I’m very much an audiobook girly, and my favorite genre is memoirs read by their authors. Especially when those authors are Black women… What can I say? I’m consistent. Anywho, one of the books i’ve listened to in the past was Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes. Shonda Rhimes is the screenwriter/producer most known for Grey’s Anatomy, but also Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, Station 19, Bridgerton, and more. Back in the day, she had the entire Thursday Primetime block on ABC.

I have been watching Grey’s Anatomy for more than half of my life. I’m 38 and it’s on it’s 22nd season. That is insane. The amount of time I’ve spent bawling my eyes out for these fictional doctors and patients is honestly embarassing. What I do know, is that if I ever found myself in predicament in Seattle and they even whispered the thought of taking me to Grey-Sloan Memorial, I would throw a full on fit cuz aint no way. That hospital is CURSED. I refuse to commit to any other show with this level of loyalty, but I’ve accepted that I’m on this train until it stops moving.

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Anyway, the book. So the premise of Shonda’s book is that she had to say yes to anything asked of her for an entire year. I’ve considered taking on similar challenges in the past, but i’ve got too many “things” that would prevent me from ever thinking I could do something like that. I am however moving into more of a space of a year of Maybe. lol. It’s less committal, but not my recent lifestyle of practically saying “no” to everything. I’ve already shared about how tough the past two years have been, and the largest casualty of that was probably my social life. Not that I had a booming social life before, I wasn’t a complete hermit. Actually, I was very adventurous, and saying “yes” to random things is how I found myself living this rather unconventional life in the first place.

So here I am, on the other side of burnout, once again feeling curious, creative, adventurous. I’m finally wanting to meet new people and try new things. I’ve learned a lot about myself, how my brain works, and what I need to be joyful and successful. The biggest part of that has been learning to meet myself where I am. I’ve always been really good at meeting people where they are, but often at the cost of sacrficing much of my own comfort. These days, I’m balancing things way better, and accepting that it’s okay to be me, whatever that looks like.

So we’ll give it a go. A year of maybe. I’ll give consideration to most things, but as you know I’m still not sleeping in a bivy, and i’m most likely not jumping out of an airplane, but open to giving thought to most other things.

Dang it feels good to feel good again. I cannot understate that!

Random pictures/ puppy tax!

Random Bike Racing World News

In bike racing news, cuz I NEED to tell someone other than my husband, who absolutely does not care. lol. The team formerly known as Israel Premier Tech has had a swift and very public downfall and is now in the rebuilding phase. They lost both Israel and Premier Tech as major sponsors, Factor pulled out as their bike brand, and both the website and social media are turned off for now. As of yesterday, they’ve rebranded as NSN Cycling Team, registered in Switzerland but based in Girona, Spain. There’s a rumor that Scott will provide the bikes and that the Canadian-Israeli owner will step back from day-to-day operations.

I am intrigued by the happenings of this team because sportswashing usually goes mostly unnoticed in cycling. The protests at the tour were super disruptive and have sent ripples that are still showing in effect. There’s also murmurs of discourse around World Champion Tadej Pogacar’s UAE cycling team, due to the UAE’s involvement in the civil war in Sudan. There are of course a lot of opinions swirling around about how this is all playing out, but the thing I wish we could hear more on is the lawsuit against former IPT rider Derek Gee. Last we heard, homeboy was being sued for 30 million euros. THAT IS BONKERS! He also hasn’t announced having landed any contracts for next season. Is it a wrap for him? What is the example that’s being set? What are we supposed to learn from this? I NEED to know.

Anyway, the new St. Michel Auber 93 team has gained Premier Tech as a sponsor, and Alison Jackson as a rider, so they’re probably going to be a ton of fun to watch next season! There have been a few other interesting transfers here and there, but we’ll see how it all looks come next season.

Until next time!

Also, thanks so much to folks that have bought stuff from the shop! Can’t wait to see y’all wearing it out and about!