10 Offline Things I Did This Week

Half marathon, pretzel cigs, and somatic meditations for de-stressing

Good morning. I’m writing to you from my wooden table in the dining room, where it’s still dark outside and the whole city is quiet. I love this time of day, I love Sundays, exactly for this reason. Yes, we can tap into this quiet and calm any time of any day through meditation, deep breathing and visualization, but you cannot beat the magic of a serene Sunday morning.

My current view is the one below. I am feeling ever so grateful this morning.

1. Bought a Christmas tree. I wasn’t going to get a tree this year. I told myself they are too expensive and I can admire other people’s through photos and windows. But last night, as I was perusing the local grocery store’s empty aisles for egg noodles, “Wonderful Christmastime” by Paul McCartney came on, and, well, I felt a deep desire to go buy a tree in that moment. I checked out and drove Samson to a local tree “farm” in Brooklyn, run by a group of Vermonters who bring their trees down from the green mountain state for the month. Here’s my tree, and the song that got me into the holiday spirit!

   

   My view this morning as I write this newsletter, feeling so grateful

2. Ran a half marathon. Another reason I am brimming with joy this morning is because my body did an incredible thing yesterday. As the half marathon approached, I kept hearing a voice in my head saying a half wasn’t “that big a deal.” I’ve been spending time with other runners who do full marathons, and compared to that, 13 miles felt like a silly distance to get excited about. Pre-race doubt, perhaps? But I don’t feel that way anymore. 13.1 miles, even just as recent as this September, felt incomprehensible to me. I am so proud of my body, and very sore. I raced it, and finished in 2 hours and 3 minutes. Getting back into running after a long break from cardio has made me reflect on my relationship to my body, exercise as a form of caring for the self, and what it means to feel “proud” or even post a photo of my body like the one below. I had all these thoughts like, “what if people judge me?”, “what if they think I’m promoting disordered behavior?” (I still get DM’s from people saying I was ‘responsible’ for their eating disorder), is showing the body inherently triggering? Does it make my body my business card again? All content for future times!!!

I texted this to a friend, to which she responded, “do you get to keep the space blanket?” LOL

3. Made Tini’s hot cocoa. I didn’t know who “Tini” was until this Thanksgiving when a friend showed me her TikTok and her mac & cheese recipe. Over the last 4-5 years as I’ve stepped away from food influencing, all these new people have stepped on the scene, and it can be overwhelming, but they are so gosh darn talented! Do yourself a favor- make her hot chocolate. I made it on Tuesday night this week and I’ve been meaning to get back to the store to buy more chocolate bars to do it again, It’s so creamy, thick, and easy. Recipe below if you don’t want to use TikTok:

   • 1/2 bar of 70% dark chocolate bar, chopped

   • 1.5 cups whole milk

   • 1/2 cup heavy cream

   • 3 tbsp cacao powder

   • dash of vanilla extract

     Instructions:

   • Add milk + cream to a small pot and heat over low, don’t boil, you’re just warming it. Once warm, add cacao powder and mix gently to remove clumps

   • Add chocolate bar to the milk, let melt. Add vanilla extract

   • Wait two minutes to thicken, and enjoy! Option to add whipped cream by whipping up some heavy cream.

Tini’s hot chocolate ft. dirty dishes in the sink

4. Read this piece on trusting yourself versus going to friends for advice by my dear friend

   EMMA GRADY
   . Emma is an IRL friend of mine who I feel so lucky to know and spend time with. She is wise, confident, and extremely insightful. Her first piece resonated with me deeply. It’s about not always needing to tell everyone everything and keeping some things personal. As a recovering over-sharer and validation seeker, I loved it!

5. Went to a Christmas party with an incredible spread of cookies and decor, including “pretzel cigs”:

   

   so much better for your lungs

6. Did a somatic meditation. I was really stressed this week and this podcast episode helped me come back to center. Highly recommend saving it as we approach the holiday season where, let’s face it, things can feel heavy. In it, you will do physical activities to calm your body and reset so that you can process your stress instead of shoving it down (until you explode). I hope it helps you as it did for me.

7. Opened Christmas greetings from friends. The simple act of opening up your mailbox to find snail mail is one that I will never take for granted. I love this tradition.

8. Noticed Samson sleeping. There are some moments as a dog owner when you see your baby sleeping so peacefully and you just think, “wow, I have an animal living in my house.” A sleeping fur baby brings me instant calm. Knowing that Samson was once abandoned and now sleeps on a Casper foam bed in my Brooklyn home fills me with so much happiness.

The only correct way to caption this photo is “Da Wittle Baby”

9. Watched SNL’s Thanksgiving Special. SNL is a comfort watch for me, I never watch it live (too late!) but love to watch it the following week as I putter round the house. This skit with Charli XCX was clever.

10. Made this crispy tofu recipe and fell back in love with tofu as a main. So crispy, so buttery, so good! You’ll need an NYT cooking subscription to access the recipe, but oh my god it’s so worth it, I use the app every day. There are thousands of recipes in the app— I promise, you will never get bored or feel uninspired in the kitchen again.

That’s all for now, I am going to continue to rest, recover, and hydrate under a big wool blanket. I hope you stay warm if you’re up here in the Northeast. Have a wonderful week and I’ll see you in a few days for another deep dive for paid subscribers.