fell into a kinda lull until I was like fuck it, I’m just going to create a course on creativity.
Essentially, I’m channeling all my teachings & philosophy about unblocking artists and living a creative life into a full blown course! I’m having so much fun creating it and am taking it from the perspective of practicing what I preach and allowing myself to PLAY and have fun rather than set deadlines and “force” myself to work on it. It’s been super joyful and I can’t wait to share it when it’s ready!
Pro Tip: Teachable is a really great (and free at first) resource for building a course! I’m loving the way it’s helping me organize the modules & lessons so far and very user friendly.
Conscious, Creative, Connection
Speaking of my coaching business, one of the things I get stuck on is marketing and finding and targeting my ideal audience. “Targeting” just feels so inauthentic to me and I am of the spiritual belief that if I align with who I am and what I’m offering, then the people I need to attract will come. I just wanna believe that I can just do me and the people will come if they’re supposed to come.
Conscious, creative, connection was my 2019 mantra that I set on the new year and I’ll be honest and say that I low key forgot about it, but it’s been popping back up for me recently.
I realized that all I need to do is focus on conscious, creative, connection and building authentic relationships (basically making friends) instead of trying to “target” and “sell” and all that other jazz. That feels a lot better for me!
30 Days to Fit
I bought Beverly Cheng’s 30 Days to Fit program back in February and attempted to complete it. It’s basically a 30 day workout program where Beverly leads you through various workouts designed for a gym foucsing on different days for different muscle groups (i.e. back day, leg day, cardio, etc).
This is great for me because I am the type of person that either likes to follow HIIT videos for my workouts or will show up at the gym, do 20 minutes of cardio either on the treadmill or elliptical and then just “do whatever I feel like” for the rest of the time.
This left me feeling like I wasn’t doing enough and didn’t have any idea how to target specific muscle groups and was super intimidated by all the different weights and machines.
When I bought it in Feb, I completed one week of the training and then got sick and gave up, but I decided that I was going to go all out this time around.
I only have 2 days of workouts left and then I will have completed the program! I highly recommend it to anyone who has no idea what they’re doing in the gym and wants to get stronger and more confident using different machines and figuring out how to structure your workouts to be more efficient.
Nike shoes
aaaand speaking of the gym, I recently got new Nikes and am just lovin on the Nike brand. I got my first pair of Nike’s 2 years ago because my ex bf got them for me and they’re seriously the most comfortable shoes ever (like where had I been).
I decided it was time to upgrade and my feet are in heaven, no wonder they’re so popular 😉
Classical music in the car
Lately, when I’m driving I’ve been tuning into the classical music station and I’m loving how it makes me feel more calm and relaxed and reminds me of my childhood.
I grew up listening to classical music exclusively so it’s really nice to be reminded of that and I always just feel kinda smart and cool when listening to classical music – anyone else?
Margarita pizza from Recovery Room
I realize this is pretty CT specific, but I just discovered this Italian restaurant near my work and tried their Margarita pizza and it was seriously better than any pizza I ate in Italy.
It’s thin crust mixed with gooey mozzarella cheese with a pesto and tomato sauce topped with crispy basil – YUM.
I ate it on the beach by myself and seriously felt transported like I very well could have been on the beaches of Italy living my best solo travel life.
I’ve recently been thinking about how we seek experiences, but it’s really about the feelings that the experience provides, not the actual experience itself.
Like I could have been in Italy eating that pizza and having the same feeling that I was having in my own backyard in CT.
That’s what we chase, people. THE FEELING ❤
Ice pops
Alright y’all, ice pops are my must-have for summer. I bought a full box of them at the beginning and I am almost down to my last ones. They’re so tasty and refreshing especially during a hot day.
I tried to have a “sugar free” week and my bf made fun of me bc I was like, well I’m still going to have ice pops. It’ll be sugar free plus ice pops. (that sugar-free week lasted 2 days bc I wanted ice cream soo..oh well)
BOOKS I’VE READ LATELY
I’ve been reading a LOT this summer and wanted to do a quick wrap up of books I’ve read lately. This is also part of my series: books & treatz lol.
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
slow to get into at first, but ended up loving it. Theater, glam, glitz in NYC during the 1950’s.
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
City of Girls got me hooked on Liz Gilbert’s writings and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read Eat, Pray, Love before. I obvi LOVED it. My favorite genre is travel memoirs so it fulfilled me very much so and is very appro since I’m about to embark on my own Eat, Pray, Love journey.
This Is For The Women Who Don’t Give A Fuck – Janne Robinson
This is my new favorite book of poetry. I’ve never read a poet who writes almost exactly like me. I found so many similarities between mine and Janne’s work from the subject matter to the way we think about the world to the sort of raw and unfiltered way of expressing our truth. She is definitely one of my expanders for sure! love, love love.
Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks
I got this book months ago because Nicholas Sparks was doing a signing in my town and talking about creativity so of course I went, and I’m trying to get rid of all the books sitting in my closet so I read it. It was pretty lame, honestly, but I enjoyed reading a romance novel for once 🙂
The Hypnotists Love Story – Liane Moriarty
OKAY FAVE FICTION BOOK I’VE READ IN A LONG TIME. I loooved Liane’s writing and all her aussie references and I identified so much with the main character of this book – she was this spiritual, creative, hypnotist, entrepreneur who loved the sea and lived on the beach! Such a good summer beach read.
The Beautiful No – Sheri Salata
I read this book in one day and it started out great but kinda petered off in the end for me. This is written by one of Oprah’s former staff members and I wish she would have told more personal stories from her own life and experiences.
aand that’s it for now! Please comment below and let me know what YOU’VE been loving lately and if you have any good book recs, I would love to hear from you ❤
Mermaid Musings 