free friday
switching rooms
Last month my roommate moved out and I decided to take over the lease to my apartment, which means I get a whole other room to myself now. Somehow my rent suddenly doubling hasn’t really hit yet (probably because I have been watching every single kid in the county of Los Angeles for the last few months) but through gaining this extra room it feels as if I’ve moved. This extra room is the bigger of the two bedrooms and I decided it was time to level up and swap rooms. On Sunday I gathered my closest friends for wine and pizza so I could use their grit to help me switch out the two bedrooms. It was interesting how intimate this felt- having my friends get a true peek into the things I store, the dust that collects under my bed and the amount of clothing I can’t let go of just yet (which now that I have two big closets to myself this will only get worse).
The first night in my new room I was buzzing thinking of all the new ways to decorate and store my things. I could not fall asleep. I was also flooded with the mourning of my old room- a room I lived in for over 7 years and that brought me through the majority of my 30s. I know these feelings come up when moving addresses so it was weird that these feelings of mourning came for something that was still just down the hall. As I lay in bed, I couldn’t help but think of my old room- now dark and void of all the things that made me me and it made me sad. That was the room that I would come home to after every trip and would hold me like a hug reminding me how much I love LA. A room I got ready one million times in and brought me to finally finding a style that works for me. A room I recovered from Covid and Norovirus and pink eye in, a room that I made plans in, cried and watched an entire year’s worth of Tiktoks. A room where I found out information about who I am and where I came from. And now this room was a guest room, only to be occupied by friends needing a place to crash and hold boxes of things I probably don’t need.
The sentimentality for my room is also stemming from me approaching living in Los Angeles for 15 years. I moved to LA in August of 2010, which still doesn’t feel that long ago. I’m also turning 39 in a few weeks so everything right now seems to carry a weight to it. The finality of my 30s approaching and the end of the the room that brought me through it- the endings are swirling.
Switching rooms has felt like a marker in a very positive way as well. I’m excited about new things entering my life. I’m excited about what will happen in the last year of my thirties. I also just ended my 3 year nanny job and am very sad to close that chapter but I am ready to welcome in a new energy. The end of August to me has always felt more like the end of the year than December because it has always meant back to school and my birthday. Starting a new year fresh with a new age felt very perfect as a Virgo and I’ll never let that feeling go so if there was ever an appropriate time to say goodbye to an old thing and welcome in a new it is now. I have spent almost a week in my new room and it does feel like me now but I still get a little hint of sadness whenever I pass my old room and see its lifeless walls that used to hold my pictures and personality.
Things I ate, drank, watched and loved that you might enjoy to know:
I’ve written extensively in my previous newsletters how much I love Better Call Saul and last week I decided it was time to revisit. I love it just as much as when I first watched and I do think it might be my all time favorite show. It’s better than Breaking Bad take my word for it!!
I’m slowly letting go of my iced oat lattes simply because I never can finish them anymore. I’ve been getting annoyed with leaving a quarter left to melt and become a very gross watered down mess so I have switched to just ordering iced cortados and this simple little substitute has really made a difference (mostly in actually finished off a drink and saving $1 here and there).
I’m such a scent freak for tomato and I did not do a good job this year of stocking up on the Trader Joe’s tomato candle but I recently found out Mrs. Meyer’s makes an entire line of tomato scented cleaning products and I bought everything. If you’re also trying to boycott Target you can buy straight from the source and it was cheaper than Target anyway.
That’s it for this week- hopefully things settle down work wise soon and I can finally get back to proper newsletters going forward!