5 things for friday
20% off paid subscriptions, a book i'm loving, my homemade granola recipe, and more!
happy pre-holiday friday, friends!
we freaking did it. i don’t know about you, but i feel as though i’m limping across the finish line of 2023. this year nearly killed me, but here i am, still standing! today is my last day ‘in the office’ and suffice it to say, i cannot wait to close my laptop. one of the few perks of my job is that they give us the week between christmas and new year’s off, so when i sign off today, i’ll be signing off for the year. while i have a few ideas up my sleeve for one last paid subscriber post next week, this will be the last free 5 things newsletter of the year. don’t worry, i’ve done my damndest make sure it’s a good one.
speaking of paid subscriptions, my internet friend emma inspired me to offer a holiday deal. now through next friday, you can get 20% off a paid subscription. paid subscribers get personal essays (on dating, body image, work/life balance), in-depth travel guides (mexico city, amsterdam, the cotswolds, my favorite boutique hotels!), and all the stuff free folks get. upgrading = getting immediate access to the entire back catalog, too.
anywho.
i’m home in massachusetts for a few days, and while getting here was a wee bit exhausting (that whole just trying to get over the finish line feeling i mentioned above), it’s been two days, and i can already feel myself starting to soften. i went to an hour long hot yoga class this morning in which i sweat so much that my clothes were drenched and i leaked giant droplets of water out through my entire being. it was disgusting and cleansing and amazing; by the time i left, i felt like i could rule the world.
last night, i drove 20 minutes through the back roads of my youth, the types of twisty, turn-y roads that are nearly pitch black at night, just a series of yellow lines undulating in front of you. the type of roads that require brights until another car comes along, the kind i used to know like the back of my hand. i drove past creeks and rivers, past picturesque small town homes bedecked in a rainbow of christmas lights. past windows of warm yellow light, past street signs and stop signs and places i once knew well.
i am a little over two weeks away from turning 38—a number that feels so impossibly high i cannot fathom that it will soon belong to me—and yet driving those roads, i felt young again. popping my brights on, then off, then on again, taking the turns just a bit too fast because i can, because i know what’s coming. i felt as though i was at once in my body and hovering above it; i was 37 year old me coming home, driving her corolla through the streets of her youth, and also 17 year old me, driving her 1994 honda accord—hamilton was his name—up and down the hills i once knew as well as the curves of my own body.
those twisty roads of yesterday? they took me to a roaring fire, to a small solstice gathering hosted by my friend yamila, who i’ve known since high school. i stood there, my eyes watering with smoke, inhaling that perfectly sweet woody scent, and i tossed in two offerings: two wishes for the new year. one for me, one for the world. i warmed my hands around a steaming mug of mulled cider and i marveled at the magic of home, at the magic of having multiple homes, the magic of being surrounded by folks i’ve known for nearly 20 years.
now, and then. here, and there. different, but the same. time is funny like that.
in this morning’s yoga class, the teacher talked about softening. about finding a home in our bodies. when the shoe fits, she said, you forget the foot. when you soften into your body—focusing not on what you want to change about it, but on how it serves as a space to move you through the world—you can find a sort of peace.
my theme for this coming week—the next 7 or so days, the ones that will carry us from the solstice into the new year—is softening. resting, listening, being. without expectations or to do’s. if that resonates with you, perhaps you, too, adopt a softness for this final week.
and now, as promised, our final 5 things for 2023!
i promise i don’t only listen to podcasts about taylor swift now. but if there is a podcast episode about taylor swift, i will probably listen to it. such was the case with this excellent and fun ep from anne helen petersen’s newly launched culture study pod. this one dives into the ‘how’ of taylor’s transformation from cringe if you love her country star to total pop superstar, why on earth she was ‘allowed’ (by her publicist) to date matty healy (gross), the difference between gaylor and hetlor (this was new to me!) and why we’re all so damn obsessed with she and travis.
i love nothing more than a high brow sociological and ideological exploration of a pop phenom, so this episode REALLY spoke to me. but i think you’d like it even if you’re just a regular tswift fan who soaks up allllll the things about her.
ps: i finally convinced my moms to watch the eras tour movie with me over the last two nights, and while i haven’t turned them into full on swifties, i think they’re well on their way. at the very least, i got my mommy to admit “she is incredibly talented.” which, duh, mama.
do you ever read a book and think to yourself, holy shit, i cannot believe someone is talented enough to write sentences like this? that’s how i feel about the force of such beauty, which i’m currently reading and L-O-V-I-N-G. one sunny afternoon in a kingdom by the sea, a princess named caroline sneaks into our maid’s car, and drives herself to the airport, wearing only a jacket and some underwear. she buys a ticket for the first flight she can find, and exits the airplane into the waiting arms of her security guards, who escort her back to the marble palace (or prison) she calls home.
