Some Non-Book Recommendations

Here’s some stuff I like that is not a book. Lots of these were discovered and enjoyed last year, but they still hold up.

-Shorts in the summer - I had not fully embraced wearing shorts until the summer of 2021. I am tall, pale, a parent, full of some stuff to sort through leftover from the insane body/diet messaging of the 90’s and from religious stuff and experienced my first feeling of joy while wearing shorts in the heat of the summer in the Central Valley and it was just amazing. Long live jean shorts. Long live free legs. Long live being comfortable in your body. This summer I’m gonna be working on beefing up my quads and my shorts collection.

-Press on nails, I like the ones I’ve linked here - They’re convenient. Nobody looks at them as closely as you think they do. They make me feel a little more pulled together. They don’t chip like nail polish does. They’re cheaper than getting your nails done by a lot. Excellent back scratching tools. Love them. So cheap and so fun and I’ve gotten lots of compliments on them, which is really nice! One time one of my coworkers said the set I had on that day was “so rock and roll” which is like, the best compliment I’ve gotten, it was awesome, haha.

-Harry the dog - get a dog!! If you can, of course, and you have the inclination then go to a shelter and walk around until your soul finds a canine friend. I adopted Harry last summer and he has added so much joy to my life. Seeing how pumped he gets every time we go for a walk, how happy he is to see me and my kids, how all he wants to do is snuggle and love me and eat all the bread. Ugh. There’s nothing better than his doofus grin and spinning thwacky tail and his instant delight at just me and food and a patch of sun to nap in on the floor and I love him so much.

-Renting a city dumpster in which to throw out all the old junk - This is one I’m going to be repeating and also felt very grown up to me and was also worth every single penny. Call your city and ask if they can hook you up with the folks who will do this. It was added to my utility bill and while it wasn’t cheap, for the amount of stuff I was able to clear out was worth it’s weight many times over literally and emotionally. 10/10. Throw it all out and start fresh. Or throw most of it out and replenish as you can.

-Buying more real plants and more fake plants - I’ve bought more plants this last year than in my whole life. Add greenery to your house, it makes the brain happy. I have fake tiny plants in the bathrooms on the sink. Brightens up the space. I have real plants in most of the rooms. I get flowers and last time the bouquet was big enough to split and so I put some in our bedrooms. Easily added +10 points for ambiance and delight. Add the plants and the flowers and don’t worry if they’re fake or real. You just have to like them and they will do the trick.

-Candles - candles that smell good and have witty names, and tall candles in different colors to burn at dinner time. Candles are amazing. You can disassociate and look into the flame. You can set a tall one and work next to it while it burns down. You can set multiple tall ones and have dinner, then set a ritual of saying something nice when you blow them out. Set one that smells good and listen to it burn (I’m doing that right now and it’s great).

-Twinkly lights put up around the banister on the stairs and around the bookshelves - more delight inducing environmental coziness tricks. I did this for Christmas times, and then never took them down because I liked it too much. It’s glowy and charming all the time. Who wouldn’t want that?!

-Saturday skin - Y’all, this stuff is amazing. I am not, like, great at skincare. Working on it. But this gets alllllll the dead skin off my face and doesn’t sting or burn or hurt of anything and afterwards my skin is the smoothest and best feeling, I love it and need to order more. I got it in one of the Allure beauty boxes.

-Animal Crossing - I started playing this last year. It’s so therapeutic. I love playing it while I listen to a book and am snuggled with a blanket. Tidying a virtual island is adorable and hits a particular part of my brain’s desire to escape and travel really well without leaving the house. A true win-win.

-Clear organizational storage boxes - getting high on organizing means I’m an adult, right? I love the ones from Target right now by the Brightroom brand. I have some in the fridge, in my desk drawers, and under the sinks in the bathrooms and it’s really made a huge difference in feeling like I have my shit together and in actually helping me to stay organized.

-Stuff that makes my skin feel nice - I use this stuff morning and night, I like this lip stuff at night and all the time, it’s excellent and I haven’t met anything better yet. I have lots of redness in my skin and this product helps even out my tone (no I have no clue if that’s the right wording but that’s what it does and I like it).

-Subscription boxes that let you sample things - I don’t know a lot about a lot of stuff and am actively working on establishing more opinions, preferences, and figuring out what I do and do not like. I can speak more on this sometime, but one thing that’s been incredibly helpful and really fun is getting a few of those subscription boxes that choose cool stuff for you and then I can try them, they include directions, and it’s fun. My two favorites are the Allure Beauty Box. It’s like Birchbox but you get more and better products. There’s full sized things and I’ve found some amazing products that way. Birchbox had a lot of repeats and the samples were always so small that it felt like there wasn’t ever enough to see if it really worked for me or not. The other one I’ve just started but am enjoying called Sipsby - they send 4 tea’s a month that are geared towards preferences you establish. You can give feedback on each month’s selection so the longer you have it the more tailored to you it becomes. I’m only on month 2 but have been enjoying these boxes and giving my feedback. If you give them a try with this link you can get $5 off your first box .

This was fun to put together, I’ll likely do another one when we get closer to Summer time. Anything you’ve been loving lately? I’d love to know.