Sensorious Maximus

8am: Ok we have a lot to get done this weekend but I really feel good about living up to our potential today, let’s go! 11am status: pictured. #chillin’isproductive #selfcarewithdoggo #whereisthelie https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwQvsUHvdq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1jtiqgn1d1kml

Dreamy new kitten fren

In one of my happy places. I feel damn lucky to know so many GD gifted healers. Bless the healing arts and artists for all they do. 🙌 💜🌟 (at Essential Acupuncture Chicago)

So I’m deeply skeptical of wellness culture—i.e., Goop & Paltrow’s dumb jade eggs—but ever since I was small, accompanying my Babcia to Polish herb shops, I’ve looked to plant-based oils & tinctures to heal ailments. Case in point: the herbal combo here, plus gallons of water, eradicated my (mini)migraine last week….BUT, I’ve also come to believe that real healing starts when you slow the fuck down enough to acknowledge and respect pain/discomfort (“this is happening”). I remember the women in those apothecaries asking the pharmacists about everything from jet lag & tiredness to skincare and lightening their hair with chamomile. Young and old, they were beautiful to me because they were taking ownership of their bodies and choosing nature-based remedies; (lol, they ignored the conveniently located Walgreens nearby). I’ve been a lifelong herb-shop patron but it’s still taken decades to understand my ridiculously sensitive body requires such radical self care that I literally can’t neglect it, even for a day or two. It’s often felt like a massive bummer to be so sensitive and to have my emotions & health so deeply connected, but lately I’m trying to find the value in having a truly emo body, and in being an HSP; a walking exposed nerve; a goddamn baby bird.

I know binaural beats are a super woo-woo concept (what even ARE theta brain waves?) but I swear this works to chill me out before sleep or during meditation. Binaural Sleep Meditation: Binaural beats for deep sleep, theta brain wa...

Dolphins chased our boat & my heart is very full (at Sanibel, Florida)

Somehow in the last 2 months, I’ve become an early-morning workout person? (Trying desperately to cultivate winter-warrior mindset instead of my standard Eeyore/cookie-monster cold-weather mode). But since I head to work right after and pack my breakfast & lunch, this behemoth backpack is the only thing keeping my day together. It truly & obnoxiously énorme, and reminds me of when I backpacked for 5 weeks in Europe right after college. When my friend and I boarded the Paris metro, a gaggle of teenage girls pointed and laughed at us. Then I thought it was because of our packs, but now I’m certain it was because of how hippie-unfashionable we were with our boy-jeans, sporty jackets, Simple sneaks, no-makeup and sweaty hair-buns. Walking Paris at night changed me on a cellular level; took me beyond the rust and steel of the polluted streets where I was raised and beyond my rural college town where I saw my first operas. That night we ate cheese and tomato baguettes from a stand on the Seine and practiced our terrible French (“baguette au fromage et à la tomate”) on vendors. I was fearless then—not homesick, not afraid of the travel challenges of 5 countries in 5 weeks—just wildly curious & looking forward into what seemed like a vast realm of life possibilities. These days, I’m trying to get a little bit of that back. #travel

Damn, I needed this (Part 2). Saunas and steam-rooms are total #Hygge this time of year. Trying to be v conscious of soaking up heat & light in all their forms before heading into the second half of February. 30 days till spring; we can do this, Chicago. ☀️💗🤛💪

OMG I needed this. (How come no one ever told me how totally transformative yin yoga is for those of us who are, say, a tad bit tightly wound?) See you every Sunday night till the end of time, #LSAC, #CACTV. 💗🧘‍♀️This’ll give me a much softer landing back at my desk tomorrow after being beach-centric for a week.

View from room + squawking birds & sounds of ocean waves (at Sanibel, Florida)

It’s when packing for travel that my inability to digest books in e-book format is most disappointing.