June Joys + Justice
Our June was fairly “new normal”. We got irritating news on a few fronts, (the only one worth mentioning is the gym where I had gone back to teaching once a week in person closed down, again, due to the owner’s shady business decisions - ugh!) but there’s really nothing we can do about any of these irritations, so in refocusing on gratitude & happy things:
•One more happy beach day with our BFFs here (...before they’re transferred to Scotland the end of July #focusingonthefirsthalfofthat #ignoringthesecondhalf)
•Practicing yoga & always gaining a little something every day (this day was coming out of my headstand & flowing right into the next pose w/o resetting - sped up here 8x :-P)
•EARLY VOTING in our Texas Primary Runoff & *gushing* over the experience: zero wait at the library, almost no touch, everything über sanitized, & new voting machines that produce a paper backup ballot!
•I lovelovelove unique international treats, & I scored a small bag of Sakura (cherry blossom) Kit Kats from Japan at 99 Ranch!
•I can’t stop listening to Ben Platt’s song “Run Away”
•Enjoyed socially-distant Praise Team rehearsal for video church with my vocal BFF that I hadn’t seen in person since March
•I didn’t ignore the low tire pressure light in my truck, stopped on the way home, & topped off all my tires with air #yayme
•Walked Bailey beagle & did my ~4 miles every day in June:
•Completed several quality hours of continuing yoga education & excited for 2 more online workshops coming up: “Identifying Healing & Trauma Through Yoga” and “Yoga & Common Injuries”
•Sooo much Netflix: Crazy Delicious (I want to eat *THAT* stuff!), Unsolved Mysteries (the creepy theme gives me chills just like when I was younger!), Eurovision...Fire Saga (literally JB’s new fave movie!), Somebody Feed Phil, Athlete A, Home Game, Queer Eye, Space Force...
•Will living his fireworks dream:
And finally, yes: we’ll be watching Hamilton as much as we can until our one month of Disney+ is up! :-P I gave myself a headache, I sang so loud & cried so hard the first time watching it the day it premiered. I kid you not: my first cry was Groff telling the audience to turn off their cell phones as it began. I burst into tears... :-D From Phillip to the end, Annelise & I were bawling messes, gasping for breaths, & still trying to squeak out notes in between sobs. Sweet catharsis! Happy Hamilton memories: exactly one year ago last week in NYC, raising a glass to the four of us in the REAL Fraunces Tavern & sitting by Alexander, Eliza, & Phillip’s graves at Trinity Church; two years ago, seeing the Angelica Tour in Houston, (& apparently that dress is my Hamilton uniform :-P)
•Two awesome social justice resources for (everyone, but esp.) white people like me: “I’m a good person.” “I have black friends.” “I don’t want to say the wrong thing.” Y’all. 2 of my most favorite speakers teamed up in this podcast! [If you don’t make time for the whole thing, listen (at 2x speed) 20:00-35:00 and then another burst at 45:00-47:30...& I hope you can’t help but finish it!] Brené Brown’s “Unlocking Us” podcast is stellar in general, and I adore Austin Channing Brown. We all get it wrong sometimes. It’s *good* to take correction & move forward. Checking our egos is hard: “I’m here to get it right, not be right. I’m here to get it right, not be right. I’m here to get it right, not be right...”
“Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man” with NFL player Emmanuel Acho - 5 (so far) short chats about race that focus on questions that many white people have never had the chance to ask. So much quality perspective! I love learning, growing, challenging myself, and becoming less tunnel-visioned in my own views.
•One more happy beach day with our BFFs here (...before they’re transferred to Scotland the end of July #focusingonthefirsthalfofthat #ignoringthesecondhalf)
•Practicing yoga & always gaining a little something every day (this day was coming out of my headstand & flowing right into the next pose w/o resetting - sped up here 8x :-P)
•EARLY VOTING in our Texas Primary Runoff & *gushing* over the experience: zero wait at the library, almost no touch, everything über sanitized, & new voting machines that produce a paper backup ballot!
•I can’t stop listening to Ben Platt’s song “Run Away”
•Enjoyed socially-distant Praise Team rehearsal for video church with my vocal BFF that I hadn’t seen in person since March
•I didn’t ignore the low tire pressure light in my truck, stopped on the way home, & topped off all my tires with air #yayme
•Walked Bailey beagle & did my ~4 miles every day in June:
•Completed several quality hours of continuing yoga education & excited for 2 more online workshops coming up: “Identifying Healing & Trauma Through Yoga” and “Yoga & Common Injuries”
•Sooo much Netflix: Crazy Delicious (I want to eat *THAT* stuff!), Unsolved Mysteries (the creepy theme gives me chills just like when I was younger!), Eurovision...Fire Saga (literally JB’s new fave movie!), Somebody Feed Phil, Athlete A, Home Game, Queer Eye, Space Force...
•Will living his fireworks dream:
And finally, yes: we’ll be watching Hamilton as much as we can until our one month of Disney+ is up! :-P I gave myself a headache, I sang so loud & cried so hard the first time watching it the day it premiered. I kid you not: my first cry was Groff telling the audience to turn off their cell phones as it began. I burst into tears... :-D From Phillip to the end, Annelise & I were bawling messes, gasping for breaths, & still trying to squeak out notes in between sobs. Sweet catharsis! Happy Hamilton memories: exactly one year ago last week in NYC, raising a glass to the four of us in the REAL Fraunces Tavern & sitting by Alexander, Eliza, & Phillip’s graves at Trinity Church; two years ago, seeing the Angelica Tour in Houston, (& apparently that dress is my Hamilton uniform :-P)
•Two awesome social justice resources for (everyone, but esp.) white people like me: “I’m a good person.” “I have black friends.” “I don’t want to say the wrong thing.” Y’all. 2 of my most favorite speakers teamed up in this podcast! [If you don’t make time for the whole thing, listen (at 2x speed) 20:00-35:00 and then another burst at 45:00-47:30...& I hope you can’t help but finish it!] Brené Brown’s “Unlocking Us” podcast is stellar in general, and I adore Austin Channing Brown. We all get it wrong sometimes. It’s *good* to take correction & move forward. Checking our egos is hard: “I’m here to get it right, not be right. I’m here to get it right, not be right. I’m here to get it right, not be right...”
“Uncomfortable Conversations With A Black Man” with NFL player Emmanuel Acho - 5 (so far) short chats about race that focus on questions that many white people have never had the chance to ask. So much quality perspective! I love learning, growing, challenging myself, and becoming less tunnel-visioned in my own views.
So good to hear what y'all have been up to!! I'm a big podcast listener, so I'll have to check out Brene Brown's podcast.
ReplyDeleteWe did fireworks at home for the first time ever (for some reason I have this irrational fear that someone will blow part of themselves up). At 8:30pm on July 4th our 19-year-old said she wanted some sparklers, so my husband took both of the girls to the fireworks stand at the end of the road, and they came back with a whole bag of fireworks. Thankfully everyone survived - and it was actually fun! :)