One Year On

These beautiful and poignant photos of normally bustling cities empty of humans are my favorite images captured of the lockdown last year.

Andrea Montovani for The New York Times

Today is the one year anniversary of our family’s pandemic experience. March 12, 2020 is the day I first closed my Pilates studio and the day my son’s school closed for a “two-week” quarantine.

In March of last year I think it’s safe to say that most of us couldn’t imagine that we’d still be living with such restrictions one year in the future. And yet here we are. Continuing to stretch ourselves and practicing the very important skill of being uncomfortable.

A few months before the pandemic I listened to Brené Brown’s excellent audiobook The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting. She talks about the importance of having a family gratitude practice with respect to the question: How do you raise kids who have everything they need to not be entitled? (And equally important, as an adult who has everything I need how do I keep myself from being entitled?) So two weeks before lockdown we all started writing in our own Five Minute Journal recommended by Tim Ferriss in his great conversation with (again) Brené Brown. My son has the kid version. In the beginning it was a great way for all of us to remind ourselves of how fortunate we were, right when it seemed as if all the “good stuff” was being taken from us. Now a year into the pandemic with all of its uncertainties, a few minutes spent writing in my gratitude journal has become an essential part of my morning routine.

When I think of gratitude I immediately think of David Steindl-Rast’s conversation with Krista Tippett. It resonated deeply with me when I first heard it years ago and I have been revisiting his words this week. As Krista writes “He calls joy ‘the happiness that doesn’t depend on what happens.’ And his gratefulness is not an easy gratitude or thanksgiving – but a full-blooded, reality-based practice and choice.”

From their conversation:

“Br. Steindl-Rast: Well, for me, this idea of listening and really looking and beholding — that comes in when people ask, “Well, how shall we practice this gratefulness?” And there is a very simple kind of methodology to it: Stop, look, go. Most of us — caught up in schedules and deadlines and rushing around, and so the first thing is that we have to stop, because otherwise we are not really coming into this present moment at all, and we can’t even appreciate the opportunity that is given to us, because we rush by, and it rushes by. So stopping is the first thing.

But that doesn’t have to be long. When you are in practice, a split second is enough — “stop.” And then you look: What is, now, the opportunity of this given moment, only this moment, and the unique opportunity this moment gives? And that is where this beholding comes in. And if we really see what the opportunity is, we must, of course, not stop there, but we must do something with it: Go. Avail yourself of that opportunity. And if you do that, if you try practicing that at this moment, tonight, we will already be happier people, because it has an immediate feedback of joy.

I always say, not — I don’t speak of the gift, because not for everything that’s given to you can you really be grateful. You can’t be grateful for war in a given situation, or violence or domestic violence or sickness, things like that. There are many things for which you cannot be grateful. But in every moment, you can be grateful.

For instance, the opportunity to learn something from a very difficult experience — what to grow by it, or even to protest, to stand up and take a stand — that is a wonderful gift in a situation in which things are not the way they ought to be. So opportunity is really the key when people ask, “Can you be grateful for everything?” — no, not for everything, but in every moment.”

My favorite film of late is the documentary The Biggest Little Farm. The cinematography is stunning, it is joyful, and it is a beautiful depiction of the complexity and wisdom found within the systems of nature. As Molly the farmer states, “The hardships we face make the dream feel so much more alive.” Rent it or watch it currently on Hulu. At a minimum watch the trailer…

Wise words from Alice Walker…

Alice Walker via Nitch

“Some periods of our growth are so confusing that we don’t even recognize that growth is happening. We may feel hostile or angry or weepy and hysterical, or we may feel depressed. It would never occur to us, unless we stumbled on a book or a person who explained to us, that we were in fact in the process of change... Whenever we grow, we tend to feel it, as a young seed must feel the weight and inertia of the earth as it seeks to break out of its shell on its way to becoming a plant... Often the feeling is anything but pleasant. But what is most unpleasant is the not knowing what is happening... Those long periods when something inside ourselves seems to be waiting, holding its breath, unsure about what the next step should be, eventually become the periods we wait for, for it is in those periods that we realize we are being prepared for the next phase of our life and that, in all probability, a new level of personality is about to be revealed.”

