What a week it's been! I expected I would write less than usual but still get a post or two out, but NOPE. I didn't even bring my laptop with me to family Christmas celebrations, and then got home from that and went straight into work (literally). So... here we are! It's almost the new year and you know what THAT means: YEAR END LISTS!!!!
I always always always want to read other people's lists of their favourite things from the past year, and this time I realized that I could get in on that action as well! So guess what? I'm doing it! Here are my favourite things from this past year!
These are all going to be things that were somehow new to me in 2018, not necessarily new to the world or all-time faves.
BOOKS
· Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
· The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
· Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (and the subsequent books)
· American War by Omar Akkad
SCARY THING DONE
I am torn between getting my tattoo and finally deciding to publish my book. I guess probably I should say publishing my book! (The actual publishing happens in 2019, but I decided to do it in 2018! And told people! And sent it to a book printer and everything!)
SHOWS
· The Good Place (OBVI!)
· Ru Paul's Drag Race
· GLOW
· Kim's Convenience
· The new Doctor Who
SELF-HELP PRACTICE
· Biting the bullet and doing a scary thing, big or small.
· Pretending I have a best friend in my head who says the nice things I need to hear.
RELATIONSHIP ADVICE
This is good for any cohabitation relationship: whenever you get annoyed that the person you live with has left their crap out or a chore undone, just look around and see the things you have left out and undone. Then remember that we're all just trying to keep it together and clean up whatever you can.
PODCASTS
· Frontburner from the CBC
· Ologies
· Coffee With My Ma
· Lizard People
ADVICE FROM SOMEONE ELSE
"Self-care is not the same as indulging yourself."
My friend had this realization and shared it with me. I think it's brilliant. Too often these days I use self-care as an excuse to indulge in whatever I feel like doing. Want to lie around and eat chips and watch Netflix? Self-care! Want to sleep in and avoid all responsibilities? Self-care! But self-care literally means taking care of yourself, and sometimes indulging yourself is a part of that and sometimes it's not. Sometimes taking care of yourself is drinking a glass of water, eating some vegetables, going for a walk, and going to work even when you don't want to because it's good for you.
BEAUTY THING
This is not new to 2018, but I don't really do a lot of "beauty" things and I still love my homemade skin oil the best. I combine castor oil, sweet almond oil, and vitamin E oil in more or less equal parts. Then I put some kind of essential oil in there for some sweet-smelling goodness. For whatever reason, the scent always wears off (I think it sits on top of the other oils even though I shake the bottle before using) and I need to re-apply the scent pretty regularly. Or get lazy and use unscented oil. Tangerine essential oil is apparently good for your skin and so I often use that, and when the ol' acne flares up I throw some tea tree oil in there.
Sign up for my email newsletter for a weekly digest and bonus content!
No comments:
Post a Comment