I am feeling pretty deep into the throes of September right now. School has been back in session for almost a month now (!!!) and life is starting to fill up with all of the things. Homework, school lunches, after school clubs, school day volunteering (because I have to protect my Super Mom Reputation and also because I not-so-secretly love it).

Add in all of the other things like vet appointments, oil changes and grocery shopping; and the Self Care Goals like hitting the gym regularly, getting in regular writing time at favorite coffee shops and squeezing in lunch dates with my husband. The end result has been pretty hectic days – it’s filled with good stuff, but it’s a LOT of stuff. And after the slow burning days of summer, it can be a hard adjustment.

I’m taking a page from Anne @ Modern Mrs. Darcy (you know, like always) today and sharing some of the things that I’m loving right now in the midst of this busy season, when I kind of want to go talk to a chocolate cake in a dark room for a minute.

• A great pedicure – My good friend Laura and I have accidentally created a wonderful tradition of getting pedicures together at the beginning of the school year. It’s a nice chance to reconnect after a busy summer and celebrate the return to our regularly scheduled fall lives. And I’ve discovered since then that I love having red toe nails! I almost never paint my finger nails, but there’s something about red toe nails makes me feel like I can rule the world!
• London Fogs – I’m trying to limit the number of coffee drinks in my life because I hate having nice things or something. I discovered London Fogs maybe a year ago – it’s basically a chai latte but it’s made with Earl Grey tea instead of chai tea. It’s magical and soothing and makes a gloomy day feel a little cozier. It’s been a good substitute for mornings when I still need a latte style indulgence, but maybe with less caffeine. PS: for hot days, I’m digging iced green tea right now.
• My new purse and lanyard – I mentioned in my last post that I’ve been wearing a tiny cross body bag to hold a few every day essentials. This teamed with a lanyard for my keys (which has apparently become the telltale sound / sign that mom is coming according to my kids) seems to be the magical button answer to not being burdened with a giant heavy bag. I’m trying to cut down on the amount of stuff that I have to carry everywhere and have a little minimalist zen vibe about me. It also makes up for the lack of pockets in my life. #girlproblems
• This cute Cactus pen! I got this adorable little pen in an Owl Crate a few months ago and it has quickly become my favorite pen. It was good timing, too, because I recently decided that my nice fountain pens really need to start living at home because they don’t seem to like living in my purse. I was really surprised at how nicely this pen writes and the little cactus topper makes me smile every. time. Does anyone else take their pen situation way too seriously?
• Listening to classical music while I write – So I mentioned making regular writing time for myself during the week. I’ve been taking my laptop to local coffee shops and trying to get in at least an hour of creative writing – either a great blog post or working on a current writing project (of which I have a couple right now). The big problem that I ran up against initially is that I’m very easily driven to distraction. Coffee shops are seriously noisy sometimes between the espresso machines, tables of talking people and adorable children and whatever background music they’ve put on. It’s stuff that I normally love about a coffee shop except apparently when I’m writing. I knew that listening to my own music collection on headphones wouldn’t work either – I’d just find myself rocking out to some good jams and forgetting what I was doing. So after looking up writing background music ideas, I went to Amazon and found this CD by Laura Sullivan called Timeless: The Most Relaxing Classical Piano Music Ever. The title is very accurate and also kind of doesn’t do it justice. It’s seriously terrific writing music and I’ve found myself turning it on while the kids do homework or sometimes when what’s on the radio is feeling extra meh. I’m not a big Classical Music fan tbh, but I love this CD and it’s definitely doing the trick.
• Watching The Joy of Painting with a cup of coffee in the morning – I know, I’m seriously late to the party. I never watched this show growing up because I was not remotely the target audience. But I put it on at a whim the other morning while the kids were finishing breakfast and quickly found myself in a state of zen. He is the most relaxing man on the planet and his show was way better than I expected. By the end of the half hour, my husband and kids had joined me in the living room and we were all enamored and it was quickly decided that this is Our New Thing. I’m having a little Creative Inspiration moment right now which is definitely helping to feed into my interest in the show, but honestly it’s half inspiration and half therapy. I can be in the worst mood in the morning and five minutes into streaming an episode of Bob Ross painting a waterfall and I’m feeling one million percent chill, inspired and Best Version of Me. What better way to start your morning? Pro tip: It’s streaming on Amazon Prime and Hulu but Amazon Prime has WAY more episodes to watch.

What are you loving right now?