February 2025 Recap (Substack)

Hello again. Another month has flown by and I’m trying to catch my breath with it all.

Places I went:

I enjoyed some wonderful outings with my love, David, in February. We visited the Museum of Puppetry Arts and saw Muppets from our childhood. We went on a fun date for Valentine’s Day where we played vintage games and tried amazing plates of food. No interstate travel this month.

Books I read:

How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur

If you loved The Good Place you’ll appreciate this addendum written by the show’s creator and writer. I read books by audio while I walk or drive and the super fun part about the audio book is the additional voices of the actors from The Good Place reading key parts. It’s a delightful and lighthearted look at the complex reality of ethical and moral living in a world tied in knots with unethical quandaries. It makes philosophy fun.

Food I Ate:

In an effort to curb my caloric intake just a bit while hitting higher protein intake goals, I’ve found a good routine with the pre-marinates chicken breasts at Trader Joes. I buy several different kinds, cook one along with a box of rice and portion it out for lunches or dinner. It keeps the consistency at manageable measures while maintaining variety and flavor. It’s not an especially exciting thing to write about, but hitting 140g of protein every day can feel pretty challenging so it is exciting when I do!

Creative work:

It was a very busy month with Trader Joe’s. The store experienced its first Fearless Flyer rollout which happens 2-3 times a year as an in-house product highlight. I spend a month prior preparing for the flyer drop by creating hundreds of value signage. The signage came in three different sizes dependent upon product face spacing and size. There were kinks and hiccups but for our first flyer we did tremendously well with the rollout and presentation. I managed to digitize the flyer designs so as to streamline the process for the next flyer which drops in May.

Realized hopes:

I’ve managed to get back to the gym, 2-3 times a week which is all I really need to lift. It would be delightful to have time for walks with Schwartz or on my own but I have to rely on the grind of the day to provide the steps and it often does.

Hopes for March:

While I’m already a week into March as I write this, I do hope I can get more time with David when he is home, and more time on my schoolwork when I’m not at work.

I hope to begin some design work on a collaborative project with friends soon.

I’m very close to rolling out my website for ZCXMI (Zion Community for eX Mormon Individuals) if I can just work thru a few kinks. We hope to have our first gathering in Utah this coming end of June!

I’m also excited to put in a garden of nearly 100 cu sq ft. I haven’t had garden boxes for a decade and I’m very excited about it and the sweet little back yard that is taking shape at our house.

Blessings and love to you all in these dark and difficult times.

January 2025 Recap (Substack message)

Hi friends! I’m still learning how to use this platform so I guess this is my first post this year. I thought I’d just give a quick recap of January and what I’m thinking about.

Places I went:

I took my daughter back to BYU after she returned from her LDS mission in December. It was nice to get back to Utah and see my sisters and friends. Spent 2.5 glorious days with David in Ogden, visiting the Episcopal church there on Epiphany Sunday and just having lazy mornings and cold walks in the snow.

Book I read:

All About Love by Bell Hooks

Bell Hooks cleanly and eloquently lays out the different variations on love and how/why each is essential. Her feminist perspective on the destructive nature of patriarchy, particularly on men, is apparent in nearly every chapter as it feels to be her focused enemy of genuine love in every form. The book is a beautiful meditation on the practice of loving others in every relationship we want to maintain, in addition to loving those we don’t know and even dislike.

Foods I ate:

Working at Trader Joes and trying to change body composition at the same time is a Sisyphean venture. It certainly tests my will power. And while I’m not here to advertise for the company, I’ve also been sharing Trader Joe’s favorite foods well before I ever worked there. Right now they have a chocolate drizzle strawberry popcorn that is impossible for me to leave alone. I also really enjoy their Chicken Pot Pie in the fresh section - definitely share that one with a friend or break it up over a couple meals.

Creative work:

Work at Trader Joe’s occupies a lot of time and mental space. The sign making is only part of the equation, as I also spend a good amount of time in UX mode, solving problems for the shopper experience and improving signage quality and visibility. I completed the first Fearless Flyer signage for the year. It occupied nearly every hour of work for three weeks. I am currently brainstorming for produce displays and permanent value signage for products. It’s a job that is secure in that the tasks never end.

And while the job is delightful and mentally stimulating, I’m often left without a lot of time for my personal creative goals and my UX/UI coursework. But my schedule has changed in February and now that we’re fully moved into our house, I can hopefully give some very important time to that certification; and if I’m really lucky, my own creative aspirations.

Hopes for next month:

I hope to get back into my regular gym schedule, schoolwork schedule, take more outside walks as the days get warmer, and celebrate the birthdays of my son and sisters.

February will mark my first anniversary post divorce, a date that is now nothing special but will likely carry a lot of feelings for years forward. I still have dreams I’m in a fraught and unhappy relationship with my ex which tells me Im still healing and the level of anxiety that surrounded that marriage impacted more than just my emotions, but my mind, body, and soul. And it breaks my heart we couldn’t love each other the way we needed. I hope I’ll get past that someday, but it won’t be next month.

Thanks for your patience and support for me. Sending love to you all this month and a reminder to go be human and go outside and enjoy the natural world you are a part of. We are evolutionarily equipped to handle and overcome quite a bit of shit. We are capable of weathering any storm, its in our genes. We got this together.