my quiet morning routine and other things i like rn

It's that time again, time for me to sit down and share with you all a list of some things that I like right now. Call this a list of current favorites. Call this a list of current obsessions. Call it whatever you want. But today, that's what I'm going to be sharing with you all. And I do this pretty frequently because I'm the type of person that will become obsessed with something for like two months, and then I'll ultimately discard it and replace it with something else. And it's not because I don't like the thing that I became obsessed with and then discard it anymore. It's just that I've probably found something that's more exciting to me. I like to keep my life spicy. I'm somebody who definitely sticks to a routine. And so I rely on switching little elements of my routine up to keep my life dynamic and exciting. I'm not the type of person to eat the same breakfast every single day for 10 years. I'm the type of person to eat the same breakfast every day for two months and then switch it up. This is just who I am. And I do feel like I go through really intense phases with things where I become obsessed and then I ultimately discard it. So that's why I'm able to make these episodes as frequently as I do. So without further ado, this is a list of some of the things that I like right now. I briefly interrupt this episode to let you know that this episode is presented by Volkswagen. Don't get me wrong. Sometimes I love to be a passenger. Growing up, I loved sitting passenger seat in my dad's old Volkswagen Wind in my hair, listening to music There was something magical and carefree about it But once I got my driver's license, I've loved being in the driver's seat ever since Not just in the car, but in my life as well This is from me, from Volkswagen, and all the other drivers out there Do it, grab the wheel, get in the driver's seat of life Visit VW.com to learn more Now back to the episode Starting with a quiet, mindful morning routine. Okay, I feel like for a long time, I didn't really think too much about my morning routine. Like I would just wake up and then kind of do whatever. I mean, there were certain things that were consistent, right? Like make my coffee, get to work in whatever way I needed to get to work that particular morning. You know, I'd go to the bathroom. I've had phases where I've exercised in the mornings I'm not currently in a phase like that right now. I exercise in the afternoons right now. It's kind of my vibe. But I don't know. Like, I've never thought too much about my morning routine. Or like, how do I put this? I have thought about it, but not from a mental health way. In more of like a technical way. I've looked at my morning routine in the past from like a productivity perspective. and recently I had an experience where I kind of girl bossed myself to death I think and it led me to an extreme exhaustion that well if you want to know all about that listen to my last episode about I think I titled it something like I finally learned how to rest or whatever and I took a week to just rest and do it effectively. And during that week of pure, good quality rest, I got into the habit of a slow morning, a quiet morning, and it stuck. Now I'm back to work, I'm not resting anymore, and this has stuck. And it's so wonderful. I've been waking up a little earlier to do it, but it's been so worth it. The quiet morning routine for me is as follows. I wake up, I go downstairs, I make my coffee. And first thing I do is I journal immediately, just brain dump into the journal. But I don't force myself to do it if it doesn't feel right for me. Right? Like there have been phases in my life where I've been really into journaling and then phases where I've sort of let it go because I haven't needed it as much. But recently I need it. And so it's been great. I sit down and I journal anywhere between one page to like four pages, depending on what I need to get out. And what I journal about is usually what's going on in my life and an analysis of what's going on in my life, basically. I try to balance documentation of what's going on in my life with an analysis of what's going on in my life. And that seems to be the perfect balance for me because there have been times in my life where I've kind of forced myself to journal just to sort of document what's going on in my life. And that's not useful enough to me to get me into the habit of it. I think the analysis element is what makes it so valuable and it's incredibly peaceful and incredibly grounding. And then after that, I go for a morning walk outside. I prefer to do this in complete silence, no headphones in, no music, no nothing, just the birds chirping, the crisp air on the face alone. I will make an exception if there's someone to catch up with on the phone and like that's the only time that we'll be able to chat or there's something really pressing like oh I really want to tell