March Favorites '23!!!

 Hello!

So, I am well aware that March has come to a close, but  I just wanted to make a small post talking about the things that I enjoyed that month, almost as a way to keep track of time and the changing of the seasons!

So, here were my March favorites '23!:

1. Late-night journaling w’ candles:

There’s something about brain dumping at the end of a really long day or week that’s just so good for the soul for some reason. I made a decision in the new year to get back to journaling, but at the same time, to just…journal for the sake of journaling. 

     

No super meticulous bullet journaling or writing perfectly structured diary entries…just kind of writing whatever I really want! Doodles, brain dumps, song lyrics, ideas, collages, vents, etc…etc… I find that being kind of random with my journals makes them feel like their actually mine and not someone else's thoughts and ideas.  

Candles, music and tea aren’t necessarily mandatory when it comes to Journaling…but they never hurt…I don’t know, they just make me feel like a moody, aesthetic, coming-of-age, cottage-core, writer.

2. Trader joes coconut + almond milk creamer: 

If you are vegan, lactose intolerant or just don’t like the concept of milk: please, please, PLEASE do yourself a big ol’ favor and buy this delicious stuff!! It’s not artificially flavored like other creamers and has a very sweet, coconut flavor. It also comes in brown sugar form which is also really good.

It pairs really well with a chai or an African nectar tea. <3

3. Trevor Noah’s “Born A Crime”:

I started reading this book for school and since I already love Trevor Noah, I knew I would really enjoy this book, and I do! It’s a brilliantly written comic-origin story and is a perfect combination of tongue-in-cheek comedy, hilarious childhood stories and the struggles of growing up during the aftermath of Apartheid, especially as a biracial. 

I’ve always personally wondered what living during Apartheid was like and Trevor does a really good job of explaining the hardships, rules and mentalities of that time period. 

4. Tori Amos’s “Winter” & just Tori Amos in general:

I find that I’m always getting into things and people that have been around for years, thousands of decades too late…and that’s exactly what I’ve done with Tori Amos.

I remember hearing “Cornflake Girl” for the first time maybe back in 2020 and being so confused with what she was saying that I just turned it off and never listened to it again…until like 4 weeks ago. This woman’s writing, piano skills and just overall vibe it just AHHHHHH! There are no words to describe her, she’s just so magical and unique. 

Specifically, her song “Winter” From her “Little Earthquakes” album was on replay almost every day during the last few cloudy, dreary days before spring started and I can’t tell you how much I love that song now. I’m always singing the chorus randomly to myself now. 

It’s just so light and soft at the beginning, and it feels just like how winter sounds and then it gets heavier towards the end and the orchestra comes In and it just sounds like a giant snowstorm!

"When you gonna make up your mind? When you gonna love you as much as I do?..."❄️

 She so makes me wish I could play piano, but I know if I could actually play the piano, my ego would probably explode…so maybe God is trying to keep me humble lol.

5. Hozier’s “Would That I” & just Hozier in general:

I’ve known of Hoizer since his hit song “Take Me To Church” was released and it would play at the mall like every single week, but I really started listening to him when I was older and when I started coming back to my love for folk music that I had in middle school. 

This man is just so freaking talented, with his singing, playing, and WRITING!!! He’s truly an amazing artist and his craft is just so brilliant and intimate and creative and soulful and you can tell he really respects the black artists that he says he’s inspired by and just UGHHH. Can you tell I also have a small, microscopic, petite crush on him as well? He’s just so dope to me. (Can’t wait for his new music! <3)

If you’ve ever heard that: (“How I love being a woman!”  ♫” True, that I saw her hair like the branch of a tree…”♫) audio from Tik-Tok, that comes from his song “Would That I” from his “Wasteland Baby!” Record which became my favorite song of this month! I loved how many of my favorite cottage-core influencers used the song on their Instagrams and their TikTok accounts so I started listening to it and I fell in love with it immediately. It’s just so woodsy and it gives me rural-living vibes and the lyrics are super creative.

