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Last night, before our Laotian feast at Khe-Yo restaurant began, the chef's mother attended our table and performed a traditional New Year's blessing over our hands.
Using a flowering stem like a wand, she dipped its white petals in a golden pot of water and brushed away the past year's troubles from our open palms. Then she tied orange and white bracelets around our wrists, welcoming in good fortune for the year to come.
"Or, forever," she added.
I'm leaning toward the second option.
Lover of light naps
and licking my ankles, it's
hard to tell you 'No.'
1. ClassPass - At $100 per month, this online gym membership provides me with access to myriad boutique fitness studios at a significant discount. You can take up to three classes at the same studio per month, but there is no cap on how many studios you can visit. For those curious about barre, spinning and other new regimes, or if you're trying to curate a daily prenatal yoga practice (one of those classes that simply isn't hosted as frequently as others), it's a real gem. And there's an app for ease of scheduling on the go. Of course, it does have its detractors...
2. Good Eggs - I first read about this Brooklyn-based grocery service in a Food52 post by Amanda Hesser, who had used some of its locally produced wares to whip up a mouthwatering lunchbox for her children. At a glance, the site seemed to combine the best of greenmarket values with the convenience of FreshDirect home delivery--plus, sexier stuff like Four & Twenty Blackbirds pies and Shelsky's lox that aren't sold at either. After my first order, I'm officially hooked. Not only were there value bundles on avocados and seasonal produce, but I'm having fun exploring new-to-me artisan products, such as Melissa's raw almond milk with honey.
3. ThredUp - If, like me, you have jumped on the Marie Kondo bandwagon and are in the middle of a life-changing, magical tidy streak, but also cringe at putting your more expensive sartorial mistakes in the trash, this is a cool, consignment alternative. Register with the site online, order a bag, fill it with your unwanted articles, ship it back using the prepaid postage. They take care of the rest. No schlepping to Buffalo Exchange or Beacon's Closet only to endure the staff's weary eye rolls! For that luxury alone, I should really be paying them.
4. Resy - Though the concept of paying for restaurant reservations is a bit controversial, there's no question that there's a market for it. Not everyone wants to wait months to get in to the latest cheffy hit, or be restricted to 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. time slots. I'm not saying I will use this on the regular. But, as with Uber, the occasional splurge can save some sanity and make you feel a little fancy in the process.
5. Skillshare - I was initially very skeptical of this online learning hub, assuming it would be something of a Wikipedia University. But after signing up for a course with one of my all-time favorite creative nonfiction authors Susan Orlean, and then another with bloggerati wunderkind Emily Gould, I already feel I'm getting my money's worth from the annual membership plan. I'm not a faker, so I submit that I have yet to turn in my assignments for either class. But both projects are in the works and coming along nicely. More important, the process got my creative cylinders firing, which has been a boon to my 9 to 5 work.
