I wasn’t in the headspace to write one of these posts on Monday, but I’m feeling better today after talking to a friend for over two hours last night. I needed that. There’s really not much going on over here – it’s winter, we’re isolated, and we spend all of our time at home. It is never my intention to come across as negative, and I know how fortunate we are in many ways. That said, I am so tired of this pandemic, isolation, and treatment. 

On My Mind This Week, 2.2.2022: The Weight of Isolation,
a Phone Break, and Recent Finds

Work is going well –  I am really enjoying creating content and have flexibility to live life the way I want to but can’t do anything or see anyone. The girls are amazing! So funny and at the best ages, but they can’t see anyone and no one knows Kate. 💔  I just want so much more for my girls – friendships, experiences, and fun outside of our home. We did not go through all of this to not make the most of life, and it often feels that we’re waiting to live again. It would feel so good to see people and do things. Nothing crazy – even just errands with the girls! I can’t wait for that. 

I am grateful and this is really hard. Those two things can coexist. 

The start of a new year felt refreshing. This year began with me as my own boss on my own schedule. It’s the year Margot finishes treatment, Kate is becoming the most incredible little person, we’re making our way through winter, and case numbers are going down. All good things. I know there’s so much hope! And it’s lonely. I talk to my close friends every week but miss seeing them. I last saw one friend in November and two more right before Christmas – all moms with kids in treatment, and we were so careful. I’ll never take the little things for granted and can’t wait until we can really live again. I know some of you can relate to feeling like life isn’t where you want it – in a hard moment or the in-between. We’ve all been there. 

I took a phone and social media break.

I spend most of the day working at a computer. If I’m getting a workout in, it’s CorePower (computer) or bike (peloton) – both on a screen. After bedtime, we usually watch a show or I do more work (more screens). For the first time in a very long (too long) time, I put my phone away for the entire day on Sunday. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I never completely unplug. I go hours without my phone but I’ll usually check texts or email, or post something on instagram. But on Sunday, I put my phone away until the girls went to bed, and it felt so good.

When you do what I do, it’s so easy to put a post up or reply to messages, and before you know it, anywhere from 20-45 minutes have passed. I know it doesn’t have to be all or nothing, so this coming weekend, I’m going to take a planned break from social media. 

Some good news.

Margot’s port comes out in less than 150 days 😭🥳 and less than 175 days until her last dose of chemo. Not sure if that sounds far away to most of you, but she was diagnosed well over 600 days ago, so we’re getting closer to the end of treatment. It won’t magically be “over” but we can finally, hopefully have some normalcy. I am over here dreaming of taking the girls to Disneyland (not world). I’m from LA and there’s so much sentiment behind taking them there, and we can do it in two days, so it will be a little less intense. And even better – one of my now good friends who is a few months behind us in treatment lives in LA, so we can take our girls together 😭

I’ve started using LTK. 

This is one of those things I never really wanted to do because I didn’t have a plan, and I really don’t like overdoing it with links. After talking to Rebecca (the friend who convinced me to start my newsletter) and my LTK rep, I decided to give it a try and see how it feels. Turns out, it’s actually been fun. I really enjoy product roundups and this allows me to source items without having to put together a whole blog post. You can shop this affordable art here.

Speaking of my newsletter…

I’m enjoying my newsletter more than I thought I would. It goes out once a week and not only recaps my blog content and what’s happening on social, but I’m sharing some more original content (and favorite recipes) there, too. It’s nice to have a place to talk about the things I don’t want to talk about here. 

And some recent finds (sharing a few here and the rest in my newsletter)

Encanto Dress

The girls love Encanto so, so much, and I do, too. Kate asks to listen to 'canto' songs - it's so cute. I ordered this dress for both girls!

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Poppie

Doll Table and Chairs

This has been sold out for forever but is back, so I finally placed an order!

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Pop of Paper

Easter Pop Box

The brand gifted the Valentine's Day box to the girls and it's fantastic, so I had to share this with you since the easter box is available for preorder!

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