👟👠 December vibes, full volume (#36)

Hi !  Welcome back. My Christmas music is on, loud. (My favourite is the Leona Lewis, One More Sleep). This week I am thinking (and writing) about meet-ups, food poisoning, ambitious creativity, indecisiveness and intrinsic motivation. If you haven’t subscribed yet, you can join here or by clicking the button below. - Eve D.❣️

WEEK IN REVIEW

Aside from a small(ish) hiccup, this was really an exceptionally great week, for me and for those in my close circle.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 I’ve had great meet-ups with friends, family and lovers. Honestly, good company and good food is my love language. I need very little else to make me happy! And the first part of December is such a great time to go seeking exactly that. (Although, why can’t I insist on this type of life every month? No reason!)

🏥 Unfortunately, somewhat paradoxically to the above I picked up either a bug or food poisoning on Wednesday night, and didn’t think I would make it to Thursday. But here is the upside: as I was dying, I realised how healthy I have been this whole year. That is a new thing for me, and it (obviously) made my whole life so much better. As I was suffering that night, I pledged to myself that I do not want to be that level of sick ever again. I am going to be much more proactive about health next year, including investigating health protocols like peptides and supplements. You will hear more from me on this!

🍽️ Zac cooked dinner. This is monumental! I have G to thank for this…he took kids and I out to lunch this week, and while I went to the bathroom he said something to Zac that made him determined to start cooking. We have burger night every Friday, so Zac opted to start with that…but instead of throwing the burgers into the airfryer (Eve-style) he cooked them on the pan, and even pan-toasted the buns. (Actually, he did two batches, one on pan and one in airfryer and then we had a taste-test. The pan ones won). Also, in true Zac-level-of-confidence style, he declared them the best burgers he has ever eaten. Anyway, we have now decided that both kids will experiment with cooking next year, which means my dinner load has decreased to just two times per week. Is it Christmas already????

🎄 We are in full Christmas mode. I have promised myself to do all my shopping online, and to avoid the shops at all costs (excuse the pun). I ordered a present at 11pm last night and it was delivered at 9:45 this morning! We live in wondrous times.

🐶 I bought Lisa an impromptu toy - a squeaky, pink flamingo which we have named Flavia. Lisa usually destroys her toys within hours, making sure she takes the squeak out asap. But this time, she has fallen in love with Flavia and is not just super gentle with her but takes her everywhere she goes. It’s the cutest thing ever. Flavia and Lisa are best friends.

MORE THAN I CAN CHEW

I’m in some trouble. Every December, I get it into my head that I am fully capable of tackling some sort of project that requires much more talent, energy and money than I anticipate. It can be anything from taking up beading and making my own jewellery (I could open a shop with all the supplies I have!) to pottery, art, redecorating etc etc. This year is no different, but seems particularly dangerous because I have mixed two monsters together: Instagram reels and (inspired by my friend Laura) Pinterest. So that means that I watch endless posts on IG of people (women!) doing woodwork with circular saws and drills, and then I go to Pinterest and am bombarded by things that surely I could make if I just tried?

And one thing about me is that I am totally indecisive. So I can determine that I am definitely making a jewellery hanger, but then I see a couch end-table and absolutely need to do that instead. Unfortunately (or fortunately???) I really cannot undertake anything like this this year. I have a book to write and a business to strategise for 2025. And shows to watch. And books to read. And a holiday to go on!!

Here are some things that have caught my eye:

💎 I inherited hundreds of (non-valuable) jewellery pieces from my mom. She was obsessed with accessories, and luckily I love them too. But I have no way to display them, so right now they sit in boxes, hidden away and never worn. This I do have to fix. Maybe something like this?

This is such a cute way to giftwrap a present. (I am a terrible giftwrapper. Micole has that job in the family, but just like a hairdresser cannot cut their own hair, she unfortunately can’t wrap her own gifts).

I need this in my life:

And this is just an artwork that I love:

And lastly, the heart-stopping reaction I have to photos like this means I simply and absolutely need to be surrounded by plants in my house:

OPTIONALITY

Speaking of indecisiveness. Ever get stuck on choosing what to watch on Netflix? Or where to go on holiday? Or who to hire? There is a mathematical formula to fix your indecision. It works like this:

• Decide how many options you want to look at in total (say, 100 thumbnails of movies, or 100 resumes).

