💬 What's felt new in your world, friend?

Hi friend,

Welcome to another edition of Light News! This is a space where, once/month, we come together and share what feels like light news from our lives. Personal updates, places we’ve been, things we’ve noticed or tried, content we’ve enjoyed, etc. It’s a place for us to step back from everything else we are seeing in the media right now, and try to remember there is more than just darkness in the world.

I skipped this feature in May when I was in Canada, then again in June because I felt I’d sent you enough posts already. But as you might’ve noticed… I haven’t sent you anything in July! Not for lack of trying. I’ve been working on some iteration of a weekly dispatch since a few days before my birthday (which was July 7th). I’ve just struggled to finish one, because I’ve been so focused on two book projects.

But I’m here now, friend! And I’d love to know: what “light news” do you have from July? What’s felt new in your world? I’ll go first…

I swore I wasn’t going to tell you that my month started with an unexpected £1,200/$1,600 USD/$2,300 CAD car repair bill, lol. This is normally the type of situation that would STRESS ME OUT, especially in months where my income is lower (often true in the summer). But since January, I’ve been saving £100/month for car maintenance, so I already had £600 set aside. Instead of getting worked up about the rest, I just borrowed the other half, knowing it’s an amount I can easily pay off. I still don’t love borrowing money, and feel like it could take a lifetime to unlearn the shame old school personal finance experts taught us to feel if we have any debt. But the highlight for me was that actively saving for this future problem helped relieve an enormous amount of stress. It was fascinating to watch how quickly I went from “sh*t!” to → “ahhh f*ck it, I’ll just borrow the rest and deal with it.” Then I paid the bill and moved on. 💸

My birthday was on July 7th. If you know me, you know I can find birthdays pretty challenging. I don’t know the exact reason for this. Some combo of bad ones in the past + feeling uncomfortable being celebrated + general complex-PTSD loud inner critic stuff!? It’s complicated! But I know I’m not alone! And, for those of us who typically feel all the complicated feels on the big days, you might also know how nice it is to get to the end and think… wow, that one was ok! 🥳

A few highlights from my 41st birthday:

• On the Saturday before, Tall Man and I drove west along the A69 and went to do a little hike I’ve had on my bucket list for a couple years. The goal: find this heart-shaped cairn. THE ULTIMATE HEART ROCK(S) IN NATURE! ❤️⛰️

• We picked up some treats from Grant’s Bakery in Corbridge to eat after! 🍫

• We also picked up fish and chips on the way home. 🐟🍟

• On my actual birthday, I ended up being home alone with the youngest. And I didn’t want to stay home all day… so we went out! We went to the coffee shop! Browsed some thrift stores/charity shops. Had a little walk through my old town. And then I asked if she wanted to finally do something we’ve talked about many times before… and she loved that idea! ☕

• We went to the grocery store, walked up and down the aisles, and pointed at all the cookies/candy/sweets I still hadn’t tried after 4+ years of living here. If she thought it was worth trying, we put it in the basket! This was such a simple thing to do, but also something we would probably never really do as adults!? We both had so much fun. And it only cost £15/$20 USD/$28 CAD. 🍬

• When TM got home from work, he made us burgers for dinner (at my request). He had also made this chocolate cake. And they put 41 candles on top! 🎂

I also decided to continue with a new tradition I started for myself last year. (Can 2 years = a tradition!? I’m going to say so!) For my 40th, I bought myself a bunch of small gifts. It was the first time I’d ever done something like that, and I promised myself it wouldn’t be the last. This year, I bought myself 2 books (1 middle grade + 1 non-fiction) and a jigsaw puzzle! I started the puzzle a few days before, then finished it with the youngest on the morning of my birthday. It was so beautiful and such a fun little challenge for us. We enjoy puzzles so much, I just bought us another one second-hand! 🧩

