At the end of every month I take a pause to reflect on the things that I loved from the month. While every month has its ups and downs – I find that focusing on the things that I loved each month helps to remind me how much I have to be grateful for. Since starting to blog the Things I Loved back in September, I find this process to shed even more light on what I have to be grateful for. Prior to publishing the Things I Loved (February, January, December, etc) I would take 20 or so minutes to reflect on the month. However, now that I am sharing the moments that I loved (and taking the time to edit, resize, and publish photos) I spend an hour or two with the things that I loved and I find that the more I focus on what I have to be grateful for – the more I have to be grateful for.
And for that, I’m grateful to you – whoever “you” may be reading this. I publish these articles monthly to showcase the little things in my life that bring me joy. I know that from the outside looking in (especially in the age of social media) it may look like I have *everything* or that my life is *perfect*. But, thats far from the truth. And while I do love nice designer items, taking luxury trips and traveling the world – at the end of the day those are just *things* and when you place your joy into things, instead of moments, your joy is fleeting. Taking the time to slow down and focus on the small moments helps me to maintain gratuity which in turn maintains my joy and my peace. Without further adieu, here are the things I loved in March of 2023:
But, First, Let me Take a Selfie
Over the last few years I’ve been in a major stage of transformation and transitioning. During the last year of this transition – I felt really uncomfortable in front of the camera. Where in the past I was super cozy in front of the camera, for whatever reason, as I’ve been going through this transition – I haven’t been. However! In March, those icky feels of being in front of the camera subsided and I started to get my comfortability in front of the camera back. And I took some selfies!
Babies, Baby Showers + Family Time
My cousin Christina is expecting (a baby girl!) and in March we gathered to shower her and her baby-to-be with love. When I’m with family, friends or other loved ones – I tend to forget to take photos. Similar to my friends’ wedding in November: where I had such a good time the only photo I took was of the dessert – at Christina’s baby shower I didn’t really take a ton of photos to share here.
However, regardless of a lack of photos, I had the best time! I hadn’t seen some of my cousins in over a year and it was so good to chat and laugh with all of them. One of my cousins moved to North Carolina, another recently purchased her first home, I hadn’t met one of my cousins babies (who is already 9 months old!) and of course Christina is expecting – so there was a lot to catch up on!
The restaurant where the baby shower was hosted had the prettiest antique sink/vanity set up (inside the bathroom toilet stall) with beautiful flowers in the basin (below left) which I found to be so beautifully odd that I snapped a shot of it. After the party had ended, on my way out, I realized how my lace sleeves and light pink jacket matched the motif (below right) and I snapped a photo of that, as well.
Flowers, Flowers, FLOWERS!
If you know me in the slightest – flowers being a category for the Things I Loved in March doesn’t surprise you. From flowers starting to bloom in nature to some of the florals I created bouquets with – there was no shortage of beautiful flowers in my month of March.
Lillies aren’t typically a flower I flock to when buying blooms for inside my home but I felt really intuitively drawn to them this month. I came to learn that lilies are commonly used to represent two things: sympathy and remembrance at the time of a death or funeral as well as the polar opposite: renewal and rebirth. Both of these stuck with me because, as I mentioned before, I am in the midst of a major transformation and transition. I have been in a phase of rebirth for about three years now but only recently, during the winter months, did I realize I was also in a phase of death.
I don’t mean that I am physically dying but rather spiritually, a part of me has died and in the place of that – another part of me has been born. Anyone who knows me very well would be able to confirm – I’m not the same person that I was last year, let alone three years ago. I have been going through a massive phase of change and rebirth.
Being called to these lilies weren’t just about putting a pretty flower in my home but rather a symbolic representation of the phases and cycles I’m going through emotionally and spiritually. I didn’t feel right throwing these lilies in the compost or the garbage like I do with most of the other florals I make bouquets out of so when their time had come, I went to the sea and gave them a proper send off – returning them to the earth during a beautiful sunset.
When I was leaving the bay front area where I sent the lilies out to sea, I had to walk across a big grassy park to head back to the parking lot. When I was walking along the grass I stumbled upon (what may not necessarily be a flower but looked like a flower) a succulent that was maroon and beautiful in its blossoming – I couldn’t not take a photo!
I also have been really loving ~drinking~ and ~smoking~ flowers. I make different tea blends with floral essences as well as different smoke blends with various florals. In March I really enjoyed blending chamomile with lavender in my tea (bottom left) two florals I love individually before bed but never thought to mix them prior!
I also enjoyed an accidental blend I created to smoke. Earlier in the month I had put blue lotus and lavender into my herb grinder and made a smokable blend before bed and forgot that I had left the grinder with a bit of lotus and lavender. Then, one afternoon, I went to make a blend of sativa with rose and crushed it into the grinder only to realize I had made a blend of sativa, rose, blue lotus and lavender (bottom right). The effects of calming/relaxation and energizing/uplifted were polar opposite but somehow just worked. I think this will be a blend I create on purpose moving forward.
