Hello, friends!

Today I’m coming to you from beautiful (and freezing) Minneapolis. The past few months have been turbulent and full of changes, but I’m excited to finally feel settled in our new home. I’m also writing this on my 27th birthday, full of Portillo’s and listening to The Mowgli’s.

I generally don’t love my birthday. There always seems to be an unspoken pressure for it to be the best day of the year, where love and attention is showered down on you for 24 hours. It just puts me in a very roller coaster-y mood. I feel like for days now, I’ve been swinging between crying and disappointed to suddenly feeling motivated and inspired to make ~ 27 the best year yet ~

All of this to say, in lieu of a recipe today, I took a moment to both ground myself in the gratitude of the last year, while taking away the pressure of today being the best day ever, and put together a list of 26 things I am grateful for and 27 things to look forward to.

This practice was both hard and easy. The first dozen items came up quickly, and then I hit a block. Then I started to panic about forgetting big moments or making someone feel bad by not highlighting something we did together. But that wasn’t the point of these lists. They were to help ground my in gratitude and personal growth, in reflection and excitement for what’s to come.

So, in no particular order, here they are:

26 Moments of Gratitude from Year 26:

1. Finally getting a White House tour with my family (and while it was decorated for Christmas!)

2. Beginning my Holistic Women’s Health Coach training

3. Receiving a personal blessing from my favorite priest + church community before moving

4. Becoming a Sunday School teacher at that church

5. Road tripping to Minnesota with Noah and Madison last summer

6. Meeting cool people and eating good food while working with Vegetable + Butcher

7. Receiving regular craniosacral and energy work from Krysstal

8. Falling in love with movement again, especially walking and running

9. Creating my first workbook for this newsletter

10. Becoming a Clinic Liaison to better support my fellow doulas

11. Attending a grounding and healing women’s retreat in Joshua Tree

12. Prepping for, going through with, and healing from my surgery

13. Moving into a dream home with my own office and a purple porch

14. Playing a small role in sending John Fetterman to the U.S. Senate — and getting to be in Pittsburgh for both the Primary and General Election wins

15. Growing enough to know it was time to leave D.C. and move back to Minnesota

16. Volunteered in finding and hiring a new Executive Director for Call to Action

17. Spontaneous friend travel between Arlington and Ann Arbor

18. Katie coming for a final D.C. trip before we moved

19. ^Ditto with my family

20. Retreating to the mountains for much-needed rest and quiet

21. Taking on a new mentee at GW

22. Drinking a lot of good coffee

23. Finally starting my (short-lived but returning soon!) planner reviews

24. Getting to try new wellness trends through The Ness

25. Speaking at a pro-abortion rally in front of the Supreme Court

26. Being promoted to Managing Strategist at Middle Seat

27 Moments to Look Forward to in Year 27

1. Celebrating our fourth anniversary with Noah

2. Training for, and running, a Thanksgiving 5K (being realistic with my timing here)

3. Completing the 75 Self Love Challenge

4. Becoming a member at my local rowing studio

5. Establishing a regular acupuncture practice

6. Becoming a certified Postpartum Doula

7. Growing into our new home and establishing new routines

8. BFF California Road Trip with Chris featuring Disneyland

9. Seeing The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway before it closes

10. Finishing my Intuitive Breathwork Certification course

11. Taylor Swift Era’s Tour (obvi)

12. Living within walking distance of Lake Nokomis…

13. And Minnehaha Falls

14. Scoping out and buying second-hand furniture

15. Finally creating my Ultimate Planner Spreadsheet

16. Continuing to work on my relationship with food and movement

17. Doing more cold therapy (while in Minnesota, ya know?)

18. Attending my youngest sister’s sports games

19. Saving money now that I can’t use D.C. prices as an excuse

20. Finishing my Holistic Women’s Health Coach training

21. Bringing on new clients so I can support more folks with their self-care and holistic health needs

22. Joining an in-person book club (as much as I love my two virtual ones, I want more local reading friends!)

23. Connecting with the local abortion doula collective here

24. Exploring Northern Minnesota

25. Learning and growing as a manager in my new role

26. Reconnecting with old friends

27. Volunteering with and in my community

Uffda, that was a lot. But don’t worry, I’ll be back in a few weeks with our regular programming!

Sending love,

Emily

P.S. If a friend forwarded you this email and you’d like to sign up, or if want to check out my previous issues, you can do so here.

What would make it onto your lists? I always love hearing from readers if you feel comfortable sharing — just reply to this email!

🍋 Lemon Zest 🍋

The Little Things that help make my days a bit brighter 💕

🎵 While driving to Minnesota, Noah and I started listening to Talking Simpsons and wow I want to start a podcast about The Simpsons (exactly what the world needs).

📝 Who knew the Aldi Wellness Planner would be one of my favs of the year?

💜 99 Inexpensive Self Care Ideas from The Good Trade

💭 I’m planning on taking this Providing Emotional Support for Abortion Mini Training from All-Options. Let me know if you take it, too! I would love to debrief.

📧 I love The Nessie, a newsletter that shares wellness recommendations and reviews the hottest items/practices in the general wellness space. If you’re interested, use my referral link and sign up here!

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