What I Did

Added a habit tracker, or what the Todd Henry of Louder Than Words calls the dailies, to my morning pages. My goals are to read at least 30 min a day, write 500 words a day (someday I’ll work up to 1000), do some kind of exercise at least 15 min a day, eat veggies everyday, and do something with nature (work on my gardens, work on my indoor plants, do a hike) every day. So far I like having these little reminders to keep at these habits, on top of my other goals. And whenever I find myself with a moment to spare, I try to complete a habit rather than just scroll through my phone.

Reviews that I updated: The Quince Linen review (a little update on the linen swing dress and linen pants) and Blueland Review (I’ve come around to the foaming hand soap refills, mostly due to its convenience lol).

We bought an Airstream! I’m not sure if I should be putting this in the section below because to us, buying this Airstream is like buying a vacation home. Ever since we’ve left our Airstream rental business, we’ve been renting one for our trips (in the Bay Area check out GoSilver). But if we are doing more than one trip a year and we plan to do it until past our retirement, then buying one just made sense for us. We actually put in the order last November but with supply chain issues it kept getting delayed. Now we have a 2023 23’ Flying Cloud Airstream! It’s as our 40th birthday (next year for both my husband and I) present and family heirloom lol. It’s quite a large purchase but our family has such a passion for Airstreaming that instead of investing in a vacation home, we got our dream Airstream!

After reading Glucose Revolution, I started trying to keep an even glucose level throughout the day (the author goes through the many reasons why this is important and I gotta say it convinced me). So even though I’m not on a diet (no calorie restrictions here), I did change my eating habits this month to prevent glucose spikes. The main changes have been eating a veggie starter before each meal (even if this means carrying a bag of carrots with me to a kids pizza party lol) and not eating anything sweet until after a meal (so sweets for dessert but none as a snack). So far I do feel a slightly energy boost. I wake up at 6AM naturally and don’t have a tired groggy feeling, so that’s a plus.

What I Bought

Away Two-Way Crossbody: Thanks to some left over credit from referrals generated by my (very) old Away luggage review I decided to try out their limited edition two-way crossbody. I didn’t have a need for more luggage (my air travel is few and far between these days) so I’m glad Away has branched out to other things. And oh boy do I love this bag. It’s both minimal yet utilitarian, and I love that you can wear it in several configurations. Of course full review to come soon. {P.S. if you’re interested you can get $20 off your first purchase of $125+ from away with my link—thank you as always for all those who support the blog!}

Mini Airfryer: Ok all you air fryer evangelists, I finally get what you guys are talking about. I actually bought this for our Airstream trip last month (and to use for all future Airstream trips) because I always miss having a toaster when we’re on our road trips. Well I’m so so so happy I got this life-changing appliance. Not only can I make toast on our trips but also fries, tater tots, and a plenitude of other crispy foods. I like it so much that it’s become a permanent fixture on our counter top, and I use it at least 3-4 times a week. My current favorite is to use it to make shoyu (soy sauce) chicken thighs (I use my Instant Pot to cook it for about 10 minutes in a marinade, then crisp it up in the Airfryer for another 5). I specifically looked for a small air fryer for the Airstream, and I’m happy I did because this one takes up minimal counter space. But it does mean I sometimes have to cook in batches, but I’m ok with that.

Nutrafol: There’s no way to get around the fact that I’m balding 😞 (ok maybe that’s a little dramatic, but my hair is definitely thinning). Yep, my grandmother had bald spots, and my father also had thinning hair. And now I can see that my part is getting wider and my hair is thinning (though part of it is if you keep parting your hair in the same place all the time, that area is prone to thinning—or so my hair person says). I’m not particularly stressed and I’m still eating healthy, so I don’t think those are the causes. But since my hysterectomy my hormones have changed so I’m pretty sure it’s a hormonal thing. Anyway I’ve been trying to get ahead of it with the Augustinus Bader shampoo and scalp treatment (review coming soon), but I don’t think it’s enough anymore. So I decided to get a three month supply of Nutrafol Balance. Of course I’ll do a full review letting you know if it worked for me or not!

An Ok-to-wake clock for Emi: My daughter, like many toddlers, is an early riser. We’re lucky if she sleeps past 7, and will mostly wake up anytime from 5:45-6:30AM. And even though I’ve trained my body to be able to wake up refreshed at 6ish (thanks to forcing myself to sleep early), we really want Emi to be able to stay in her room until past 7. This clock only has two colors (red and green), but we like it since it can be turned fully off (Emi can’t sleep with any light in the room—though we still turn the face to the wall since the numbers emit a faint light). We set the red light at night to signal it’s time to sleep (red means bed), and then have the light turn green at 7:20, letting her know it’s ok to get up and wake us up (we use stickers and a weekly prize to keep her motivated for the next month). And oh man I feel like a new woman now that I get to sleep til 7am almost every morning. I just wish we had gotten this sooner!

Theragun Mini: I’ve always wanted a theragun but having tried a friend’s one I knew the original wasn’t for me because it was too heavy. Well I finally splurged on one with my first paycheck (I know, I should be saving it but I justify it because sometimes work does a number on my back). And I was able to get it when it was still priced at $155 (now it’s back to $199). I love how light and easy it is to hold with one hand. And yet it still gives a really powerful massage. Anyway I love it and have used it everyday since I got it so I think it was definitely worth it.

Everlane A-line denim shorts: So after writing my 2022 Everlane review, I decided to get a second pair of the A-line denim shorts (which I talked about in my 2021 Everlane review). I wear my first pair of Everlane shorts a lot (like almost everyday in the summer), and when these are in the wash I’m somewhat at a loss at what to wear. Plus my original pair is getting quite loose (so much so that I wear a belt with it now, which isn’t a bad look either). So when these shorts were on sale over labor day I decided to get another pair in a darker denim color (medium indigo) and a smaller size. And I have no regrets about buying another pair of my favorite mom shorts!

Repurchased the Blueland Foaming Hand Soap refills. At first I wasn’t a fan of all the “extra” ingredients in the soap (as compared to the Tangie hand soap paste bar). But in the end the convenience of just popping a tablet into my foaming hand soap dispenser (as opposed to chopping up a soap bar and waiting for it to dissolve in 24 hours) won out. Oh and the new Fall scents got me too (who doesn’t like seasonal hand soap scents 🤷🏻‍♀️). Ah well at the very least I’m still producing minimal waste for my foaming hand soap!

P.S. Lastly I wanted to apologize to subscribers who’ve been getting “phantom” posts (ie posts that don’t have any content in them). This happens because my posting calendar is scheduled out (it’s how I keep myself on a regular posting schedule). But sometimes I change my mind and don’t end up finishing a post (it’s rare but it happens). I’m usually pretty good about pushing those posts back or deleting them but sometimes some posts slip through the cracks (seriously I don’t know how the Wilder shoes one got posted twice when I swear I deleted it 🤦🏻‍♀️). Anyway I’ll try better to prevent this from happening again!

P.P.S The phantom post just happened again today! I swear I did not have a second September recap scheduled (or even drafted), so now I wonder if someone is messing with me 🤔