Story Threads | July 3, 2025

Little bits of life documented from this past week.

I’m catching up on life around here after a really great vacation adventure with Simon + Anna to Orlando. I’ve sat down multiple times to write this past week and keep meeting resistance (judgement, unable to find the words, etc). What I know to be true after years of writing and sharing my story is that giving myself permission to simply make a list is one of the best ways to invite the words to flow. With that in mind I’m back with my weekly story threads.

STORY THREADS from this past week:

• Anna made banana bread on Monday morning + sliced up bananas to freeze for smoothies. I asked her to set aside a little time each day for reading, crafting, baking or writing. Something that isn’t a phone. She’s been going to local lakes with friends almost daily since we got home. She and I will be heading to California next week for her to attend a volleyball camp.

• Harvesting sweet peas every other day. The more you cut the more they grow. Yesterday I reached over the fence and gave a big handful to my neighbor. I saw my first dahlia this week and planted some cosmos (seed), basil (starts), and am eagerly stalking the tomatoes. I’m also harvesting snap peas and blueberries.

• Finished up content for my Alpha Stamp Ideas class, wrote reflections for the July One Little ® prompt, and started to work on bringing my Week In The Life™ project together.

• Hot this week. Hot outside and hot inside because our AC wasn’t working. Aaron used AI to troubleshoot and ended up learning a bunch about our heat pump before ultimately calling the AC repair person who determined it was a blown fuse.

• Following the news and not following the news and having a lot of feeling about the news.

• Making + enjoying gimlets in the early evening (gin, lime juice, and simple syrup).

• Last night Aaron and I watched the Shark Whisperer documentary on Netflix about a woman named Ocean Ramsey. This was the first time I heard about her and I was fascinated to learn about her story, her controversial activism and watch her swim/free dive, touch, and seemingly communicate with great whites and tiger sharks. The simple idea of working to change the way people see sharks was what stopped me in my tracks (obviously they are giant predators but it made me stop + think and that’s what I appreciated most). Some of you might remember that when I first headed to college out of high school I planned on becoming a marine biologist. That choice was influenced by my love of water and swimming and exposure to marine sciences through a marine chemistry program offered at my high school in Washington state. That dream changed as time went on but my love of water remains.

• Lunch with friends for a quick catch-up and support session.

• Took Betty out to the lake yesterday for our first summer swim together. Once again I forgot how easy it is to simply load her in the car, drive to the lake, and jump in. On this adventure we both wore life jackets so we could just paddle around together. Planning to take a paddle board with me next time - she jumps right on for the ride and jumps off when she wants and then the life jacket she wears makes it easier for me to pull her back onto the board.

• Stopped at one of our local farm stands on the way home and got a 1/2 flat of marionberries along with some nectarines, peaches, and Rainer cherries. It’s all so delicious.

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CURRENTLY

Listening: Back to listening to more music than talk again
Watching: Titan (Oceangate submarine documentary) + Dept Q (really like)
Eating: Salmon on the grill
Reading: The Names by Florence Knapp
Monitoring: Life360 as I watch Anna adventure around town
Enjoying: Walking Betty in the early AM before the heat hits

All content now available for my self-paced Alpha Stamp Ideas workshop.