Here are 10 small things that have helped me flourish in April.
Audio books
I’m very late to the game with audio books. For some reason, I didn’t think I would like listening to books. But in April, I downloaded several audio books from the library and it’s been so fun to listen. I’ve increased my reading by a lot too.
Here’s what I’ve listed to so far. There’s no serious works of literature here. I’ve been reading a lot of easy, enjoyable fiction lately. I’d love your suggestions for more!
- American Royals by Katharine McGee
- Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman
- A Song of Comfortable Chairs by Alexander McCall Smith
- The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
Lots of family time
Our youngest son came home for a visit. He’d been living in Salt Lake City for the winter and is now moving to Arizona for a few years. It’s been fun to have him home and to be together as a whole family.
We also got to visit extended family in Ohio in April and had a great time with them.
My sister is moving to Kentucky!
My sister and her husband bought land in Kentucky that’s just thirty minutes away from us. We haven’t lived in the same area since I was 20 and she was 18. I’m very excited to have her close.
Paint project book
I’ve been playing around with acrylic paints, working my way through the book Learn to Paint in Acrylics with 50 Small Paintings. Big emphasis on playing and process as I go through this. I always wanted to take art classes in school so that I could play with paint, but to take the fun paint classes you had to be good at simple drawing – cubes, spheres, cones etc. So boring!
Now I don’t have anyone telling me what I need to be able to accomplish before playing with paint, so I’m going for it and enjoying myself!
Fiction writing class
I dabble in fiction writing and I decided to sign up for a local class that I’ve taken before. I hadn’t taken this class since the fall of 2019 and it’s so good to be back again.
Ethiopian restaurant
We ate at an Ethiopian restaurant in Louisville with our son, his girlfriend and her mom. The conversation was delightful and it turned out to be a real ice breaker for all of us to eat the unfamiliar (and delicious!) food with our hands. It made for a fun lunch and first time meeting for the parents 🙂
Speed Art Museum
After lunch, we went to the Speed Art Museum with our son. None of us had been there before and we had a great time wandering around and taking in the art and exhibits.
Expanded cut flower garden bed
My cut flower garden last year struggled a bit. This year I’m hoping for better results. To that end, I expanded the area to allow for more blooms.
Noticing the trees all leafed out
The trees are leafing out quickly now. It’s nice to see everything so green again.
Reducing migraines significantly
I’ve been working to reduce the amount of migraines and I’m enjoying success! I used to have an average of 8-10 per month, but in April I only had two. This has been a game charger for me and has dramatically improved my quality of life.
Share your tiny flourishes!
I’d love to know what’s making your life better. Leave a comment below!
Look into Ginger Cook on YouTube. She teaches acrylic painting via short demos on YouTube. I have learned so much?
Thank you for recommending Ginger Cook. Her tutorials look amazing! I’m going to try following one and see what happens!
I planted a vegetable garden this week. It was so good to dig in the soil and see the garden come together. I am looking forward to some yummy veggies this season. I’d love to know more about how you are reducing your migraines.
I may write a post all about managing my migraines one of these day. Good luck with the garden. My seedlings are pretty stunted, but I’m hoping for the best when I get them planted.
Please do a post on migraine management. My daughter and I both struggle with the headaches and are appreciative of any recommendations to help.
I’m aiming for a post on migraines May 21. Hoping it will help some folks!
Audio books have really impacted my life in the last year. I was listening to so many that I had to move from Audible to the Libby app. It is connected to the library, so all books are free and I listen to an average of one a week. The one I just finished was by Coleen Hoover “It ends with us”. It was very good, but a few parts were hard to listen to just because of domestic abuse, but she did such a good job, it was worth getting through it.
I enjoyed Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim, I read both of her books.
The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah is still one of my favorites, but I’m a sucker for WWII stories.
This time of year is always about planting for me. I so enjoy putting out the flowers and I rent a plot at our community garden and will be putting out my tomatoes and other veggies soon.
I love that you are painting. I took up watercolor painting a few years ago and it is such a journey. I go through phases where I watch complicated tutorials and then I have to stop and just create on my own, even if it isn’t quite as perfect. But all in all, I love that I’m doing it.
I love that we are flourishing as women beyond raising our kids and working so hard. Now is a good time to flourish.
Now is a good time to flourish! Thanks for the book recommendations too!
enjoyed reading your flourishes! My daughter and I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art recently and loved the free guided tour. We learned so much and really felt like we had taken a mini vacation.
I also have come to love audiobooks. I really enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman, good story, some really funny parts, some very meaningful parts. Also, on a more serious, non -fiction topic, but an enjoyable and thought provoking audiobook, is Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson.
Thanks for the book recommendations. I’ve read Eleanor Oliphant and liked it. I’ll have to check out Just Mercy.