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    Side Bar: A cultural smorgasbord

    May was super busy, super fun, and boy did it cost me. More on that later! This month was sort of the calm before the storm because summer kicks off some serious and important engagement events. It also marks the first month since December where we did have multiple huge community events (just one, so not so bad!). I leaned into it by attending a ton of cultural events that always makes me so proud to call this city home. First, with a Cinco de Mayo celebration hosted by the Mexican consulate—who confirmed this is not a holiday celebrated in Mexico but that it exists in the imagination of Americans…

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    Sidebar: Rest and Relaxation

    April owes me nothing! It was a great month full of rest. Much needed. It started with a big professional accomplishment—I facilitated my first city-wide town hall meeting by myself. How grown up lol Basically the city often puts on open meetings to discuss important issues and receive feedback from community. And of course depending on the topic, things can go south. Thankfully, my years of experience training other attorneys, facilitating discussions, and camera work all prepared me to take this on. I was really nervous for lots of reasons but not only did it not go terrible, people enjoyed my approach so it was nice to be able to…

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    Side Bar: Finding the Point

    Ok, it feels slightly silly to do this when idk if we’re close to war. Again. On one hand I want to just throw everything in the air and say what is the point. And really, what is the point? But I also naturally am inclined to push back against that type of fatalistic attitude. It’s easy to stop doing routines, self-care, or working towards goals when things get tough but I prefer to keep at it (or maybe ignoring all the bad is my way to cope! Lol). Either way this is a no judgement zone! So welcome to March! It’s actually my favorite month because it’s my birthday…

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    Sidebar: Grateful

    This month felt a lot more like the “before times” than ever before and that is a good and bad thing. So the good, because of the booster, we felt comfortable enough visiting my in-laws, which I haven’t seen in a long time. This meant an overnight trip the farm! I haven’t been there in forever and while some things were a little different (no more cows), everything else was like nothing had changed. Good food, E got to play IT expert to make sure his parents stay connected to the internet and it was really nice to get away. It’s hard to describe how calm and quiet it is.…

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    Side Bar: What is even going on?

    Ok like how is it only barely March and we’ve experienced being on the brink of war and now a pandemic, like 2020 are you ok?! I mean it is my bday month, so I guess things have to start looking up, but the darkest timeline is going haywire. Anyway, I’m sure everyone is as confused/concerned about everything as I am. One of the silver linings is that I have gotten real serious about reducing waste. I’ve started experimenting with a lot of plant based recipes (though I don’t think I’ll ever get on soy/tofu train because the texture seems yuck to me), but that has been fun and while…

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    Holy Grail Products

    I mentioned before that I always wear makeup if I’m stepping out of the house. I’m sure there is plenty to flesh out there as to why I feel the need to do this but instead of getting introspective it’s much more fun to share my fave products! Putting on a full face is super easy for me because I’ve been able to find key items that take away questioning (i.e what type of mascara should I use today?) and give me the results I like.   Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Supercharged Complex Synchronized Recovery. A mouthful of a name but all I know it is as the…

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    The Perfect Nude [Lipstick]

    It’s been a while since I’ve shared favorite lippies and thought this would be a good time because I have such a mix of colors that I’ve been reaching for on rotation. As always when we talk about makeup–you do you, it’s most def not a necessary component to look “professional.” But if you enjoy it, then let’s dig in! I continue to prefer nudes and neutrals for work, but have added a little more color, especially for days where I have events in the evening. Que Linda x Vive Cosmetics: It’s a great neutral, lasts forever (like all vive products) super good quality and just nice for an every…

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    Sidebar: Booked and Busy

    That is how I would define February. I’m booked and hella busy in all arenas of life. Which is good, because that is always good but it is also stressful. Work has been busy like normal but there has been added work because one of the staff attorneys I supervise left so I have a few more added cases. There’s not a ton of work to do on them (like urgent deadlines) but adding more to your caseload is always stressful. I’ve also done a lot of extra work in terms of committees and projects outside of my direct rep that has been time consuming and mentally exhausting. It’s one…

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    Sidebar: It’s Cold AF

    I can’t believe January is over. It felt like it lasted forever, which I think January usually feels long but also had a super busy time at work that just made this month dragggg on forever. What didn’t help was that my two best friends at work left. #everybodyleavesme. I have only one left and that makes me super sad. So I had two going away parties to attend, one at the beginning of the month and one about a week ago. They have moved on to bigger and better things, but that doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it lol. Work in general has been steady, but…

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    Side Bar: Spooky Scary

    It’s November–yikes. I still have a few new year’s resolutions to meet (yes, I’m still keeping track because they’re on a ~vision board~ that stares at my face every morning. And I think I’m weird enough to try and get them accomplished before the end of the year. But before that, can I just say that October was crazy short. It was a whirlwind. Starting with work–we had Latinx heritage month celebrations, which are always super fun. I wasn’t able to do too much planning of it this year, but the events I went to were great. I had a lot of fundraising events to attend and that included an…