The best winter moisturizer, a beloved vintage sitcom + a tip for pursuing your resolutions
The latest "Baguette Gazette" 🗞️
Hi friends! Welcome to the latest “Baguette Gazette”. If you’re new here, this is a monthly catchup where I share recommendations, personal updates, and what’s going on behind the recipes at TNB HQ.
I’m a sucker for books on creativity* and Elizabeth Gilbert’s (of Eat, Pray, Love fame) Big Magic has been on my list for years. It explores the theory that ideas don’t necessarily belong to individuals but rather come from the universe and seek collaborators in human creators. This idea has been echoed by many artists before her, and I personally find it freeing and inspiring.
In a concise, entertaining, and easy-to-read volume, Gilbert offers her perspective on creativity, and urges you to let go of fear and perfectionism. If you’ve resolved to embark on more creative activities in 2025, this is a great place to start.
(*also see: The Artist’s Way, The War of Art)
My skin is notoriously temperamental and is currently in its dry-as-hell winter phase. I’ve been using jojoba oil as a facial moisturizer - on the advice from the great
- and can’t recommend it enough. It doesn’t clog pores and is a close chemical match to our skin’s natural oil, so it’s an effective solution for when cream is not enough. (It’s too greasy to wear under makeup so I only use it at night.) If you’re gonna try it, note it should be applied to damp skin to have a better chance of absorbing. It’s also perfect for using with gua sha and other facial massage techniques.
The last series I watched was “The Sopranos”, which is… ya know, a tad dark. I was craving an antidote from the feel-good category and remembered “The Nanny” from bingeing it on sick days from school. As I’m rewatching this vintage comedy, I honestly can’t get over how funny and clever it is. And even if it wasn’t, I’d still stick around for Fran’s thick Queens accent and impeccable 90’s wardrobe. So. Many. Animal. Prints.
Happy new year, friends!
I hope your winter break was cozy, restorative, and filled with soul-satisfying food.
For me, the past couple of weeks were a bit of a blur. I thrive with a predictable routine, and putting it on the back burner in favor of boozy parties and family gatherings (as lovely as they were!) was starting to feel destabilizing by the tail end. Alas, I’m excited to be back at work this week.
2024 was my year of leaning into systems. In line with the intention I set last January, it was all about zooming in on my goals, avoiding procrastination/resistance, and not diluting my focus. Restructuring my workweek was key, as was letting projects that don’t align with the big picture fall by the wayside.
This being the month of resolutions, I thought I’d share one key lesson I’ve learned from the past eight years of running my own business, as well as just pursuing my personal goals: the importance of building trust in yourself.
We can all relate to setting well-meaning goals - be it going to yoga each week, meal prepping on Sundays, pitching one new client per month, etc. - then after a few tries, promptly leaving the goal in the rearview mirror, and pronouncing ourselves a failure.
If this happens regularly, the cycle not only leaves us un-yoga’d, with nothing to eat, and without new clients, but it also sends a signal to ourselves that we simply can’t be trusted.
As in: if you think of yourself as your own friend, and the “friend” keeps bailing every time you make plans, you’ll probably be reluctant to make plans with them again in the future.
If you’re trying something new in 2025, my best advice is to set small, accomplishable, specific goals.
For example, instead of vowing to do yoga every week, make it a goal to “do yoga this Saturday at 12pm”. That’s right - just one yoga session. Then when you actually show up, it’ll feel like an immediate success. Or instead of resolving to meal prep every week, just make one soup/casserole/salad dressing this weekend. Just this weekend! You get the idea. After reminding yourself that you actually can show up, you can slowly work your way up.
There’s also something to be said for not making any resolutions at all. Each of us has our own baggage, be it big or small. And if you’re in an already-difficult season of life - dealing with a family issue, struggling with mental health, etc. - now is probably not the best time to set lofty goals, even if that’s what everyone else seems to be doing.
P.S. In case you missed December’s recipes…