Sunday Diaries

Sunday, June 21, 2020



I started this blog more than 10 years ago, and there have been many times over the last couple years where I aspired to get back to writing regularly again. When we started sheltering in place, I had many grand aspirations to do just that - but I couldn't find the focus, or the words. Now that it's been over 100 days, and so much in the world has changed, I've decided that I need to be showing up here again.

Inspired by Gena from The Full Helping and the gals from A Beautiful Mess, I'm going to aim to share a post each Sunday with some thoughts from the week. This may include musings on what's happening in the world, things I'm learning, ideas I'm exploring, what I'm reading/watching/consuming or maybe just fun. We'll see how it evolves, but I'm excited to get back to writing regularly.

As I write this, it is National Indigenous Peoples Day, a day to recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, diverse cultures and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. I'm grateful to live on this land, that is traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples.

This week I watched a thought-provoking panel from Progress Toronto on defunding the police. It speaks to my privilege (and perhaps ignorance) that until recently, I had never given much thought to size of the police budget or the possibility of defunding the police. In Toronto, the police budget is $1.1 billion. That's more than libraries, housing and shelters combined. My local councillor is part of a motion to decrease the police's funding by 10%, and invest those funds in community programs. While this could be a start, many advocates are saying this is not enough. This panel and other things that I've been reading over the last few weeks have opened up my eyes to alternative models, and what changing the distribution of city funds could look like, and how these changes could be a better way to support our communities.

I've been trying to take long walks a few times each week to get out of the house and clear my head. Usually I throw on a podcast, as my queue of episodes keeps increasing now that I no longer have time to listen during my morning commute. This week I listened to a couple of great episodes including:
You know when a book finds you? That's what happened with Untamed by Glennon Doyle. It had popped up in my feed, and then it started showing up everywhere. I downloaded it on my kindle, and then even my therapist mentioned it to me. Ok, ok universe, I'll read the f*cking book. While I resisted it in the beginning, I fell in love once I started reading, completely enthralled by Glennon's candour and attitude. As someone who has been working to show up authentically, her words spoke to my heart and I couldn't get enough. Next up is Redefining Realness by Janet Mock, and in less than a day of starting it, I'm captivated by Janet's powerful story.

I've still been having a blast on Poshmark, and this week I shared a video about what sold in May. A few weeks ago, Poshmark also featured me and my sweet PFF Martha in a post celebrating Poshmark Canada's 1st birthday!

That's all from me this week. I look forward to being more present here in the weeks and months to come xo

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