The joys of Crabmas; dealing with the daily hustle; Faerie Fest at Rockwood Park; and all your links in today’s self-reflective issue of Thymeline.
[Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links at no additional cost to you. As always, all thoughts and opinions are my own.]
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Real Talk: The Daily Hustle
I’m gonna be honest. This week is hitting me hard. Between hustling for some new collaboration opportunities, working on a few events for my part-time museum gig, and just the daily grind of creating and promoting content for this here website, I am Wiped. Out. It’s all positive stuff, but that certainly doesn’t take away from the exhaustion. Factor in a recent energetic push to get in shape and build up my cardio tolerance, and that is a literal recipe for mental and physical crashing.
It’s really no surprise that imposter syndrome would take this opportunity to show up. It’s been awhile – I’ve been feeling pretty comfortable with my pursuits and expertise these days – but all of a sudden I find myself second guessing my every word and encounter with others from a professional perspective. To cope, I’m trying to take it easy on myself this week. I need to take my own advice and focus on self care. It’s hard though. I have to remind myself that my worth doesn’t equal my productivity or the number of views the website recieves. That I may not have as much new content out, but it’s only because I’m working behind the scenes. That I may need to take more breaks, but it’s only to forestall burn-out. Good things are on the horizon. I just have to be patient.
I know I’m not alone. Those of you fellow hustlers, I hear you and I see you. We just gotta keep up the fight and continue trudging through to the other side. We can totally do this.
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The Best Holiday You Aren’t Celebrating
Last weekend we celebrated an exceptionally wonderful, totally made-up holiday called Crabmas. It has no assigned date nor historical significance. It is a holiday that celebrates only itself – and a giant bushel of jumbo-sized steamed crabs to be eaten by the collective efforts of eight or so people. Living in Delaware during seafood season definitely has its advantages.
Often I find myself cooking or preparing drinks for any party or get-together I’m a part of, but this year I had way too much going on. So of course I made the sides and a punch ahead of time instead (I’m a sucker). To drink, I made a simple mead sangria using Liquid Alchemy’s Red Cowabunga mead, a bit of brandy, and chopped stone fruit. As for the side dishes, we boiled some fresh white corn, and I made this incredible Cheese Maker’s Mac & Cheese from Tieghan Gerard’s recently released cookbook, Half Baked Harvest. I was able to make it the day before, refrigerate it, and heat it up perfectly the next day. It was exactly what I was craving!
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Faerie Fest 2018
In addition to Crabmas and assisting with a guided Ghost Tour this past weekend, I also took part in the annual children’s celebration at Rockwood Park & Museum – Faerie Fest. I arranged for and oversaw the volunteers stationed throughout the the mansion, giving free tours to everyone who came through. I even dressed up for the occasion (see below).
I’ve never had a lot of opportunity to participate in events for children, but working at Rockwood has really shown me how much fun it can be. After making sure all my volunteers had breaks, I took my own and wandered out of the mansion to take a look at the grounds. I was quickly beset with small children politely requesting photographs, especially in front of the lovely little faerie village a pair friends helped to set up for the event. I invited all the kids back to the mansion for a tour of the historic museum, to a great response. I’m looking forward to next year’s event so much now that I know what to expect!
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Now of course, the links:
- We all have those days where we need a quick meal on the road – at least this list of the healthiest fast food orders can help us make better choices.
- A friend shared this great article on the FODMAP diet and dealing with an intolerance to alliums – a problem that speaks to me well.
- Ugly Halloween sweaters – Yay or nay?
- I’m not usually a fan of kale, but I’d make an exception for Molly Yeh’s Sourdough Strata.
- A few tips for a more productive home workspace.
- I’ve been on a healthy diet recently, and as such I am seriously craving baked goods. These incredible recipes certainly aren’t helping: apple cider donuts, brownie ice cream cake, and homemade birthday cake oreo cookies.
Cheers!
