Happy February y’all! Did January feel as long for you as it did for me? It’s hard to believe that just a month ago I was in the hospital discussing with doctors about the potential for an early C-section delivery. And since then we’ve moved to a new city and I’m looking at a C-section on my actual due date. I feel so very grateful on how things have turned out thus far. The C-section is scheduled for about a month from now and sh*t’s getting real! I have a ton of appointments and education classes lined up with Kaiser, so I’m lucky to live only 5 minutes away (for the week of Feb 11 alone I have appointments scheduled on 4 out of the 5 weekdays, including a tour of labor and delivery on Valentine’s day-lol how romantic). Also recently I got my style groove back, despite feeling like an absolute whale, thanks to Rent the Runway (more about that at the bottom of this past week’s post here). I’ve come to realize, it doesn’t really matter what your shape is, there’s ways to be stylish no matter what and it’s just about having the mindset to try and care. And no it doesn’t pay to care all the time but making an effort once in awhile is a good mood booster, especially when you feel like you’re in a rut.

On the FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) front, we’ve really worked to cut down on our spending despite the move and buying a couple new pieces for the new apartment. But we didn’t get much, just a shoe bench and some shelves from Wayfair. We also installed some light fixtures we got from Lowe’s and it’s made a huge difference in the space. We realized too that it’s worth spending some money on things that you use daily (like light fixtures) and save in areas that are temporary/intangible (eating out, movies, etc.). Now we’re looking into investing our savings into ETFs/mutual funds that will give us that 7% annual return (the cornerstone of FIRE). Also we recently watched this video to keep the FIRE inspo going.

Some inspiration from Instagram this week:

I like the message and all, but then when it comes to what are some actionable steps (which I asked in the comments but didn’t get a response), I’m kind of at a loss. I guess it takes political activism but I’m not too sure where to start and voting alone is not enough. I did look up how to reduce income inequality and really it’s all about policies, changing laws and tax systems—all of which the US is currently not doing.

Some things I read this week: This post by Jess for Less is a great primer in thrifting and this article about the Kardashians makes me sad/angry (imagine if they put their power behind sustainable or ethical fashion instead of items that fuel fast fashion).