The Weekly, 12.14.2020

Well, my friends, Pretty Busy Brooklyn got a little face lift this weekend. I am not sure why, but my creative juices were just flowing the last week, even though I lacked motivation in just about every other element of my life. But, when you feel inspired, you run with it! Work has been so busy, and I’ve felt so…blah…at night, that I haven’t been putting as much into this blog as I did over the summer, when the energy was just present.

So, I decided on Friday night that I was feeling a new look, and I installed the new header I designed. And I am so pleased with it. Expect a new look for your newsletters, too! I spent the weekend really recharging, and even though I was really down this week, I found myself just pushing out content for some upcoming blog posts this week. It was really nice to feel like I put time into this blog, again, and to get some of my creativity back that this monotonous lifestyle had pushed to the back of my brain. I hope you like it as much as I do!

And I did the most adult, Park Slope thing this weekend, and did a little cookie swap with a coworker of mine who lives close by. I have spent the last two weekends making holiday cookies, and I am officially in a constant state of sugar hangover I think. I made these ricotta cookies for Chris, and my mom sent these adorable metal snowflake stamps (I thought they were going to be less premium than they are based on the packaging), which I used to make these sugar cookies. V. festive over here. My friend make homemade caramels (I’ve eaten quite a few…dangerous) and molasses cookies. For me, this is one of the ways I am trying to embody the Christmas spirit in what’s normally one of my favorite times of year, which looks a lot different this year.

Speaking of cooking, if you’re into Indian food, and okay cooking in more than one pot for dinner, I cannot recommend this coconut tikka masala chicken from HalfBakedHarvest enough. It was such a delightful and cozy meal that I made when I was feeling energized earlier in the week. I decided to just go all in and made this homemade garlic butter naan, and have zero regrets about it. It was more work than usual, but super simple to follow. And the bread turned out as a delicious next day grilled cheese – she is just a one-stop-shop for incredible recipes. Definitely put this on your list.

One of my favorite purchases of the last few weeks are hands-down these gorgeous mugs from Franca NYC, a Brooklyn-based ceramics studio that I shared a few weeks ago. We got ours in the mail this week and the quality is just superb. Not only are they insanely chic, but they are a great way to support a small business this season. Chris has been very into teas lately, and I found this loose-leaf tea company, a Black-owned and Brooklyn based tea company with some pretty divine sounding teas. I will definitely be placing an order for the cucumber melon or tropical green teas – there’s a huge selection! These would make a very cute duo to gift someone special.

If you’re looking for another super special and timeless gift at the last minute, Chris surprised me with some Jo Malone candles this weekend as an early Christmas present. Not only was I surprised he would indulge my candle-addiction, but I am always impressed by his gift-giving choices. I really lucked out in the partner category. You cannot go wrong with a chic candle- it’s a great gift for anyone. Next up, I have my eye on this candle that Tieghan from HalfBakedHarvest was burning – Dirty Gingerbread. Another candle rec that you can’t go wrong with? This charcoal candle from Apothokeco, another Brooklyn-based company. It just smells like the rural northeast in winter time. Trust me – I got it as a gift last year, and it is easily a favorite scent of mine to have burning at home.

Although Chris made up for it with those luxe candles, last weekend he told me my winter coat looked like a grandmother’s coat. Hot. I spent so much of last winter looking for a new parka, and just really never found the right one. I bought my current one, now living at Salvation Army, on an impulse sale purchase at Zara. And it was okay for what it was. I decided it was time to go on the hunt again, and I found myself ordering this parka made from recycled resources from Everlane this week. With super fast shipping, it already came, and I am impressed by the fit (after reading lots of reviews, I stayed true to size, despite it looking large, and that was the right choice), the warmth and the quality. Bonus? It’s just the right length on my 5’1″ frame. It even has little cuffs around the wrists to keep out of the cold, and it’s just a great, timeless black parka if you’re on the hunt for something for the cold.

In beauty buys this week, I grabbed these Elemis dynamic resurfacing peel pads on super sale on their site this weekend. I am about to run out of some that I don’t love but have been using up in an effort to clear out my medicine cabinet, and I’ve been wanting to try these for a while. I am looking forward to getting a good exfoliating and toning pad back into my daily skincare routine right now. Also on its way out is this eye cream from Tatcha that I’ve been using on and off for a few months. For me, you can’t ever go wrong with a Tatcha product, and this one is great if you want a lighter-weight anti-aging eye cream. I wouldn’t say that this has the wow factor of that a lot of their other products hold for me (personally, I like a thick eye cream at night and this isn’t that), but I would purchase this again until I find the holy grail night-time eye cream I’m on the lookout for.

In beauty I tried and loved this week, I got that Kosas lip oil in this week, and I have to say, I am impressed. It wears like a gloss, but it’s an oil so it’s more like a balm in terms of hydration. Thinking I might need to get this set to try some of the tinted products out, too. I also tried a sample of the Tata Harper resurfacing mask that things.ive.bought.and.liked raved about, and I really did love it. It’s hard to impress me with an exfoliating mask, but I loved the consistency of this one, and the after-glow it gave. It’s also a great price at just $65 for the jar.

Doing some online browsing this weekend, I saw two things I’ve put on my wishlist. I love Anine Bing tees, and I’ve been wanting one of her sweatshirts for a while. This quarter-zip sweater is so gorgeous, but has a steep price tag. I’ll just be day dreaming about this. I also have my eye on this gorgeous green mock-neck sweatshirt from Everlane that is supposed to restock later this month. I love the color, and think a mock-neck is the much less claustrophobic cousin of the turtle-neck, especially with a sensitive neck.

Last on my list for this week are these gorgeous chained huggie earrings that I saw on Kathleen Barnes, which I think would be perfect for my second and third piercings. They do require at least two piercings, and I think they are just gorgeous, and I love Baublebar for their quality without the steep price. Don’t have multiple piercings? This option has a cuff for the second huggie, which gives you that cool girl look without the actual piercing part.

Looking forward to sharing new content with you guys this week! Until then, stay pretty busy, and Happy Hanukkah to those already celebrating.

Thanks for shopping my blog post! For transparency, some of the links in this post may be affiliated, which means I might make a small commission off any purchases made using these links. I only share what I love on Pretty Busy Brooklyn, and appreciate your support.