5 things that bring me joy this week

Check the entire “5 things that bring me joy this week” weekly series here, a collection of seemingly insignificant things that serve as a reminder to appreciate the little things — those small joys that make a difference in our day-to-day.

Our recent move put us further away from our favorite parks. Because of that, and the already too-warm weather, we haven’t ventured “into the wilderness” in a while. To say that I missed being fully “engulfed” in nature is an understatement, so this past weekend, we decided to brace the heat and go explore a new-to-us park.

As usual, parks here most often than not, turn out to be much “wilder” than anticipated and catch me unprepared. That generally means that I’m wearing clothes that just aren’t appropriate for that kind of environment, aka, a dress and either espadrilles or sandals. This time it wasn’t any different as you see from the photo above but I still enjoyed our “adventure” and am looking forward to repeating it asap.

Here are 5 things that bring me joy this week:

spending time outdoors. Even if it was already 90+ degrees, the humidity wasn’t that high just yet, and there was a pleasant breeze, making our impromptu hike manageable even in this outfit. In my defense, I didn’t know where we were going…
blueberry muffins. I always use this recipe but I do tweak it whichever way I feel that day, or based on what I have in my fridge. This time I had a tub of nonfat yogurt that was about to expire, so I used it all instead of [almond] milk. The muffins are insanely delicious, however, note that they will raise like crazy and possibly deflate a bit once out of the oven.
this high-frequency facial wand set. I literally just got it on Monday and have tried it two times so far but I’m loving it. It is supposed to help with clearing acne, wrinkles, etc., and while it’s way too early to speak about the wrinkle-diminishing and other “powers”, I can surely speak of the clearing acne ones. I had two developing cystic pimples and I treated them with the appropriate wand, and they pretty much disappeared overnight. If you know anything about cystic acne is that it takes forever to heal, so this is definitely a win. I am still learning how to use this device effectively and will post a full review, most likely, after several months of use.
an abundance of my favorite flowers gracing our home. I don’t really share that, but I just celebrated another birthday, hence the flowers and the cake you might have spotted in my Instagram stories 😊.
this playlist. OK, I admit that someone on the outside would never see this as a playlist that brings joy, but I have my own reasons. For me, this music “cleanses” my soul, leaving me with exactly that feeling after listening to it.