Summertime Meal Planning

Oh, how I love and cherish summertime! As a Chicagoan and lifelong Midwesterner, I grin and bear the harsh winters knowing that one day, I'll be gifted with warm summer days. And like all good things, summers seem to fly by in a blink of an eye!

One of my favorite things to do on Sundays in the summer is visit neighborhood farmers markets. The Wicker Park Farmers Market is the closest to me but occasionally, I enjoy the variety of booths at the Logan Square one.

Meal prepping in the summer can be hard since I first see what's seasonal at the farmers market and then plan my meals around those vegetables. During the winters, I plan my meals during the week and keep a running grocery list.

Lately, I've been seeing a lot of tomatoes, spring onion, and spinach. I'm thinking scrambled eggs with tomatoes and spring onion, spinach for smoothies and if I have anything leftover by the end of the week, I'll throw together some chili.

“Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.”

— Jenny Han, The Summer I Turned Pretty

My Plastic-free Shower Routine

I'm always thinking of ways to reduce my plastic usage, so I decided to make my shower routine completely plastic-free.

It took some time, of course. It was easy finding a bar of soap that I liked for my body. It was tougher finding soap bars for my face and hair.

I knew activated charcoal was the new trend in facial wash so at the Randolph Street Market in December, I bought a bar of soap with activated charcoal, hoping it would keep my skin clear. For the past six months, I've only used my bar of activated charcoal soap for my face and it's worked! My breakouts aren't nearly as bad as they used to be. The soap is gentle enough that it doesn't strip my face of all its natural oils, which means I haven't needed to use as much facial lotion. On top of all this, I can avoid buying bottles of face wash now.

The last thing I needed to complete my plastic-free shower routine was a bar of soap for my hair. After searching at farmers markets and street fairs, I finally stumbled upon a J.R. Liggett's shampoo bar at Whole Foods. I was skeptical at first but bought the bar to try anyway. Most all-natural shampoos I've bought in the past either didn't lather well at all or took twice the amount to lather. When I tried the J.R. Liggetts shampoo bar at home, I was amazed. I only needed a small amount of the soap to create a rich lather. It also didn't strip my hair of all its natural oils. The shampoo bar left my hair feeling soft, thick, and voluminous. Perfect for someone like me who's used to flat straight hair with zero body.

My plastic-free shower routine

J.R. Liggett's shampoo bar for my hair

Gardenia soap from the Rocky Mountain Soap Market (I just love the smell of gardenias)

Activated charcoal soap bar for my face

Soap-making

I've been trying to pick up a hobby. So naturally, I signed up for every class on Dabble.co. Okay, maybe not every class...just five. The first one I attended was a soap-making class that was conveniently located a few blocks from where I live.

Dabble classes are perfect for an introvert like me. The class size is tiny, which means it feels personal and intimate. Most of the people in the class are introverts, usually around my age, and looking for a creative outlet.

I didn't realize how easy it is to make soap. Essentially, we combine a few oils, add some scents, and mix in lye. Then, you wait four to six weeks for the soap to cure. The lye part is the toughest and what deters most people from making their own soap, since lye is scary and burns and I am terrified of toxic chemicals. Fortunately, the instructor (who could not have been nicer) reassured us that we weren't using a lot of lye and showed us how to carefully mix the lye with the oils. Of course, the most fun part of making soap is choosing the scents. I went with peppermint and lavender, and threw in some chamomile tea leaves for texture.

What are some of your hobbies?

INFJ

In business school, I took the Myers-Briggs personality test (also known as the MBTI). The test told me that I was INFJ. INFJ stands for introversion, intuition, feeling, and judgment. I was pleased with the result since it put me in the same category as Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King, Jr. (the one and only time I will be in the same category with any of them).

The main thing I remember about the test is how closely I scored on introversion and extroversion. I scored 11 on introversion and 10 on extroversion, which meant to me that I was able to turn on my introverted and extroverted personalities when I wanted.

Thinking back on my high school and college days, it made sense that I scored high on extroversion. To me, those days were all about how badly I wanted to fit in, be heard, and be liked.

Since graduating college, I've found myself becoming more and more introverted. I found myself not wanting to go out to the bars, being in a crowd of people, and having small talk with a bunch of strangers. Certain friends and family members made me feel like there was something wrong with me. I was told I was being anti-social, unfriendly, and distant. I felt guilty for not wanting to do what mainstream society told me I was supposed to do and feel how I was supposed to feel.

Then, I read "Quiet" by Susan Cain. While reading the book, there were so many moments I would read her descriptions of introvert behavior and think to myself, "yep, that's me". These words, in particular, made me feel like I was finally understood:

"Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror of small talk, but enjoy deep discussions."

"Quiet" validated my feelings and beliefs. It made me realize that there's nothing wrong with me after all. I'm simply an introvert.