The youngest and I completed a lot of puzzles this month, actually. Have you heard of Murdoku, friend? I only discovered it a few weeks ago. Designed by a Canadian guy, it’s a mix of Cluedo (murder mystery) + Sudoku. You can play online for free, print some of them off, or buy the books. I had an inkling that the youngest would like it, so I bought us the first book… and we’ve been doing it almost every day since. Considering we’re already halfway through it, I think I may need to buy the second book before the summer is over! 📖

We bought a few new board games for the house this month, too. TM got us Cascadia (love this one) and Sushi Go Party and Skull. And because we aren’t planning on going on any big trips this summer, I decided to buy a BIG game for us to play as a family: the legacy edition of Ticket to Ride. We’ve played the first two games (you can only play 12 in total and then the game is over) and it’s so fun! 🚂

Looking back, I can see that July was a month filled with quality time—and doing lots of new things! One other new experience I had was with a friend. We’ve known each other for four years, and had lots of coffee/lunch dates + group hangs with our partners. But we’d never spent a whole day together, just the two of us. And in an unexpected plot twist, we both found ourselves with lots of free time one Saturday… so we met up! We went to the beach, then went back to her house for dinner. With nowhere to be, our conversation had room to flow and go in every direction. I didn’t realize it was after 9pm, until I noticed we were both yawning! The whole experience felt expansive, and took our friendship to a new level of depth. And when it takes four years to have a day like that, you know it’s one to feel grateful for. ☺️

Back at home, it feels like we’ve spent a lot more time in our garden this month. I think that started after we sold the old patio furniture we never used. Then we put out two simple chairs I brought from The Lighthouse. The plan is to replace them one day. But since changing the space around, it seems to have become more inviting!? We’re all out there more, which has been nice! 🏡

It seems like we’ve had a lot more birds in the garden too. It’s been fun getting to know them. Although, one bird seems to have gotten a little too comfortable with us. Last week, in the middle of sending an audio message to Kelton Wright, a pigeon flew into our house. It’s fine! I got it out safely. But it broke and sh*t on a few things, while it was here. I’d be happy to never have that experience again. 🐦

For the first time since moving here, we had a hedgehog in our garden! It made its first appearance on the night before my birthday, which I loved. But then it came back during the heatwave and was really struggling. Falling over, laying on the grass panting, etc. I’d never seen anything quite like it. But we all did our part to help it out, including getting it food and water. And after 3-4 hours, it walked away ok! ❤️🦔

Like lots of people, TM and I went to see The Odyssey—and if you can go, I would definitely recommend seeing it in theatres! What felt new about this experience is that this is the first movie I can remember us having many discussions about after, and sharing lots of clips we’ve found on social media after too. There are just so many fun facts about the set designs/filming processes! 🍿

We’ve also been binge-watching Andor, which is something we’ve never really done in our relationship. And that was interesting for us to reflect on: the fact that TM and I don’t watch that much TV together. If we do, it’s usually just 1 episode. We think maybe we watched 3 episodes of a show once before this!? Which is pretty wild, considering we’ve been hanging out since early 2022… 📺

TM and I have been having a lot more conversations about work, which is a topic we honestly never really talk about!? I won’t share his updates. But on my end, there has been a lot to think about! As I’ve been going deeper on one book project, I’ve found myself saying no to other things… including working with a new publisher on a different book project. That’s something a young version of myself would’ve really struggled to do, but I knew it was the right decision. Behind every no is something we are saying YES to. 🤓

I obviously haven’t been online as much this month. But there are a few things I’ve enjoyed:

• Watching the world fall in love with Jimothy. If you still don’t know who he is, just search “Jimothy” on Google! 🦝

• I’m curious to see where Matt D’Avella will take this video series: where did all the minimalists go? 🤷🏼‍♀️

• This post by Bree Groff was the best kind of light read, because it made me feel like I am REALLY enjoying my life!

And finally, what I’ve been reading this month (romantasy) has certainly been new for me. I’ll tell you more about that this week!

How are you, friend? What has felt new in your world recently?

And if you read Bree’s post, how many points would you get in her little game!?

xx Cait