then maybe I'll call someone but I would say four to five times I'm walking in silence and taking the first 30 minutes to an hour of the day to be silent and calm and to reflect and to think just keeps me chill for the rest of the day because I feel like I used to wake up and immediately just boom, boom, boom, start doing shit immediately. Boom, boom, boom. And then the rest of the day was just chaotic and high energy and so it's been really wonderful. Okay, moving on. Another thing I've really been enjoying is going grocery shopping at night. There's something about the energy at the grocery store at night that is magical to me. For a long time, I would grocery shop after my workout class in the afternoon, which was fine. You know, it was kind of like, It was kind of like habit stacking, if you will, as they call it. Like you combine two habits. And that was great. That was fine. That was productive. And I still do that sometimes. But I'm in a phase of my life right now where I'm single. Let's put it how it is. I'm single for the first time in many years for an extended period of time. And it's very easy for me to just like never leave the house except for to go to my workout. And so I've been sort of trying to find ways to get out of the house more, especially during the week. And so there are times when I feel a bit restless in the evenings, especially because I think when nightfall comes, the thoughts start to get a bit sadder. And so it can be nice to kind of get out and get some fresh air. But I don't want to go on a walk at night because that's kind of scary. But going to the grocery store at night where it's well lit and there's people around, love that. And the vibe is incredible. There's just something peaceful about it. It's quiet. There's not a lot of people there usually. You can really just roam the aisles as though time doesn't exist because the lack of people in there just kind of makes the energy more calm. You don't feel this rush. There's something about the fluorescent lights when it's dark out at night. I don't know. There's something weirdly invigorating about it. Also too, for me living in Los Angeles, there's no traffic. I don't know. There's just something kind of magical about the energy. I can't quite put a finger on it. You just have to experience it for yourself. Actually, you probably have experienced it for yourself. You know what I'm talking about? That nighttime grocery store magic. I just, I don't know. Okay, next. Reading before bed. I know what you're thinking. Emma, like, why are all the things that you're talking about not that fun? It's like, okay, first I love just having a slow morning. Then I love going to the grocery store at night. It's so peaceful. It's like, Emma, ooh, like these are boring things. Like, talk about something fun. those things are coming later I just had to get this stuff out of the way first I have gone through various phases of reading in my life and I fell out of it for probably a year honestly I just could not get into it like I can't even tell you how many times I tried to get back into reading and it just did not work and in retrospect it's because I was overworking myself unnecessarily in my work life it made me so exhausted that by the end of the day I could not I could not focus on a book. Like my brain couldn't do it. And it was my fault. Like it was unnecessary. And as I mentioned earlier, I recently sort of had a reset of sorts. I'm not overdoing it like I was before. I'm not beating myself up. And it's allowed me this mental space to read again. Because I started reading during my week of rest because I had nothing better to do. And I really enjoyed it. And then I've been able to bring it into my routine, thankfully, because it's so nice, particularly reading before bed. For a long time, I would watch some sort of content before bed because as I said, I was too exhausted. I was too exhausted. I couldn't open a book, you know? I had just overused my brain all day and stressed myself out so bad that I didn't have any energy left to do anything remotely challenging. And reading is a little challenging. It requires a bit of discipline to crack open a book, especially when there's easy content being fed to us all the time. so luckily I've taken a load off enough in my life to be able to read before bed and it's great because it's so much more peaceful but it's so hard to get into it it's so hard to get into it you have to have like the perfect homeostasis in your life to have the energy to read these days it's but it's taken me shifting other elements of my life so that I have the mental space to read but now that I'm reading at the end of the day, I feel like I sleep so much better. I'm also doing something that's good for my brain before bed. So I'm loving it. Okay, let's move on to fun stuff now. That was all so boring, you guys. Ew, why did I start with all that boring stuff? Next, playing charades. Okay, over