— Alice Walker

Wintering

Good Sunday morning. We got 8 inches of snow at our house yesterday. It’s rare that we get snow in Seattle so it’s such a treat when it does happen. The last time we had a big snowfall was almost exactly two years ago. It just started snowing again this morning, candles are flickering throughout the house, my son is still sleeping, and everything feels quiet. The rain will return later this evening so we will savor it while we can…

A few weeks ago I listened to Katherine May’s wonderful On Being conversation on ‘Wintering.’ I loved it so much I listened to the unedited version as soon as I finished the first. From Krista:

“In so many stories and fables that shape us, cold and snow, the closing in of the light — these have deep psychological as much as physical reality. They draw us, even force us, to do what Katherine May calls deeply unfashionable things: slowing down, resting, retreating. This is “wintering,” as she illuminates it in her book of that title — wintering as at once a season of the natural world, a respite our bodies require, and a state of mind. A cyclical, recurrent weather pattern, if you will, in any life. It’s one way to describe our pandemic year: as one big extended communal experience of wintering. Some of us are laboring harder than ever on its front lines and also on its home front of parenting. I don’t know a single person right now who isn’t exhausted, almost as a state of being. It feels like Katherine May opens up exactly what I and so many need to hear, but haven’t known how to name.”

Katherine’s book Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times is just as delightful as her talk with Krista.

“Plants and animals don’t fight the winter; they don’t pretend it’s not happening and attempt to carry on living the same lives they lived in the summer. They prepare. They adapt. They perform extraordinary acts of metamorphosis to get them through. Wintering is a time of withdrawing from the world, maximizing scant resources, carrying out acts of brutal efficiency and vanishing from sight; but that’s where the transformation occurs. Winter is not the death of the life cycle, but its crucible.

“It’s a time for reflection and recuperation, for slow replenishment, for putting your house in order. Doing these deeply unfashionable things — slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting — is a radical act now, but it’s essential. ”

February 11

Listening to birdsong is one of the most delightful and calming things I can think of. Until their joyful chatter returns to my yard in abundance, I am happy to have discovered tree fm which is kind of magic. It is especially lovely to listen to while soaking in the tub…

Speaking of birds ornithologist Drew Lanham’s words in his recent On Being conversation really resonated with me:

“In that moment of that little brown bird that’s always so inquisitive, that sings reliably — in that moment that I’m thinking about that wren, I’m not thinking about anything else. That’s joy. And so sometimes I think we have to recognize the joy that the world didn’t give us and that the world can’t take away, in the midst of the world taking away what it can.”

I added his book The Home Place to my reading list. Listen to him read a short excerpt here:

I read Sally Rooney’s wonderful book Normal People cover to cover one Saturday a few weeks ago and am still thinking about it. There is also a 12 part series on Hulu which was exquisitely done…

I am a consummate list-maker of all things and these free downloads from Appointed make me happy…

I have been back in the studio teaching which also means I’ve been getting to play and work on my own Pilates practice which is one of the most joyful things I get to do…

This gorgeous painting below is not a two-dimensional scene but a real person painted by the artist Alexa Meade. It’s worth listening to her short TED talk if you need motivation to step off your current path but feel too invested to make a change. She graduated with a political science degree and a dream to work in government only to be moved by a curiosity that compelled her to return home to her parents’ basement where she taught herself how to paint by painting the shadows on the ground, on her face, on her food…

Along similar lines, Seth Godin’s recent blog post struck a chord especially after living and working through this year of the “pivot.”

“Is ‘nimble’ a good thing? Should we seek to be flexible, resilient and quick to be able to shift and adapt?

