What I’m Into: April

General Highlights:

April was a very eventful month. After going through the entire selling and buying process in three weeks’ time, I moved to a beautiful townhouse in Midtown on April 16! On top of the upheaval of packing, tending to repairs and accounts, making a million decisions, and signing a million papers, I also had a big transition at work. My department was taken over by another department. I’m still doing the exact same job, but we have different bosses and a different focus and most of our processes have changed. Friends usually cringe when I tell them this, but so far, most of the changes have been awesome and I feel energized and hopeful. That’s major progress in two of my three predetermined Enough categories, and as Meatloaf says, two out of three ain’t bad.

I’m really thankful for all the support this month. Troops of friends showed up to help me pack, bring food (so appreciated when I couldn’t locate any of my food), take things off my hands, and exclaim over my new home. Others repeatedly talked me down from the ledge in stressful moments (selling and buying homes as a single person is HARD). Everyone seems genuinely excited for me, and I feel loved. When you don’t have the standard big life events that traditionally evoke support and celebration, it means a lot when the people you care about acknowledge and appreciate your milestones. Special shoutout as always to my parents, and to my sister Debra, who called to check on me EVERY DAY and always concluded, “You’re doing a good job.” Some days, that affirmation was my lifeline.

Reading:

I read a whopping four books this month. Here are three of them. Loved the first two, liked the second. They look pretty together!

Music:

No new jams, but I’m still very into alt-J. I loved their Coachella set on Sirius XMU and am excited that they’re coming to town in October! Who wants to go?

Around Town:

My friend Wes was in town for Easter weekend, so a bunch of us went to the Redbirds/Cardinals exhibition game and to multiple cool places around the city, including the new Rec Room on Broad, which is such a great concept. After moving, I started establishing myself at the neighborhood hangouts immediately. My first meal as a Midtowner was at Central BBQ, because it’s important to kick these things off right. The next week, I took an extra day off to unpack, and Myla and I lunched at the new Aldo’s Pizza location in Cooper-Young. I love it. The rooftop is fantastic, and the place was so new, they didn’t even have a sign out yet. #hipster

At Home:

Much more new-house stuff to come, but a few of my favorite things thus far: my beautiful kitchen; the dressing table I’ve wanted all my life and found on Craigslist (it’s handmade!); makeshift high heel storage in my over-the-stairwell closet.

Wearing:

I took out my summer wardrobe and packed the sweaters away after I moved, but quickly realized it was a little soon. (Wishful thinking.) I also feel meh about most of my stuff, and the pieces I do love are looking worn. However, this new clearance skirt from Old Navy is making me very happy!

Products:

My cat was not happy about the packing up of our old house, and she expressed it as pets often do. After a few days’ panic over the destruction of what was now essentially someone else’s carpet, I bought a spot steam cleaner off Craigslist. It was worth every penny – my stress level went down immediately. So far there’s only been one incident on the carpet in the new house, but I still feel better having this in my arsenal.

Beauty:

In February’s What I’m Into, I mentioned the Rimmel Stay Matte foundation I was trying. After a few weeks I decided it wasn’t working – when you’re still breaking out at 35, you need REAL coverage. (This is also why I can’t use mineral makeup.) I searched my go-to, The Budget Beauty Blog, for recs and settled on Maybelline Fit Me Matte. It’s far more effective than the Rimmel, with the same shine prevention, and I plan to stick with it for the near future!

Random Happiness:

My brother was also in town for Easter weekend. Hopefully he’ll be back for a longer visit sometime in May.

On The Blog:

To preserve my sanity during my move, I took a vacation from everything but work. Therefore, I didn’t post here for almost three weeks, the longest silence in the history of this blog. And you know what? Nobody died and you’re still reading! Thank you all! I did share about what I’ll miss about my old home, and this week, thoughts on being home at last.

At the Memphis Type History blog, I wrote a piece about Sam Cooper of Sam Cooper Boulevard fame. He was an interesting and accomplished man. I interviewed both Cooper’s daughter and former Memphis mayor Dick Hackett for the story, and felt like a legit journalist. Memphians, I welcome your local history questions! I’m hoping for lots of inspiration now that I live in an actual historic district. (Seriously, how cool is that?)

Posts I Loved:

♥ Leanne Penny: Prayer Is Hard, Chili Is Easier.

♥ Abby at Accidental Devotional: How to Be Counter-Cultural. (It’s not what you think.)

♥ The brilliant Hannah Brencher: Death of a Game Player. (Also, from her If You Find This E-mail blog: Orbits.)

♥ The fabulous Alison Gary: Smug. GET IT, GIRL.

♥ Allison Vesterfelt at Storyline with a revolutionary relationship thought: Don’t Try To Be Humble. Just Try to Be Yourself. (This post made me cry.)

♥ Two excellent posts on singleness: You’re Not Going That Way at Just a Trace, and Success at Little Did She Know. I’d like to hand out copies of Cara’s post to anyone who wonders why I struggle so hard with feelings of failure.