#62: gift guides galore

and a poll on thanksgiving food

hi hi hi sisters ♡ I hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving, mine was good, it was stressful as family was in town and I was playing tour guide barbie with everyone, but it was good. we did venture to the parade and that was low key AWFUL, 10/10 do not recommend doing it in the rain. if it wasnt rainy it would have been MAGICAL so that was very unfortunate…

its december, can you believe?!?! I know i’m not original in saying that time flies bye so fast, but it really does. it was when I was on my mission that I realized how much of a man made concept time is, because in the universe and the vastness of it all, time is infinite and finite all at the same time

keeping the recommendations section to recommendations for different substacks that I read. I find it to be really important to support small “businesses” (that sounds odd to use here, but maybe influencers is another word I can use?) and one way I can do that is by sharing about them!

my friend

Summer Herlevi

has a lovely little newsletter called Museum Mother where she shares curated links and lists and guides of her findings that can help you make your house a museum of yourself. her home is SO cozy, you can check out her instagram and see how she is putting together her new brooklyn apartment as well since she and her husband just moved from LA to NYC a little bit ago.

movies: started off this week strong by finally watching wicked !!!! WOWIE it was phenomenal !!! im itching to see it again already. had to watch a charlie brown thanksgiving, ofc, love. bjørn and I watched the virgin suicides, I read the book earlier this year and i’ve had a desire to watch the movie, i’m glad I got around to it. its not my favorite story ever, I have other teenage depression movies I prefer, but I was very impressed that this was sofia coppola’s first feature film as a director. and then alyssa and i watched holiday inn, which was a pretty cute old christmas movie, it did have a full black face scene that was incredibly uncomfortable…. so that was unfortunate…

music: what is your favorite christmas song (traditional or non traditional)?

in my mind: loved this article about sally rooney, I need to read more of her books

in my stomach: THANKSGIVING FOOD !!!! wow, I was happy for days living off of ham and stuffing and mashed potatoes

is anyone else feeling overwhelmed and oversaturated by all the gift guides floating around the internet?!?! don’t get me wrong, i really do appreciate thoughtfully curated gift guides (like summer’s) because they are more about learning about the art of items and how to better pick what you want to receive or give, rather than a list of 100 things you actually dont need. it all feels so commercial and capitalistic

which, makes me have such mixed feelings about the other gift guides on the internet. I really do love gift giving and I think of myself as a really good gift giver. I have a note on my phone of gifts to give people when it comes to their birthdays or christmas. throughout the year I write down items i come across that I think they would like so when it comes time to getting a specific person a gift, I can easily think of something. AND I also have a saved hidden collection on my etsy of items that I think specific people would like, so I always have something in my back pocket.

that being said, there are some people, like my parents, where its extremely difficult to think of a gift to get them, which is when i’m very grateful for gift guides. I did get scammed on esty for a gift that i got my dad, which is a major bummer (I got refunded) but now I am at a loss as to what to get him for christmas. something that makes getting my parents their gifts extra difficult is the fact that their birthdays are Dec 22 and Dec 26…. soooo I have double duty back to back. any ideas??

I appreciate that pinterest made some curated gift guides that are quite robust and expansive for all sorts of people in your life, but its still quite hard to figure out what to get your loved ones. I appreciate that my group of friends from utah we are doing christmas cards this year, i’m excited to do something crafty for a gift. I want to be better about doing handmade gifts!

what are your thoughts on gift guides and the pressure of the holiday season for gift giving?

tiktok: next cake i’m making

pinterest: loveeeee this; a butter yellow bathroom tile, yes please; hair inspo

instagram: me

curiouswithjvn

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okay today was kind of a ramble!! thanks for reading, this weekend i’m flying out to vegas for my dads wedding, lots of mixed feelings that i’ll probably write about next week!! love you all ♡