1. I bought a Summersalt swimsuit and the fit was all wrong. I didn’t feel like my belly could just rest and be in it. Also, the clasp in the back kept shifting and nearly coming undone as I did some movements. And, the bottoms kept giving me a wedgie! The list goes on and on!! It reminded me how it’s impossible to feel good in my body and take care of it well if I’m not comfortable in the clothes I’m wearing. In the couple days I thought I was going to keep the suit (because it was cute and there were a lot of things I liked about it too), I think it was the thing that bothered me so much that I was thrown off for those couple days. It added to this type of energy that felt like I would be trying to get my body somewhere, rather than just waking up and taking care of it.

So I wanted to mention the swimsuit I have been wearing for the last 4 years is this one. I have reordered it 3 times now. Unfortunately, the sizing isn’t very inclusive with only going up to a size 14, but I still wanted to mention it as the most comfortable swimsuit I’ve ever worn! The material is the perfect level of thickness (especially after 15+ wears it’s nice and stretchy. Becomes similar to LuluLemon Align fabric). The Summersalt swimsuit, while it was cute and I love the colors and I love the company name, was made of fabric that was so thin. This body needs some support!! I returned the Summersalt suit and sticking to my tried and true swimsuit love. Here’s to giving the tissue on my abdomen the space it needs to be comfortable and do stuff!

2. In the last week Jo has said to me, “Mom, you don’t have to be friends with everyone.” And, when we were going out to eat as a family, “why are we going out to a restaurant?! We have food at home.” I learn a lot from her. And while on the topic of kids, I asked Ella who her favorite teacher is (like, at daycare) and she goes, “you, Mom.” Cue crying my eyes out.

3. I’ve started playing basketball again. Just shooting hoops by myself and I forgot how much I love basketball. In the year after my family was recovering from thinking my mom was going to die on and off for a month I switched from basketball to cross country. For basketball, I got moved up quickly to junior varsity/varsity teams and remember thinking, why is everyone so angry and aggressive lol? Chill out! I remember meeting with a guidance counselor when I was trying to decide between basketball or cross country and her saying, “you should go with the exercise you could see yourself doing for the rest of your life.” So I switched to running for a lot of reasons, but one being I was like I’m gonna go with the sport where I don’t get screamed at and get elbows thrown in my face.

But, I love doing basketball drills and playing by myself or shooting around with someone and doesn’t everything in life come back to loving not being in high school anymore lol. All that to say it’s been really fun to get to play again. I am not a fan of sitting on a park bench while the kids play at the park, so us finding parks that have playgrounds and basketball hoops right next to each other seems like a great alternative. The kids play. I play. Everybody wins!

4. I painted our kitchen nook and I LOVE IT. I’m still successfully going strong on Operation De-Gray Our House! The top color is Sherwin Williams’ Blue Jasmine and the bottom is SW’s Smoky Blue. Below is the before/after. Next I want to get this light fixture and add a ceiling medallion thing, but that’s not in the budget for now.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

5. I read this article from Thao Thai and it inspired me to take selfies of myself everyday. It’s been a nice exercise in looking at myself. As I’ve written before and am reminding myself of again through this exercise, mirror/photos are best when used as a tool of acceptance and an opportunity to practice kindness, rather than a tool of change. Also, Thao’s debut novel is about to come out and I’m very excited to read it! Her writing is one of my favorites!

I hope you had a good May. Talk again soon!