the holidays, my friends and I went on a little trip and And honestly, I don't think it's exaggerating to say we played charades the whole trip. And I became obsessed with charades. Okay, there are many different ways you can play charades. But the particular way that we were playing charades was basically somebody would be the, let say the host And then the rest of the people would split off into groups perhaps two or three groups And all the teams are competing against each other Now oh my God this is so complicated Do you care? Do I need to explain this? Whatever. I'm going to explain it just in case you, it's called running charades. Long story short, I'm going to keep it short because you can Google it if you really want to, if you really want to play this. Basically the idea is, is that the host has a list of things to act out and the team sends one representative up to start and get the first word let's say it's taylor swift that's a person um as you know no but let's say the first yeah the first person the first charade is taylor swift they'll get the word taylor swift and then run back to their group and act out taylor swift and then whoever guesses it runs back to the host and says what's the next word then they'll go back and act it out and whatever team finishes the list first wins. I'm obsessed with this game. You have to get so creative to act out certain things. Because like, how do you act out the band Cage the Elephant? It's hard. You have to get creative. Like, you know, next thing you know, you're like, okay, four words. Okay, fourth word. And then you're like, pretending that you're an elephant. Everybody's like, elephant? And then you're like, okay, but it's also a band. And you're like mimicking a band. It's like so chaotic. But it is kind of amazing how creative everybody gets. And then when you like guess one and it was so hard to get, but somehow you were able to almost speak telepathically with people on your team. And oh, it's so good. You guys have to play this with your friends, have a game night and play running charades. You won't regret it. It's just the best fucking game. It's the best game. And it's all I've been thinking about ever since the holidays. And I've not seen my friends since the holidays. Everyone's busy. Okay. Everyone has stuff to do. I need to play running charades. I'm freaking out. Anyway, okay, moving on to subtle nail art. I know when you think of nail art, you think of someone getting excited to go to the Wicked movie and getting Glinda and Elphaba portraits painted onto their nails. And you think of somebody's birthday set of nails having candles and cakes drawn all over the nails, a nail set that took four hours to complete. I know this is what you think of when you think of nail art, because for a long time, this is what I thought of. Well, open your mind to subtle nail art. Listen, this is not a new concept. We all know what subtle nail art is, but I feel like the nail art trend got so extreme for a minute there where everyone was getting the most detailed sets of nails. It was like, whoa. And then it sort of became, at least for me, this thing where I was like, oh, I can't even think about this anymore. Like the pressure for me, it got so overwhelming. I was like, I can't participate in this anymore. I never really did because I've never had the patience to sit down for nail art that would take that long. But I don't know. I was so exposed to it on the Internet and stuff that I just I ended up kind of ditching nail art altogether. Also, too, I was like, it doesn't match with anything. It's just I don't know. I just was kind of put off by it in a way. And I was getting honestly just plain red nails for a long time. It always looks good. And it's still my favorite plain polish color. but I recently was like, you know what? I think I'm ready to get back into nail art a little bit. Nail art is cool because it's temporary. It's a temporary accessory. Like if you buy a pair of sunglasses, you're committing to that style of sunglass because you purchased an item. You know what I mean? When you're buying jewelry, you're committing to that style of jewelry. And that's an item that you ideally want to have and utilize for as long as possible. The cool thing about nail art is that it inevitably will come off your fingers. Yes, there is a financial commitment, but there's not like a material commitment. And I think now more than ever, that is a cool idea because trends have sort of taken Gen Z in a chokehold. Everybody is obsessed with purchasing whatever the next trend is and participating in the next trend usually spawned through TikTok. And I think it's leaving a lot of people with a lot of things in their closet that maybe they don't love enough. And I think a lot of people have become sort of addicted to participating in the trends because there's dopamine involved and we're also social creatures and we like to emulate one another. And it