Hello dear friends!
Thank you for your patience with me this holiday weekend. I’ve been away from my computer celebrating my birthday on the coast of South Carolina this past weekend. I’m officially very full of barbecue and good wine so… birthday dreams do come true.
Hopefully this day has you extra restful, extra thoughtful, and looking forward to a boatload (maybe even literally) of summer adventures. As part of that extra thoughtfulness, here’s 10 Things To Remember About Memorial Day from Mental Floss.
Here’s the offering this week, from deeply sad to Drake and dresses:
• It’s critical we know what’s going on at the US Mexico border these days. There are a multitude of hardships, sadly, this being one of them: Immigrant families separated at border struggle to find each other. (Houston Chronicle)
• Fake news on trial. I wish this kind of darkness was unfathomable, but here we are reckoning: Sandy Hook Families Sue Alex Jones, Conspiracy Theorist. (NYT)
• Self-compassion is our new mantra, ok? Why You Should Stop Being So Hard on Yourself. This resonates. (NYT)
• Positivity and resilience, our other mantra: The Benefits of Optimism Are Real. (The Atlantic)
• I hustled a lot of plane travel this holiday weekend and worked my way through this 30 for 30 podcast series. It is as frustrating as it is well done: Bikram. (30 for 30)
• As I inch closer and closer to eating no meat at all: How To Kill A Fish. (Topic)
• God bless this sandwich: California Veggie Sandwich. (Bon Appetit)
• I start yoga teacher training this week. I’ve been reading a stack of books on anatomy and philosophy, this among them: The Wisdom of Insecurity. (Amazon)
• Here’s what I’m baking this week: Gluten-Free Lemon Blueberry Loaf Cake. (Sprouted Kitchen)
• Well friends, Drake is upset. (Vulture)
• This week on Instagram I gave away some of my favorite summer skincare products. Not included in that giveaway was this Hydra Nourishing Gel which I swear by for post-sun moisture. Also, use code JOY20 for 20% off! (DrSkinHealth)
• Summer dressing. (Asos)
Enjoy this holiday! My love to you,
xo Joy
Nicole Rizzo Schwartz
Matt and I just finished the 30 for 30 podcast. Wow. So well done and also WTF.
Jen
We began our transition to vegetarianism back in 2009 when we decided to only eat meat purchased from a local farm where we knew the farmers and could verify the ethical treatment of the animals. Turns out…meat raised that way is EXPENSIVE! :) So we started eating it less and less for years until we realized that we didn’t need it at all (coupled with my growing concern for the morality of killing an animal to eat when we live in a land/time of caloric plenty without it). We’ve been vegetarian for 2 years and it’s been great! People do make a big deal out of it. Thinking that we’re high maintenance or that we can’t find food options. Yes, it takes a bit more work but it’s honestly not hard. We feel better physically and we save so much on groceries/eating out.
Alexa
Looking forward to more of your stories. Happy belated birthday. I wish you a blissful day every day.
Samantha
Belated Happy Birthday!
Positivity and Optimism is my way of life, combined with Yoga it is a real blessing to find inner peace.
Sam xx
Beth Duncan
Good luck with your yoga teacher training; that’s so wonderful! Yoga changed my life I think the people who teach it are very special.
Elle
Yay for teacher training! I did it a few years ago and absolutely loved the experience. I hope you’ll share some thoughts on it here, too :) xo
Kristina
Good luck in your yoga teacher training! It was one of the best experiences of my life.
Kimberly
Happy birthday! I love love love this post because so much of it resonates with me. I’m eating less and less meat lately and my soul and body feel MUCH better on the days I avoid it. I also have been throwing around the idea of training to be a yoga instructor and the only thing holding me back has been the price. Have fun and live well. :)
Jacquie Gariano
Happy Birthday. What a great way to celebrate. Keep enjoying the process of getting older, smarter and happier. Many blessings come that way.
I so enjoy your “Let it be Sunday” posts
Jessica Myers
Adore these weekly lists! Now, off to consume that NYT times article and hopefully fight away those Sunday (Monday!) scaries… :)
Jessica | http://www.jessicarmyers.com
human
Happy birthday! This was a great roundup and very inspiring. I’ve also been going through this meat-less journey – it’s been really exciting and opened me up to explore the sources of almost every product I buy… spoiler, I own a lot of pre-owned and vintage clothes now ;). We might never be able to avoid exploitation, and it can definitely be prohibitively expensive to find alternatives to some things (we need to hold industry and government accountable for their LARGE role in this problem), but I’ll be damned if I don’t try. Suggested bloggers: Sweet Potato Soul, Food Empowerment Project, Avant Garde Vegan, Live Kindly.
Andrea
The next time you come back to LA, you’ll have to try Krimsey’s, a Cajun Vegan restaurant in North Hollywood (really Van Nuys) owned and operated by a Baton Rouge native https://krimseys.com. I’ll meet you there, and after a yummy meal,we can go to my favorite brewery MaLeod Ale!
Laura
Yes! I’ve been vegetarian since I was six (my parents thought it was a phase I would grow out of so they tolerated it…25 years later, here we are!). It really gets easier and easier the longer you do it, and I can’t imagine ever eating any other way. I also live in New Orleans, and it’s true that it’s not the most vegetarian friendly city, but it’s still totally totally doable here. Heck, there’s even a vegan soul food place now (in the 7th ward)!
Mary Ann
I became a vegetarian back when steamed vegetable platters and iceberg lettuce salads were what restaurants offered (or sometimes not even that). Even today, where vegetarianism and veganism is commonplace, people still ask me ‘what do you eat’? Everything. Every single thing but meat. My diet is so much more diverse than many of my meat-eating friends who never try foods from other cultures or eat vegetables unless they are hidden in something. Becoming a vegetarian was never really a decision for me, it just happened. And it has steered my life in directions I never expected. I am 34 years into this and I think I’m going to stick with it. Good luck on your journey, wherever it takes you.
lisa
And- I hope you will tell us more about your journey with yoga!
Lisa
I love “Let it be Sunday” …it is a buffet of the world.
xothx
Rena
Happy belated birthday! Sounds you celebrated your birthday as wonderful as it should be!
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com
Sandy
Great article list, Joy! I’m with you about getting one more inch closer to eating no meat. Now that I have chickens (for eggs & pets), I am finding I’m having a tough time eating……chicken.
Darla Layton
Happy belated birthday,Joy! I hope you enjoyed my side of the South. There are many good things about it. Congratulations on your inching closer to no meat. A gradual transition will sustain. I’ve been plant based/vegan since October 2017. You’ll love how you feel! Good luck with your yoga instruction. Another dream to attain. ??
Taste of France
I hope you will tell us more about your journey away from meat. I am aiming for less meat, even if not 100% meatless.
Jim V
Belated Happy Birthday!