once, caroline was free. an olympian runner who outpaced them all, who ran so fast that she set world records. but then she fell, shattering both her body and her dreams. in putting herself back together, she has married into a golden cage—if only she’d known so when she first fell in love.
the force of such beauty is a fairytale, but as the cover says, it’s not your grandma’s fairytale. a beautifully written story of love, and bodies, and power, it’s a book i’m sure i’ll be thinking of for a long time after i finish.
pps: if you’re a big reader, follow me on goodreads! i try and rank/save every book i read (and i read about 50-60 a year!)
does your family go to the movies on christmas? i’m jewish, so my family often does—but we’ve been arguing (of course) about what the heck to see over the holidays. i want to see wonka, which i know is for kids but is a prequel (i think?!) to my most favorite movie, which is the original gene wilder version of willy wonka and the chocolate factory. my sister has agreed to see it with me, my moms are a hard no. they want to see the boys in the boat (the trailer is above!), a clooney-directed adaptation of the book of the same name, which tells the true story of the 1936 university of washington rowing team who competed for gold at the summer olympics in berlin. i have a feeling this is where we’ll land, and i’ll be relegated to seeing wonka when it comes out on streaming.
have you seen anything else incredible that we should consider? if so, please leave your thoughts in the comments below!
whenever i share photos of my homemade granola, i get questions about which recipe i use. the answer is technically the eleven madison park recipe —but the reality is that i’ve sort of zhushed it over the years. so, without further ado:
homemade granola (sarah’s version)
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup pumpkin seeds (unsalted)
1 cup pistachio pieces (i get mine at TJs)
1/2 cup sliced almonds (i get mine at TJs)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (you guessed it, TJs!)
1 to 1.5 cups of dried coconut “chips” (also TJ’s; if you get them elsewhere, make sure they’re the big guys, not the tiny shredded kind!)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup olive oil (or coconut oil, if you prefer it; i tend to do a lil bit of both!)
1 cup dried cranberries (or dried cherries!)
to make, mix all dry ingredients above in a large bowl. preheat your oven to 325, and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
in a small saucepan, whisk the brown sugar into the syrup + oil mixture until it’s fully melted down and integrated.
pour wet ingredients into your dry ones, and mix with a big wooden spoon until alllll the pieces are coated. if you’d like, you can also mix in one beaten egg white—this will help your granola clump without needing tons of sugar!
spread granola mixture in a thick layer out on your baking pan, and pat down to make sure it’s somewhat even.
bake at 325 for one hour, or until crispy brown. let cool, then agitate with your spoon to break up, and top with dried cranberries.
i store mine in a vintage jar on my countertop, and eat it with my yogurt (or oatmeal!) in the morning.
ps: this also makes an excellent (and last minute!) gift.
pps: just for funsies, another item i love to make and gift are these molasses cookies. they’re super easy to make, they look beautiful, and they taste f*cking incredible.
i don’t know about you, but i really love a cute set of earmuffs. whilst putting together my holiday gift guide, i stumbled upon these adorable rhinestone muffs from hillhouse home, and added them to cart immediately. i was worried that they might not be all that warm once they arrived, but i’m thrilled to say they are both adorable AND toasty. after i posted the photo above, i got a slew of requests for a link, so i figured i’d share them here, too. as someone whose morning hair routine = putting my hair in a low bun to ward off frizz, earmuffs allow my ears to stay warm even when my hair is up.
sharing this photo to drive home the fact that they have RHINESTONES on the headband. magical, i tell you!
now, since this is our last 5 things of the year, i wanted to share a few additional links.
olivia rodrigo’s tiny desk concert is a JOY to watch. she is so talented.
amazon prime released a first look at the idea of you, an adaptation of the BELOVED novel (if you have not read it, get thee to a bookstore STAT) starring anne hathaway, and the internet (myself included) lost their damn minds.
i loved (LOVED!) this interview with elizabeth gilbert on aging. in particular, this quote made me both giggle and tear up: I had been taught by my family and culture that there is nothing more tragic than a single, childless, middle-aged woman. But as someone who has now been twice-divorced and once widowed, I am amazed by how great it is to be on my own, to live alone, to travel alone, to chart my own course in life without having to run it by anyone. It’s the fucking bomb.
american girlhood in the ozempic era. a sobering read.
and that, friends, is where i leave you.
if you’ve not yet subscribed for the newsletter, i’d love if you’d consider doing so. you can also forward it to a friend, share it on your IG story—whatever the spirit moves you to do. growing this space is important to me, and if you enjoy what you read here, it would mean a lot to me if you’d share it.
Immediately saved the podcast episode — perfect for tomorrow’s long walk.