A morning prayer-
Haraynee Mekabel Alai
Mitzvat Asai
Shel Ve’ahavta
Lerayacha kamocha.
I hereby take upon myself
to fulfill the commandment of
loving your neighbor as yourself.
Enjoyment
Things I’m enjoying lately! What are you listening to or watching lately?
Listening Lately
You taught me the courage of stars before you left
How light carries on endlessly, even after death
With shortness of breath
You explained the infinite
And how rare and beautiful it is to even exist
I couldn’t help but ask for you to say it all again
I tried to write it down, but I could never find a pen
I’d give anything to hear you say it one more time
That the universe was made just to be seen by my eyes
Listening Lately
“If you need more love, it just takes time. We’re just singing songs with different rhymes. Let’s talk about you. Talk about me. Talk about everything that’s in between. Talk about this, talk about that, talk about love until it comes rolling back. Let’s talk about everything that we want back.” – The Gospel Whiskey Runners
Listening
Listening lately: LOVE this song in general, and this Postmodern Jukebox “Mr. Postman” remix in particular.
“I’m a rebel just for kicks, now
Let me kick it like it’s 1986, now
Might be over now, but I feel it still
Might’ve had your fill, but you feel it still…” – Portugal The Man
King David by Yamma Ensemble
Listening lately… Hebrew music by Yamma Ensemble. The words are taken from 1 Samuel (check out chapter 18 for the story of how these lyrics got Saul royally pissed at David & then David got a spear thrown at him.)
What are you listening to?
Lyrics & music sheets, support https://www.patreon.com/yammaensemble
{hang on, little tomato}
Wait for it… Inspiration found at 1:23.
Johnnyswim
Oh wow, I love them. Are you listening to Johnnyswim in your car on a weekly basis? Because I am, and have zero regrets about it. Inspiration found at 9:25.
“All your curses will surrender, every damning word will kneel. They’re just mountains, mountains we’re ’bout to turn into fields.” – Johnnyswim, ‘Diamonds’
“Shake it Off”
This song. All day, e’ery day right now.
“Grace shows us who we really are.” – Gospel Whiskey Runners
Happy first day of Passover, lovely friends! What song lifts your heart up?
{thredUP review & haul}
Spring cleaning time is here, you guys! About twice per year I go on a mini organizing rampage, purging items from my closet and house in general. I love the feeling of getting stuff OUT of my house…
My closet clean out process is fairly straightforward. I start in the back of the rack and put on every piece. Number 1 question: “How does this make me look and feel?” If iffy on either front, it’s done. Buhbye. Into the white plastic bag you go!
From there, I have a two step process: 1) allow younger sister to dig through bag of clothing and commandeer what she wants, and 2) take remaining wearable items to The Salvation Army. It’s easy, fast, and gets the stuff out of my house.
Enter ThredUP.com
ThredUP is an online secondhand shop that accepts your items and resells them. You get a percentage of what they determine to be the “resale value” of items you send in as either store credit or a cash payout. The best part? THEY pay the shipping for you to send your items in! Just request a Clean Out Bag in the mail and place your items inside. Drop the bag off at any USPS or FedEx.
Now, I am not going to bother to send a giant bag stuffed with alllll my clean out items to thredUP. Because let’s face it, ain’t nobody wants to buy my worn out Old Navy pajama pants that cost $8. But those bridesmaid shoes I’m never gonna wear again? Heck yeah, you can have them, thredUP!
For my first ThredUP experiment I sent in a pair of heels and three dresses. I chose items out of my “donate” pile that had zero or minimal signs of wear. I did NOT select the option to have my items mailed back to me if rejected (for $13), because I was just going to donate the pieces anyway.
I dropped the bag in the mail and breathed a happy sigh that there was now less stuff in my house. Cue waiting for 3wks.
6:00am on a Tuesday, an email arrives: I got $21.21 for my items! Not bad – not exactly a mind blowing payout when you consider there were 3 dresses in there, but not bad for items I would normally just toss or donate, ya know? Now, two options: shop with the store credit or wait for cash…? Um, shop clearly.
Here’s what I purchased:
Ann Tayler LOFT yellow silk dress. Price $20.49. Cost of shipping: $5.99. Total cost [after payout applied]: $5.27
The dress came out of the packaging looking fresh and ready to wear. I’m happy with the fit/ color (even though some people may maintain that blondes shouldn’t wear yellow). I’m stashing this beauty for a certain upcoming April wedding!
ThredUP Tips:
- Order a Free Clean Out Bag at a time when you are already planning to do a full sweep/re-organization of your closet.
- Send off a few nice/unfrayed items that you definitely don’t want anymore. Do not send things you are iffy about keeping.
- Practice healthy expectation management; don’t set yourself up for disappointment by expecting a huge payout for your items.
- Use your payout to shop! Try searching for favorite brands like J. Crew or Ann Taylor. New customers, use this Referral Link to get store credit for $10!
Happy Spring, friends! What are you in the mood to organize?
{Cooked}
We have definitely been enjoying Michael Pollan’s 4 part series Cooked. It’s got Scott wanting to bake this bread and I want to eat some moldy cheese!
Description: through the lenses of the four natural elements – fire, water, air and earth – COOKED is an enlightening and compelling look at the evolution of what food means to us through the history of food preparation and its universal ability to connect us. Highlighting our primal human need to cook, the series urges a return to the kitchen to reclaim our lost traditions and to forge a deeper, more meaningful connection to the ingredients and cooking techniques that we use to nourish ourselves.
You can find the the series on Netflix. Happy watching (and eating), friends!
Unbidden Grace 