Friday Flowers ✿
6.12.2026 - Fresh cut grass, hair serum, burnout
Dedication to this weekly newsletter has me feeling like one week actually goes by pretty fast? This reminds me of a favorite Kevin Morby lyric from the song “Javelin” (“How long’s forever, babe, is it just one day?”). The past week has felt like a clean slate by way of rain and my cyclical hormones returning to a reasonable state. I’ve been consistent with my exercise, feeding myself well, and just generally peppier. Bring on the blooms! First, here’s “Javelin” if you want to listen:
Blooms
A Boyfriend-Mowed Lawn
The migraine in question from last week’s Friday Flowers lasted until late Friday afternoon, about 5 hours past its scheduled exit time. I spent a lot of the day squeezing my head between my hands, moaning through tearful frustration. Matt arrived at dinner time, delivering huge doses of oxytocin (this is what helps the most!) and gusto to mow my extremely overgrown lawn. In between rain storms and battery charges, he mowed the whole lawn over the course of the weekend and gosh, it felt real good to have the help.
Great wildlife!
This morning on my run I heard a Pileated Woodpecker call. The other day, I mother grouse literally attacked me as I unawarely walked past her tiny fluffy babies. She spent awhile clucking at Gunnar and I before we walked off. My neighbor reports this same grouse attacked her car the other day, to which I say “you go mama”. Additionally, I ran over a squirrel with my car, which is way more of a thorn but I thought I would pay respects here in this paragraph. It was gut wrenching, I hate relying on, effectively, a weapon as my mode of transportation.
RŌZ Milk Hair Serum
In my last luteal phase, many feelings arose about my hair. It’s changed in the last few years, and I’m not ignorant to the fact that this likely happening because I’m getting older. HOWEVER, I did some research and ordered a few products to see if I could bring it back to its less-frizzy, more-shiny, former self. One of those products was the RŌZ Milk Hair Serum. It came with astronomically good ratings and after over a week of use, I can confirm it helps more than it doesn’t. It’s super versatile and smells incredible, too.
Trail run with Gunnar
I don’t often think about what memories will come to me on my deathbed, but this week I identified one of them: trail runs with my dog. I’ve been biking more than running recently, but on Wednesday morning I had the itch to get some blood pumping early and quickly, so Gunnar and I dashed up the road and into the woods where we walk almost every day. He’s a champ at staying with me, so he gets to be off leash and collarless most of the time. I forgot how euphoric it felt, to fly down a trail with my 9 year old dog in tow, completely untethered.
Finished Dying for Sex
Speaking of deathbeds, I finished watching the FX show Dying for Sex this week. It’s a dark, raunchy, comedy with incredible commentary on death and relationships. I’m so impressed by Michelle Williams and Jenny Slate (my all-time fave celebrity), their acting and chemistry was beautiful to watch. I’ve always been interested in death, and this was the most realistic I’ve seen it portrayed. Two episodes in I was re-inspired to sign up for my End-Of-Life Doula certification again.
Paid off my car!
Hemmed and hawed about this one for awhile. My car’s age and mileage have conspired to start dolling out minor issues in a steady stream over the past year. It’s caused me to strongly consider trading it in multiple times, but the remaining balance on my loan kept feeling like an annoying deterrent from making an actually sound financial decision. For now, I’m planning to keep the car as long as I can. To make that feel more comfortable, I decided to pay off the year-plus balance I had on my loan to save on interest and loosen up my cashflow. I’m still getting used to the smaller number in my savings account, but no regrets!
Thorn
Burnout
This one deserves a whole essay, which I’ve started drafting, but I don’t know when I’ll have the capacity to finish it. This week I finally understood what I’ve been feeling the past couple of months and named it: burnout. Or depression? Unclear. What I’ve been feeling is this: a complete lack of motivation to do anything, feeling lost in my purpose, lost in my creativity, and like I have nothing of value to contribute to anyone or anything. The feeling is best described as a flame going out. Now that I’ve shined a light on it I’m beginning to work with it, but it feels like a knot that will take some time to untangle.
Instagram recipe did not deliver
I tested out a “peanut” noodle recipe that was apparently popular among members of a royal family in the Middle East, and it did not hit the mark for me. Mostly because the “peanut sauce” was like three quarters tahini and one quarter peanut butter?? Doesn’t that make it a tahini noodle recipe? Anyways, here is the recipe if you want to give it a go for yourself.
Thanks for being here, everyone! I hope your weekend and the week ahead brings you lots of blooms. Don’t forget to count them.
