We've talked about my love/hate relationship with eggs here before. I eat them almost every day, for a really long time, until the inevitable morning where I scramble a few and just stare at them. It's a fact-- you can only eat eggs so many days in a row before needing a break. You can make a smoothie or grab a Larabar or do whatever quick, easy breakfast usually takes the place of your eggs, or you can make Paleo avocado toast.

Yeah.

It's not fair that Paleo doesn't include bread, I get it. Especially when Instagram is exploding with sexy photos of toast piled high with avocado and all the fixin's. But if you toast up thick slices of sweet potatoes in olive oil or ghee, you might not even miss it (that much). 

Ingredients:

• One large sweet potato

• One avocado

• One to two tablespoons olive oil

• Lemon or lime wedges, sesame seeds, crushed red pepper, and/or sliced green onions

• Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Instructions: 

1. Carefully cut the sweet potato into relatively thick slices. Season with olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

2. In a large pan, cook the sweet potato slices over medium-high heat until they are fork tender and browned, about 10 minutes on each side. You can also roast them on a sheet pan at 425 for about 15 minutes, or throw them in the air fryer for 10-15, flipping halfway through.

3. Slice an avocado and layer or mash onto the sweet potatoes. Top with sesame seeds, green onions, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and lime juice.

My friend Daci and I decided to do an email-powered writing club in 2016 because we love writing but don't do it enough and also I think because we miss each other a lot sometimes and this might make us feel like we're sitting together at Spyhouse Coffee as the sun streams in across our Moleskines and we sip lavender lattes.

She sent me a care package with coffee and pencils and a cookie cutter in the shape of Minnesota. There was also a notebook that says Fucking Brilliant on the cover in really fancy gold calligraphy. I cried while I rummaged through the box, because she wrote "2015 was the WORST. Here's to 2016 being a million times better." in the card and it meant everything to me because I think she meant it for me even though she didn't mean it for her, since 2015 brought a brand new gorgeous happy healthy baby to her life.

And then a day later, a text: "Can we do like a virtual writing club? Or is that what blogging is already anyway?"

Two good questions. Our text messages are often just inside jokes or very random things that made one of us think of the other, like the fine line between cute and ugly jumpsuits or the time Andrew McMahon walked into a Minneapolis restaurant with his baby like it was no big deal.

It's probably not surprising to anyone that January is almost halfway through and I haven't written an essay for our writing club yet, but I do have notes in my Fucking Brilliant journal. I wrote them when I was half asleep one night:

STORIES 

College

• Wes and Playground
  • First night
  • After breakup

Good enough, I guess. (Wes is a friend of mine from college who I used to go to this playground with, by the way. As I'm sure you can tell from my very detailed notes, there's a story there.)

So I was going to write the essay about my friend from college and the playground, but then Star Wars Episode VII came out and Rob and I spent a few days re-watching the old ones before going to see the new one, and I realized that never did it occur to me that any of the characters were in outer space, which is a big deal because I'm actually really afraid of outer space. If a meteor were headed towards Earth and we all needed to hop on a spaceship to escape safely, I'd stay. Like, Gravity came out and I made Rob go see it by himself while Daci and I probably ate French fries. So naturally I G-chatted her about it.

“i realized when i was going to see it though that space in star wars doesn’t scare me
why is that
very important life question here (M)

hmmm maybe because its not real space?
like you’re scared of the space movies where actual humans that live in our world are trapped and feeling actual feelings and thinking about actual Earth things that are familiar to you
such a good life question
maybe space should be a prompt (D)

that’s exactly what it is
those people in star wars are supposed to be in space
they’ve just always lived out there
but yeah i like space as a prompt (M)

theyre in their element
maybe your fear isnt space (D)

just bein a wookie (M)

its feeling lost
#DEEP (D)”

Because whether it's out there in the great beyond or somewhere in the ocean (another great fear of mine), nobody wants to be flailing around, gasping for breath, trying to figure out which way is up. And whether you're writing about a playground or the terrifying rings of Jupiter, sometimes you just need to get started and figure it out from there. Two writing prompts and a blog post. And a reason to text my friend in Minnesota. Better than nothing.

But I think we'll write the essays anyway.

I'm hoping there's no wrong way to start a capsule wardrobe, because I'm kind of just winging it (and really taking my time). I got rid of everything I totally hate, and I recently separated the things I really love from the things I just kind of like. Every month or so I look through the stuff I just kind of like, and if I haven't thought about it since the time I separated it from the "love" collection, I donate it.

I only realized I was finally getting somewhere when I was getting ready to meet Andi for some What I Wore photos and I was able to picture exactly what clothes I wanted to bring. I've never been able to do that before. I still don't know how many pieces I'm going to end up with, but whatever--this seems to be working. 

Necklaces: c/o Barberry & Lace | Leggings (similar): Ralph Lauren

Sweater: Everlane | Boots (similar): J.Crew | Scarf (similar fabric): J.Crew

If you have a capsule wardrobe, how did you build it?

Photos by Andi Perullo for Freckled Italian.