Summer.

Summer is always a weird time for me. It's when most people seem to plan vacations and outdoor activities and enjoy the hot weather as much as possible, but I always cower inside and wait for the sweet embrace of fall.

I've been trying a lot of new things this summer, most of them perfectly aligned with my homebody tendencies (hooray). So far I'm feeling a lot more level and content, which is fantastic. Here's what I've been up to lately:

Meditation. People have suggested this to me for years to deal with my anxiety and insomnia, and I always had a mental block against starting. "It'll be such a slog to get started! My mind doesn't turn off, I'll just get frustrated. It'll be ages before I see benefits!" But - I got this app at the recommendation of a friend and tried out the free 10 day starter pack - and I'm hooked. I seriously had better sleep starting immediately, and I've had a much easier time than I expected with clearing my mind during parts of it. I just signed up for a whole year (as with exercise, I see myself doing much better with a guided approach). I'm hoping to really keep this up!!

Yoga. I forget whether I every really talked about ballet on here, but a year ago I was doing it three times a week and taking my first ever pointe class. I adored it. But a gradual knee injury due to ballet + tons of hilly SF walking, combined with raising baby Tumbles, meant I had to stop for awhile. In the last few months, I've started doing yoga - it's easier on my knees and doesn't involve rushing Tumbles home from work like ballet did. I really enjoy the achievements, working my way up to handstands and building my strength and flexibility. As a bonus, most of the classes I take are at 7am, and that is finally starting to get a little easier. I'm a reluctant morning person when my alarm goes off, but I feel so good when I make it happen!

Sewing. I bought a sewing machine 4 years ago but didn't do much with it. Recently I've been getting frustrated with my wardrobe - it doesn't feel very me, but I also have trouble finding exactly what I want in stores. So, a few months ago I came across this dressmaking book and took the leap, and it has become a serious hobby since then. I'm hoping to write up a few posts about how that process is going. I've added 3 skirts and a dress to my closet since May, and I'm excited to make more.

Avoiding the internet. Several weeks ago I logged out of twitter and stopped checking facebook, and honestly it changed my day to day life a lot. I've since logged back in but only rarely check. There is only so much terrible tech/world news I can take in, and for the most part I've realized I'm happier not knowing. My one frustration is feeling like I don't know as much about what's going on in my friends' lives, but I have yet to find a way to use social media for that without also getting all of the exhausting, depressing content, too. I do, however, still use instagram - it's my happy place on social media. And as a bonus, when I don't spend my workdays/evenings at home/weekends reading a never-ending stream of tweets, I am able to get so much more done!

And the photos:

Tumbles turned 1! I threw a little (but still over the top) birthday party and it was cute as heck, if I do say so myself.

(thank you, Haley, for the perfect card!)

Work feeds me real well:

I'm trying to grow some little plants again (I have killed pretty much everything I've grown in the past, including cacti and succulents). So far it's going ok?