š Hello everyone!
Last week I spent a few days with my folks in west Texas. It was SO nice to have some time alone with them to chat and hang out. Itās so quiet out thereāI feel like everything just moves a little slower (which is sometimes good, sometimes bad).
Back in Austin, everything is moving super fast. Or at least, everything in my brain is moving super fast. Iām spending today with pen and paper and sticky notes, with Notion and Trello and Todoist, trying to pause and be intentional about what Iām working on, and when, rather than just reacting to all the incoming tasks and ideas. I find it so hard to do thisāas Iām organizing tasks, I want to just start doing them (āthat one wonāt take long, let me just knock it outā¦ā), and then Iām out of planning mode and back in frenzy mode.
I read a really interesting article (I linked to it below) about how our to-do lists can become Lists of Shame: all the ideas and tasks weāve dumped into one spot but somehow just donāt get done. So today Iām reviewing my List of Shame and figuring out which tasks serve me and my goals, and which tasks just serve a feeling of guilt or FOMO. Wish me luck!
What have you been up to lately? Iāve beenā¦
š§Ā Eating
I remembered to take a few photos of the delicious things I had on my west Texas trip:
When I got to my parentsā house, my mom had fresh fideo, beans, and homemade tortillas ready for me. I know Iām spoiled. š¤
I didnāt think I could go more than a few days without my beloved fruit-yogurt bowl, so my dad stopped at the store to pick up some fruit and some non-dairy yogurt for me. Again, I am spoiled. š (No granola here, so cornflakes it was!)
And THEN my mom made red enchiladas. š We always have this little lettuce āgarnishā with enchiladas, but I heaped some more on there and called it a salad.
We went out for brunch one day to this cool old diner, where I had a veggie omelet and hash browns. This picture does not truly show how HUGE this thing was. š³
We finally tried The Halal Corner (which is seriously just around the corner from us), and we LOVED it. I had a veggie-falafel wrap and lentil soup, plus the smoothest hummus and pita. The leftovers were amazing, too!
Just look at these strawberries! I chose āorganic strawberriesā on Instacart, and this is what I got. So fancy. (Donāt ask how much they cost.)
My new favorite thing: the chilled ramen/hiyashi chūka at Better Half. The veggies! The tender noodles! The kewpie!
Brunch at home: waffles with strawberries and syrup, plus veggie sausage links and my daily dalgona.
š Reading
American Royals and Majesty. I finished American Royals and went straight on to the second book in the series, in which all the things you maybe wanted in the first book get turned upside down, and maybe now you donāt want those things after all. I wasnāt 100% happy with the ending, but I did enjoy the royal American world the author built.
This list of dystopian movies. I dunno why, but I love dystopian stories. Or, I love to hate them? They make me SO uncomfortable, but theyāre also fascinating to me. Iām thinking of making my way through the films on this list that I havenāt seen. You know, just to keep me creeped out.
I loved this piece on how the many productivity apps we try still fail to make us more productive. I definitely have a List of ShameāIāll open my Todoist app on a Monday and see that I have 27 tasks due that day, which is impossible. It makes me want to reconsider using a pen-and-paper list.
š Laughing
Thatās it! Thank you for readingāhit reply and tell me what youāre up to.
--Crystal