Hi !  Welcome back. Happy International Women’s Day, and Happy Birthday to me! I shall be eating lots of doughnuts, and blowing out no candles. Next time I send out this newsletter on exactly my birthday will be in 2031!! Will you still be reading it then 🤣? In the meantime, this week I am thinking (and writing) about good vibes, treasure hunts, love stories and healthy perspectives. - Eve D.❣️

Week in review…

I feel like a lot of good things happened this week, maybe as a kind nod from the Universe, given that I have graced this Earth for 52 years already. The Universe knows I deserve a break, clearly.

🎨 Laura - who is very crafty - lent me her Cricut because she got a new one. I picked it up yesterday, and I am so excited I could squeal. What am I going to waste my time on? Who knows!? But if there’s no newsletter next week, do know that I went down the rabbit hole of making super cute things out of very expensive craft material, and I have yet to emerge from the bliss. (First thing I am going to try and create is the logo of this newsletter, so I can stick it somewhere…maybe my laptop?)

🚗 My car started overheating, and I took it to the mechanic with a loooong list of other things that were bothering me about the car. I expected a very hefty bill, but my mechanic dismissed most of my concerns with a quick tightening of this, and topping up of that, and although I have yet to actually fix it fully (we are waiting for one part, out of stock) this is (hopefully!) going to be a much cheaper exercise than I thought. Yay.

🍽️ G took me out to dinner to celebrate the bday, and the restaurant, food and company was spectacular. (G knows no other way!). Once again, the food was served to be shared. We ordered 4 very diverse dishes (think ribs, pork belly, gnocchi, spring rolls) and simply enjoyed the fusion of all the flavours. I was having such a good time I forgot to take any photos, so now I am kicking myself.

⚡️ We’ve been having intense thunderstorms, and tremendous volumes of rain, which really is the perfect type of weather to have if you don’t have to leave the house (or even get out of your pyjamas). I am not saying I didn’t get out of my PJs, but I’m also not saying I did.

🤸‍♀️ I didn’t hike hike, but I did walk (mostly to my mechanic and back, #truestory). Still haven’t joined the gym, but will soon. Had to miss ballet class because of car issues. I am at the point where I talk about the importance of being healthy way more than I do any of the healthy stuff, so I need to get back on track.

💅 I did my nails, and this time I kept them very neutral, no colour, and very short. I love the look, and will probably stick with this for a while.

☕️ I had two coffee dates with friends this week, which, happily, is more than usual but sadly still less than I’d like. Also had long phone conversations with 2 overseas friends, which is always fun. There is always so much perspective gained during these meet-ups, and so much grounding, venting and reality-checks that happen. Here is confirmation of something I have said here many times: no one has an easy life. Enjoy yours anyway.

🏡 I’m still looking for my ideal new house, but I’m not worried. The stars are clearly on my side.

📨 Got a birthday letter from Zac. He actually made me an animated video, and in the video he gave me scavenger hunt clues as to where in our garden I would find the letter. After some searching, letter was located! It’s sweet 💓 

Also, as an aside: It’s now been exactly 5 years since Covid delivered its first consequence to me (I opted to cancel a flight to Switzerland, even though it’d be weeks before any travel restrictions kicked in). The five years since were and still continue to be, wild. Our sense of time is forever embedded in “before Covid”, “ “during Covid” and “post Covid” phases. I want to write more about it, but I always end up being very blocked when I try. I think we all have a lot of unresolved trauma from that time. I will try to pen something for the 5yr anniversary of our actual lockdown, at end of this month.

Free Therapy

Perspectives… 

This train of thought seems timeous for birthday musings. I’m 52yrs today, and it’s tempting to wish I was twenty years younger, so I could “do things differently”. But guess what? I do not want to be twenty years younger. I think 30s and 40s are exhausting. Young kids, and rising career. I’m done with that. Sure, I would probably do a lot differently if I could, but I don’t have many regrets.