Because often, it seems as though we work to create an environment where it’s difficult indeed to be nimble. We buy expensive assets, lock into long-term systems and fail to ignore sunk costs. We set foundations in concrete instead of using a lightweight tent…”

It’s hard to choose a favorite time of year in my garden, but when new green shoots start to emerge from the dirt it always feels like a miracle and I’m surprised every time it happens. These chives are making a go of it…

And the quote I’m taking to heart these days…

“You don’t always have to be doing something. You can just be, and that’s enough.”

— Alice Walker

All Hallows' Eve

It is a gorgeous cool and bright Halloween here in Seattle, perfect weather for trick-or-treating in any other year. Tonight we are just hanging at home, hiding Twix, Reese’s cups, and Sour Patch Kids in the backyard for my son and sitting by the fire.

I made chocolate cake this morning in my skull cake mold…

I’m really in the baking groove and might make this Apple Cider Doughnut Loaf Cake from Bon Appetit tomorrow…

Photo by Laura Murray via Bon Appetit

Tomorrow with the daylight savings change, the sun will set at 4:51pm. My plan to usher in the darkness is to sit by the fire and finish Case Histories, the first book in Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie series. It’s so good…

I spotted this Everlane oxblood sweatshirt today which is going on my wishlist…

Also these Trader Joe’s freezer to oven croissants are a wonder and I’ve been making them for my son in the mornings. You don’t have to proof them overnight (you don’t even have to preheat the oven!) and they’re ready in 28 minutes…

It’s going to be a wild week with the election. Remember to breathe and abstain from doomscrolling. And if you can, find ways to laugh. My favorites this weekend were found on McSweeney’s…

A few favorites: In This House We Believe, Captions From My Parents’ Museum of Conceptual Art, and Horror Movies for Toddlers.

Or you could just go all in and watch Dave Chappelle’s latest on Netflix…

Also, On Being continues to be a bright light in my life. I never listen to an episode while I am doing something else (besides driving which isn’t as much these days). So if I’m at home, I put headphones on and sit quietly so I can take it all in.

Her lead in to the most recent episode…

“This is always a starting point for meaningful change inside ourselves and our families and communities: We pull up stories we’ve been raised on in the light of what we know now. We see what was not being said, hear the questions we scarcely allowed ourselves even to think. We recover lost chapters. My colleague in radio and podcast, John Biewen, has been doing this with the interwoven questions of what it means to be human and what it means to be white. In a series called “Seeing White,” to which many people have turned in 2020, I think John has modeled something. As a documentary investigative journalist who’d covered race with the best of intentions and rigor, he realized he’d been turning to others — people of color — to be searching about racial rupture and healing. He then turned the lens back on himself.

So that’s the conversation ahead between me and John Biewen. It starts simply — tracing the racial story of our time through the story of a single life. It’s an exercise each of us can do, beginning with a curious eye on our childhoods and hometowns. And if we do this searchingly, it becomes a step towards a more whole and humane world, starting with ourselves.”

And later on this…

Tippett: Do you know Ruby Sales? She’s a civil rights elder, theologian; wonderful, one of the elders who’s with us. And she said to me in 2016, “There’s a spiritual crisis in white America”; that it was a crisis in white America. And she said, “There’s nothing wrong with being European American. That’s not the problem. It’s how you actualize that history and how you actualize that reality.” And she said, “It’s almost like white people don’t believe that other white people are worthy of being redeemed.” She was looking at our electoral — because this has real world political consequences, especially in our current political crisis. I also think of James Baldwin writing that “white people in this country will have quite enough to do in learning how to accept and love themselves and each other. And when they have achieved this, which will not be tomorrow” — this was in The Fire Next Time — “and may very well be never, the Negro problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed.”

Biewen: Wow.

Tippett: It actually is a truth of life, if you can’t love yourself, you can’t love anyone else. And if white people can’t figure out how to care about each other’s well-being — that that’s part of this reckoning, as well.

Listen to the whole conversation here.

