February 2025 Round Up
One month of updates about marketing, yoga, food (well... beer), death doula-ship, film, and poetry.
Look at that! Eleven more subscribers since last month – thank you for the support. February has been a whirlwind, and this is coming out late in the day since we’re a few days short of a full month. But no matter, productivity has been present!
Marketing
While visiting my mom for her surprise half-century celebration, she and her husband asked if I could take on branding the new iteration of their private construction business. I had designed a logo in the past but with a name change comes fresh opportunities. Business cards, socials, a website, and more to come. This should be a fun project to add to my portfolio and to showcase a diversity in style from an airier aesthetic for Poetry Social Hour’s brand guidelines; a turning point from previous assistant-level experience in-agency. This month marked the one-year point of not having full-time employment and I will admit that it has felt like a trial. I’ve been able to schedule consistent interviews and receive positive feedback such as “you were perfect, please apply for future positions” or “you’re the interview I was most excited for” and “that’s a great idea, we’re definitely going to incorporate that on the team” only to be followed up with ghosting or another better faceless candidate getting the role. I am no longer accepting my hibernating ambition. 2024 was for planting seeds and in 2025 they will bloom. I’ve started a blog, a poetry club, and am feeling optimistic about certain job possibilities. We’ll see!
Yoga
I’ve enjoyed my first month at MUNI MUNI Yoga & Wellness as a karma yogi cleaning the studio in exchange for a membership. It’s nice to recognize familiar faces and I have to say my first yoga nidra class was at once electric & restful. Shout out to Bobby subbing for Shelby! I learned that Heights Yoga will be taking a break from community classes while a 200hr YTT is going on. The time I would’ve been in class should be time I now spend on my own training. I am working my way through a course offered by Yoga Renew with intent to teach afterwards. Making connections with studios now should help later on!
Food
For one beautiful & potentially worrisome week, Martyn and I took part in “Beyond the Darkness.” We visited as many participating breweries and taprooms as possible in the span of about a week in order to earn entries for one of twelve prize packs. With a combined 130 chances to win via their random number generator, we came out victorious! Two hats, a koozie, and some gift cards later, I’m armed with the knowledge that only two people (who also won prizes) went to all 39 locations this time around and the most frequented spot was visited 27 times, measured by stamp cards submitted. These stats are giving some pretty good odds to win next year should a contestant be serious about craft beer and small business.
Death Doula-ship
Earlier this month I hosted my first death cafe. Although there were sticking points in getting the word out, there was one person entirely unexpected and fully appreciated who showed up intentionally! Better yet, the following weekend was the sold-out premiere of a brief documentary titled “Death: Out of the Shadows.” Luckily the same group from that event plus a couple more from a doula group chat were able to attend. This work may seem new, but it is also ancient. Grief is best healed in community and with all that’s happened in the last half-decade, more people seem open to discussion around end-of-life practices.
Film
As with most months, our movie watching covered anything and everything. We (almost) see it all; many thanks to Regal Unlimited! Cheers to the comfort of a necessary societal third space; the cinema is our church. Towards the beginning of the month there was a multi-day foray into “Sonic the Hedgehog” 1, 2, and 3. The pre-Valentine horror went off with “Heart Eyes” one day followed by “Love Hurts” the next. Irish cinema is a come-up star with “The Banshees of Inisherin” in 2022, “Kneecap” of 2024, and now “Bring Them Down” rounding out a rousing trilogy. I feel a rewatch of “Derry Girls” coming on! For two beautiful snow days nestled up at home, my partner and I watched “Kill Bill Volume I and Volume II” before witnessing Anya Taylor Joy (ifkyk) and Miles Teller rocking Valentine’s Day in “The Gorge.” This top-tier 2hr dystopic adventure romance made real life extra spooky on our own perilous drive through exceptionally thick fog and torrential rain driving down I-84. “Captain America: Brave New World” satisfied the superhero fix though it doesn’t hold a candle to the Aldous Huxley novel. I would’ve rather rewatched Alex Garland’s “Civil War.” To clear the mind and kid’s movie quota, “Paddington in Peru” really earned its place as a chart-topper. I’ll be honest – tears fell. While watching “Cleaner” I was reminded that I really ought to take defense classes. I recently saw a fellow yogi post about Femme Rising studio and think their offerings and space are just stellar! Special cinematic regards to recent classics Anora, Babygirl, Companion, Nosferatu, and The Brutalist.
Poetry
In the last month, Stevie, Livy, and I shared our headshots and about-me paragraphs as introductions and shameless follower promotion to our individual and combined Instagram accounts. Both have large pre-existing communities following them which benefits page metrics. We’ve had 3.5k views in the first full month of existence! Our latest meetings have been fruitful in creating schedules of weekly themes and most of a prompt list for National Poetry Writing Month. Just one more month to polish new poems and prose! Our goal is to have a launch party via zoom on March 22nd. Make sure to follow for more on that.
All in all, these efforts prove self-driven goals have seemed to spur a moderate level of success. Sometimes the universe waits until you’re ready. It will also shove you out of the nest even when you think you aren't ready. You are capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for. If there's a space you think you'll belong in, create it! Others will come and your life will feel more full. Please share if you enjoyed these quips then make sure you’ve subscribed!
To read what else I’m likely to write about, visit my first blog.