Long-distance friendships & should I return to YouTube?! (Simple Things #30)

Plus, some of my plans (both big and small!) for this upcoming year...

Hi there! I’m Hunter. I’m a mother of a two-year-old daughter, married to my British husband, and we live in Northwest Florida along the beautiful white, sandy beaches. I share about sacred & slow living as well as my own personal journey in being a mother and a creative. Make sure to subscribe to have my posts delivered directly to your inbox. I’m so glad you’re here.

Hello friend, and welcome to this week’s Simple Things. It’s been one of those weeks where I feel like I’m behind on everything, even though I’m really not. I’m just procrastinating and struggling to stay focused, so I was worried for a minute that I wouldn’t get it together enough to write out this series, especially since I made more work for myself by having it be a bigger feature 😂 But then I started thinking and realized I have a lot of fun things to share with you, so here we go.

This week’s Simple Things includes:

S - Sharing - Something to protect my eyes, a new pair of shoes from my favorite brand, a great season transitional piece, thoughts on planning my life better, and a very deep discussion on sippy cups.
L - Loving - My newest wellness obsession, the greatest drink ever, and a book I’ve been enjoying!
O - Observations - Thoughts on long-distance friendships, the magic of movies, moving plans, and the endless guilt of screentime and what I’m doing about it.
W - Wisdom - My current favorite YouTuber, what to do about unsubscribing, and a self-discovery journey into winter.

Oh! Before we start, I wanted to remind you that this week Simple Things is going to be mostly for paid subscribers. I will be including the S for everyone, but the rest of the shares will be behind a paywall. If you’re currently a free subscriber, first off, THANK YOU! I have so many free posts for you to peruse and dive into around the topics of slow living, intentional motherhood, personal essays, etc.

But for 2024, I’m switching things up a bit and going to do more for my paid subscribers each week as a thank you and to really get clear on what my readers, YOU, are desiring from this space.

Why subscribe to paid, you ask?

• You are supporting me & my small business, and allowing me to spend more time here, deep-diving into all things slow living & motherhood.

• You get immediate access to my entire vault of paid posts (past & present) as well as access to my 4-week mini-course, Sacred & Slow, where you can immediately discover and uncover your own why for living slowly, and what that looks like for you and your family in an individualized way.

• You’ll be able to offer me detailed feedback on what works for you and what doesn’t, what you want more or less of, etc. It’s almost like you’re a co-author in a way. Maybe a co-curator of The Magically Mundane experience?

• What you can expect: a weekly or bi-weekly offering of Simple Things filled to the brim with my recommendations, opinions, links, reads, and more. Basically everything I’m interested in that’s part of my slow lived life currently. You will also get 2+ posts a month that are specifically for paid subscribers, as well as 2+ posts per month that are free to everyone.

• You also get access to the community of 1400+ in The Magically Mundane so we can all vibe out on slow living together!

If this sounds like something you’d want to be a part of, I’d LOVE for you to join my paid subscription for $6/month or $65/year. You can also become a founding member for $100/year where you will get a 1:1 session with me to chat all things slow & sacred living. So many options!!

Okay, that’s enough from my soapbox on all things paid, let’s jump into this week’s Simple Things…

SHARING //

• I’ve been looking into buying some blue light glasses since a lot of times I’ll do my work at night, and I can tell that it’s affecting my sleep being on my computer or phone that late. I’ve been looking into these but they are pretty expensive, so if you have a pair you like I’m all ears (or eyes)!

• I am a long-time fan of Vejas. I had a pair of the velcro ones in all white a few years ago and absolutely loved them, but once they wore out I just never got a new pair. I’ve been looking at these and might have to take the plunge soon. They are so cute and go with everything.

• I’m slowlyyy starting to think about spring/summer and what to add to my wardrobe, and I really love this dress (and all the clothes on their site!). It seems like the perfect transitional piece and the green design is so cute.

• My photography sessions are starting to book up for the year and I’m feeling like I might need a physical planner. I’m normally a digital gal with planners, but it might be nice to have everything written out. I had this one last year and really liked it but hardly ever used it. This one is my go-to because it’s so easy and the pages are undated so I can skip days and not worry about it, but I felt like it was hard for an overall date view. I’ve heard good things about this planner so maybe I’ll try it. Do you have any suggestions?

• I swear Maverick turns into a furnace every night she gets so hot when she’s sleeping. That also means she drinks a lotttt of liquid throughout the night. I’ve been trying to find a good sippy cup that we can keep in the bed that doesn’t leak but so far no luck. I’ve heard good things about this one and like the brand, so I’m thinking about trying it, but dang it feels expensive for a sippy cup. Do you have a tried & true cup that your kiddos sleep with at night?