This Was March 2026
Hello and welcome to the newsletter on Buttondown!
March felt like a big chaotic mess trying to process everything and also keep up with everyday life, but we managed and we survived!
Here are some highlights from my month.
Walking & eating snacks
I went on a lot of weekend walks, keeping up with my habit and goals to get at least 150 minutes of focused exercise a week. Well, I’m not 100% on it because I was on/off sick for part of the month (in tune with the hot/cold weather extremes we experienced for a few weeks) but I certainly made a very good effort!
Warm winter walk | seasons
It's 74°F/23.3°C today, muggy, a little gross. The kind of weather where you can smell everyone's sweat as soon as you walk outside, even if there aren't any...
Things about the weather lately | seasons
We are experiencing the microseason within the transition between winter and spring that the I-95 Corridor gets to experience together. (I think other parts ...
I’ve also been continuing last year’s goal to go to coffee shops that have gluten free treats. Lately I’m revisiting the ones that were new-to-me last year so I can try different treats and drinks!
Here are some favorites:
The Happy Tart in Falls Church, VA: Dedicated gluten free with some dairy free, nut free options as well. They have crepes (savory & sweet), cookies, cakes, cupcakes, pastries, and other bakery items. They also have coffee. They’ve recently upgraded a bit and have shiny laminated personal menus and more branded products. I’m happy to see they’re making lots of money because I never want them to close.
Swing’s Coffee in Alexandria, VA: They get their gluten free stuff from Rise Bakery which is a local dedicated gluten free bakery (you can visit them in Adams Morgan, I’ve never been there). This is where I found out that a “caramel macchiato” is a Starbucks-signature drink and I that I prefer a caramel latte. This is also where I found the Neighbors Helping Neighbors minizine from WofA; they have a table for community fliers and business cards and such.
Paris Baguette in Alexandria, VA: They offer baked goods, sandwiches, and salads, with a small selection of gluten free cakes that aren’t made there. I don’t know if they make gluten free stuff there, I’ve never seen it before. Anyway one of the mini-cakes is a coffee cake and it pairs well with their coffee.
Grounded in Alexandria, VA: This place gets good reviews for the food, most of which I can’t eat. Sometimes they have gluten free bakery items and they’re right across the street from Huntley Meadows Park, which is a nice place for a quick but scenic walk. They also have smoothies and delicious espresso drinks.
Cameron Cafe in Alexandria, VA: This one is near a dog park so it’s situated in a PERFECT location for people/dog watching. There are a few gluten free bakery items and it seems to be random whether it’s a selection of 5 things or 5 of one thing. The coffee is good and it’s easy to find parking so it’s still one I enjoy.
Honorable mention! Robeks in Alexandria, VA (or anywhere): This is actually a smoothie place, not a coffee place, but they have gluten-friendly protein brownies which, coupled with some kind of fruit-protein smoothie, give me just enough strength for one of my hour-long walks on a weekend morning. The brownies are processed on shared equipment so they’re not celiac friendly.
Lone.earth Video Account
I’ve more or less decided never to return to social media as a centralized place to post all things that I want to share. I’ll still check in to see your posts, but likely won’t return. I’ll stay dedicated to this newsletter instead and tell you all about the things I’m doing!
Recently I added lone.earth to my array of places and this is where I will be sharing the scenic and nature videos I take on my walks and travels. I won’t post very often I’m sure but sometimes I capture a moment that is so perfect for that location that I want to preserve and share it publicly.
I’m also going through the archives and putting up older videos that make me feel some way so this will become a repository of beautiful and peaceful moments I’ve had outside.
Max - Lone Earth
Enthusiastic about nature and calming soundscapes, I have been taking videos of minutes/moments for years but hoarding them. I am not a professional, just having fun and enjoying the world. Thanks ...
Monster Hunter Now updates
The mobile game Monster Hunter Now had an update and now you can hunt afar with friends across the lands. These are people you know, don’t know, and only know through this game, but it doesn’t matter, we’re all very excited to finally hunt together.
Hunting together is one of the core components of a Monster Hunter game. For most of its time, the mobile game allowed it while you were physically together, but I don’t live physically near any of my friends who play this game. It’s a small joy with a large impact, especially because it doesn’t require any real “coordination” – if you’re online at the same time, you can play together. No special codes, no need to text first… though we’ve also done that too, so it’s the best of both worlds finding your friends online throughout the day vs planning a game hour together.
