2019: Recovery

June Gunaratne recaps 2019 in this blog posts and reflects on what made it impactful. She celebrates the one-year anniversary of her moving to Austin and building a community of family and friends in her new home.

Rounding Third and Sliding into Home

We are in the home stretch towards 2020! Finishing up this blog post while watching Game 7 of the World Series where my Astros are grinding it to the death is surreal. 2 years ago I was taking care of my son, watching the World Series, as he was a newborn and we secured the…

Decluttering & Hoarding

Updates: I began working a month ago at an amazing nonprofit organization in Austin. Im moving into my own apartment on Sunday. I've found a new daycare in a span of a day, yikes. Life is looking up, the part that is of particular interest to me is the phase I'm going through in relation…

Comfort PT.1

Let's dissect what it means to be at ease. What is comfort? 1. a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint: room for four people to travel in comfort. • (comforts) things that contribute to physical ease and well-being: the low upholstered chair was one of the room's few comforts. • prosperity…

Valentine’s Day

I am so fortunate to have the family and friends that I have, they're more than what I could have ever asked for. They know my needs more than me at times. SO many people have been here to help me up after I've fallen. Even to intervene before a fall has taken place, the…

Jamaica Kinkaid – & my Activism Fail

That the native does not like the tourist is not hard to explain. For every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is…

Audre Lorde

A Litany for Survival BY AUDRE LORDE For those of us who live at the shoreline standing upon the constant edges of decision crucial and alone for those of us who cannot indulge the passing dreams of choice who love in doorways coming and going in the hours between dawns looking inward and outward at once…

Sick Day

Well, I'll keep it short. I was so happy about daycare and we both got sick. Aint that something? I just thought it was so funny how excited I was and that same day my baby started showing symptoms and two days later I was down for the count. We're over it now. Today marks…

Daycare

Someone messaged me telling me they read my blog and were now thinking of starting their own blog to vent... hmm. That wasn't my intention when creating the blog haha. I was hoping that yall would be able to relate to some developmental milestones of my son who is nearing 16 months in a few…

Frustration

I had a brief exchange the other day with a facebook friend about temper tantrums. She's a mom of a 3-week old and a step-mom/coparent to a 5-year old; she believes that temper tantrums are avoidable. I do not. She believes that kids should do as the parents says and I would like to qualify…

Body Positivity

I don't have a fun picture to post of my mom bod and this will not be an analytical piece like I said I would like to make in my last post. This is my first post of 2019 because it's something that all women deal with due to our fluctuating curves. Mine just happen…

Reluctance

This will be my last blog post of 2018. The topic we're looking at is: hesitation. I chose this topic because the fear of failure has oftentimes prevented me from starting or executing plans. This thought sprung up as I am approaching sleep training my son, having to create a plan and being consistent. The…

Primavera

    Rafael M San Juan Primavera Originally, this post was suppose to be an art review (don't count me out just yet). A little about the piece, it was made by Rafael San Juan for the detrás de los muros exhibition in the Bienal de La Habana 2015 and was donated to be a…

Diana Hinek

  I encountered Diana Henik, birth doula and photographer, on Instagram (@artshapedphotography). I was drawn to her by looking through her feed, her photography is captivating and visceral. I couldn't tell where her job ended and her life started. I enjoyed her images because they captured the joy of (carrying, creating and giving) life, she…

WTF? What even is a ‘Low Key’ Nurturer?

When I began the blog, I had intentions on being a ‘mom blogger’. I assumed and chose topics that covered basic ‘mom’ taking care of baby processes. I wrote about washing bottles, because these were ‘mom’ things I hadn’t thought about prior. I had so many ideas but they felt so impersonal and in my…

Tips to Freelancing and Moming

This summer has been so good to me! I had a fairly busy summer full of different photography and creation work. I had three different photography projects. I had two parties that I'm helping with/ planning. (My dad's party was yesterday and Buddha's is in a week). Of course, none of it would be possible…

The Countdown to the FIRST birthday

Yesterday was Buddha's monthaversary & After 11 months ... I've realized: Baby blues are real - ruminating on the barren emotional landscape of my transition into postpartum & sympathizing with new moms and their struggle to maintain ... it's so hard to navigate with a seemingly unforgiving ANXIETY. I. Feel. You. & it fades, trust…