just, it's gotten a bit toxic. And I think the idea of nail art is kind of the perfect way to participate in trends in a way that doesn't leave you with this material responsibility. And so I sort of had this epiphany about nail art and I was like, I should be doing nail art. Yes, it takes a little bit of extra time, but it's kind of the most flexible accessory that there is. And so the key for me was figuring out how do I do nail art enough where it feels exciting to me, but not to the point where it doesn't match anything. And that's been sort of a fun challenge. And I've found so many cool, subtle, neutral nail art designs, mismatched sets of like a bunch of neutral colors with like blobs and swirls of color on them. Like just simple, neutral designs. I will say the design I have right now is not really very simple or neutral. I have like colorful stripes going on, but they're not so overpowering that they're like clashing with any outfits. So I'm back into nail art, but I feel like for me, in order for them to feel like an accessory, the art can't be too detailed. I want it to almost feel like fabric or something, like an extension of the clothes, not like detailed painted stuff on the nails. Does this make sense? Anyway, moving on. Styling hoodies in a fashionable way. Okay. Hoodies are known as a comfortable piece of clothing. We think of hoodies and we think of going to the grocery store late at night, as I mentioned earlier, trying to like stay low key about it, hoping you don't run into anyone, you know, wearing sweatpants with it. Like We think of hoodies as being casual. I don't think we often associate hoodies with fashion, you know, putting together a fit, if you will. Well, recently, my perspective on hoodies has changed. For a long time, if I wanted a warm outer garment that was lighter than a coat, I would wear a sweater. Recently, I'm getting into styling the hoodie in a way that feels elevated. Like I went to a birthday party and it was at a bar and it was definitely more of a formal evening. And I styled a hoodie and I felt perfectly dressed for the occasion. I didn't feel underdressed. I styled it up until it felt elevated, you know? I wore a hoodie with a long skirt, actually a matching skirt, with a black leather jacket over it and pointy black leather boots in a black leather bag. Simple, comfortable, but it felt, it did feel elevated, you know? for more casual days, I've been grabbing hoodies like almost daily with jeans, with like any sort of casual pant, but styling it with like, you know, having a cool belt on and like wearing a cool shoe and like having a cool bag and like really just building it up. I don't know. I'm just loving a hoodie. I love the way it feels, but for some reason I've just been liking the way it looks too. But I also think it helps that I've found quite a few hoodies over the last few months. Like I've slowly but surely developed a collection of really cool hoodies that don't feel as athletic. They feel a little bit more fashion-y, if you will. And I think that's where this love is coming from. Because if you're wearing like a hoodie, like a Nike hoodie, and it's made out of like a sweat wicking material, that's a hard thing. Like you can't, that's a hard thing to style for like a night out. But like a simple, classic, gray, cottony hoodie with a really good fit. Oh yeah, you could style that thing up. A hoodie made out of maybe an unconventional material, like some sort of knit material or something like that, that could be styled up. I think slowly but surely collecting a few hoodies like that made me realize not only is this a comfortable item of clothing, but it can also be a chic item of clothing. So I'm enjoying styling hoodies in a fashionable way. Moving on, classic square shaped black glasses. I know what you're thinking, Emma, why are you not wearing those right now? If you're watching the video version of this episode, I'm wearing round, very round glasses. I lost my favorite pair of square shaped black glasses. have no fear I ordered a replacement because I was very upset but for right now I don't have any square black reading glasses it's it's hard for me it's been hard it's been really hard but you know what they say you don't know what you got till it's gone and I honestly don't even think I would have realized how much I love this shape of eyeglass frame right now had I not lost them because it's been a loss. Like I can't tell you how often I reach for these, not just for like reading, but also I like styling them and going out in them. Luckily, I did not lose my square shaped black sunglasses, just my reading glasses. Oh, it's been hard because I rarely like to leave the house without glasses for some reason. It just, it weirdly is like a shield for me. It's like a protector for me. I can't explain it. It's psychological. I don't know why. Also, a lot of times I feel like the attitude that a pair of glasses adds to an