free friday
hear ye hear ye the tomato leaf candle is back
Sorry to have missed last week, as a bit of a freelancer when it comes to work some weeks are incredibly slow and others explode minute by minute with jobs and things to do. I’m feeling very lucky to finally be busy and not spending my time idling through this first quarter of the year waiting for anything substantial to happen. This letter is gonna have some recs for ya because even though my sleep schedule has been completely bamboozled by work and 3am Dodger games I actually have some things to say.
Starting off strong with my best town crier impression yelling that the Tomato Leaf Candle is back at Trader Joe’s ! ! ! I bought 4, gave one away, then bought a few more. My apartment smells incredible all the time and they are only $3.99 (and now in updated non combustable containers).
I am one thousand years late to the Depop game but I finally gave in and immediately have purchased too many things. One purchase has been a tab open on and off in my browser for months- the Reformation Suede Bucket Bag. I could never convince myself to buy it because 1) I already have a suede bucket bag from J.Crew and 2) this is my year of not making big purchases. I have been tracking all my finances this year and happy to report I spent $0 in January and February on clothes but that streak has ended since finding this bag on Depop for over half its original tag. As much as it pains me to have to finally fill in the merchandise section on my 2025 Expense chart, I do still count this purchase as a win. I have a little rule for myself that I will never do absolutes. This more ties in to former eating disorder stuff and a topic I’ve explored in my newsletter previously and might go more in depth someday, but I will never get mad at myself for breaking an absolute. This applies to workout goals, sober months, even flossing. I find when you break an absolute you also get so defeated that you break whatever thing you were trying to work on in the first place. For me it’s more about keeping the intention there rather than meeting a goal. Anyway, all this to say the bag isn’t even in my hands yet so who knows if this purchase is actually a win. Maybe this was more of a long winded rant on absolutes at the end of the day rather than my rec that Depop is indeed great.
My friend told me about a new coffee/pastry shop in our Highland Park neighborhood called Santa Canela and it is very good and everyone was so extremely nice!! They even had an LA shaped churro, which sold me on the place before I even placed my order.
BASEBALL IS BACK… at 3AM. I feel very grateful that my closest friends are also down to indulge in watching our World Series Champions The Los Angeles Dodgers open their season in Tokyo at a bright and early (or late and dark) time of 3am. We did this last year when they played an exhibition series in Seoul and as much as I’m still feeling my sleep wrecked from this a few nights ago, it was absolutely worth it to watch some baseball with friends, all of us happily delirious and drowsy. Sometimes I wonder if I’m hitting “too old for that” age on things but this was a great reminder to never be too old to try and choke down a Bloody Mary with your friends at 4:45am to indulge in a silly little tradition.
To wrap it up, I also enjoyed a new item at Trader Joe’s which is their chocolate macaron ice cream sandwiches. It only comes with two in the box but one is so filling it’s truly all you need for a sweet treat. I am also on the mint tea at night train and I… think… it’s good for me? I truly cannot tell if my sleep has improved or bloating has gone away or whatever the benefits are but I’m trying it out and seeing where it leads. Next Friday I am excited to report my findings on Coke’s newest flavor: orange cream.
I know I have promised in my last two free newsletters to release the next part of my phone call. The newsletter is almost done but some new things with the story have popped up in the last few weeks and I needed to take a little bit of an emotional hiatus from trying to get in on paper. Writing in real time has been both insanely helpful and also insane, so thank you for supporting me. Have a great weekend!
So fun to read this! I gotta go grab that candle!