A Few Things | August 5
Olympic adventures, really cool interviews, and the joy of having the whole family home.
Personal Update
The Olympics! In Paris! Have been magical!
We didn’t buy any tickets, but my brother Salem was planning to come and then couldn’t, so he gave us his tickets. And then, a friend from our church congregation in Oakland was in Paris for the events, and he had extra tickets that he offered us. We have nine of us at home for a few weeks, so we’ve been splitting up the events. Six of us went to swimming last week. Seven of us went to track & field on Saturday. And six of us will go to track & field again tomorrow.
There were a lot of people who worried Paris would be too crazy and crammed during the events, but it’s actually been wonderful. The city looks gorgeous, it’s efficient and clean and organized, and the organizers have done an excellent job with crowd control.
If you’d like to see a report of our Olympic adventures, I’ve shared them on Instagram — with lots of Q&A too! Click here for our swimming day. Click here for our track & field day.
Having the whole family together has been dreamy. The Pilgrimage and the Olympics have been our biggest adventures, but we’ve also tried to take as many Normandy day trips as possible. We swam at Lake Rabodanges, visited Deauville and Honfleur (pictured above), rented pedal boats at Clessy, explored our local art museum, and we’ve taken lots of countryside walks. I’m just trying to soak it all in.
Odds & Ends
One More Spot at our September 5-11 Normandy Retreat
Speaking of exploring Normandy, I spoke with the retreat hotel and we can fit one more person at our September Retreat! It’s going to be SO GOOD. I’ve been working on the gifts and they are really special — I can’t wait to give them to our guests. And the itinerary! So much good food. So many interesting things to see and do. Plenty of time for rest and rejuvenation. It’s a real chance to see what life in the Normandy countryside is like. Plus our event organizer, Clementine Pereira, is the best! You will adore her.
If you’ve been watching the Olympics and feeling drawn to France, this is a sign to grab the last spot. Click here to find more information and the registration link.
Ballerina Farm
It’s been two weeks since The Sunday Times Magazine published the viral article about Ballerina Farm. I’m still getting requests to write about it, probably because I’m a Mormon mother with lots of kids. But maybe it’s too late? Maybe everything that needs to be written has already been written? I do have some thoughts and started an essay. Let me know if I should finish it, or if you’re over this story already.
The Daring Interview
I was featured in the Daring Interview column on Brené Brown’s site! It’s so wild because it was published when I was on the pilgrimage and couldn’t really get online — so when I finally checked in on Instagram, it was so cool to see Brené had tagged me on Instagram. The interview is by one of my favorite people in the world, Laura Mayes.
The Counter Narrative, Global Village Podcast
I was honored to be interviewed by the two brilliant Nigerian-based women who run The Counter Narrative Podcast, Rihanot Ojo-Oba and Tiaraoluwa Fadeyi. Their podcast is the leading female-focused podcast in Africa and the Middle East. Click here for the episode, and you can follow them on Instagram.
A Series in Japan about Ejaculate Responsibly
A Japanese publication called Courrier did an extensive interview with me and wrote a series of 5 articles. The articles are in Japanese (obviously) but you can use Google Translate if you’d like to read them. Or share them with your Japanese-reading friends!
First article. Second article. Third article. Fourth article. Fifth article.
In The News
Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to sharing with you:
In The Atlantic — The Broligarchs Are Trying to Have Their Way. The antidemocratic politics of having it all. Turns out there are ultrarich people who believe they are “sovereign individuals” who deserve no less than world domination.
From Charlotte’s Web Thoughts — Send This to Your Relative Who's Worried About Imane Khelif. A comprehensive blog dispelling all the nonsense.
In Bloomberg — The Moral Case for No Longer Engaging With Elon Musk’s X. This article was published before Elon just said Civil War is inevitable.
From Resolute Square — The Power of “Weird”: How a Simple Word Exposes MAGA Madness. "It's as if suddenly everyone around them removed the milky filter from their eyes and realized what they’d understood all along but couldn’t quite communicate.”
From Grist — Heat pumps are expensive. What if billionaires bought them for everyone? It would cost more than $1 trillion, but the savings from lower bills and cleaner air would be just as high.
Lately On Design Mom
After School Snack Placemats
Including a free printable! These are super easy to make and so fun to use. They work with any fruit or veggie.
BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches Recipe
So good! And the post includes a coleslaw recipe too. This recipe was created with a slow-cooker (like a crockpot) in mind, but I don’t have a slow-cooker and just use our cast-iron pot on the stove on very low heat.
Homemade All-Natural Facials
These at-home concoctions were created by Rachael Weesjes, an esthetician. You probably have everything you need in your kitchen already.
That’s all for now. I hope you have a fabulous week. Feel free to comment on anything I mentioned above, or whatever is on your mind.
kisses,
Gabrielle
I would love your thought on BF, right now it feels like people are either BF is a queen we must worship or BF should blink twice for help and honestly, I don't think either are cutting it. My guess is your thoughts would be more nuanced.
Please finish your piece on Ballerina Farms