Learning Comes from Doing

As most of us are now weeks into being locked down at home, I’ve been thinking a lot about learning and doing. In her On Being conversation, the poet Marie Howe said - “When you’re very sad, the only thing to do is to go learn something.”

I think learning something is especially important not just in sadness, but during times of uncertainty and upheaval.

The photo above was taken the month before the current stay at home order. Our backyard studio (i.e. my husband’s new workspace) was nearing completion. We had no idea then that this would soon be shared creative space!

As work has now stopped for both of us, we are collectively planning and strategizing about moving forward. We are finding “strength in the places we’d never thought to develop, spaces we didn’t know we’d occupy, room to reach beyond ourselves,” and are focusing our energy into learning how to do new things.

My husband is learning how to use his shiny new power tools by building things. He built shop tables for the studio…

And this beautiful Donald Judd inspired chair out of leftover wood from the studio construction…

@aaronleitz

I’m learning how to do Pilates videos for my clients. The challenge for me is not in the logistics of the curriculum, but in getting over my fear of the camera and finding my voice so that it actually sounds like me and how I teach in person.

Accepting that I’m not going to be an expert right out of the gate is something I’ve always struggled with.

I have to walk my talk and “Respect the Process” (which is the mantra I continually espouse) and even put on the Pilates Everyday “about” page:

“Prioritize repetition over perfection. It isn’t going to be good right out the gate. Don’t worry, just keep at it and do your best. Through repetition and deliberate practice it will start to come together. Just move. Pay attention. Don’t rush. Enjoy yourself. Repeat. Respect the process.”

Creating videos and expanding my practice online had always been on my mind but seemed like a far off consideration in the context of my normal life/work routine. I felt like I didn’t have any extra space or energy to devote to it.

Our friend Alison Pickart posted this quote last week which I printed out and put on my fridge…

“The amazing thing about human nature is that people find themselves gravitating toward things that they innately know how to do. For some very lucky ones, they will discover a passion that now has the time to be realized, which may inadvertently become a new life’s work. Great things come out of crisis, often because they have to.”

— Alison Pickart

Seth Godin nails this idea (and also accurately conveys the level of work required) in his blog post But what could you learn instead? .

“Learning takes effort, and it’s hard to find the effort when the world is in flux, when we’re feeling uncertain and when we’re being inundated with bad news. But that’s the moment when learning is more important than ever…This shift is difficult to commit to, because unlike education, learning demands change. Learning makes us incompetent just before it enables us to grasp mastery. Learning opens our eyes and changes the way we see, communicate and act.

It’s way easier to get someone to watch–a YouTube comic, a Netflix show, a movie–than it is to encourage them to do something. But it’s the doing that allows us to become our best selves, and it’s the doing that creates our future.”

Read Seth’s entire post here.

Learning something doesn’t always have to be a BIG thing. There is so much joy to be found in the process of learning small day to day things.

My fridge looks a lot different these days than it did in January…

I have pretty good chops in the kitchen but I am learning new ways to make use of what we have in the pantry and freezer, substituting ingredients, using recipes as inspiration rather than rigid instructions and trusting my instincts. Forced to simplify, this time has unlocked a new culinary creativity.

I am starting seeds inside, something I have never done before…

The sewing machine is out and being put to use making masks: the perfect project to hone my sewing skills acquired last spring at Drygoods Design’s beginner sewing series.

Repetition is the mother of all learning - Repetitio mater studiorum est.

All this learning of new THINGS is really learning a new way to BE. Attentive. Deliberate. Comfortable with discomfort. Intentional. Grateful.

March 26

A small collection of things enriching my life at home the last few days…

From Nitch

Everything I Know About Parenting in a Crisis, I Learned From My Mom

“But then comes the magic moment when you realize you don’t actually have anywhere else to be, most days: You just have to be present, and to love them.

