Life for everyone these days is kinda fuzzy. It’s a fine line between being aware and up-to-date, or tuning out to protect your energy. I know I need to tune out when I start feeling a little low. For example, we don’t watch the news at home. It’s too much negativity. I also need space from things + people who are too draining on my emotions. Monitoring what sends my energy into a funk – always, I’ve learned is the best thing for me. 

You may have noticed that I took a step back from work obligations following the holidays to do just that. We were supposed to move into our house before Christmas, but when those plans got pushed back, again and again I finally hit a wall. Any routines I had previously felt like they belonged in another life. For reasons I don’t even understand, I basically stopped drinking water, skincare was scarce (since the majority of my product were in storage), movement became non-existent, most meals were take-out and over time that all just became SO tiresome! It’s not who I am or how I like to take care of myself. I kept telling myself, ‘when we move, I’ll get back to it’, ‘once we get settled, it’ll all be back to normal’... now 3 weeks in, I’m feeling the effects of NOT taking care of myself and I hate it. A good reminder of WHY I do these things in the first place. They really do heal so much and help make me feel my absolute best. 

First, a quick update on where we’re at, since it’s been awhile since I’ve posted here. Then, I’ll touch on the things I want to incorporate back into my daily/weekly routines:

WE’VE MOVED: out of our rental & into our new neighbourhood – hallelujah! After nearly 7 months of living out of suitcases, we have finally moved into our house. TBH, it’s felt like more work than I imagined but we have been making huge progress in getting everything out of boxes and into their rooms/place. We are making due with some of the furniture pieces from our apartment, but we do have a very exciting order coming in from CF Interiors in just a few weeks! All the pieces we ordered back in June are finally almost ready, so knowing that’s coming makes me so happy, one more thing we can check off the list. I’ll give a bigger update on all things home, where we’re at, any before/afters as well as what we still need to get done in a separate post. 

RYDER IS 8 MONTHS: and how on earth did that happen??? At 8 months Ryder is; bright eyed, VERY observant, grabs at everything, drools everywhere, babbles on forever and absolutely refuses to stay on his back. He just started crawling yesterday, now has 4.5 teeth and loves warm bubble baths, avocado, bananas, sweet potatoes, peanut butter, olive juice… I could go on. We just switched him over to his crib and the big boy seat to his stroller, so I’m taking any and all tiny moments to soak him in. 

BACK TO BLOGGING: I’ve been keeping a list of topics I’m dying to write about in the notes app on my phone. The time away from blogging has given me clarity on the topics and discussions I want to run with moving forward. I love blogging SO MUCH. It allows me to be creative and thoughtful and honestly, as much as I’ve loved having this time with Ryder, I do miss being able to just write and create whenever. I don’t have help (outside from immediate family) and like to be extremely hands-on, so I’m still finding my balance. I know this will be a delicate dance, but honestly, even having the flexibility to do that is something I’m grateful for. ANYWAYS, just know I have tons of fun, new content coming your way. 

HABITS + ROUTINES:

water: like I mentioned, I dropped off and I’m feeling v sluggish bc of it. I do have a massive hydro flask, so I started filling it with ice + water every morning so there’s no excuse.

movement: in the past I would do kick boxing 3-5 times per week, then I loved a combo of boxing & the gym. Then when I got pregnant, all my body was telling me to do was rest and walk, so I did lots of that. After I had my baby, we did walks every morning as well which became my me-time, and seemed good for all of us, Xavi included. Now that we’ve moved, it’ll take some time to figure out our new morning routes, but we’ve started doing little walks and it feels good. I’m thinking I will sign up for a gym out here, but in the meantime I started doing MWH pilates and meditation again… which brings me to my next point. 

meditation: I wasn’t turned on to meditation until I found Melissa Wood. During the pandemic, I subscribed to her app so that I could do at-home pilates and yoga but also take advantage of her meditations. It’s easy to find meditation and quite frankly the ppl who do it to be unrelatable but Melissa was someone who I immediately identified with and felt I could trust. So I started with just 5 mins, one morning when my anxiety was running high and I couldn’t believe how much better I felt after. This year, I’m really just curious to see how I’d feel or what kind of change I would see if I could commit to just 5 mins each morning. 

skincare: this one sounds so superficial, but again – it’s not! Now that I’ve seen what it looks like when you commit – and then what it looks like when you stop doing those things, my theories are reaffirmed. I’ve notice a HUGE difference in my skins appearance and texture. For example, I used to use a gua sha tool at least twice a week, using a very potent cleansing balm (from Elemis). Well, I packed those away because we thought we’d only be w/o them for 3 months and I’m telling you, I can visibly SEE a difference. When I use the gua sha my skin looks more plump – likely bc of the increased circulation – and fine lines are minimized. I haven’t used it in over 6 months and I’ve never seen so many fine lines. Probably doesn’t help that I’m dehydrated, that is another huge fail to not drinking enough! Shows on the skin!

food: staying in a super small space for 6 months, we definitely got lazy and relied heavily on door-dash delivery & ordering takeout. Well, those days are over! A big reason I feel so sluggish is probably due to my diet lately. I’m SO ready to get back into daily smoothies, green juices, lots of greens & fresh salad, fish and eating the way we did in our apt. I’ve ordered our routine X2 meals via Fresh Prep each week, which really helps lessen the load. The meals are always so delicious, fresh and affordable (my code is INFSYDNEY22 if you’d like to order your first meal at 75% off). We’ve stocked the fridge with fresh produce, now I just need to make a trip to costco for our pantry favourites.

reading: reading is something that sadly, I’ve put on the back burner during this whole transition period. TBH I love reading in the bath and we didn’t have a bath in the place we were staying at, so reading became a thing of the past. BUT, reading – and if you know me, you know that I love to read anything about mindset, philosophy, personal development, entrepreneurship etc. – is a form of therapy for me. The type of books I like to read help give me clarity on so many things and I learn so much from them. Sounds dorky, but it’s the god honest truth. I’ll give you my booklist in case you need something that’ll make you think. 

I’ll try to document my progress so we can keep each other accountable. Cheers to feeling our v best + nothing less!