Board Games Forever

Y’all, it continues. My BFF and I are still BFFs. And she indeed made it here! My energy has been very low and off, because of reasons, so I can’t expect to suddenly be at my 100%. But it was, for sure, significantly uplifting and fulfilling to see her again! I cherished it during and I’ll cherish it beyond.

It also made me happy that, despite how many years have gone by, and how much has changed throughout the years, playing board games when we hang out continues to be our ‘tradition’. Our thing. They are taking it to whole other levels now, though. Such an incredible collection of games! I was introduced to some I hadn’t even seen before. Shamelessly, it was a night for me to be a beginner. But I’ll gladly take my losses!

I Thought It Was Supposed to be Orange?

Maybe even orange-yellow? But no, it's yellow. This was throwing me off, so I never posted these pictures before. But now I don't know. Maybe it was onto something all along? Today, in crazy RL foreshadowing from around 3 years ago. IYKYK. 💛

(Off I go again...)

Taking Nail Polish Meaningfully (Pt.2)

Well, this is embarrassingly untimely. It is no longer winter, and I no longer live there. But I must do it anyway. This is the continuation and culmination of my previous post, Taking Nail Polish Meaningfully. Something sort of silly that I came up with in the spur of the moment, but it makes sense if you’re the kind to see magic practically everywhere.

I am connecting meanings to nail polish combinations, letting them take me on a flight of imagination, seeing what thoughts and feelings they bring out of me. You could say this an exercise in being a bit ‘delulu’. In the past, I did Spring, Summer, and Autumn. Now, I am doing Winter plus an honorary mention for Love.

• The 4th. Winter.
You’d assume that I’d be taken to a winter wonderland, but it did the opposite. It’s wishes that weren’t coming true, but you held on to them anyway, naively hoping they would. It’s being left out in the cold, after being promised warmth, and shivering as you desperately search for a prettier, yet believable, lie. It’s being shown that even those you think the highest of, whom you’d defend against anyone and anything, can let you down, and your feelings be damned. It’s a cobblestone pathway to walk on forever, never to stray out of, lest you step out of line. It’s the ashes of a dream that didn’t stand a chance against a harsh reality. Poor you, waiting on a star.

• The Honors. Love.
Pink, especially light pink, has never been my color. But there’s always been something about it that I cherished and eventually was compelled to protect. Fairytale princesses (and princes, if you may), striving for happy endings, in a wicked world that sought to destroy them, bringing suffering and misery instead. How dare she be kind, gentle, and loving? How dare she be pure of heart? Not recognizing that in themselves, twisted creatures called it impossible. She must be faking! Maybe she was. But also, maybe, just maybe, she simply somehow managed to remain herself. Someone who would choose care over cruelty, over and over again. Not by letting herself be used and abused, but by forever believing there had to be more to life than what’s wretched.

And that’s a wrap on these. Stay beautifully magical, lovelies, in and out!

Taking Nail Polish Meaningfully

I said I’d speak of this and it’s been a long time since then. But I still have things to say that I can't just brush away! (I won’t get to say it all on the topic yet, however.)

Being how I am, I could just paint my nails black all the time, and most of the time I do, but that can get depressing or simply dull (no offense to those who can stick with it for longer without issue, I can’t). Or I could keep within the red hues I’m used to and not have much else going on, which is not ideal. So, for real, unironically, I absolutely love that nowadays there is such a wide collection of livelier colors and even lovely embellishments in and for them. It gets so whimsical and sparkly! And it can definitely make my day better to have them on. You’d assume I look down on nail polish? Never! It is far from frivolous to me. It is magical.

That said, I got this set to go with the seasons and I’m so glad I did. Only for three of them, though. A combination for each. Please excuse me while I go off about meanings that I have personally attached to them.

• The 1st. Spring.
This season has come to pass and it was messier than I hoped. I stretched myself thin and was all over the place. Missed out on sharing in spring as much as I would have liked to. But I’m here. Won’t lose me so easily. It was a temporary chaos. One I’m barely coming back from but ultimately am. I wish I could have been around more, but I was consumed (and so irritable that a time off was required). Indeed, as disastrous as the respective combination of nail polish, flowery peach, turned up on me. Expected a beautifully blooming garden, reality gave me plants aggressively breaking out of the concrete instead.

• The 2nd. Summer.
For this one, I thought of the ocean. Water is often associated with feelings. How shallow or deep they are. How still or unstill it is. There’s the saying that still waters run deep. But you can have crashing waves in the deepest oceans too. For me, it’s like whether or not there is any visible motion on the surface, you can count on plenty of water being underneath. At least when it comes to what I love. When it comes to it, it has often worried me that it isn’t coming across to another and that they’d prefer to actively surf instead. That or they, unfortunately, come during a period of drought or after it has been completely poured elsewhere, so you’d have to excavate to find water or be the one pouring it in for there to be any. The scenarios can be sad. The overflowing of tears is yet another way in which water is linked with feeling. But I try not to drown others when I’m drowning, so you don’t hear the full extent of it. This nail polish combination is full of meaning to me, though it’s just shimmering blue.

• The 3rd. Autumn.
Starry purple. Where do I even begin with this? I wish I could claim clairvoyance or the ability to see the future in a crystal ball, but I’m only a play-pretend witch and can only test my luck, when things aren’t working out, to then know better in hindsight. And I’m definitely NOT a mind reader, so in certain instances, I practically beg for clear communication instead of mystery - as delightfully intriguing as it might be - or dreadful confusion. But hey, it’s autumn, where you go in, through mist and darkness, potentially fed up with the monsters, and find out. There are secrets to keep secret, and matters best kept private - especially while evil lurks. Though truths have a tendency to come out sooner or later, in one way or another. It’s a… complex season, to say the least. Also, If I’m put in a coffin and buried alive, I’d kick and scream for a while and then give up and accept my fate. Die a slow but quiet (yet frustrating) death as I go over and ponder everything. But I digress.

Crazy to connect this much to a selection of nail polish, but that’s how I’m rolling with these. Probably more will come up as I continue to wear them, in or out of their assigned season...

Don't Worry, Drink Coffee & Have a Good Day

That time I treated myself to a cup of coffee while waiting for a spot to open. This was at the beginning of the year, but wanted to share it now anyway. Before too long.

I'm not really an advocate for caffeine (not in too large amounts, anyway), but cups like this one amuse and uplift me. Hopefully, it'll at least put a small smile on your face.

I don't know how you're doing exactly. But if something is troubling you and is getting bigger than it truly is in your head, take this as a sign that life still goes on. One day at a time, it'll get sorted out. In the meantime, be kind to yourself and continue to enjoy the little things in life - which aren't so little after all. 

It gets better. And if it doesn't, we get smarter, stronger, braver, and even more humorous. Until it does get better.