outfit is very valuable. And so sometimes I'll put together an outfit and be like, something's missing. And then a lot of times I'll put on a pair of glasses and I'm like, that's what was missing. And during the day, it's much easier because sunglasses, you know, functional and cute. But in the evenings, it's more tough because can't wear sunglasses. It's kind of douchey vibes. Hey, I've done it. I've done it many times, but I don't like love doing it. I had a little phase where I love doing it. And then it very quickly got old for me because I'm like, I actually can't see. So I've gotten into the routine of wearing reading glasses out at night to add a little bit of spice to an outfit. And I cannot tell you how hard it's been without my square frames, because honestly, I would say for the last month and a half, maybe two months nine out of 10 times that I grabbing a glass sunglass or optical I have been grabbing my square shaped black glasses Classic square shape You know it, you love it. You don't even need to be watching the video version of this episode to know what I'm talking about. You know what I'm talking about, square shaped. Square, kind of, maybe rectangle, I guess, but kind of square. Boxy shaped, classic sunglass shape. You imagine what a sunglass is shaped like, boom. You imagine what a pair of reading glasses is shaped like, boom. You know what I mean? it's just like the classic shape. I don't know. There's something just cool about it. I feel cool when I'm wearing, when I'm wearing that shape. Not that I'm like trying to be cool. Like I, and cool is maybe the wrong word because the least cool thing you can do is make a conscious choice to be cool. So that's not the right way of putting it. It's like, I feel like that shape of glass feels, you know what it feels like actually? It feels powerful in a weird way. There's something about like a rounded frame that feels a bit softer. There's something really powerful about like a square shaped sunglass or reading glass. Like it just feels sharp and it feels kind of smart. There's something about the energy that I like. I like right now and I'm craving right now. So I briefly interrupt this episode to let you know that this episode is brought to you by Too Good and Co. I've actually got two good creamers right here in my studio today. And let me tell you, this should be the latest upgrade to your coffee game. They're made with farm fresh cream, real milk, and contain three grams of sugar per serving. That's 40% less than the five grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers. Two good creamers are available in sweet cream, roasted vanilla, and lavender. All you gotta do is pick one. Find them all at your local retailer in the creamer aisle. Now back to the episode. Okay, next, cute bralettes, okay? think like vintage inspired silk bralettes gorgeous almost sort of lingerie but not like super sexy super like super sexy sexy sexy bralette think more like maybe a little bit more understated maybe a little bit more classic I have a lot of sheer shirts a lot of sheer shirts for some reason. Like I weirdly over the years have collected a lot of sheer shirts and they're great for layering, but something I haven't really been able to do is wear like a bralette under my sheer shirts. Why? Because I haven't found, I hadn't found the right ones, but I also hadn't really looked that hard because I've never really been into lingerie. So it's never really been my thing. I've always preferred comfort in my undergarments. And my thought has always been like, if somebody's taking the clothes off, take the undie off with the pants. You know what I mean? Like, I don't care. Like, like, let's just get like, if we're going there, like, I don't need to like, this doesn't need to be a show. You know what I mean? So I've just never really looked. And thus I've never really developed a collection of cute bralettes. And this has been sort of upsetting to me in some ways, because there have been moments where I've been getting dressed and I've been like, oh, it'd be so cute if I wore like, if I had a cute bralette to go under this top that's sheer, but it's sort of been this thing where it's been like a gap in my wardrobe. And the only time I've really ever thought about it is when I need it. Well, I don't need it. I don't really need anything, but it's like when I've wanted it and it hasn't been there, but then it's not like when I've been out shopping, I've been like, oh, you know, I really do need to find some cute like bralettes that perhaps I could wear underneath sheer clothing as sort of like a fun element. Because again, as I said, I'm not somebody who really cares about lingerie. So like, if I'm wearing a shirt where you can't see the bra through it, I'm wearing whatever the most comfortable bra is. Same thing goes for underwear. And listen, I might end up unlocking my lingerie era one day. Who knows? I actually feel like it's