I’m lucky. My children are small, they’re not missing major exams or life events. I’m not stuck in the house with two surly teenagers who cringe every time I speak. I’m fortunate enough to be able to put work on hold for now, even if it means flattening the curve of my own career.

I know, better than most, that these things are temporary. And I know that next week, when our son has his (surprise!) Zoom birthday celebration, he’ll remember that all of his friends and family ate chocolate chip pancakes in tandem. He won’t remember that he didn’t have a party this year. Because like all hard times, I suspect, his enduring memories of this time will be of our love, and his joy.”

— Priyanka Mattoo

Read the whole article here.

Prepping my garden beds I discovered a few potatoes carried over from last season. Back into the dirt they will go…

Rebecca Solnit’s conversation with Krista was one of the very first ones I listened to when I first discovered On Being. It has been a useful conversation to revisit as we navigate these uncertain times…

“When all the ordinary divides and patterns are shattered, people step up to become their brothers’ keepers,” Rebecca Solnit writes. “And that purposefulness and connectedness bring joy even amidst death, chaos, fear, and loss.”

Also turn off the news and build a garden…

Seth Godin is one of the wise and generous thinkers that never ceases to inspire me. He is calm and clear and holds us accountable to think bigger and outside the box, and be better humans. From his daily blog today…

Donald Robertson is an excellent example of someone who thinks outside the box and has carved his own path. I really loved his “Painting and a Story”…

The Kid Should See This is a wonderful resource for watching and learning about all the cool things…

And because we all need to keep our humor during times like these…

October Recap

After several weeks of rain the sky has cleared and the temperature has dropped. If the forecast holds, we are looking at pretty perfect conditions for trick or treating this Thursday…

With the drop in temps I’ve been craving a bath at the end of the day. I love a straight up epsom salt bath or Dr. Singha’s Mustard Bath…

Beanies are back in the mix and I’ve been wearing my favorite Everlane cocoon coat, Clare V Midi Sac and pink Nike Blazer sneakers on repeat…

I love this Nordic Ware skull cakelet pan and I’ve been playing with different glazes. The perfect chocolate cake recipe comes from Simple Cake…

Our little studio project is also progressing!

I’ve been making chicken stock and big batches of soup weekly. This crazy easy tomato soup and this celery root, cauliflower + fennel are still two of my favorites. I store the soups in wide mouth mason jars with these new leakproof lids from Ball…

Both soups mentioned above are also pureed which means they are perfect for sipping out of a mug (which comes in handy if you want to deliver something hot to your rad construction crew on a cold day)…

I have a pair of black patent leather Loeffler Randall boots from a few seasons ago that I would like to put into more regular rotation. I just ordered these white Everlane straight leg crop pants to create the look below…

One of my clients told me about this No. Green deodorant from Corpus which is my new favorite. It smells amazing, works like deodorant should, and has no white residue…

These little Mighty Patch hydrocolloid patches are amazing. If I have a blemish that needs extracting (or I pick at my face more than I should) I put one of these on the "wound” before I go to bed. They prevent unsightly scabs from forming and they speed the healing process…

Those little patches work so beautifully I added these hydrocolloid bandages to our first aid kit…

I’ve been creating more time to read these days and recently finished Deep Work by Cal Newport. I first learned about Cal several years ago when he was an MIT student and wrote about deliberate practice on his blog. Deep Work is full of well articulated ideas that you’ll want to write down and think more about like this one…

“People who multitask all the time can’t filter out irrelevancy.”

