Snapshot is a periodic series about what’s going on in my life right now—what I’m eating, reading, doing, loving, and my favorite links from around the web.
It’s time for my annual artichoke. It shall be an appetizer to my glorious meal of homemade macaroni and cheese tonight (and if I can take a break to snap a picture of it, I might even share that recipe soon).
I haven’t decided yet exactly which recipe I’ll use for the artichoke…but there might be blue cheese involved…and/or breadcrumbs, and/or butter. Needless to say, I’m exceedingly stoked about dinner tonight.
I’ve been reading a lot lately. A LOT. I could recommend any number of things, but the thing I really want you to read is this: Hermione Granger and the Goddamn Patriarchy.
It’s a fan fiction version of the Harry Potter tale, told as if Hermione were the main character, and the enemy was…you guessed it, the Goddamn Patriarchy. It had me rolling on the floor laughing, and wanting to be a Boss Witch like Hermione. (The best part is when she lights bitches on fire.) Oh, and there’s swearing.
Incorporating more ease. I probably talk your ear off already about how much I love finding ease, but it really feels like a theme for me lately. Ease as our natural state, ease as the feeling left over after you’ve pitched the stress and overwhelm and baggage that comes with living in a crazy, chaotic, information-packed place like we do. I think ease is my favorite word. And “doing” ease always feels good.
Pretty sure berlin-artparasites is the best page I’m following on Facebook right now. The quotes + art they post more often than not remind me of important things about Being Alive. Which is never a bad thing. Particularly the #todaysmantra posts, like this one:
“You ruin your life by tolerating it. At the end of the day you should be excited to be alive. When you settle for anything less than what you innately desire, you destroy the possibility that lives inside of you, and in that way you cheat both yourself and the world of your potential. The next Michelangelo could be sitting behind a Macbook right now writing an invoice for paperclips, because it pays the bills, or because it is comfortable, or because he can tolerate it. Do not let this happen to you. Do not ruin your life this way. Life and work, and life and love, are not irrespective of each other. They are intrinsically linked. We have to strive to do extraordinary work, we have to strive to find extraordinary love. Only then will we tap into an extraordinarily blissful life.”
—Bianca Sparacino, How To Ruin Your Life (Without Even Noticing That You Are)
- A black woman’s response to a “compliment” on how she talks white.
- Princess Awesome believes little girls shouldn’t have to choose between dresses and dinosaurs. Or airplanes. I completely agree, and the clothes they’re making are adorable. (Today’s the last day to support their Kickstarter!) In related news, this Ultimate Guide to the Independent Princess exists, which is awesome—if you’ve been looking for stories and fairy tales featuring boss witches (sans the swears to be found in the Hermione tale above), there you have it.
- 20 signs you’re doing better than you think you are. A THOUSAND TIMES YES. We need more reminders of how we’re already rocking it, without changing a thing.
- I want to hug this blog post about losing weight. I have also found it to be true that it is far more effective to make changes for the sake of feeling good about my life in this body rather than to lose weight. I’ve also found that when you truly feel better, your weight will shift. But losing weight tends to be putting the cart before the horse.
- I want to hug this blog post, too, by Elizabeth Gilbert. To sum up: “Can we draft a joint resolution to drop the crazy-making expectation that we must all be perfect friends and perfect mothers and perfect workers and perfect lovers with perfect bodies who dedicate ourselves to charity and grow our own organic vegetables, at the same time that we run corporations and stand on our heads while playing the guitar with our feet?”
- This article from Salon resonated deeply with me: We’re clean eating our way to new eating disorders. When we’re being inundated with passionate messages about food—gluten is inflammatory! dairy is dangerous! there are toxins in everything!—it’s quite natural to be left wondering if there’s anything left in this world that actually is safe to eat. (Incidentally, I felt worlds better after a conversation with Meg Worden about it.)
- Five delicious uses for kitchen scraps via the kitchn. I love making something from nothing!
- I found this Houselogic article fascinating about the link between clutter and depression. It’s amazing how our outer world mirrors our inner world.
