Abbreviated Good Things!
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Welcome to another weekly episode of Good Things where I give you a peek into my everyday life during the week, and roundup my good links, ideas, books, and more.
Abbreviated version tonight – I hope you are all having a lovely and relaxed holiday weekend. I wanted to drop in with a quick hello!
Good Things This Week
🖼 Creative Input: A quick trip to the Museum of Fine Arts. I’d been meaning to go see the Fashioned by Sargent exhibit before it closes in a few weeks, and it didn’t disappoint. In 2024, I’m going to prioritize more quick museum trips, even if it means just popping in for an hour for inspiration.
Tiny Treasures: The Magic of Miniatures. You’ve heard of Fabergé eggs, but have you seen his miniature bulldog, Cody? (This was in the miniatures exhibit, which left me rationalizing a collection of more tiny objects.)
Matthew Wong: The Realm of Appearances. There’s an exhibit by the late Canadian artist Matthew Wong which is really quite stunning. He died at 35. I love some of the inspiration from artists like Kusama (which you can really see in this one.)
Creative Participation! There was an interactive part of the exhibit where you could write a poem. I spent a couple of minutes going through the thick stack of patron contributions. Some of them were truly delightful. Some of them were as entertaining as you’d think giving a crowd writing instruments could be.
Take a seat. The MFA has a collection of chairs in the permanent collection throughout the museum that you can actually sit on. This pair of Conoid chairs were created by George Nakashima and are in the Toshiko Takaezu exhibit in the new wing on the top floor. They are *wildly* comfortable.
Toshiko Takaezu was a ceramist, but perhaps more interestingly she was an artist who worked in a range of mediums, inspiring innovative techniques. I enjoyed the layout of this exhibit which included photographs, video, and sound.
🍫 Chocolate Treats: checking off another item on my December intentions list – a fancy box of Burdick’s chocolates, acquired. Bonus: I got a spot directly in front of the store. After not eating much of anything for an entire week while my mouth healed from a tea burn, I managed to also get myself a warm dark hot chocolate which was the first food in days I finally enjoyed!
⏲ Time to Bake: Cocoa Gingerbread. I loosely adapted this recipe in the NYtimes, adding cocoa and chocolate chips a la Nigella Lawson. It tastes better on day two! I don’t bake often, but when I do, I’m always decently pleased with myself.
A smattering of other good things:
- 🛁 Watch: Saltburn (only if you like movies from A24 or other arts films and be prepared to be… mildly disturbed.) I enjoyed the movie, but I’m *really* enjoying watching reaction videos to the film. (I’ve also broken down and am watching Reacher, a show about a man who solves problems with his large size.)
- 📚 Reading: Kim in the West’s The Meth Lunches about poverty and hunger in America.
- 🗑 Stop Doing: I deleted Cats and Soup and Two Dots from my phone. I like playing small video games and idlers occasionally while I listen to audiobooks, and then I wake up one day and am done (for the best!)
- 🌱 Plant Lady Life. Patiently waiting for my waxed amaryllis to bloom. (There’s still time to grab one at Trader Joe’s). I took in my little succulent garden a few weeks ago from my front stoop, and they are thriving on the bookshelf.
A quote to internalize:
“I deserve a treat when I have a bad week but I also deserve a treat when I have a good week. I simply always deserve treats” – Bettina Makalintal
That’s a wrap for this week!
I hope you have time this week to rest, relax, and connect!
xo, Sam
