• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Dear Sabrina

  • Family
  • Happiness
  • Life in Sweden
  • Beauty
  • Thinking
  • Miscellany
  • About
    • Now

Me at 42

September 16, 2021 By Jodi

Holy cannoli, this is the same shirt that I'm wearing in the sidebar image! —> Totally keeping up with fashion.

I celebrated my 42nd birthday last weekend. And despite all the popular culture and conventional wisdom informing me that I shouldn't admit to that—42—I just did. Because I am not ashamed of the woman I have become, and that woman has been 42 years in the making.

...

Read More

How it Went: Month 1 of the Happiness Project

May 16, 2021 By Jodi

One of the things that led me to back to blogging was engaging in a new happiness project. The first month (January, and yes, I'm behind on things) was about self-knowledge, and I found it so rewarding to spend some time sitting with and thinking about myself. Now, four months later, I'm still gaining from the insight of the work I did back then, and honestly, even if I ended the project now, it would have been worth it for the experience of that first month.

The month fit in well with a resolution I made for my 41st birthday the previous September (ever celebrated a birthday in quarantine during a pandemic while wildfires raged not far from your home? There wasn't much celebrating). In the quiet of the days surrounding my birthday—apocalyptic hellscape that it was—I vowed to connect with myself over the next year. I know, I know, the least interesting thing a middle-aged, middle-class white woman can vow to do. But after years mothering young children and a year of rebellion from it, it was time to settle into something...else. Something closer to me.

...

Read More

Do You Have Any Family Sayings?

April 20, 2021 By Jodi

Several months ago, I was scrolling the Instagram very late at night—as one does—and came across a post by a dear friend that stopped me in my tracks, stopped me in my scrolling, stopped my breathing, maybe even made my heart stop for a beat or two.

...

Read More

Happiness Project: January: Self-knowledge resolutions

March 30, 2021 By Jodi

Starting a happiness project is all the easier when someone does the legwork for you. Freed from having to think too much about it, it was easy to get started on January's theme of self-knowledge by picking up a handful of suggestions from Gretchen and throwing in a couple resolutions of my own.

The idea behind starting the year-long project with the theme of self-knowledge was to get closer to identifying the things that make *me*, Jodi Elliott, happy. The more insight I have into myself, the better I can arrange a year's worth of resolutions that are actually meaningful to me—not stock platitudes or goals that meet some outer "should", but concrete actions that will help me to manifest my me into the world, whatever that looks like at 41 with three kids (!!!) and a husband and a life in the Pacific Northwest.

So what are the actions that I thought would bring the most insight into myself for this journey of happiness?

...

Read More

Happiness Project Redux

March 23, 2021 By Jodi

In my previous post, I mentioned that I'm endeavoring a Happiness Project again. I've written a lot of background about happiness projects, and why I find the idea meaningful—as opposed to mere frivolity––so I won't go into that again now. This time, though, due to some Black Friday margarita drinking*, I'm actually doing the official course led by Gretchen Rubin.

It's been wonderful—I dare say life-changing—so far.

...

Read More

A Soft Restart

March 8, 2021 By Jodi

Well.

Here we go again.

A confluence of minor life events—a card we sent out, a drunken email I wrote to a popular website, the launching of a new happiness project—led to the unbearable, inevitable sentiment that I have to start doing this again. I want to start doing this again.

...

Read More

Looking for More?

What Have You Been Thinking About Lately?

December 13, 2019 3 Comments

Dear readers—I wonder, what have you been thinking about lately? What is on your mind, what are the questions you keep coming back to? What are the situations you can’t solve? Who are the people you’re loving? Do you find yourself pondering different questions in the darkness of winter?

Missing My Dad, Three Years Later

October 13, 2019 2 Comments

My dad passed away three years ago today. We were still living in Sweden; I was five months pregnant with Zoë. It was late evening when my mother called, the sea and sky outside our windows dark. I felt helpless, and so far away from everything that mattered.

A Life-Changing Way to Create Community

May 30, 2019 Leave a Comment

Years ago, when I was in the midst of an impromptu solo road trip around the West Coast, I was Couchsurfing (that's a real thing!) in Vancouver, B.C. at the home of a wonderful man called Simon. Simon is a life coach and a magnificent person, and he had this knack for flipping my world...

Read More

Watercolor flatlay

The Surprising Uses of Melancholy: Watercolor Painting and Reading Poetry

April 9, 2019 1 Comment

I may have mentioned that I went through a spate of melancholy recently. 😉 The good news it that I'm through it; the better news is that I got a lot out of it.

Previous posts→

Primary Sidebar

About Jodi

I just repatriated from Sweden to the US with my British husband and three young kids. I started this site while living in Sweden to build the conversations and community we've had with loved ones around the world, and to create a space to share thoughts about life, beauty, motherhood, and everything else. read more →

Connect & Follow

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Receive the weekly newsletter

* indicates required
/ ( mm / dd )

Recent Posts

Prefering Privacy: A Story of Infertility and Miscarriage

October 4, 2017 By Jodi Leave a Comment

Ultrasound picture tableaux

A while ago, before this debacle of an international move began, I wrote a post about announcing pregnancies and talking about miscarriages. While I didn't get any comments about the post on the blog, I heard a lot from friends via Facebook and email, most of whom had lost a pregnancy at some point. Hearing...

Read More

An Intentional Summer

June 22, 2016 By Jodi 2 Comments

bicycles-in-rack-summer-day

The New York Times has challenged its readers to an intentional summer. Every week, they're offering a suggestion to set this summer apart from the rest of the year. The first challenge is to walk or bike somewhere that you'd normally drive, to make an ordinary trip a little more extraordinary. 

Wrapping Up My Happiness Project

February 28, 2017 By Jodi 5 Comments

Happiness Project wrap-up, hot chocolate winter walk

Six months ago I started a small happiness project, and now it's coming to an end. Today I'd like to look back on the project, see where I succeeded and where I didn't, and what lessons I can carry forward.

Adding a "Now" Page

December 27, 2016 By Jodi Leave a Comment

Jodi and August on Christmas Eve

This morning I somehow stumbled across the website of Derek Sivers, and was fascinated when I read his "now" page. I liked the idea immediately and decided to add one of my own to Dear Sabrina. 

Categories

  • Beauty
  • Family
  • Happiness
  • Life in Sweden
  • Miscellany
  • Thinking

Follow me on Bloglovin'

Follow

Instagram

Footer

About Dear Sabrina

Welcome! Dear Sabrina is a lifestyle blog for the thinking woman (and man, if men read lifestyle blogs). I hope that visiting this site gives you something to think about, makes you laugh, or shows you something new. If you want to further connect, find me on one of networks below or send an email.
Thanks for reading, and let me know what you think. More about me…

  • Bloglovin
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Copyright © 2023 · Jodi Elliott