Get in close. Make it count.
Good morning, you sweet holiday babies
I am having trouble not overthinking this post.
It’s the end of the year. It’s the holidays. It’s (gestures to the world) all of thiiiiiis. And I think I wanted to find some magical story that could help me make sense of it all.
Instead, what came to me were six words: “Get in close. Make it count.”
Because - and this could absolutely be the seven Ghirardelli chocolates I just ate talking - but I think the antidote to overwhelm is to try to stay in the moment as much as we can. Spending precious time with precious people not in overthinking and trying to make it perfect, but by having the courage to just get in close and make it count.
So, I don’t know how I did this past year or how next year is going to go - but, I’m going to get in close and make it count.
And, I don’t know how the holidays are going to go, but I’m going to get in close and make them count.
And finally, I don’t know how (gestures to the world) all of thiiiiiis is going to go, but I’m going to get in close and make it count.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to one and all. You’re all just lovely.
Now get out there - or stay in! - and get in close and make it count.
Each month, I’ll gather:
🤩stuff to watch, read and listen to
🌱 cool crafts to do with your litto hands
🌈 music to soothe
🥑 good food and great places to eat and drink
🕯calming things
*****
🤩
Yep. I’ve started watching the GD F1 Documentary series on Netflix, Drive To Survive. Blame my niece. (But it’s incredible, I love it. I’m on Season 2 of 6 seasons already)
Dalgleish is back - it’s one of my all time favorites. I absolutely love Bertie Carvel since seeing him in Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
There’s also a new series of Shetland, with the new cast and I really love it, too!
The holidays feel like a really good time to rewatch all the Ghibli movies. This year, my rewatch started with Kiki’s Delivery Service.
Kishi Bashi is one of my favorite artists and him singing I Am the Antichrist to You live is TRANSCENDENT. Please click on that link and just WAIT for his voice to come in… you’ll thank me later. The swell at 1.44 makes me cry EVERY TIME.
🌱
Have you ever thought about Quilting? What if this was the year you learned?
I love the beginning of the year because it’s when I set up my journal for the year. I usually opt for just a run of the mill journal like THIS one. I’ve tried others - with the prompts and the bells and whistles - but, I hated it. HOWEVER -
What I love about journals is the fun pens, stickers and creativity of it all. Even if you don’t wanna do all the little trackers, maybe just find an avenue for fun pens and stickers!
I’ve done a Word of the Year for a while now and it’s become a really sacred tradition. I actually think about it a lot (what a shock) and it always surprises me which word bubbles up. Highly recommend giving it a try.
Since I’m now off my phone, I’ve gone back to puzzling. Yes, I’m using it as a verb. It’s a puzzler thing, okay? Pfflt. I have two of THESE puzzles and really like them and the quality is good.
🌈
🥑
Recently, I met a friend for dinner at Badmaash. Legit everything there is friggin delicious, but I also noticed that they’re selling their Butter Chicken sauce!?
They also had these adorable little take away chais? SO GOOD. But, they’re not selling them yet. BUT WHEN THEY DO….
As a kid, I used to LOVE kefir. And I am a bonafide yogurt lover, don’t get me wrong, but I found THESE at the store and they absolutely feel like those halcyon days of chugging kefir when I was a kid.
On a recent road trip, I chose Fig Newtons as my road food. Man oh man, those things are the BEST.
Also, just as I was researching them for this newsletter apparently the FIG was dropped from the name in 2012? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS AND NO I DON’T KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT IT.
My love of tea is well documented, but my tolerance for caffeine is sadly waning. So, at night when I’m getting cozy and socking in for the evening I only reach for ONE decaf black tea. YES, I’ve tried them all. YES, I know any decaf black tea is not completely decaf. NO, an herbal tea doesn’t quite do it for me and I shan’t even talk about Roobios (tl:dr I hate it.) SO!
My absolute ride or die is the decaf PG Tips. It does NOT taste like dish water, it’s strong and flavorful and tastes as good as the caffeinated PG Tips, which is also my choice for your standard builder’s tea.
For your California files, there’s a really great Ghirardelli outlet in Lathrop - a nice stop to make if you’re driving from LA to San Francisco or vice versa. We kinda went nuts in there. They have little bins of EVERY FLAVOR of those little square candies and you can MAKE YOUR OWN BAG full of ALL the flavors. They also have all these cool other candies, merch and even ice cream. It’s a very fun and geeky roadside attraction.
And if you’re looking for other fun candy roadside attractions in Northern California, the Jelly Belly factory is super fun and weird (did you want to see a portrait of Reagan made out of Jelly Bellies, WELL HOLD ON TO YOUR HAT)… and maybe you can walk away with a bag of Belly Flops.
🕯
I love ceramics and ALL OF THESE are gorgeous and I need em all.
I love a blate - a cross between a bowl and a plate - and her version is SO lovely.
I got the Anthropologie Advent Calendar this year because I love how it introduces me to 24 new products that I never would have heard of - let alone get to try. The hits for this year’s were:
Verb Ghost Oil - YEP, it’s as good as all the hype surrounding it suggests.
Poppy and Pout Lip Balm - Okay, so this one is interesting. The wonderfully environmentally friendly packaging can be a bit hard to navigate and the balm does cast a bit of a whitish sheen that can make one look a bit sallow, BUT it’s really a lovely balm that keeps you hydrated and feels minty and lovely. Even with those challenges, it leapfrogged past several other balms to hold pole position (heyo F1!) as my purse lip balm. A high honor.
Solinotes Eau de Parfum Tonka - This perfume is LUSH. The tonka in the name is kind of a false flag, as it doesn’t really have that warm, vanilla top note you’d think. It’s light and airy -just the right amount of floral and bright. Gave this one to my Mom and she loves it.
NEST Lychee Rose Eau de Parfum - So, we knew going in that this advent calendar really does favor perfumes, but I actually think that’s a feature not a bug. Mainly because it’s so hard to try out a new perfume or find how you’re going to like it from one day to the next. This scent is lovely - it’s definitely more floral, not as warm and a little sharper than the Tonka, but it’s really nice. I also gave this one to my mom.
I also am now a full convert to going into Sephora and buying travel sizes of the different perfumes I’m curious about. Because - while some of these perfume prices are staggering - the little travel sizes are super doable AND last a really long time! I’m obsessed.
Happy holidays, Liza! I appreciate you so much and I love getting your newsletter every month. <3
Sephora also sells perfumes in these glass tubes with a rollerball for application. Have you seen? They tend to be decently priced and so much easier to travel with than a spray or something with a tiny cap that might come loose and dump perfume all through your cosmetics case.