“Build someone up. Put their insecurities to sleep. Remind them they’re worthy. Tell them they’re incredible. Be a light in a too often dim world. “
~The Homebody Club
February is always a brighter {despite the weather} month for me because it’s my birthday month {!!}. Usually we try to go some place warm in February. It’s literally the worst time of year in Portland, so we use my birthday, and the weather, as an excuse to get out of town, get some sunshine and save our sanity. Since we have a larger island vacation planned for May though, we decided to be fiscally responsible adults and stay local this year. I’m already regretting my decision because the weather has been terrible!
On My Calendar
This year, Chris had a two-day workshop during my birthday so I decided to take my birthday into my own hands and plan a girls spa day at Knott Springs, followed by dinner at my favorite restaurant, Tusk, with the family. If you’re not familiar with Knott Springs it’s a health and wellness club in downtown Portland most notably known for their soaking experience. The have two different temperature pools, a cold plunge and both a dry and steam sauna available for use on their own, or with a spa service or fitness class. We opted for a massage which comes with one hour of soaking time but could have easily just spent our time in the pools. We capped off the night with one of my favorite Sweet Laurel cakes at my Mother-In-Laws house before calling it a night.
Outside of my birthday, we don’t have a ton planned for February, we’re probably still recovering from the holidays and lack of sunshine, but we do have friends from San Francisco visiting us at the end of the month which I’m so excited for!
What I’m Listening To
Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts. Podcasts were my life saver when I was commuting during the week and have stuck with me even though I now work from home. I’m one of those people that is fascinated by other peoples stories, especially in business, so I find myself listening to a lot of entrepreneur podcasts like Second Life, How I Built This and Girlboss. I also love health and wellness related podcasts like mindbodygreen, The Doctor’s Farmacy, Goop, Almost 30, and Expanded by Lacy Philips. I recently started listening to Athena Calderon’s podcast More Than One Thing and absolutely love it! It’s all about celebrating people that are more than one thing and don’t subscribe to one title like photographer, stylist, chef, designer etc. and embrace their multifaceted-ness. {A story that I totally resonate with.} If you’re one of those people who has hopped around industries and jobs or find yourself torn between different interest, hobbies and passions, I highly recommend this one!
Speaking of Lacy Phillips, I also signed up for her program, Pathway 2.0 in attempts to one, establish a more regular mediation practice, but two, and more importantly, to dig a little deeper into identifying and rewriting some of the subconscious beliefs that I have. I’m starting with Unblock Inner Child because I believe a lot of what we go through as a young child, even things we barely remember, shape how we think, process and take in the world as adults. I’ve only done one exercise, so I have relatively limited experience to share from, but more to come as work through it!
Things I’m Inspired By
A few weeks ago I decided I wanted to get some “non-headshot headshots” because I realized a lot of the photos that I have online are kind of outdated. {I mean I still have an old adidas photo as my LinkedIn profile picture even though I no longer work there.} I have this idea for studio shots, kind of like this, that I tested out and used in a recent blog post and loved how they turned out, so I’m thinking of doing something similar with a local photographer.
I’ve always been inspired by photography. For no particular reason other than the fact that I like a beautiful image. I literally have tons of random images pinned on Pinterest that I finally organized into one board {with sections} because I would see an image and just want to save it, for no reason other than I liked it, for a later date. Recently though, I’ve found myself almost directing photos, trying to understand the light and camera settings in attempts to recreate it in the future. Lately I’ve been loving photos like these that play with light and windows. I might have to give this a try when the sun finally comes back out!
XO
-S
All of these images can be found here!
