the format of these monthly updates is directly inspired by how my family and I stay connected with each other. you can expect some main points, some tangential stories, some vulnerable reflections on things that feel uncertain, and an invitation to share what’s up with you too.

🌕♓ here’s some snapshots of what it’s looked like since the last full moon:

🔑 We receive the keys for our new apartment

🌃 We spend our first night in our new home

🚲 We do our first bike ride in our new neighborhood

🚴‍♀️ I do my first solo bike ride to meet my partner at a used appliance store. It was closed

🩴 I bike ride in flip-flops for the first time since arriving in the Netherlands

🛜 We get internet in our new place

😵‍💫 I have a meltdown from how grody our bathtub showerhead is, and how it’s preventing me from bathing

💃 I dance to live salsa music with friends at an outdoor concert

🥷🏻 I laugh and laugh and laugh with some friends looking back on a time where we were announcing our plans to steal dishrags while inside IKEA

🪟 Friends help install a makeshift screen for one of our windows

🚿 A friend 3D prints us a showerhead holder for the bathtub, helps us remove the old janky hose and install a new one so that now I can wash my hair!

🧼 We purchase and receive a new-used washer!

🔧 In trying to file a maintenance request for the leaky tap that we noticed while installing our new-used washer, we discover that we are actually renting from a completely different leasing company than we thought we were

🛠️ We do some repairs on our makeshift screen

🇳🇴 We briefly reunite with some friends from Norway!

🕶️ We gather at the side of a canal with some friends, and for the first time ever, we view the eclipse with special eclipse glasses!

🛀 I have my first full bath and hair wash day in our new place

🌩️ I have a fantastic morning waking up to thunder and lightning

🥳 Celebrated a friend’s birthday with a camp-themed party—featuring hot dogs, bug juice, survival trivia, songs in the round, some fantastically campy karaoke (including an impression of the Keith Sweat holiday elf), and reminiscing on some truly banger lyrical confusions - such as “3 french hands” and “smells like 10 spirits”

🤗 We spend a day with dearly-missed friends from back home who very sweetly stopped over in Amsterdam after their eclipse excursion in Iceland—complete with terrace lunch, self-guided canal ride, and a lovely evening stroll to look at buildings and cats

🧆 A friend treats me to my very first time having caviar—on top of some truly exquisite fried chicken

🔨 I do a significant amount of (ultimately futile) disassembly on our new-used washer in an attempt to deep clean it

🛏️ For the first time in our new place, I reposition a piece of furniture—our mattress! (sans bedframe yet)

🧰 I successfully reassemble the washing machine and finish deep cleaning it

🪫 I spend a few days almost fully out of commission due to exhaustion and luteal crash

👕 We do our first load of laundry in our new-used washer!

🧹 I empty one medium moving box!

📦 On the first day of Virgo season, I empty 3 tiny moving boxes, 2 small ones, and 1 medium one—progress!

🌇 We give some beloveds back home a virtual tour of our new place

↩️ My partner returns my swapfiets bike and after 18 months, we’re both officially done with our bike rentals!

🩸 I have my first bleed in our new apartment

🛋️ With the unexpected and very gracious help of the stranger who sold it to us, we dismantle and transport a sofa to our new place. They also very hilariously happened to be wearing matching outfits on the day of pick-up 👯‍♀️

moments of manual magic

There was so much in-person magic this August—from seeing friends who live across oceans or continents, to friends showing up to help transport our material possessions to a new home, to celebrating birthday after birthday. August would have been so much harder without them.

There’s a shared understanding amongst my CC friends near and far that I deeply appreciate: having things to look forward to together truly makes day-to-day life easier. And these activities vary on a wide spectrum - sending each other things that seem fun to do together, impromptu virtual hangs a couple times a week to share a favorite show, coffee dates and park strolls, game nights, major gatherings for celebration and play, the list goes on.

So much big gratitude this month. We’re still settling in, and we’re not out of the woods yet on a lot of things, but it’s easier to face knowing friends will be there.

✨ where you can find me this month

• Resilience Toolkit practice group in Garden
  weekly Thursdays @ 1pm ET / 6pm GMT / 7pm CET

• Resilience Toolkit practice group | sign up
  weekly on Thursdays @ 8am ET / 1pm GMT / 2pm CET

• Spots open for CC Solo 3-part Resilience Toolkit Intro

  • It’s been awhile since the last PWYC CC Resilience Toolkit Intro I hosted back in February. It may still be awhile before I can host another.

  • In the meantime, I have some availability for more flexible sliding scale 1:1 series.

• Sept. availability: 3-part Resilience Toolkit Intro for orgs / private groups

  • Do you have a group of folks who want to learn the Resilience Toolkit? If you already know times that everyone can show up, I can work with your capacity and desired session frequency to host a private intro series for your work team, your community garden pals, your D&D group, your family—whomever!

• Accepting contract work for admin / newsletter / systems transition needs

  • in addition to my own newsletter, I maintain the regular newsletter for my family’s bi-annual reunion, along with similar services other more formal clients ☺️ If you’ve been wanting to get away from MailChimp, ConstantContact, Gmail, etc. for your newsletter—or just want support with a new/established one, I can send over a quote for what a project / ongoing support for that looks like.

Thanks for reading, wishing you moments of ritual, rest, and restoration.

misha | ritual as:

p.s. you can now read the september new moon reflections here!