• Reject the first 37%. Just use these to figure out what the options are. (So sorry to those 37 people looking for a job!)

• After you’ve browsed the 37%, choose the next best option - the one’s that’s better than everything you’ve seen so far. You find that, you STOP. Decision has been made.

Statistically, if you “keep going” or “keep scrolling”, your chances of finding something better just go down.

EMPTY NESTS

FREE THERAPY

SAVE SAVE SAVE

Have you ever noticed how shops sometimes sell the same product, but under a different brand? This applies to appliances, furniture and even cars! I think the way this works is that someone in China creates a product, and then Western brands simply whitelabel it, and sell through their own channels. (I am not talking about forged products like fake Louis Vuitton bags).

Now there is a site, Spoken.io, that helps you find the same (or VERY similar) product, for far less. Simply go to website, find a product that you like, like this chair that originally costs $419:

And then see where else this chair is sold for less:

This isn’t a gimmick. You really do find the same items, but for far, far lower cost because the cost is matched to the brand’s target market, not the actual cost of production. This is mostly useful to the US market, but such a cool idea that it seems like the Internet’s best kept secret.

SATURDAY

SUPERPOWERS

Here is a cool little hack for convincing people to do things that they might not feel like doing (kids cleaning room, Eve writing her book). 

• Ask the someone how much, on a scale of 1 to 10,  they feel like doing the thing. Chances are they will give you a low score answer, say 2 or 3. 

• Then, ask them why they didn’t choose a lower number.

They will then give you reasons for why the thing is worth doing a little bit. As they give you these reasons, they will self-motivate themselves to do this thing. They are literally telling themselves why doing the thing is not a complete waste of time. It is far more effective to self-motivate than to be told to do something. 

Intrinsic motivation is a superpower!

YUCK

ALTERNATIVE UNIVERSE

What do you think of when you think of China? I still fall into the trap of sometimes thinking of it as a bipolar country that has these massive cities and mega-industry, but is kind of rural and poor. I’m about 40 years behind in my thinking. Trust me…China is another world, living in what we would perceive as the future. The more I read about the way that country operates, and how little we know about it, the more I realise what a (dangerous and isolated) bubble we live in. (Case in point: watch how China is slowly destroing the entire European car manufacturing industry by delivering comparable cars at a fraction of the price).

Someone took this photo to illustrate how one bought food at train stops in China, in 1994.

Today, thirty years later, it’s quite different. Someone just tweeted “If you’re traveling on a Chinese bullet train and you get hungry you can simply scan the QR code on the armrest and order food. But it’s not train food, it can be literally anything. KFC, Starbucks, Chinese food, even convenience store food. When the train makes the next stop it will be delivered to the train and then an attendant will bring it directly to your seat.”

BELIEVE

YUMMY

Saw this on Twitter. It looks delicious. Take blueberries, drizzle with honey and top with melted dark chocolate. Sprinkle with salt and bee pollen. Cool in fridge for 20 minutes, and enjoy!

MOVIES 

We watched Conclave this week. I thought it was overall very good, although Nik thought it felt “a bit like an airport novel courtroom drama” - and I do get that point of view. The plot seemed a bit too contrived in places, and I didn’t actually like the ending very much. Nevertheless, it is a cinematic masterpiece, and the performances are superb. Plus, the plot premise is fascinating, and explains how a pope is elected (Spoiler alert: nothing to do with will of God). I do recommend you watch it, and I expect to see it on the Oscar shortlist.

Next week is my choice, and it’s the last movie we are watching this year (holidays and all) so it needs to be Christmas themed. We’ve already done all the Christmas classics over the last four years of our movie dates (yes, including Die Hard). I am torn between Gremlins (apparently it’s a Christmas movie? I don’t remember) or The Night Before Christmas. I’ll let you know next week!

Thanks for reading!

That’s it for this week. (Want more? You can find past editions here). I hope you have a great weekend and upcoming week. Please keep sharing /forwarding to your friends/groups 😄 . You can also email me privately by hitting reply on this email.

PS

This is one of the funniest lines on TV. Also one of the funniest shows, in general. There is a Schitt’s Creek Christmas Special that you have to watch if you haven’t yet.