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One of my favorite conversation threads with you Magpies: what can we do now to take care of our future selves? I love the concept that we’re always raising future versions of us. In the past, you’ve shared fantastic practical gifts to our future selves, including drawing the shades and folding down the comforter so that when you get back for the evening, you’re ready for bed; prepping food in advance; buying gifts for little kid birthday parties in bulk. Below, a few additional ones:
Pouring a tall glass of water before leaving for a run;
Auditing your internal voice — the way you speak to yourself sets the tone for others;
Working out even when you’re short on time (i.e., when you need it the most);
Leaving five minutes early to reduce stress;
Dressing for the weather;
Setting hard boundaries;
Putting away dishes and laundry immediately;
Stretching before and after exercising;
Accepting earnest criticism and dismissing the rest as noise;
Letting go of grudges — resentment is like drinking a slow-release poison and waiting for the other person to die;
Moving mountains to be there for pick-up / bath-time / bedtime / dinner with your children;
Rounding up on the parking meter;
Spending intentional time with parents and grandparents;
Becoming an expert in yourself;
Wearing SPF;
Letting love take the lead
Post-Scripts.
Shopping Break.
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+Another hygge find in my cart. (More sizes here.). Also comes in a half-zip style.
+Great last minute stocking stuffer for a little lady. (At the time of publishing, on sale for $6!). My daughter lives for these.
+On the “stretching before and after exercising” front, I bought Mr. Magpie a theragun for Christmas and I fully intend to use it myself. Hehe.
+Also on the exercise front: thanks to a Magpie reader for recommending Lululemon Energy sports bras for running! I’ve been unsatisfied by the options in my closet and was hunting for a new one, and she sold me on these. Will report back with thoughts!
+If you read my post last week, I’m testing a couple of skincare gadgets, including a red light mask and the NEWA. I am just starting use and can’t share full thoughts yet but did want to mention that the NEWA is currently 20% off. It “uses clinical-grade radio frequency technology to help the skin renew its production of collagen and elastin.” I was sold on this by an ad I saw on Instagram. Wrinkle reduction, yes please.
+Today only, take 20% off VB’s holiday dressing suite with code PARTY2024. You will wear this iconic black velvet blazer year after year. Would be perfect paired with tartan or satin for Christmas, and basically anything for NYE!
+Speaking of NYE…OK, J. Crew!!!
+The cutest cozy boots for your little – very limited sizes! These are also adorable and shearling lined. (Snow is coming!)
+For me, I’m eyeing these boots for cold weather!
+Precious cashmere baby blanket for under $80. Such a luxe gift! Landon often asks me to send baby gifts to colleagues of his and I think this will be my new go to. I also love to gift sweet RL pieces like these baby cardigans.
+Cozy neutral gloves.
+Two adorable and well-priced baby puffers: this bow print and this one from Sofia Richie’s collab with Amazon.
+Intrigued by this new-to-me beauty line specifically for women over 40. Want to try this foundation!
Thinking about your luxe detergent, one way I take care of my future self is making cleaning more pleasant for me. I’ve been testing different cleaning supplies and finally, everything from the laundry detergent to the toilet cleaner smells great. And I bought myself nice sponges and big rolls of microfiber towels for Black Friday, so now I have pale blue for the kitchen and brown to clean the bathroom. I have a nicely stocked caddy (it descends into chaos when anyone else uses it but I love “restocking” as a duty. Tonight my son was up past 11 (not his fault, there’s jackhammering outside his window) so I let him hang out the couch under a blanket, poured my favorite fancy grapefruit rosemary water (they’re literally more expensive than the wine here so I rarely have a whole one at once) and deep cleaned the kitchen, I’m talking scrubbing the oven and all. Now he’s cuddling me to sleep and I’m looking at more cleaning supplies online! I’m absolutely going to stumble to bed around midnight and forgot I did this and be delighted tomorrow.
Emm, fully agree about making the appointment! Especially here, specialists book out ages in advance, so I make the appointment first and I’ll cancel it a month out if I don’t need it (reviewing upcoming medical stuff for the whole family is part of our monthly admin date).
I love this sentiment SO MUCH. This was a huge mindframe shift for me during COVID. I taught myself how to really slow down and try to make even the “admin” parts of my day pleasant. Like instead of rage folding laundry (haha), I’d make some tea, put on an audiobook, and try to lean into it. The same with errands / carpool / etc — I like to treat myself by packing a little snack, fizzy water, bag of swedish fish I’ve been hiding from the kids; put on music or an audiobook. Make it fun!
Love the way you’ve rebranded cleaning 🙂
xx
Totally agree, you can always cancel the appt, but it feels better to have it on the calendar, at least as step one. Pls share your laundry detergent – intrigued!!
I’m in France so it’s not terribly accessible for everyone else but it’s this jasmine-scented savon d’Alep, a real true jasmine https://www.greenweez.com/produit/lessive-liquide-au-savon-dalep-et-jasmin-2l/1NAJE0045
Jen, I’m still in rage folding mode a lot of the time!! Trying to embrace the calm clean but I think 1/3 of our big cleaning sprints are me just getting mad at the state of things
Taking care of your future self: make the appointment. I find myself spending copious amounts of mental worry and back/forth on whether to make the doctor/specialist/whatever appointment when a twinge or issue comes up + holding the mental space of “should i/shouldn’t i?” for weeks before wishing I had just made the appointment and got it on the calendar in the first place (usually, too, because the availability is booked out for a month, on top of the initial delay!). I’m currently dealing with a rapidly worsening skin issue and kicking myself for not making the derm appointment 10 days ago when it initially cropped up. Make the appointment!
Hope you love the Energy bras! Re: the Theragun – I have one too & have copiously researched the best ways to use it for workouts/runs – apparently, the biggest benefit is in waking your muscles up *before* a run or workout. It can minimally help with soreness the day after the activity, but has limited utility directly after exercise. It’s (allegedly) far more effective to use it pre-run to stimulate blood flow and turn on your muscles, along with dynamic stretching (perfect for cold weather runs). Cheering you on in fitness pursuits, always!
SUCH a good point, Erica, on making the appointment. I completely related to your insight about “should I / shouldn’t I?” I’m taking this under my wing, especially because I am always the one that pushes for the kids to go to the doctor and Mr. Magpie is much more “let’s wait and see,” and so I feel like I carry this enormous ball of stress around with me when the kids are unwell — “should I, should I not?!” Now I’m just going to do it. Can always cancel if they’re better in the morning!
xx
PS Thanks for the tip on the theragun!!!