the sunday short stack, vol. 1

Hi friends! As I close out my first full week on Substack, I’ve been thinking about the kinds of written content I could share with you on any sort of consistent basis. Personal essays and poetry come to me when inspiration strikes, and sadly I can’t guarantee that I’ll feel inspired to write that way every single week (and for authenticity’s sake, I don’t want to force myself to churn out content that doesn’t mean something to me just to have a steadier production schedule).

I want to write something each week that puts me in a more positive reflective mindset and that encourages all of you to do the same. A big 2025 theme for me is “finding pockets of joy”, and prompting myself to take stock of those pockets—big or small—feels like a solid way to stay focused on the good things I have going on in my life.

Enter: The Sunday Short Stack! Every Sunday morning, I’ll answer a series of prompts highlighting the pockets of joy I’ve found over the course of the week, and at the end of each month, I’ll expand on that by sharing a few more of my recent favorite moments and discoveries.

Let’s dig in:

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me, about to dig in (not into pancakes, but an insanely good ribeye)

THIS WEEK, I’M GRATEFUL FOR:

• My company’s annual coffee & tea exchange. I set this up shortly after starting my current job last year (it was something I’d done at my old company and people had enjoyed), and it was an even bigger hit this year! It’s just a simple, relatively low-cost way to connect with someone outside of your immediate work team and to get some fun mail during the post-holiday slump :)

THIS WEEK, I’M PROUD OF MYSELF FOR:

• Getting back on track with taking care of my health. I had an eye appointment (a standard annual checkup), went to the dentist for the first time in a couple years (kinda got a slap on the wrist for neglecting it), and signed up for my first-ever 15k in July. Next up: primary care & dermatology!

THIS WEEK, I DISCOVERED:

• The joys of knitting. A major character flaw of mine is not always having the patience to be bad at things. (Yes, I was that asshole who didn’t have to try that hard to do well in school.) I’ve always gravitated toward things I have a natural talent for (like writing and singing), and I’ve always been lazy with hobbies that were fun but required me to practice extra to get better at them (like soccer and Irish dance). This week, I decided I wanted to work on breaking my bad doomscrolling habit, and I liked the idea of picking up a knitting project every time I felt the urge to absently pick up my phone—I’m not great at it, which is admittedly a little frustrating, but in time I think it’s going to be a far better way of keeping my hands busy and doing something constructive while also being more present with my husband when we’re hanging out on the couch.

THIS WEEK, I ENJOYED:

• Some little moments of cooking (a rarity for me!). I made gluten free banana bread at the end of last week and chicken noodle soup on Monday night. Those are two of my staple recipes—simple, quick to throw together, consistently delicious. While I do like baking, I usually HATE cooking and find that what I make at home is rarely as good as what my husband makes or what I can get at a restaurant (circling back to my impatience with not being naturally skilled at things), so making something for dinner that I was genuinely proud of made eating it over a few days even more enjoyable.

NEXT WEEK, I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO:

• The Super Bowl! While I’m a little crushed that the Bills didn’t end up making it (and am more than a little tired of the Chiefs effectively being the new Patriots and making it there over & over again), I’m happy to root for the Eagles again, and I’m PUMPED for Kendrick’s halftime show. We’re planning on going to a nearby Irish pub that happens to be an Eagles bar to watch, and I think that combination of energies will make it a really fun night.

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A FEW JANUARY FAVORITES:

• Audiobooks: I got a new pair of headphones for Christmas, and y’all, I’m hooked. I’ll confess that my first two audiobooks of the year were the dramatized GraphicAudio recordings of Fourth Wing and Iron Flame (I’m a sucker for a good smutty fantasy, what can I say?), but the simple act of wearing my headphones and immersing myself in another world while I’m cleaning around the apartment or running errands by myself is glorious.

• Living Proof’s vanilla dry shampoo: I’m a creature of habit when it comes to products I love, and I’ve been a huge fan of LP’s dry shampoo (regular, advanced cleaning, you name it) for years, but the vanilla?? Not only does it smell great, I swear it cleans my hair and keeps it less oily even better than their other products. I went through a full can faster than I ever have before, and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon (unless the “limited edition” labeling on their website prevents me from buying more).

• Indie coffee shops (specifically Perc Coffee and Mr. Tombstone’s Coffee Emporium): I’ll probably write a longer post about this at some point, but something I didn’t expect when I moved to Sandy Springs was the lack of good coffee in my immediate vicinity. We do have one decent cafe close by, but the definition of “cafe” in this town largely seems to revolve more around sandwiches and smoothies than it does actual coffee. So I’ve had to stretch out a little further to find the kinds of coffee shops I’m looking for, and so far my top two are Perc Coffee outside of Buckhead and Mr. Tombstone’s Coffee Emporium in Marietta. Quirkier energy, really cool people, great drink menus—truly all I need in my caffeinated life.

• Rushmere by Mumford & Sons: Something I’ll DEFINITELY write a post about once the full album is released. Mumford’s music has meant the absolute world to me and my family since my early teens, and they have a knack for releasing new music just when I need it the most. Their energy makes me feel hopeful and happy to be alive (this new single is no exception), and I think we all need every ounce of that energy we can get in a year like this.

• Uptown Cheapskate: I had a really positive experience with both selling and shopping there this month! The girls working were super complimentary of the items I brought in to sell and my handwriting, and I managed to snag a pair of Docs that were still in great condition as well as a leather bomber jacket (something that’s been on my thrifting/secondhand wishlist for AGES), so I was one happy camper leaving the store.

CURRENT WISHLIST ITEMS:

• A non-ugly lamp for my desk that’ll fit behind my monitor

• A large piece of horizontal artwork for above our bed (the last space that feels a little incomplete in our apartment!)

• A red sweater (ex: the Piper cardigan or something similar)

• Cheetah print pants OR the Baggu leopard print nylon shoulder bag (as someone who’s never liked animal print, I don’t even recognize myself for this one)

• Vera Bradley’s Foxbury Crossbody in Tomato Vines (or maybe I’ll save myself the expense and just use this as inspo to finally try painting tomatoes onto a canvas tote)

• A bolo tie with a cool stone or floral detailing

A QUOTE TO TAKE YOU INTO THE NEW WEEK:

“Be kind to yourself so you can be happy enough to be kind to the world.”

~ Misha Collins

Thank you all for taking the time to read the first of many weekly short stacks to come. If you have any suggestions or requests for how I could make these posts better, I’ll gladly take them—I’m excited to keep building this positive little space together 🖤

Enjoy your pancakes, be good to each other, and I’ll see you here again next week!