impending. Like I actually feel like it might happen soon. As my prefrontal cortex develops, little things become of interest to me that weren't interesting before. And I do think that there's a chance that lingerie is coming for me, you know, no pun intended. Not really a pun. It wasn't really a good pun, but you know, coming. So, you know, whatever. But I do feel like there's a chance that like I might get into that a little, but it's gotta be comfortable because I'm, I'm very picky about my bras and underwear because I'm very particular about being very comfortable. Anywho, I mean, so the bralette thing for me is more of like, if the bra is going to be seen, I want it to be cute. Right. and I just never had any cute ones and slowly but surely I've started to develop a collection of them because I really did start looking and I've been finding some and you know it is a really like it's a fun way to layer it's a fun sexy way to layer to have like a gorgeous you know bralette underneath a shirt and it be seen it's kind of like a shirt it takes an undergarment and makes it fun and I know what you're thinking it's like Emma yeah we've all known this for years well listen I'm a little behind okay because I've just never been into it. If you're somebody who's into lingerie, you already have bralettes. You already have a cute little silk little bralette to wear under your gorgeous sheer button up top. You already have that. And you like feeling cute under your clothes. Well, guess what? I don't care about feeling cute under my clothes. I care about wearing granny panties that feel good on my butt and everywhere else. I care about wearing a bra that I barely can feel because I hate the feeling of a bra. It's really hard to find undergarments that are functional and cute. Hey, I'm not saying that they're not out there. They definitely are. But it's not an easy feat. And sometimes the most comfortable is a little ugly, you know? I've been on this journey to finding cute, comfortable bralettes that also look cute under clothes. And, you know, I'm in a phase in my life now where I take my time with the shopping. So it's taken a bit of time. But now I have all the neutral colors I need. A nude one, a black one, a cream one. I'm good. So it's a vibe. Okay, next. This is very random. So stick with me here. This is a very specific item. I cannot express to you how specific it is. But I will, but I actually will proceed to express to you how specific it is. So I will tell you about this item through a story. Okay. A year or so ago, I bought this bag, a vintage bag. It's green. It has pockets on the front. Kind of feels like if a pair of cargo pants were a bag. There's like two pockets on the front with like fold over pockets and buckles. It's a boxy sort of bag. I love it. Recently, I had this idea to take my entire, I kid you not, my entire collection of buttons and pins, cute little ones that say funny little things, have funny little pictures on them, and put it all over the back. Something came over me and I was like, I feel like if this green bag had some colorful little details on it, it would really make my outfit right now. And it worked because the bag is fabric, right? So I could just poke it right through. Ever since I did this with the bag, put the buttons all over it, I have used that bag like every day. I kid you not. It's become my go-to bag. It was my, like, I loved that bag before and I used it all the time. But I put all the buttons on it. That has become my go-to bag. All the colors on it, the fact that it's so dynamic. I am now obsessed with that bag. It's the only bag I want to take around with me because it's the most interesting one. But at the same time, what's great about it is that at any point I can take all of those buttons off, all those pins off, and I have my simple green bag again. Sometimes really taking something that you love and really putting effort into it to spice it up can make you fall in love with it in a way you never even knew possible. You know, it's become sort of a trend to personalize your bag, put a bunch of key chains on it, you know, attach jewelry to it, put stickers on it, like whatever, like it became a trend to sort of beat up your purse and give it personality. Perhaps this idea subconsciously came from that. But I think the reason why I love it so much is because I've collected the pins over time. Half of them are ones that I found online that I thought were funny and like matched my personality. The other half, random vintage ones that I found at like flea markets and stuff like that. But they all do feel personal to me. And I think that's what makes this sort of version of personalizing my bag feel kind of genuine, I guess, to me. Like it doesn't feel like I forced it. People were buying things that they didn't maybe even like that much to follow that trend. They were buying things that weren't personal to them. Key chains and clips and little like