Baby Jesus

These were sprinkled all over North Central Florida.

“Oh my word, we have one more. I didn’t see that one. Someone left us another baby Jesus!” Lady with the blue eyeshadow at the Citrus Welcome Center in Ocala

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Everywhere we went, we found baby Jesuses. At the citrus center, restaurants, coffee shops, and even our captain on the glass bottom boat in the springs had a collection. I complimented him on his collection, and he grinned and said “thank you.” Apparently, my mom even has one or two in her classroom.

I found them to be funny and cute. The sash always says something about Jesus loving you. They spark joy.

The first time I saw them was a clip of Kris Jenner putting them into every handbag, pocket and suitcase. At that time, I had no idea they were taking my hometown by storm.

So I decided to put them all over NYC. Who doesn’t love some Southern charm and the love of Jesus in the gritty big city?

My expression every time I leave a Baby Jesus behind with pure stealth.

Random Acts of Opportunity

“What God is giving you is not a destiny but an opportunity.” Erwin McManus

This Week’s Favorites 05.21.26

By: Gabriela Yareliz

It’s our first week back home after some time away, and we are on the verge of summer. It’s so close you can taste it. Summer fridays just around the corner, even though we had hail yesterday.

I have this itch to clean. To work out. To plan. To be tan.

This week’s vibe is:

“A well-run home is a microcosm of sanity in a world that is plainly mad. If a home doesn’t make sense, nothing does.” Henrietta Ripperger

We need flowers everywhere!
Nostalgia is always welcome.
More flowers.
These shoes are magical.
Pops of color!

“Remember, most of your stress comes from the way you respond, not the way life is. Adjust your attitude.

Change how you see things. Look for the good in all situations. Take the lesson and find new opportunities to grow. Let all the extra stress, worrying, and overthinking go.” Reclaim Your Energy Substack

“Work ethic eliminates fear.” Michael Jordan

“People will never rise above their opinion of themselves.” Peter Sage

“May all the little girls who were told they were ‘wise beyond their years’ be unburdened and silly again.” Francesca Emilia

Song this week:

A Rare Breed

There are people who say what they mean.

It’s rare, but they exist. It’s funny because when you meet one, you just know. It’s a frequency thing that syncs with your soul.

When you find such a person, keep them close.

Love the Questions

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.“

Rainer Maria Rilke 

Victoria Beckham on Aspire

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I loved this interview and conversation between Emma Grede and Victoria Beckham. Hilariously (and very on-brand), I was wearing VB Beauty eyeliner while listening.

We all wanted to be Posh Spice on the playground in the 2nd grade.

Sunrise Teacher

Sometimes, our greatest teachers are places.

By: Gabriela Yareliz

I was reading Cleo Wade’s newsletter about her new book launch, In a World of Sunrises, and she said:

“New Orleans has been my greatest teacher in resilience. The wisdom of this city flows through many pages of this book.”

It made me think of Florida. Florida has been one of my greatest teachers— teaching me stillness, resilience and endurance.

Florida has been my place of back-to-back hurricanes, survival of them, heat that will melt your face off, and skipping through green lawns barefoot in torrential rains. It’s a place for starting again.

It’s the place where no matter how hard the previous day was, the sun rises again with the morning mist and fog refreshing everything in its reach. The morning dew forgives all, and it blankets the wildlife and farm animals in sparkles. Every spiderweb bedazzled.

The trees stand high, and the Spanish Moss hangs low. The springs bubble with abundance and harmony. In their clarity, you learn to see. You drive down a road engulfed in the expansive blue sky ahead, as if you are driving straight into the sky in the horizon.

It’s a place where the humidity will make you feel like you have lost your mind, but in that process you find yourself, over and over and over again.

I recently returned, and nothing comforted me more than seeing that open fields and stretches of green land remain. The fields get misty and the sun still beats down on all the same.

Florida has this feral vibe that strips all pretense and frivolity, and it leaves you with what the soul really needs.

A view from the window in the early morning.

In each sunrise, she gives her gift to anyone willing to receive it.

Discipline

Seth Cohen vibes.

“That’s why optimism is a discipline. It takes discipline to see the good when things are going bad. It takes discipline to see beauty in the midst of tragedy. It takes discipline to see the best in people when they let us down. It takes discipline to forgive when the person does not deserve it. It takes discipline to reject the negative voices in our heads and choose to listen to the optimist who’s cheering us on.” Erwin McManus, Mind Shift