OUT with the new ....

IN with the tried and trusted

Happy New Year friends! I had a little chat with myself and decided that the world doesn’t need another resolutions or predictions newsletter (which are the new gift guide posts, in terms of substack ubiquity) and that allowed me to blissfully stay off internet a few extra days.

So, what has that blissful mostly internet free existence been like?

• We stayed home for Christmas in a great respite from almost 3 months on the road in 2024 (gift highlights include: number of vintage cookbooks, heavy on the EARLY / Connecticut catering era Martha, several classy coffee table additions, and that infrared face mask)

• Saw some good movies in theatres - Anora, Complete Unknown, etc (but sadly not yet re: “Babygirl” because I know you’ll ask - I promise to get to both that and “Nightbitch” any day now)

• I went shopping treasure hunting in-person/with friends (remember shopping in person / with friends????) to World Market and Marshall’s and Home Goods and the many many antique malls of Fredericksburg.

• Searched for Havoc by Christopher Bollen high and low in actual bookstores, after NY Times declared it one of the best thrillers of the year, finally caved and ordered it online (it is in such demand that it won’t arrive VIA AMAZON until Jan 10th-21st - true story - but I love it for Bollen)

• Ate a lot of what I call “picnic” meals - charcuterie and cheese and dip and caviar and tinned fish and pickles, all on (treasure-hunted) boards w/ good bread and wine and bundt cakes w/ added fruit and creme fraiche

• Hosted friends for Kennedy Center Honors and NYE (three house guests, ten neighbors, a few out of towners that didn’t stay with us), dressed up for both and in the process decided that “NYE PARTIES ARE BACK!” (as will be other celebratory house party weekends because both me and Jason have “big” birthdays this year - so get ready!)

• Got back into hot yoga (preceded by a long cold walk into town)

• and, of course, spent relaxing times reading thrillers (old favorites like Alafair Burke, and new favorites like

  Stephanie Wrobel
  whose very fun “Hitchcock Hotel” prompted me to put “Darling Rose Gold” and “This Might Hurt” onto the library hold) and solving British murder mysteries on TV (Vera final season (#14!!!!) is here, as is the new season (#9!!!) of Shetland).

• Kept my phone on airplane mode and in a drawer most of the time (unless my husband alerted me of group chats involving well wishes or visitors needing instructions and directions)

In short, it is worth reiterating - blissful.

Only to wake up on the 1st of January to be onslaughted (is this a word? it should be a word) w/ “most anticipated books of the year” (none of which included the one book I am fully invested in turning into a best-seller and actually did pre-order for 2025 - Grady Hendrix’s “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” out Jan 14th), “trend predictions according to cool girls” (I definitely did open this one,

Jess Graves

has a way of sucking you in), “what to wear to gyms” (didn’t open this one ON PRINCIPLE, though I love

Courtney

’s newsletter), “what to buy during the post-Christmas sales” (let me tell you - the only correct answer to that is men’s poplin shirts from Alex Mill - down to $49-$65 from $165 and truly worth it - they are somehow both my oft-commented-on projected-polish zoom uniform AND they are a perfect beach cover up when worn unbuttoned and over white denim shorts, and therefore they are perfect) etc.

And that was before I even logged onto my linkedin which I spent exactly 5 min on Jan 3rd and may have to leave the way people leave social media - it is getting very uncomfortable in there.

The summary of the first 4 days of January:

EVERYONE IS RARING TO GO. OR RARING TO PROJECT THAT THEY’RE READY TO GO?

Which begs the question - WHY?

Wasn’t living a little slower over the 2nd half of December, you know, fun?

Wasn’t reading books under blankets and slathering your face with non-fancy-but-really-rich-creams so you can go on long walks in the cold, brisk air fun?

Wasn’t re-watching movies you have watched every year AND listening to playlists that spark childhood joy in you during the holidays fun?

Wasn’t NOT having to perform your dog-and-pony personal brand show for whatever reason for a few days kind of the best?

The answer is yes.

So, how about we make a non-resolution resolution to just enjoy what we know we like this year?

To stop chasing the high of a buzzy purchase or linkedin bravado or a cool-on-paper trip (something I felt DEEPLY while home was that I need to be in my own bed more often) and kind of just BE?

For me, this entails more MORE more of the type of stuff I bullet point listed above, more of writing this newsletter with that kind of existence in mind, and maybe being a little more brave about saying no (to jobs that I know will suck the living lights out of me and won’t result in anything worth showing, to the siren song of instagram, to endlessly subscribing to more substack newsletters and then feeling bad about not reading them) so I have the time to say yes to some other things I’ve often deemed too frivolous for life. Cue: photos of Katherine Hepburn skateboarding in medium-age….

This is the end of my soapbox talk. Happy New Year again and thank you for making it this far - and I will see you here in mere days w/ moar. Go offline and live life in the meantime? (that was not a question)