As Spring started her Springing in March – there was also an abundance of flowers popping up in nature that made my soul so warm and fuzzy. Here are some of my favorite floral snaps from March (right in our front garden!):
In March I also discovered a new flower that I’m currently obsessed with: Ranunculus. I bought red and orange ones at Trader Joe’s when I was creating my weekly blooms mid-march and they lasted nearly three weeks and bloomed SO BEAUTIFULLY! I can’t wait to play with more of these ranunculuses!
Sunsets
I mentioned in my article, “Things I’m Doing this Spring to Support my Mind, Body and Soul” that I’m going to be getting in more sunsets whenever I can and the month of March did not disappoint when it came to sunsets. I like to head to one of my favorite parks to catch the sunset over the bay. Although it was a little too cold and windy to stand out there each evening, and sometimes I caught the sunset from my car with my heated seat turned on (LOL), it made me appreciate the nights where it was warm enough to go down to the water that much more. One night I even saw the neighborhood swans swimming in front of the sunset!
At the end of a particularly grey day – I went to grab my yoga mat out of my car and caught a glimmer of a sunset peaking through, turning the clouds all different beautiful colors. Small, unexpected, moments of beauty such as the sky that day (pictured below) are what brings me joy the most!
Sometimes, the sky BEHIND the sunset is just as pretty as the sunsetting sky itself. That was particularly true for one evening where the sky opposite the sunset was a glorious shade of pink.
Signs & Synchronicities
The more that my own spirituality becomes a part of my life – the more I learn to appreciate the different signs and synchronicities that come into my life. As I mentioned earlier – March was potent for me, spiritually. The realization that I was in the process of a massive stage of death and rebirth was pretty cathartic, to say the least, so those signs and syncs were extra sign-y and sync-y.
Truthfully, many of the signs and syncs I encountered were very private. I’m sure that one day I’ll share more about my journey through this transition I’m in but while I’m in it – it feels right to save it for myself. However, beyond the private syncs – there were also a few beautiful moments I don’t mind sharing!
For whatever reason, I started getting a lot of signs through cars in March. Different license plates, messages on cars, etc. Here are two of my favorite from March:
Meditation has been something that has helped me massively the last year or so. In March the weather got nice so I was able to enjoy meditating outside in the sun! One afternoon, after a particularly potent meditation where I felt very deeply connected to the Earth as well as solidified in the choices I’ve made, choices I’m making and my overall “path” in general: I opened my eyes and there was a ladybug on me! Historically, ladybugs have been known to represent good fortune, healing and protection – everything I was feeling as I came out of that meditation.
~*PrEttY*~ Things
I love beautiful and pretty things. And, I love even more when I stumble upon that beauty in the least expected places (like the flowers and the antique basin in the toilet stall at the restaurant I mentioned earlier). There were quite a few unexpected beautiful moments in March!
I got to the gym one day and they had a set up for their summer camp program with the prettiest balloon rainbow!
Also at my gym: in the yoga studio they have decorative letters spelling out, “OM” and someone left a beautiful crystal in between the two. Something that most people would overlook – brought me a lot of joy that morning.
In March I encountered a few light reflections that were particularly pretty. One was the sunlight reflecting off of a blue lotus and butterfly pea tea I made (below, left) and the other was the light reflecting out of a set of string lights I have (below, right). The lights have been hanging on my wall for ages but I had a purple plant light turned on for the first time in a long time and the way the yellow/gold reflected out of the copper ‘lantern’ against the purple wall was just *so pretty*!
Getting into bed one night, with my nightstand set up and candles lit to read before bed was a moment I had to capture because it, too, was just a pretty moment.
The Moon
I mentioned in my article of the “Things I’m Doing this Spring to Support my Mind, Body and Soul” that I’m going to be tuning more into the phases of the moon and learning more about the moon phases. So, it’s no surprise that the moon was particularly beguiling in March, with beautiful rainbow of rings around the full moon.
Eats & Treats
I love to eat! I find that food is one of life’s great pleasures so it’s no surprise that each month I always have a few foodie moments that shine. March was no different! My mom made a delicious lemon pasta with homemade tagliatelle. Homemade pasta outshines regular boxed pasta, as is, but the lemon-y, butter-y, basil-y sauce she made – made this meal even more special.
Also in March, my raw milk delivery service had RAW MILK ICE CREAM!! I got a pint of the vanilla and it was so good. I don’t normally drink coffee but this called for a special treat. I made a (decaf) raw-milk ice-cream affogato. An affogato is an Italian dessert with two main ingredients – ice cream and espresso.
I stumbled on a pistachio drop cookie recipe on Pinterest that I just had to try. They were SO GOOD and the two dozen cookies were gone after just two short days – LOL. You can find the recipe here: Pistachio Drop Cookies. Mine look a little different because I used all raw ingredients (raw butter, etc).
Change, transition and transformation isn’t always the easiest – especially when you’re in the midst of it. Had I not chosen to find beauty in the everyday, simple things, March could have been a really difficult month. While March was a month of major transformation, transition and realizations for me, personally/spiritually, this round up really goes to show that the small things can be the big things! Focusing on the good helps to bring in more good and choosing to be grateful – produces more reasons to be grateful.
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