I finally built a lamp that I bought in December
It feels like a lot of stuff has been falling to the wayside this year so far, but I managed to catch up on most of my to-do list around the house. Or at least I tackled all of the “quick wins.” You never realize how much the environment is impacting you until you do one of the ideas you’ve had to improve it. The new lamp replaces a lamp that went out, but provided nice shelving for the area where I sit the most often in the living room.
The new lamp is only 1 shelf but it’s larger and the light shines wider and brighter for the entire surrounding area. Also, there’s a little bucket at the bottom where Zenny could sit if she wanted to (she has only three times). When the old lamp was there, she would poke around and try to find somewhere to sit and then give up because there wasn’t room for her.
I had to declutter the area and reorganize to only include the essentials on my new 1-shelf lamp. It’s worked out perfectly. It’s the perfect height and provides just enough space that I can keep my necessary items there without having too much stuff.
Suddenly the entire area is easier to navigate, easier to find stuff, and easier on the peripheral vision – less cluttered, more purposeful. Suddenly I’m more relaxed when I’m sitting next to it.
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by everything going on in the world and how people are reacting, but what’s also easy is building a lamp with good directions and improving something in my daily environment that’s been needing it for a while.
Brickfair in Fredericksburg, VA
My mom invited the local family members to Brickfair since it was happening 15 mins from her home. We ended up going with my nephew and his mom since everyone else was busy and although it was a major sensory overload from beginning to end and I barely remember it because I had such a hard time focusing my attention on anything, it was fun!
It is always inspiring to see other people’s Lego builds and the creativity and detail that goes into that sort of expression. I am still trying to figure out how to conceptualize scenes using Lego.
My mom asked a bunch of questions and I learned a few things about how the giant builds are structured so they can break apart and travel easily, how they’re planned and mapped out before building, and how to get down to the hands-on work. I’ve been thinking I had to plan things end to end, but it turns out most people simply buy a bunch of random bricks of certain colors and do their best to build something out of them. Sometimes it can take weeks to achieve the vision of a 6x6 inch area of bricks.
The summary is that I just need to get started and stop waiting until I have all the “right pieces” or the “right amount.” Kind of inspiring in many ways if you think of it.
Brickfair | GAMEZILLA
Skeleton army (actually these were just for sale) 20260329_141011 This amazing map 20260329_142913(1) 20260329_142921 20260329_142931 These ama...
Jamie Lee Curtis
This month I rewatched all of the new Freaky Friday movies ahead of seeing Freakier Friday (2025), and then I watched Scarpetta on Amazon Prime. Jamie Lee Curtis plays the mother/grandmother in the Freaky Friday movies, which is a magical comedy series about improving communication through empathy.
She is also the mother of the title character in Scarpetta (2026), which is a disturbing crime drama/thriller TV series. The entire time watching this, I kept expecting them to switch bodies. They had such poor communication, they could have both benefited from it.
Links & posts
Things I said:
love letter to winter | seasons
Dear Winter, I love you. Have I expressed it enough? I love, love, love, love you. I know you get a lot of hate. People don't like the darkness coming ...
Fresh farm food meals | seasons
A few weeks ago I signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) subscription where a local farm delivers vegetables and herbs (and some other items s...
🌸 Cherry blossom time! | seasons
Spring has arrived, which means that people are out all the time and my weekend walks aren't as isolated like a spooky atmospheric music video in the gloom o...
Things others made:
Mutual aid: Donate some money to help victims impacted by war and get art! Some of my zines are included in the art prizes! https://adrienneyo.com/our-friends-need-your-help/
British postal museum blog: https://www.postalmuseum.org/blog/
Long-lost film from Georges Méliès (who made A Trip to the Moon): https://www.npr.org/2026/02/28/nx-s1-5730373/georges-melies-robot-film-1897-library-of
Thanks for reading!
Let me know if you notice any weirdness about this email or formatting since I’ve never used this before and I don’t know how it will send! On Pencilbooth, the “preview” view was not the same as the email sent view so it was a mystery how things would end up.
This was much easier to edit and create so I’m pretty satisfied with Buttondown so far!
I hope April is treating you well so far and that you have a very good month!
xo Max