May Favs, Finds, and Travel
I don’t know about you, but for me, May came and went in the blink of an eye. Ronnie and I had a fair amount of travel, both for work and for play, and so the month was gone in the blink of an eye.
One of the things I’ve resolved to do this year was to take time to be more retrospective. As an output of this, each month, I share 1) new ideas I’ve picked up or am contemplating, 2) changes I’m making to optimize in my life and career, and 3) content and products that I’ve really enjoyed over the month, that I think you might too.
Today’s article is all about May 2024. Things I learned, where I went, and new products/content I discovered that I think you will enjoy.
New ideas I picked up in May
“A dream either grows into a plan, or withers into regret.” — Mike Posner. This got me thinking, what dreams of mine are withering, and what (if anything, no matter how small) do I want to do to water them?
“The best way to train for climbing mountains, is to start climbing mountains.” — Mike Posner. This got me thinking, what mountains do I want to climb in my future and am I getting the kind of training in, right now, to climb those one day?
[I’m taking liberties here] “I was on a silent, solo retreat, and there were so many times I would end up triggered, and mad about something, and that’s when I realized how powerful my mind was, there was literally not a single person there to be mad at, only me, repeating old stories, replaying past events and conversations, and then getting triggered by them. I realized, in this solitude, that I had no one to blame for my suffering but me. I was causing it. I kept running into me. And so I decided that I didn’t want to be that guy, the guy in my head that was getting all knotted up replaying the past. I’m not that guy.” —Mike Posner. This got me thinking… DAMN! How much of my suffering is simply unconcious, and self-inflicted? And how many of us are guilty of this? How can you play to remember this
Change is uncomfortable, but more uncomfortable than change is staying stuck where you are. Sometimes you have to choose change, and trust yourself to figure it out when you get to the other side of that change decision.
Put on your own oxygen mask first. We had a big family trip to Detroit during May, I packed the car to the brim with everyone’s things, but forgot my own suitcase, and had to double back for it. Oops. Lesson learned?
What I wrote & shared in May
Where I went in May
We got over to New Buffalo for my first Mother’s Day Weekend, which was lovely. If you haven’t been, go.
We also took a trip to Detroit for my brother-in-law’s baby shower. Hands-down one of the best trips I’ve been on recently. Perhaps it’s because I had very low expectations for Detroit, or very few plans made in advance, but honestly, Ronnie and I both left saying “this was one of the best trips we’ve taken in a long time.”
May wrapped up with a trip to NYC for my baby brother’s engagement party! We left Charlie at home for this one, so we could turn up! And by that I mean, walk around, enjoy the city, and go to bed at a reasonable hour… well, sort of! I’ll be writing about our time there in an article soon — we went to Remedy Place, the world’s first social wellness club (sneak peek — Founder, Dr. Jonathan Leary sat down with Lauren and I on the pod, episode coming soon!), so that was dang cool.
Content I loved in May
I read the book Shortcut Your Startup by Carter and Courtney Ream — Courtney and Carter are the founding brother duo behind M13, an early-stage (seed and Series A) venture capital firm behind some of your favorite brands. I like that the book is easy-to-digest founder advice, these guys aren’t trying to MBA-you-to-death, but they do offer some really specific advice around fundraising and how to think about your startup. The book is broken up into three parts — pre-launch, running the biz, and selling the biz. I like that it covers the full life-cycle of a business, I don’t think a lot of startup books do that.
I don’t watch much TV, but I DO NOT miss an episode of The Kardashians (Hulu). It’s baaaaack! And I am over-the-moon happy about it. Fun fact: last season came out the day I gave birth to Charlie, so she and I got to watch Season 4, Episode 1 together from the recovery room. A Dream come True! (Kardash fans, see what I did there?)
I can’t get enough of Giggly Squad Pod, Hannah and Paige are seriously so funny and fun. I look forward to listening every week on my drives to and from Daycare. I promise you that you’ll laugh out loud.
Products I’m obsessing over in May
I tried Snak Club’s Tajin Peach Rings during a work trip to Indy, and I was blown away, these are life-changing, order 10 of them.
I finally got to try Sweedies, and they were sooo good! Sweedies are snackable, weed gummies, as in… you can eat the entire pack because it’s only 5mg per pack, or you can do a super-duper micro-dose if you just want a little vibe! They’re also Erewhon-grade clean ingredients, so that’s great too. Lauren and I sat down with founders Rachel and Olivia on the pod a while back, if you want to hear how they came up with the idea and brought the brand to life. What I like about these is they give a really nice buzzy body high.
Cayla Gray fragrance. Cayla Gray is a woman-led, super-clean, fragrance brand that I’m obsessed with. Kelly Kussman, who is a total baddie btw, actually came on my old pod to share the founding story of Cayla Gray — it’s a heart-breaking and heart-warming story. I’ve been using the products and sharing with all my besties for years now, I always get the Water roller because it fits perfectly in my toiletry bag. Ronnie wears Hearth.
Ronnie has a skin condition that means sometimes he has really painful flare ups, because of this, we try to be really intentional about what ingredients and chemicals touch his skin (hence why he wears a Cayla Gray clean fragrance instead of a conventional cologne). I recently discovered Toups And Co grass-fed beef tallow balm, and he’s obsessed. If you’re thinking… “Ewww Beef Tallow on my face?” Before I lose you, it’s really great for helping heal, and soothe skin. This is due to the structural and nutritional makeup of tallow, essentially its animal origins means it naturally contains identical lipids in healthy human skin, making it capable of absorbing quickly and penetrating deeply, providing intense skin restoration at the cellular level. So in essence, it is one of the most bioavailable, effective, natural moisturizers you can use.
Isle of Paradise Self-Tanning Drops are incredible, and ya’ll have been gate-keeping the sh*t out of these! Why?!
If you are an Aperol Spritz girlie, but trying to reduce alc this summer, you gotta try De Soi’s new Spritz Italiano. We actually had De Soi CEO, Scout Brisson, on the pod a couple weeks ago, and yes, she’s just as smart, cool, funny, and kind, as you’d expect of someone building Katy Perry’s beverage brand.
Ohhhhh shit, I almost forgot, I got The Skinny Confidential Mint Roller. You guys, this is NOT a drill. Go buy this immediately, you will not regret it. Since the pod is on summer break and you’re not going to hear me rave about it, here’s my text to Lauren about it. It’s soo good you guys.
Well, that’s all I had for you today! I hope one of the ideas or products I shared help you now or in the future. Have a great June! If you try some new stuff or travel some new places, tell me what they are and where you go. I really like hearing from you guys!
Xo!