But…

When I am twenty years older, i.e, 72yrs, I bet you I will wish I was 52yrs old again. I will wish for the things I could do if I had my health, my mobility, my vivaciousness back again. I will dream for all the opportunity I still had, just waiting to be grabbed.

Good news!!! I am 52yrs. Right now. And that health, mobility, vivaciousness and opportunity that I will one day crave is available to me today. So I shall enjoy it all, savour it, exploit it, and in the words of Tim Gunn (Project Runway), “make it work”. 💪 

Love stories …

I do enjoy happy-ever-after stories, especially if they have a hint of cupid intervention, or a smell of “meant to be”. I heard two this week, which I am sharing below:

The first one is Dolly Parton and her husband. They met outside a laundromat in 1964, and had been together since then, until his passing this week (at the age of 82). The fact that they had a 60+ year long relationship is in itself remarkable, but even better is what two polar opposites they were. He was completely extroverted, anti fame, and only attended a concert of hers once. They were almost never seen together. They had an “open” marriage in that they were allowed to flirt with other people, but that’s it. If you listen to Dolly speak about her husband, you immediately get the sense of love and admiration she had for him. Beautiful story, filled with hope and aspiration.

The other story is of Colman Domingo and his husband, Raul . (I admit had no idea who Colman was. Now I know he’s an actor). Their story of how they met is awesome. Colman was walking out of a Walgreens in Berkley, and bumped into Raul. Although there was instant magnetism in that brief encounter, neither man stopped to chat. Instead, they walked down the street in opposite directions. But Colman couldn’t get the chance meeting out of his mind, and a couple of days later decided to place a “Missed Connection” ad on Craig’s List. And as he was about to do that... he noticed an existing ad, placed just two hours prior, along the lines of “Three days ago, I bumped into you outside of Walgreens in Berkley, California. Call me.” Of course, it was from Raul. Long story short: Coleman did call, and now they’ve been together for 19 years! Click below to hear Coleman tell the story.

Things I found:

✅ Still in the spirit of birthday celebrations, this website will show you a photo of what the Hubble Telescope saw on your birthday.

✅ This made me laugh. Apparently, if you walk into any venue (think concert, conference etc) while holding a ladder, you will be let in for free, no questions asked. Of course, you can see videos of people trying (and succeeding!) doing just that:

✅ If you are ever in need of a Bucket List, here is a list of 100 best coffee shops in the world. Go visit all of them! Top of the list is Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters, in Australia. South Africa makes it to #11 on the list, with Esspressolab in Cape Town.

✅ The “Cathedral Effect” is a real thing. Apparently we are more inspired and have more creative, abstract thoughts when in places with high ceilings. This works for spaces like cathedrals (hence the name), but also just the plain old open sky. Not that the ceiling has to be that high for the effect to start working: anything over 10.5m (10 feet) gives you an advantage.

✅ If you want to mindlessly pass the time, check out atronoaut.io. It’s a stream of unnamed, unedited YouTube videos that have zero or very few views. I can’t tell you more than that, except to say that it’s mildly addictive and completely pointless. 

Fact checking…

I’ve been watching…

Gene Hackman died this past week, so we watched The French Connection as a tribute. It was…interesting? He won the Oscar for it, and I think it won best movie too, and its a “classic”, but honestly, I was not moved. The movie was shot in 1971, which is before I was born (you can see the World Trade Centres being built, in the background of the New York scenes), and I guess they made movies differently then. To be fair, this movie could have been (is?) the frontrunner for a whole genre that I am now very used to, and it is thus unfair to compare it to the newer movies.

And in fact, next week we are watching Se7en (Brad Pitt) whose shooting technique was apparently greatly inspired by The French Connection. That juxtaposition and evolution should be interesting.

I am also toying with the idea of getting the Apple TV streaming subscription, because apparently there are so many good shows on there that I am missing out on. Problem is, when am I ever going to find the time to watch them?

Thanks for reading!

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PS