dangly things to add onto the bag. I always try to inspire myself and others to participate in trends only if it feels super honest to oneself in one's sense of style. Like if a trend pops up and it feels you, great, you know, you probably already have the stuff then to participate in the trend. Cause if it's so you, you know, you might already have it. And if not, you know, I think an extra step of thought and due diligence is necessary in order to ensure that the trend is not being participated in just because it's simply a trend. Um, not that I need to defend myself, but I think the reason why this worked out so well was because I already had all those pins. I already had that bag. And that I think is proof, at least to me, that it's like, okay, this is not following a trend wrongfully. This was just, I don't know. I think I'm making it a little bit deeper than it needs to be, I fear. I fear that I'm having a spiral about this and that I don't need to be. So let's move forward because I'm going off on a tangent that is so unnecessary, really unnecessary. Let's move on. Oh my God. The next thing I'm about to talk about might be my favorite thing on this whole list. Okay. It's a food item, a concoction that I came up with. Now, did I invent it? Probably not. I could probably find this sort of recipe online. It probably already exists, but I didn't see it online. Like I invented it. And so I feel like I invented it. So like, let me believe that I invented it. Okay. Let me explain it to you. You need green apples. You need vanilla flavored Greek yogurt. Okay. Or any sort of yogurt of choice, but vanilla flavor is ideal. I don't know. Is there caramel flavored yogurt? That could work. Okay. You need peanut butter powder PB2 you know peanut butter powder It like you know what peanut butter powder is It peanut butter but turned into powder Okay You need flaky salt and optional If you want to find this very niche random product, you need peanut butter extract. Okay. Yes. I somehow found peanut butter extract. Don't ask me how I found that. Don't ask me how I know that that exists. Don't ask me why it's in my pantry, but it is. It's definitely an optional ingredient, but I do think it adds a little bit of extra peanut flavor to this. Okay. Now there's a few ways that you can assemble this, but the most important element is this peanut butter yogurt. Okay. I take probably like anywhere between a half cup, two thirds cup of yogurt. You want it sweet. Like don't do unsweetened. This will not taste good. I put in, I kid you not, a fourth cup of peanut butter powder. Okay. Dumping it in, dumping it in a little bit of the peanut butter extract, flaky salt, a little bit of water. You need to put a little bit of water in there. It's too thick to just mix the peanut butter powder into the yogurt. You need to add a little bit of water to help it mix. Okay. Now cut up that Granny Smith apple or two. Okay. If you want to make a yogurt bowl, cut the apples into chunks. If you want to dip your apple slices into this yogurt peanut butter mixture, be my guest. When I first started making this bowl, I was cutting into chunks. then I realized you know what there's something about eating cubes of apples over and over and over and over and over again in a yogurt bowl that's hurting my mouth it's like cutting up the roof of my mouth I'm gonna start doing slices so now I'm doing slices just get that green apple into that yogurt and enjoy I mean it is so good I don't this is my snack of the moment like I look forward to this snack. It is so good. And I'm telling you, the flaky sea salt makes it. And you might even want to take the flaky sea salt to the table with you while you're eating because you might want to add a little bit more as you go. It's so good. Special shout out to my apple slicer, a very unnecessary kitchen gadget that I'm not sure why I have. I don't even know when I bought it, when it came into my life, but I have it. And I do use it every time I cut an apple because it makes it a lot easier. I mean, cutting an apple is not that hard. I'll tell you, it's really not. But to just be able to push down and have like a bunch of big slices. I mean, you still got to do a little bit of grooming of the apple slices after that, right? It's not like they're fully complete. Cut them a little thinner, you know, cut off any little bits that maybe you didn't want in your slice, but definitely cuts the time down. So if you have one, show some love to it. If you don't have one, you don't need one. I don't know why I have it. It's so bizarre. I don't know where it came from, but I, but I use it. Um, it's my favorite snack. Just give it a try. It's delicious. It's fun to eat. Like it's just such a joy. Um, I wonder how long this snack fixation will last. To be honest, it might be years. I could see this one going on years. I had a phase with this one smoothie. I was so obsessed with this one smoothie. It was so good. I