Five Pick-Me-Ups | Cup of Jo

How are you feeling today? Or, as my friend Anna would say, what’s your emotional temperature? Have you noticed any glimmers recently? I’ll go first…

First off, this past Saturday was very rainy (above), but I didn’t mind because constant drizzle reminds me of England. I also LOVE the smell after rain (which is called petrichor, as you may know).

Around noon, I met up with my beautiful friend Gemma in Manhattan. She’s working in London this year, so we haven’t seen enough of each other, and I couldn’t stop hugging her. She also made the genius call to order a rösti for the table — aka a crispy twice-cooked Swiss-German potato cake.

After breakfast, I walked past 100 women in trench coats and ended up at the John Derian shop in the East Village. They have a pop-up ornament store that is GLORIOUS, and I was also inspired by the soundtrack. “We don’t play Christmas music until December; otherwise we’d get sick of it,” the friendly shop crew told me. “But we play songs that have that cozy vibe.” Think: Dream a Little Dream of Me by The Mamas & The Papas and Only You by The Platters (and Harriet Michaels). I would put Baby, It’s Cold Outside and Lovesick and Lay Down in that category, too. What would you add to the list?

And how cool are those food candles (on the table)?

Last but not least, if you need help finding glimmers, humor writer Bess Kalb wrote a great piece called Some Mental Health Advice for the Week, which includes: “Buy a muffin. A muffin is a small cake it is socially acceptable to eat in public at dawn,” and “Watch something dumb. I am currently watching two dumb shows. One is Sanditon, a loose Jane Austen adaptation about a seaside resort town where THEO JAMES FROM THE WHITE LOTUS IS THE MR. DARCY CHARACTER AND WEARS TIGHT LIL BRITCHES AND IS MEAN UNTIL HE’S MAKING OUT WITH YOU ON A CLIFF.”

What about you? How are you hanging in there?

P.S. Five more pick-me-ups, and what’s the most beautiful thing you’ve ever read?

(Baguette candle photo by Fruit & Flower shop, which also carries wonderful food candles.)