Anna

Some recent moments of joy:
- Seeing snowdrops, forsythia, squill, and crocuses
- Swatching (almost) all of my fountain pen inks
- Mailing off 300 postcards to voters
- Finding other people at work who want to try to make things better for everyone

Some moments of joy recently:
- Connecting with another woman engineer and lifting each other up
- Bright beautiful colored nail polish
- Having fun with all my fountain pens and inks
- Knowing I can lean on my husband for support

Some moments of joy from the past few days:
- Picking up my painted ceramic pot and seeing that it actually looks fine
- Watching British comedy with my husband
- Playing with various inks and fountain pens
- Impromptu road trip with a friend!

Some moments of recent joy:
- Finishing off some lovely blackwork embroidery
- Singing "Pink Pony Club" at the top of my lungs
- Talking with a coworker about crafts (she's into metalworking)
- Identifying some subtle but impactful bugs at work
- Wearing bright stripes

For no particular reason, what the Commonwealth of Virginia thinks about kings.

Shocking absolutely no one, my week of trying to solve all the problems didn't work.

Next week I'll try to only solve 90%.

I would check with your senators and representatives though, each office might be different.

In fact, my senator's office said that they record emails and phone calls the same way, so sending an email is just as effective as making a call.

In calling my senators and representative, I heard from their staff that you don't need to make a separate call for each issue and you can just share all your opinions in one communication. Timesaver!

"Maybe I can use this time as an opportunity to protect my mental health and hone my craft," she thought as she folded her 218th sonobe unit, terrified to try anything new in case it was imperfect

I'd _like_ to spend my time and energy becoming a better crafter and artist but noooooo I have to focus on keeping my mental health out of the garbage where it rightfully belongs

Took today to just finish up a house project and to do embroidery. I am now more rested and a bit bored, which was exactly the goal.

What can I say when reaching out to friends? "Hey, how are you" seems like a good way to stop a conversation from even starting.

Focus for today: grieving is healthy, and true rest is healthy.

Some joy from the past few days:
- Writing thank-you cards to people I admire for doing the right thing
- Checking in with my family and spending time with my nieces
- Enjoying my cross-stitch
- Deciding that bright colors are anti-fascist and trying to bring more of them into my life

Bring light to your own life, and share that light. Practice wanton acts of kindness just because you can. Be brilliantly yourself so that you light up the world.

(Easier said than done, but I figure it's not a bad place to start, so I'm going to give it a go.)

Some joy from today:
- Talking with a friend about how to take care of my new houseplants
- Seeing familiar faces at the gym
- Bonding with my work team over how hard it is to make mochi ice cream
- Getting support from a high school friend

So anyway I'm just trying to figure out how to be a good human being while also finding my sparkle. It's gonna take some time.