"Oh, But you're good to me baby!"🌿

6. Laufey’s Vlogs:

You probably know Laufey as the fantastic, Icelandic singer, songwriter, and musician that’s bringing jazz to Gen Z culture in such a beautiful, romantic way…but did you know that she also makes vlogs???

I didn’t either, but I came across them on her YT channel and while she only has around 3 or 4, they’re so cute and sweet and cozy to watch. She often does them with her twin sister and they just seem like such cool people, so totally check them out.

7. Messing around with songwriting:

I've often told myself and others that I’m a good poet, but for some reason, I can’t write songs which is confusing because songs and poems are essentially the same things. I think I've believed this about me for so long because I can easily get stuck on the intricacies and rules that go into writing songs. 

This causes me to end up worrying about things like:

- “How long should a verse be?”

-“Do the lyrics have to rhyme?”

- “How do you express all that you want to say in such little words?”

- “HOW DOES HOZIER WRITE SO WELL???”

…Thoughts like this usually stifle my creative process when it comes to writing songs, but I decided to go outside of my shell and just t play around with songwriting a little bit. Nothing too serious or "Spotify-worthy", just having fun! After experimenting with mixing certain words together and getting my feelings out, I think I can actually write decent songs now!

I’m not planning to become a full-time musician or anything, but I just wanted to prove to myself that I could do it because of my huge love for music.

Here are some of the videos I watched to help me get more comfortable with writing!:

8. Anne With An E:

This beautiful Netflix original has become my all-time favorite comfort show! It has the cinematography, the period piece-ness, the focus on girlhood and the female characters, Anne’s joyful personality, the non-scandalous yet intriguing drama and storylines, the music, the costumes, it’s just all so sweet and It’s always the show I put on when I need a boost of happiness or some cottage-core vibes and I love it so much!  I wish there were more shows like it!

9. Crocheting:

I’m so happy that Pinterest and Youtube have now basically become the hub for cute, crochet inspo because I’ve been crocheting like crazy all month!

The two main things I worked on were this really cute, simple, kind of ribbed, halter crop top that I worked on for a little while, and this really cute ballet bolero! The top was heavily inspired by the coconut girl/mermaid-core aesthetic, so I gave it this kind of fish scales at the bottom and the bolero was mainly inspired by all of the ballet-core things that everyone is wearing right now and I think they’re super cute!

🐝🌸🐻

It’s definitely a very rewarding and almost therapeutic hobby for me, so I highly recommend getting into crocheting this spring! Do it! Release your inner old lady!!!

(here are the tutorials I used:)

10. Spending time in nature:

There really isn’t anything else to really be said about this…I think I’m just noticing that I’m really happiest when I’m outside, around foliage and flowers and open fields. It just makes me happy for some reason and I find that it really benefits my mental health, so I’m now making it a self-care necessity for myself to be outside in nature as much as possible!

I’ve been really gravitating to the concept of the “Sufjan Stevens Summer" and the idea of spending time, alone and outside in nature.  Enjoying the scenery, enjoying being alone and just lounging. I spent a lot of the month just chilling on my porch, eating breakfast, playing guitar, doing my homework, listening to Sufjan Stevens of course, and breathing and taking in as much as I could! It was really lovely and I hope to do it more often as the days get warmer.

I’m a Spring baby, and I feel like that's probably why I gravitate so much to plants, why I love nature and why I always want to try to grow plants and have a garden because it reminds me of my birthday. And spring is a time for growth and as the flowers are growing up after the winter, I’m growing as well! I don’t know, that sounds cheesy as heck but I just made that connection just now! <3

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Well, that's all from me. Thank you for taking a little peek into my monthly hyperfixations!

 I hope that April is a beautiful month for all of you and I'll see you little blackbirds soon!

Love, Brook