I also just finished Esther Perel’s Mating in Captivity and cannot recommend it enough. I mentioned Esther here after listening to her On Being conversation. Her podcast “Where Should We Begin?” is incredible too…

July 23

Last week we broke ground on a long-anticipated dream project, the building of our backyard studio, which will be a work/art space for my husband. Our little one car garage was demolished to kick it off…

While watching the demo I made Pamela Salzman’s grain-free chocolate zucchini cake (which is crazy good by the way). My happy version of multi-tasking…

Speaking of cake, Simple Cake by Odette Williams is a wonderful book and one I’d highly recommend for your library whether you consider yourself a baker or not…

I’m really enjoying this turmeric tonic from Further Food. I blend a scoop of it with cold water and a little honey syrup (recipe for honey syrup here) and then drink it over ice with my favorite glass straw…

I’ve had a lot on my plate the last few weeks and my advanced food prep has been lagging. Thankfully I’ve found a go-to protein powder that I love and helps me get by if I have nothing to grab before walking out the door. I mix one scoop of this Amazing Grass Protein Superfood and two scoops of Vital Proteins Collagen with 12oz of orange juice and whip it up in the Vitamix for an easy and satiating breakfast. And on really long teaching days when I don’t have a break between clients I will make a double batch and bring it to the studio in this 32oz insulated Klean Kanteen…

This Tony's Chocolonely Almond Sea Salt bar is my absolute favorite chocolate and I always have a few bars on hand…

I just bought several sheets of these beautiful Ellsworth Kelly stamps…

My husband and I both carry around this Memento Mori as a daily reminder to be present and focus on what really matters.

“Meditating on your mortality is only depressing if you miss the point. It is in fact a tool to create priority and meaning. It’s a tool that generations have used to create real perspective and urgency. To treat our time as a gift and not waste it on the trivial and vain. Death doesn’t make life pointless but rather purposeful. And fortunately, we don’t have to nearly die to tap into this. A simple reminder can bring us closer to living the life we want.”

I am a big fan of Stoicism and recommend signing up for The Daily Stoic which is put together by Ryan Holiday (he has a book by the same name). His other books The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy are also worth a read…

Wendy Whelan’s line to live by is one I live by too…

“Energy produces energy.”

Photo via La Ligne

Lastly, Esther Perel’s On Being conversation is a delight to listen to…

Photo via On Being

One of my favorite parts near the end of the conversation:

When I say, “The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives,” it’s because I do think that the bonds and the connections that we forge with others give us a greater sense of meaning and happiness and wellbeing than just about any other thing — when it’s good, because it can be exactly the opposite, huh?

“And now it’s like, how much are you investing in your relationships? And I find that, often, people don’t. They talk about “my partner is my best friend,” and they treat them like shit. They talk about “my friend,” and they haven’t seen that person or talked to that person in years. It’s like, no, you can’t just do it like that. You can’t be lazy. You can’t be complacent about this and put all your energies at work and bring the leftovers home — and all of that stuff.

Or I have this question I’ve been playing with lately, and I just asked it in Sydney. I was like, “How many of you go to bed, and the last thing you touch is your phone? OK, stand up. And how many of you, the first thing you stroke in the morning when you wake up is your phone? Please stand up. And how many of you are doing this while there actually is another person lying next to you in bed?” That’s ambiguous loss, by the way. I’m like, seriously? Seriously?”

So that’s what I am trying to address at this point; it’s like, interestingly, we don’t look at relational health enough. We don’t connect it to mental health. We don’t connect it to our overall physical health. And we certainly don’t connect it enough to our societal health, if we want to really go bigger. It’s not the freedom that is our problem. It’s not the fact that we have choice, but they have always gone together with responsibility, with accountability.

You can see more of Esther Perel in her TED talk from a few years back and read her book Mating in Captivity.

Spring!

It is Spring! The chives and tarragon in the garden are pushing through the dirt. I have my work cut out for me with the insane amount of weeds to pull but with the beautiful days we’ve been having I hardly mind.

