I’m beginning to suspect that every Life Lately post starts with me confused on how fast time flies. You’d think I’d know by now how it works, yet every (other) month when I sit down to write this post I’m still astounded. Well surprise surprise. Here we are on March 4, and I’m still wondering where the time has gone. These last two months have been been a good mix of work and pleasure.
At the start of the year, I made a commitment to take advantage of the local arts scene. Despite living in an arts Mecca, I found myself rarely going out and exploring. This year, I’ve managed to attend two interesting plays— Lucy Barton and Madea, the St. Petersburg Ballet’s Swan Lake performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Each performance covered a range of themes: loneliness, depression, abandonment, and in Madea’s case the effects of gaslighting women. Though the mediums were drastically different, Lucy Barton being a one woman performance by Laura Linney to Irina Kolesnikova’s technically flawless ballet, there was something uniting about the metamorphosis(es) of these (white) women. Moving forward, I’m hoping to expand into more diverse performances, starting with a hopefully incredible stand-up show by Ali Wong in March!
And continuing on the theme of (less dramatic) girl power. It’s been an awesome couple of months of hanging out with my favorite girlfriends. In January, I made it down for our annual Girl’s Weekend in Basking Ridge, NJ with my college friends. These are my favorite weekends, marked by the fact that we can spend days sitting in various counters, tables and couches catching up on life and politics. This time we did make it out to visit the Lakota Wolf Preserve, a stunning and humane experience, and to see Little Women. I also was lucky enough to catch up with Steph, of Remote Rhode, and my friend S, for two separate wonderful dinners. I feel lucky to have such incredible friends, with different passions, careers and backgrounds. Some of these friendships have lasted over 15 years, and even if I haven’t seen them in months, it always feels like we can pick up from where we left off.
In January, I also started my favorite volunteer activity: the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, where you train to prepare tax returns for low-income families. This is my fourth year volunteering and it is honestly the most wonderful experience. The training is time-intensive, and it’s definitely daunting to prepare returns where owing or getting a refund can make a dramatic difference.
I’m going to save the highlight of February: our trip to Japan for a separate post. But otherwise, these were the highlights of the last couple of months. I would also like to stress that these are highlights on the months. I’m not spending time focused on work, working out and other adulting activities. These take up approximately 90% of my time, but for some reason aren’t that fun to write down.
<3 Aheli
Life Lately: January and February 2020
Currently Eating: Tamago (Egg) Sandwiches. *These are super special Japanese egg sandwiches that are seriously life-changing.
Currently Craving: Royal Milk Tea
Currently Reading: Heaven My Home By Attica Locke
Currently Watching: Broadchurch and the end of the Good Place ( so forking sad)
Currently Playing: Toon Blast
Currently Beautifying with:
Currently Sweating to: 20,000k step tourism or New Love City Online Yoga
Currently Traveling to/from: Japan
About Life Lately
Welcome to my monthly “Life Lately” reflections, where I chronicle things did/ate/drink and liked. I’ve never been much for diaries (short attention span!), but I do really love looking back on these monthly lists. I hope you do too!
Other Posts from the Month:
- Want some suggestions of what to do in NYC, check our my guide to Manhattan
- Need some good book suggestions, try my Favorite Books from 2019
- Or see everything I read in 2019 – the good, the bad, the embarrassing
- If you’re new to the blog, check up an updated FAQ with me: Aheli
- And if need some short reads, check out some of my favorite thinks pieces on giving direct cash to poor families or what’s happening in India right now.
Links to the other Life Lately // February 2019 // November 2019// December 2019
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