Hey Reader,

Last week on part 2 of my artist’s date, I found a bracelet at the Creative Reuse store in Oakland that said "joy and justice." 🤩

Not a metaphor or something I manifested on a vision board, an actual bracelet, sitting there like it had been waiting on me. I bought it because it named the thing I’ve committed to for years now. 🤩

Yet, here’s the thing, even when you know what anchors you, sometimes a wink from the mamaverse acts as confirmation. Let me back up…

For 9 days I ran myself through a self-coaching cycle using the R.E.P.L.E.N.I.S.H. framework my coach uses. It was raw. It was vulnerable. It was emotional. I was stuck in the mud with no pivot in sight, and I mean that literally, I didn't know which way to turn next. If you've been there, this is your testimony too:

What actually moved me was getting back to my creative self. Last Friday was my first artist date in a 12-week commitment to The Artist's Way, and I made it a twofer.

On this same trip to the Creative Reuse store, I dug through donated library images of weird and wonderful clippings pasted on cardstock along with a fresh stack of magazines for Soul Collage, which I had done during my 2-hour artist date.

So if you need a sign that you'll get unstuck, that it's not forever, let this be it.

Mine came in the form of a bracelet.

Yours might already be closer than you think.

To Make Home in the World 🌎

Last weekend, I finished a puzzle I'd been working on while I was navigating the COVID brain fog, which, if you know, you know: there reaches a moment after so many days of rest where you can't read, you're over the silly shows, and your hands just need something to do while your mind catches up.

Then Sunday happened. I sat in a Black Sanctuary Garden designed by my dear friend's edible design firm, at an event co-hosted by the Black Studies Collaboratory in African American & African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkeley and The Octavia Fund. I highly recommend checking out the links.

My friend read a passage from Alice Walker’s book In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens about dreaming and space that describes her mother finding a literal and spiritual space to create amidst hardship:

In that moment, I realized: I was sitting in the exact thing I dreamed of as a twenty-something grad student learning Black feminism. I co-created this and I am living it in community. 🖤

All while my kid was living her best life at a friend’s birthday party!

That's when it landed. Lovelution turns 12 in 2026. Twelve years since I first pinned that word to how I wanted to feel as I stepped into the dream of becoming a mama and what I have been building alongside my favorite and most challenging role of all.

It's not just the anchor of the business’ name. It's my North Star. 🌟

I'm claiming it as that now, out loud, grounded and rooted in a way I haven't let myself say before.And here's where the justice part deepens.

I'm feeling the pull to go a layer further in how I support parents across two homes, specifically holding space for queer and non-traditional family structures. Not just queer parents, but the full range: non-binary parents, two moms, bonus parents plus the grandparents and aunties who support us.

As a Black queer mama parenting across two homes, I know sovereignty in a parallel parenting relationship has to come from inside you and you get to protect your peace. ✌🏽

So, on this kid-free weekend after a 9-day stretch, my next artist date was on Saturday, and I glued that puzzle (and a few others) together to frame it, something I used to do as a kid. 😍

How might you tap into your creative self this weekend?

Feel free to hit reply and let me know. 🫶🏽

Rooted in love. Blooming in liberation. 🌻