10 Things I'm Loving Lately
You know the drill — the following is a list of my favorite things from the past couple months, and the deal is that if you read it, you gotta let me know at least a few things you’ve been loving, too. Telling you up front so you can be thinking. Deal? Deal. Here we go:
I spent more than half of June in Colorado, and definitely loved that. Happiest place.
Some of that Colorado time was spending a little over a week at YoungLife Camp at the end of June, leading Katy/Fulshear high schoolers with a team of other adults who are now some of my favorite humans on the planet. In particular, the three friends with whom I led Tompkins High School girls quickly became like sisters — something about laughing/crying your way through a week of keeping kids alive and emotionally supported through heavy stuff — and we’ve kept up a lively group text since. Seeing their names pop up on my phone screen throughout the day has quickly become a favorite thing of mine. (As have the coffee shop rendezvouses and occasional decision to go jump in someone’s pool at 10 PM.) It’s the closest I’ve felt to that kind of dorm-style camaraderie since college. Minus actually living in a dorm, or taking any classes! There are no downsides.
Help, I can’t stop listening to Mirror Master by Young the Giant.
It’s IFSC World Cup szn, as the kids say, and I’ve spent a lot of time on YouTube in the past few months watching livestreams of bouldering and, now, lead climbing comps. Nothing like watching the top athletes in the world wrestle their way up, like, a 5.14 to get you psyched to go crush your 5.10 route in the gym, you know?
Speaking of climbing, I love this video a lot and watch it pretty regularly. I’ve been doing a lot more lead climbing lately, and I get so scared and in my own head while doing it. Watching this (even though climber Jenny Abegg is climbing much harder and scarier things than me) feels both familiar and encouraging — a good reminder to be kind to myself as I work through the mental side of this sport.
When not climbing, I’ve been running a lot (again — I have an on and off relationship with it). I don’t know that loving is really the most honest way to describe it, except that I keep wanting to, and willingly doing it, over and over; even though the speed I move at occasionally barely qualifies as running and it’s so hot sometimes I think I’m going to die. I think I just crave the mental space that comes with it and the feeling of knowing, at the end of however many miles I put in, that I did something hard, and kept doing it when I felt like quitting, and am capable of doing even more. There’s a lot of strength in that feeling. (Also, warily eyeing a race in the fall that I’d really like to do and trying to train for it without saying I’m training for it, to see if I can keep it more fun that way… we’ll see.)
Cropped sports bras/tanks are my 2019 summer uniform. Good for workouts, but also good for high-waisted denim shorts and throwing a layer over top. (Anytime you can secretly wear workout clothes/pajamas as a real outfit, you gotta.) I love this one from Outdoor Voices, but Target’s JoyLab version is honestly just as good.
I’ve been on a big bagel kick lately. I don’t really have anything profound to say about this, just really been eating a lot of bagels.
I know some of you people have strong feelings about the Enneagram. Personally, I love it a lot — if only for Enneagram meme accounts, which constantly attack me, but like, in a fun way.
This article said everything I’ve always wanted to put into words about why church is important for people who follow Jesus. Have passed it to several friends and am super thankful it was written. (And my high school English teacher for sharing it!)
That’s my 10TILL for July 2019 — how about you?
