Hello, September!
On Muji buys, the joy of making WFH lunches and two fun audiobooks
I wanted to begin the newsletter with glimmers, which aligns perfectly with why I started Small Joys in the first place. Glimmers are smaller bits of joy, those “blink-and-you’ll-miss-them kind of moments” that are glimmering all around us. Here are a few of mine as of late ✨ :
Crinkled cotton shirts, juicy tomato salads, sunsets from an airplane window, Hong Kong-style milk tea, butter dotted with sea salt, roses mingling with the alliums in the backyard, sweet slices of mango, the cool morning breeze, an evening shower right before crawling under the covers, vegetables from the garden, sunlight dancing on the water, the sound of steady rain against the window.
What are yours?
Three great things to buy at Muji
There’s something so relaxing about stepping into a Muji store. It’s that floral scent gently wafting through the space. It’s the neutral colour palette, and the Marie Kondo-level organization. Everything has a place and a purpose. I visited the Robson Street location on a trip to Vancouver this summer, which was the largest store outside of Asia when it first opened in 2017. And it got me thinking about all the things I love buying at Muji. Here are three favourites.
Adjustable Handle Hard Shell Suitcase, $259, muji.ca
Muji luggage is highly underrated. Probably because most people don’t think of the brand when it comes to travel. I’d say Muji’s hard shell luggage, in particular, is comparable to brands like Away and Monos, but at a lower price point. We’ve traveled with our medium size Muji to Europe and Asia and it’s weathered all that long-distance fairly well.
Gel Ink Cap Type Ballpoint Pen 10 Colour Set, $18.90, muji.ca
What is more satisfying than Muji’s pen section? The gel ink ballpoint pen in blue and black ($2.40 each) are my go-to, but a set of all the colours is just as great, especially if you’re an analog type and love a colour-coded agenda or journal.
Storage Case, $2.50, muji.ca
Muji also has satisfying storage solutions, which sounds suspiciously like an ad, but it’s not! I’ve used these boxes for everything from tax receipts to beauty products. I love the minimalist design and how it fits so easily into any space.
The joy of WFH lunches
Guest writer: Alexandra Donaldson
Author’s note: It’s taken me a long time to get out of my cooking slump with work and a toddler. When Alex started posting about her delicious lunches on Instagram, I was so inspired that I asked her to share how she found joy in making meals again.
“Making and eating lunch every weekday may not seem like a joy to many. A necessity, perhaps. Optional to some. But there are a few things that make this hour in the middle of the day—where I make something delicious and eat it not in front of my computer—a small joy.
I’ve always loved cooking. For myself, for others—food has always been a pleasure in my life since as far back as I can remember. And then I had a baby. Starting solids with my daughter was exciting, but also unlocked anxieties I didn’t know I had (a story for another time) and I found it hard to fully enjoy. And then when she was a toddler it was hard for different reasons. If you’ve ever made a delicious meal only to have it refused, thrown on the floor or spit out, you know what I’m talking about. For the first time in my life, cooking felt like a real chore and made it feel dull and uninspired.
When my maternity leave ended, I decided to go back to freelance life, but this time I was committed to truly enjoying the perks of working for myself. The main one being making my own hours. For me, this means I spend time with my friends currently on mat leave often in the middle of the day, I stop work earlier than five to pick up my daughter from daycare and I enjoy my lunch break, fully.
And the joy of cooking returned. With a newfound appreciation for wfh-perks and the knowledge that lunch could be fully mine—with no unpredictable toddler palette in sight—I started to remember why I love to cook. Sometimes lunch is as simple as steaming dumplings (dim sum forever) or putting a bunch of leftovers in a noddle dish (instant noodles, but make it full of veggies). Other times it’s enjoying seasonal treasures (Ontario peach season) or eating some perennial favourites (avocado toast with eggs, always). I often will find ways to be thoughtful about it—my latest goal is to minimize our food waste as much as possible (zero would be great but, toddlers) and so I’ll often be creative with whatever is left in the fridge (summer veg fritters were a recent hit).
What I’ve found, by carving out this time for myself in the middle of the day, is that cooking for my kid has become more joyful as well, and, by taking my lunch break, almost every day without fail, my work-life balance has never been better. While it’s still occasionally frustrating (despite my daughter being a decent eater, there are days where her food refusal crushes me), the creativity is back. By taking the time to cook for myself, I’m remembering and enjoying cooking for my family again, even if it sometimes ends up on the floor. And sometimes, when the planets align and the clouds part and the universe conspires, my toddler will clean her plate and ask for more.”
Two fun audiobooks
Every evening, I start with the best intentions of winding down with a book, but by the time I climb into bed, I’m out within minutes. This is why I decided to listen to audiobooks during breaks in my day. It’s been a relatively easy way to feel like I’m making progress on my TBR pile. Which brings me to the two audiobooks I’m currently listening to. The first is American Royals by Katherine McGee. It’s like Gossip Girl meets The Crown meets Red, White & Royal Blue in a revisionist history that imagines what would’ve happened if America had a royal family. It’s a fun, low-stakes book with a great narrator (I’ve often stopped listening to an audiobook because I can’t get into the narrator’s voice). The second is The Kingdom of Prep by Maggie Bullock, which chronicles the rise and fall of J. Crew and is essential listening if you were a fan of the Jenna Lyons era of the retailer. I also recommend supplementing it with this podcast interview with the writer.
Things I’ve bookmarked:
I’m obsessed with Uniqlo’s collaboration with Clare Waight Keller, which launches on Sept. 15.
Ruth Reichl has a new book! The Paris Novel is about food, fashion and art in 1980s Paris. Yes, please.
Eight great hacks to make grocery store flowers look like an expensive arrangement.
Connecting to your five senses can help elevate your mood. One of the ideas is throwing a taste party, which I’d love to try and do this fall.
Would you travel for rare butter?