The title of this post is very uninspired, but I have been very inspired for my 45 things!
Last weekend a friend took me to an Intro to Watercolour painting class and it was fantastic to work on the craft. Creating a Watercolour Painting is on the list, but the caveat is that it has to be something beautiful that I would want to put on my wall. I can’t just throw some watercolour on a piece of paper and call it good. That’s not really the purpose of the list. The purpose of the list is to help me grow and push my limits as a person outside of motherhood.
I have watched dozens of videos of watercolour painting and I have a watercolour notebook and paper and paint, but very little actual watercolour painting experience. My friend and I have agreed to paint once a week to practice our newfound craft. I’m not naturally artistic, but with practice I can make some pretty cool shit. Practice will be needed for me to check off this one on my list, but it’s the practice that’s really the fun part.
This same friend and I also went to a house concert last week, which was another one of my list. It’s an easy one as I love live music. However, actually going last week was not easy! It is very cold right now and leaving the house is no small feat, but I got childcare arranged and I wasn’t going to let a night off go to waste!
Last week a man that I know passed away and it hit me harder than I thought it would. He was an acquaintance at best, but one of those people who is just everywhere. He lived for music and writing. He had this particular smell… it’s not a bad one, but a very distinct smell. Kind of like wool, spices, and earth. When my friend and I went to listen to Joe Nolan at a house concert in an old one-room school-turned ski clubhouse, I swear I could smell Bruce during the concert. I also won a door prize and got my ticket back for my ticket collection! It was a very satisfying night. The concert itself was pretty spectacular with folk-blues music played by “Joe from Edmonton.” He also told many stories, which also reminded me of Bruce. Bruce was one of those guys who could awkwardly ramble on and on and on, and I think Joe is kind of like that as well.
I’m also doing so much reading because 45 books in one year is almost 4 times more than I usually read in a year! Audiobooks will definitely help me reach this goal as I can listen while I do laundry or clean the house, which are things I kind of hate doing. So it’s a win-win! This past week I finished two books:
1. “Better than Before” by Gretchen Rubin (4/5 stars) – I loved this book! I had just finished listening to “Outer Order, Inner Calm” and enjoyed it a lot as I have embarked on a decluttering journey that last few months. Anyway, I listened to “Better than Before” as an audiobook, which I enjoyed a lot. I did order a copy of the physical book from the library to review certain sections. This book is all about creating habits, which is timely since I have embarked on a journey that may create habits. The main point of this book is how creating habits is different for different people. She wrote a lot about how she creates habits for herself and contrasted that with the different personalities:
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- Upholders respond to both inner and outer rules
- Questioners question all rules, but can follow rules they endorse (effectively making all rules into inner rules)
- Rebels resist all rules
- Obligers respond to outer rules but not to inner rules.
As a Questioner I could relate to these personality types and to her perspective. It was amazing to me that there are Upholders and Obligers in the world who really truly follow all the “rules” that are presented to them! It really made me think about the people in my life and what their tendencies are for their habits. Here is the 4 Tendencies Quiz if you feel so inclined. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and feel like it would be interesting for anyone looking to create habits, learn about habit creation, or understanding people around them and their habits.
2. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (5/5) (NOTE: There are no real spoilers in this review and anything revealed is learned in the first couple of chapters.) This is one of my favourite books of all time! It will stick with me for so so long! While the title is quite descriptive, I didn’t really know what it was about. Sure enough, it is not really about the 7 husbands. I’m going to use the word “love” a lot in this review. I loved how the author wrote two stories in one by changing narrators throughout the book. It’s not in a normal way of changing narrators. She seamlessly switched from one to the other in a way that was very clever so that you almost didn’t notice that it was switching, but just knew that it had happened. Even when it was happy, there was a caution that sadness would come. You could see it coming, but it didn’t unfold in a predictable way. From the very first time Monique met Evelyn, you knew that something sad was going to happen. Even though Monique seemed naive to what seemed inevitable, the readers knew that something was coming. I don’t know how the author made it predictable and unpredictable at the same time, but it was so smart and very satisfying as a reader. I always cry in sad books, which makes it very difficult to physically read, but I just blink lots and let the tears fall. My daughter always comes to me and asks, “Are you sad?” And I tell her that I am sad because my book is sad and that it’s all right to be sad sometimes. Any book that makes me laugh and cry simultaneously is a great book.
So that’s my update for this week. Next week might not be as dense as I don’t have a lot going on this week. I have added a couple of things to my list. Perhaps next week will be sharing the complete list of 45 things!