The Strange Joys of Winter

not a "winter edit," but close enough

The winter season saw a few of my long-awaited desires fulfilled. This also meant I was busier than I’ve been, maybe ever. I’ve been telling everyone who will listen that buying and selling a house at the same time was a 0/10 experience that I would not recommend to a friend.

There was a lot to stop, notice, and love during those cold months, though. Here’s a simple list of what brought me joy and got me through:

It’s always funny to see what I hyperfixate on in stressful (and even smooth) times. This time, my body/brain chose dumplings. I was on somewhat of a dumpling tour of Atlanta, and it brought a little piece of peace to my soul.

From one delicious night at Hawkers.

This definitely falls under the “hyperfixation” category, too, but I became obsessed with finding a hard copy of the book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May.

I was convinced that it would change my life, but simply ordering a copy online wouldn’t do. I searched for it in every bookstore I went into (and I go to a lot of bookstores). I finally found it in a Barnes & Noble in Houston, Texas. What a dopamine hit that moment was!

And the gag is, dear reader…I still haven’t read it.

I am notoriously bad at relaxing, and sometimes I want a little drinky drink that helps with that. However, at my big age (and I turn another year older tomorrow), alcohol sometimes gives me a headache that I can’t risk on weeknights and messes up my sleep score.

I started adding chamoy and tajín to the rims of my mocktail glasses just like I would a real margarita, because whimsy makes my world go ‘round. My favorite mocktails have been the Aplos Chili Margarita (adaptogens + nootropics; I have these all the time) and Flora Blueberry “Moscow Mule” (CBD + THC; I’ve only had it once, but the flavor made an impression).

A book plus a bev that won’t give me a headache? 🤌🏽

I don’t typically listen to many audiobooks, but I was a big fan last winter. They got me through the humdrum of packing/unpacking and made it so much more enjoyable.

A few of my favorite audiobooks were Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty and Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives.

Believe me when I say I would wear sequin pants to the grocery store, but my pink metallic cowgirl boots don’t tend to get much love until I have a country music concert or something to go to.

But I brought them out for Valentine’s Day dinner at Bread & Butterfly, and they were so much fun paired with a black-and-white striped maxi dress.

I work in tech, and sometimes a girl gets sick of hearing about (and being complicit in) environment-killing, cognitive atrophy-ing AI. I miss when AI stood for Adobe Illustrator and Allen Iverson.

Being so involved in the book world helps a lot here, but it’s not enough. I need more robot-free environments. Once I found out that Spotify was adding fake AI artists to my beloved lo-fi playlists to avoid paying human artists (is nothing sacred?!), I started seeking out those that only contain music made by real people.

I may write both for fun and for a living, but I’ve always been terrible at journaling. I aspire to be better at it, though, and all the changes in my life have given me an urge to try again. Your girl has some feelings to work out.

I haven’t had time to pick up the pen, so I’ve been saving a ton of journal prompts on Pinterest for when I’m ready (and I do mean a ton—you’ve been warned).

I’ve randomly longed for a zip-up fleece for a long time. I finally found the perfect one on sale at Lucy & Yak in February. Would you believe I told my husband I wished it were brighter when it first arrived in the mail? 😂

It made for a nice and bright house-hunting outfit.

Sometimes I get distracted (A Diva Has Distractions) while working and start wishing I were out fulfilling my real purpose in life, dillydallying around town. So I added this “born to dilly dally, forced to lock in” sticker to my work laptop. It’s been a hit at the office.

Anyway, how did your winter go? What random little things brought you joy back when it was still cold?

Now that it’s Spring and my house is 90% unpacked, we are so back. I’ll hopefully be back soon with some musings about one thing or another.