Category: Life
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Strawberry season
Summer, as it always does, has slipped by too quickly. At the same time, these heat-swollen days feel long and endless. As I walk to work, or the train, I both curse and relish the stickiness of the air, the sweat that drips down my back. There’s a stillness to these late July and August…
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Lilac-scented memories
It’s May in Chicago, which means the lilac bushes are blooming. The sweet, honeyed smell takes me back to the house I grew up in, to late spring afternoons spent outside, the anticipation of summer humming in the air. The memory is so strong, I can see the huge bushes outside our front door, recall…
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I thought of something funnier than 26
I’ve always liked odd numbers better. They just feel more right to me (despite 24 being my favorite number, but she’s different), which hopefully is a good omen for the next year. Birthdays, to me, have always felt like a threshold of some sort. More than just a marking of time, but another new beginning,…
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Shit You Should Care About – Week of Dec. 18, 2023
Hello and welcome to the first in my weekly series, Shit You Should Care About! I’ll be mostly linking to recent news articles about current events and pop culture, and sprinkling in some fun things to distract us from the horrors happening around the world! So, here’s the shit you should care about this week:…
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Summer Reflections
Something has been different about this past summer. It was a return to all the things I’ve always loved–writing, running, all things fantasy and wild and witchy. It’s been bracelet making and screaming to my fave Taylor Swift songs, playing in the pool and going down water slides with my friends, running across my old…
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To seize and savor
July fourth has come and gone, and the heat and sun have returned to Chicago. Cue me sweating through my shirt on the way to work this morning. It’s not often you have a random Tuesday off, and we certainly made the most of it. My fiancé, a group of friends, and I played volleyball,…
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Living out our girlhood nostalgia
One of the oddest things in my life to come full circle is the music I listened to in middle school (AKA Taylor Swift). I still remember popping open my purple CD player and pressing play on the Fearless and Speak Now albums, imagining when my crush (now my fiancé!) will finally notice me. I…
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Gift Guide: Best Book Subscriptions
The best gifts are the ones that keep on giving–which is why a monthly subscription service featuring books makes a great gift for any bookworm in your life. A lot of these were started by fellow book lovers, who know and understand what readers get excited about, including unique art, special editions, and book-themed goodies.…
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Gift Guide: Best Books for Fantasy Lovers
It has been months since I’ve written a blog post. 2020 has just been the craziest year, and naturally, blogging got pushed to the side. But today, I’m back with *many* book recs. This is the first post in my book gift guides series, and I’m so excited to share gift ideas for the book…
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Growing Pains
Ah, post-grad life. The summer (or whatever period of time) after graduating from college is such a weird time. You are thrust into the adult world. You might have an idea of what to expect, but once you’re out in the real world, you realize you couldn’t have anticpiated all of this. Once the joy…
Jessie Spangler 