Lucas’ Papaw Ointment is my new go-to multipurpose salve for chapped lips, cuticles, scrapes and garden splinters…

I’ve been transitioning my winter clothes out and adding a few new things to the mix like this Clare V midi sac that I can’t stop wearing…

I’ve also added the Clare V framed Flore handbag to my birthday wishlist…

I recently found the perfect size pocket notepad with tear away sheets from Rifle Paper Co to carry with me for my endless list making…

And these Paper Mate Flair felt tip pens are becoming my new favorite…

This Patagonia woolie pullover has been wonderful for cutting the chill when it’s too warm to wear a jacket…

One of the biggest highlights this month is I finally started taking sewing classes at Drygoods Design. My husband gave me the trilogy class series which was on my personal xmas wishlist. The space is gorgeous, the fabric selection is killer (see the Japanese cotton I bought for my tote below) and the small classes are a delight…

If you go check out the shop in Pioneer Square I’d also highly recommend going to Elm Coffee Roasters for a latte with their house-made hazelnut milk, maybe swing by Jujubeet Cafe and order the avocado toast on the gluten-free bread from Nuflours and then head up Jackson to Kobo in the International District. Last time I was there I picked up this rad nightlight for our bathroom made by Boy Designs…

The new mantra on the letterboard at home is courtesy of the wonderful On Being conversation with neuroscientist Richard Davidson…

And along the same line of thinking I am really digging Atomic Habits by James Clear…

He is spot on articulating what I personally believe and try to embody on how making seemingly inconsequential small adjustments every day can be incredibly powerful and help us become our best selves.

“It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action.”

This sentence is my favorite:

“Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your believes and to upgrade and expand your identity.”

And for an incredible example of how small things lead to big things and how we can expand the limitations we often set for ourselves on what is possible, go watch The Dawn Wall on Netflix…

Holiday Gift Guide

It is December! We don’t have a tree yet and I haven’t started playing holiday music but I think today might be the day it all begins. And with that, here are some ideas for giving this year…

Billecart Salmon Champagne is my most favorite thing to imbibe ever. It is special and only makes an appearance once or twice a year around our house but I can’t imagine a more elegant gift…

Except if you brought it with a vintage Champagne bucket…

These beautiful Heather Taylor Home napkins would be a fantastic hostess gift. See all of the options on her website…

Chocolate from Askinosie would make another lovely hostess gift. I have my eye on many of the CollaBARation bars and this coconut milk chocolate. If you don’t know about Askinosie Chocolate read their story here…

I love these Maison Louis Marie candles and picked up a few at Canoe last time I was in Portland. I love No.09 and No.04…

I also love these Cotopaxi Libre socks in a variety of colors…

This delicious and assertive G. Day body wash is great and reminds me of a more unisex and a cleaner (read: no SLS, parabens etc) version of the Molton Brown Black Peppercorn wash my husband has long favored…

This gorgeous and super soft alpaca sweater from Everlane…

My brother worked on this Brooks shoe and I wore it for the first time at the studio last week and nearly every client wanted a pair for themselves. They are that cool.

My husband has a pair too that are equally as cool…

This gorgeous book from The Aviary in Chicago would be a killer gift for your food-forward friends…

A pair of these Heath Tartine stack mugs…

This gorgeous walnut rolling pin for the baker in your life…

Pair it with the fantastic Genius Desserts from Food52…

I cannot recommend Pamela Salzman’s cookbook highly enough. I’ve mentioned her on my blog many times. She has an incredibly resourceful blog and teaches countless cooking classes in the LA area (and now online classes too). She is a natural teacher and her recipes are always accessible, reliable, healthy and delicious. She is my go-to.

New this fall, Ottolenghi’s Simple is fantastic. I’m gifting it to several friends this year.

I LOVE these balm sticks from Olio E Osso out of Portland, Oregon. I have them in several colors and they give a beautiful flush of color and feel wonderful on the skin. I buy mine from Ayla Beauty in San Francisco. It’s a wonderful little shop that I like to support and they carry so many of the lines I love like Marie Veronique, BioRecept, Kosås and others.

For a young girl or boy in your life a subscription to Bravery Magazine…

I love these beautiful tattoos which are pulled from Oliver Jeffers’s gorgeous books…

I gave his book Here We Are to all the children in our family last year, though I’d recommend it for adults too…

Also, consider giving to an organization you believe in. I will be giving to On Being…