Last week I wrote about relationships with people being one of our most valuable assets. When people talk about assets, they are usually making reference to monetary assets. Our net worth is tabulated in dollars. But, how would this number look if we included relationships with people as well as how we spend our time to the formula? I believe we have an asset trinity and people, time, and money complete the triangle.

I hope this finds everyone well. I can’t remember if I’ve shared that last year I stepped down from my Treasurer role on our co-op board and the board for Harlem4Kids to refocus my time and energy for 2022. I’m a “joiner” to my core so it’s hard for me to say no to activities that support my respective communities. This week, our eldest daughter Ila and I focused our energies on raising money for her school through the sale of Popcorn. Yes, popcorn.

This week’s email is brought to you by two current TV obsessions — the newest season of My Brilliant Friend on HBO-Max and Kanye West’s documentary Jeen-Yuhs, which is currently trending on Netflix.

Art has been a part of my life since the end of high school. I went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for Photography and Imaging and then a couple of years after graduating, made my way west to attend California College of the Arts (CCA) to receive my MA in Curatorial Practice. I sublet my studio apartment in Sugar Hill to a friend while I was gone.

Last week I wrote a bit about my mom. This week I'm sharing more reflections about how she raised me. As parents, we often parent from the emotional place that our parents parented us. For better or worse, the decisions we are making for our little ones are often informed by what our parents did or didn’t do for us when we were younger.

The conversations we are having with ourselves are the silent words that roam inside of us after something terrible or amazing has happened. When we make a mistake or maybe a bad decision, the conversation we are having with our self is either telling us how stupid we are for making the mistake or it is giving us grace and encouraging us to try again because we all make them.

This week, I was planning to write all about asking for help. It was our focus topic in this week’s New Mom’s Group and it was such a good conversation about the nuance and power of asking for help. I made a short reel about it on Instagram because I felt others could benefit from the insights from our conversation. But, this morning, I’m sharing the trip that we attempted to take to the Catskills this weekend.

Earlier this week when I posted on our Sugar Hill Creamery Instagram account that the Jan/Feb New Mom’s Group would be starting on Wednesday, folks were excited but there were people who asked if we had other groups…ones for moms with slightly older children and for moms who are expecting. I’ve also been asked if we have groups for moms with multiple kids.

More than five years ago, I ordered a lot of Seamless because I was too mentally and emotionally drained to think about what I was feeding myself or anyone else in my house.

When I worked as the Program Director for a community-based arts organization called The Laundromat Project, my role was to support contemporary artists as they fostered meaningful connections with their neighbors via their art practice. We did this work in the quotidian spaces of New York City laundromats since so many neighbors convene there. My job was part curatorial, part art education, part administrative, and part community organizing.

We cultivate curiosity in our little ones but when it’s time for us to make the “right” decision and to “adult” correctly, we sometimes suppress our own curiosities.

The holiday season is an excellent time to remember that meaningful connection through the celebration of certain traditions or just togetherness is THE best way to show up for our kids. These will be the moments that help shape them and their sense of self.

Networking is something that I'm passionate about as somebody who likes to build community and bring people together. But networking...I think we think about it in a very self-centered and self-interested way often.

Sometimes we think taking a bath is self-care, or taking a walk or reading a book, but like what are the activities that we are doing, that are playful, that are on our self-care list? What are we giving ourselves the permission to explore experiment with without any sort of consequence or success rate or anything?

When I'm super busy and don't have time for weekly meal planning, I have a few go-to quick recipes that keep us going.

In this week's reminder, I share a thought about being worried and having anxiety. I think these are two feelings that mothers experience often.

The purpose of these emails is to share thoughts, reminders, and resources to support you as you mother. You can check out this week's 3-min thought by clicking the picture below.