6 Random Things I'm Obsessed With!

Six random things keeping me busy this month, including why I'm sleeping like garbage and loving every pumpkin spice moment.

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First, a little PSA and a favor :)

If you didn’t know, September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. In 2005, my cousin Steven lost his battle with leukemia and our family has spent the last twenty years raising money for cancer research in his memory and honor. For a long time we raised money for American Cancer Society but three years ago my Aunt and Uncle (Steven’s parents) created The Steven Crowe Legacy Fund where they have chosen exactly where our fundraising dollars go, supporting high potential pediatric cancer research.

There are many ways I’ve honored my cousin Steven throughout my life but this is the one that you can help with and we can all really make a difference in raising funds so no family has go through childhood cancer. I’ve pledged to run 50 miles in honor of Steve this month. You can donate to my mission and The Steven Crowe Legacy Fund right here. And rest assured every dollar goes directly towards the cause.

Plus, if you become a paid subscriber this month, 100% of my profits will go to Team Steve this month! And if you’re already a paying subscriber (ILYSM!) your monthly payment this month will go to cancer research. You can become a monthly subscriber for $6/month, a yearly subscriber for $60 or a founding member for $111.

Give Me All the Pumpkin Spice Everything!!!

Guys! I love Fall. I love September. I love Pumpkin Spice! I’m not afraid of being basic AF. Life is too short to not overdose on pumpkin spice two months out of the year okay!!! But also, if you grew up in the northern hemisphere, September just always feels like fresh, new beginnings. I’ll never grow out of that “back the school” feeling when September rolls around. I get terrible shoppies leading up to Fall (as evidence will show later on with my Fall WishList links!!) and it just really feels like a second “new year” vibe.

P.S. If you don’t usually f*ck with pumpkin spice but you want to try something here are my top three things to get from Trader Joes: 1. THE PUMPKIN BRIOCHE LOAF: guys, the french toast this bread makes - INSANE. I freeze it and we make this for Thanksgiving breakfast, 10/10. 2. The frozen pumpkin waffles!! So unreal. Such a treat for Fall. 3. The pumpkin pecan oatmeal. Again, such a warm, cozy breakfast I love it.

A Grief Update

A couple weeks ago in therapy I realized that my physical body was caught in a loop. The same loop it was in the week my dog Tyson died. It went a little something like this, Monday I took him to the vet and we put him on some drugs and supplements to see if they would help give him comfort to hang in there for a bit longer. Tuesday and Wednesday he really seemed to be on the upswing but by Thursday afternoon I could see how tired he was, how hard he was fighting to hang around for us. And I knew it was the beginning of the end. He wasn’t getting better and by Sunday afternoon he was gone. And so since then I’ve been stuck in this loop of Monday to Wednesday I feel okay, sometimes even good. I feel like I’m getting momentum. And then by Thursday afternoon I crash and I feel terrible. My energy gets so low and then it hits me in waves until Sunday when I’m just a total mess. Week after week, the same physical pattern. And so my therapist and I made plans to rewrite the script of my week I’ve been trapped in and it’s hard. It’s better but still hard.

Another thing I did in moving through the grief was change the appearance of the physical space where I held his head in my lap while he died. We didn’t plan it, it was just the spot where he decided to rest and it was in the center of our home. So it’s a spot that I look at constantly and that was difficult. So I bought a new rug to replace the old one and restyled the table in that space. And while I knew it needed to be done, it was still very difficult. It still stings that I’m doing any of this in the first place. But I will say refreshing that space visually has helped me to not look out and relive that day 100 times a day.

Podcast I’m Binging

The Slow Living Podcast with Stephanie O’Dea

If you read my last edition of That Mom then you know that I’m making a very conscious effort to do less. Which is harder than it sounds when you’re a mom of three kids. But this podcast has been major. Everything Stephanie talks about and all her advice is so refreshingly simple, subtle and so approachable. I’m so obsessed that I also grabbed her book and read it in just a few days with so many pages dog-eared to come back to. Prepare to get fully locked in and obsessed. I can’t stop listening.

Here’s some of my favorite episodes:

The Self Cleaning House - probably the most immediately life changing. Stephanie's quick and simple tips for keeping a clean house have kind of turned me into a clean freak? She’s a miracle worker I tell you.

Dead Week - As a part of her Slow Living manifesto, Steph recommends you dedicate one week per quarter to doing the bare minimum or less. I absolutely loved this idea and I am definitely going to do this. Should I document it here on That Mom?

Jobs, Career and Identity - Full deep dive from me on this soon but I have been seriously struggling and wrestling with the identity loss of taking a break from my career. It’s been hard but listening to things like this are such a good reminder that we are more than our paid professions.

Reinventing Yourself - On a similar subject as above but I’ve been very slowly trying to envision a 3-5 year plan. Again, it’s been hard! Without a clear career path doing this has been difficult for me but I’m trying to not force it and keep it light and fun. Again, should I document this process here? Am I the only one who struggles with creating these things?

If you're vibing with this content and want to support both my writing AND childhood cancer research this month, consider upgrading to paid. You'll get the full scoop on everything I'm obsessed with right now, plus 100% of September profits go directly to The Steven Crowe Legacy Fund. It's literally a win-win-win situation! ✨