think I drank it every day for over a year and then it got replaced by this snack, this apple peanut butter yogurt snack. And I have a feeling I'm going to be on this one for a while. You won't hear about me replacing the snack for a while. This is like one of the best snacks I've ever I've ever made. I mentioned flaky salt. And my next favorite thing is flaky salt. I love flaky salt. I like having a little dish of flaky salt out while I'm eating. And I like to be able to add flaky salt as I'm eating. Like, for example, I've been recently making a lot of soups. And listen, my soup is salty, but like I try not to make my foods too salty because it kind of scares me because like you can't take away salt, right? You can only add it. So I always, when cooking under salt a little, because I'm like, I can salt to taste in the moment. And there's something about just digging into the little salt, the little salt thing, digging in there, pinching some salt, sprinkling it on your food, mixing it up, eating it. Like there's something about the experience of like pinching the salt and crushing it in your fingers into your food that's so satisfying and fun. And it just adds to the experience while you're eating. Like instead of taking a salt shaker and just whatever, hey, why not have a little dish out with some flaky salt? It's fun. A little extra, but I don't know. Sometimes the little things like that can be weirdly satisfying and kind of fun. Okay, next, another food item. Let me tell you something about golden kiwis, okay? Take everything you know about a normal kiwi. What do you know about it? Well, it's brown and fuzzy on the outside. It's green on the inside. It's tart. It's a little sweet. Okay. Now imagine a kiwi that's the same, except when you cut it open, instead of it being green, it's golden. And when you take a serrated spoon, if you have one, yes, I have those. So random, but so helpful for eating kiwis. A spoon with like sharp edges for eating grapefruit or kiwi. Anyway, very helpful. Maybe that should be on this list as Well, well, consider it added. Okay. Imagine taking your serrated spoon or your normal spoon, digging it into your kiwi and taking a bite. And imagine taking a bite of the best kiwi you've ever had. That is what a golden kiwi tastes like. I didn't believe it. Okay. My dad started talking to me about golden kiwis a few months ago. He was like, oh, have you tried golden kiwis? I was like, no, or maybe. What is that? He's like, it's like a kiwi, but it's like better. And I was like, come on. Like kiwis are already really good. Like, how could they get better? And I kind of just didn't believe him, which is really rude in retrospect. I couldn't imagine a kiwi would be like that good. And I couldn't imagine how like different, you know, a different breed of kiwi could be. I was like, I don't know. Anyway, over the holidays, when I was home for Thanksgiving specifically, my dad was like, get into a golden kiwi. And I was like, all right, sure. I tried it and I was like, oh, I totally get it. the flavor is just a little bit sweeter, but also just a little bit tarter. That's not a word than a regular kiwi. It's like the flavors are turned up a notch, but also the texture is better. The texture is a bit less grainy. Like a kiwi is often very, is a bit grainy. Well, let me tell you about a golden kiwi, smooth, a bit more buttery. I don't know. They are better. So if you see golden kiwis at your local grocery store. Pick them up and give them a try. I actually, just talking about them, makes me want to have a golden kiwi right now. So after I'm finished recording this episode, I'm going to go eat at least four of them. And let me tell you, they go down easy. I can eat so many golden kiwis in one sitting and they probably help you poop. I bet I poop amazingly after I eat them. I don't know for sure, but I can imagine that it's not hurting. uh next another food item we have sesame anything I'm in my like I've always loved sesame it's been a flavor profile that I've loved for many years but recently I'm just really into it like I'm like gravitating towards it I'm like putting sesame seeds on everything okay if I can add sesame seeds to something I will if it remotely makes sense from a flavor profile perspective I am adding sesame seeds. I went to an ice cream shop. They had a sesame flavor ice cream. I got it. It was delicious. Very recently, actually, I went to a coffee shop. I wanted to get a drink. I wanted to get something to sip on, but I couldn't do caffeine. It was too late in the day. I just couldn't do it. And so I got a sesame latte. Okay. If you don't know what a sesame latte is, it's basically like sesame paste mixed with water and then milk is added to it. So good. so good now I'm obsessed with sesame lattes delicious add a little bit of honey to it yum yum yum yum yum there's just something about it sesame oil oh my god to like if you cook anything in sesame oil it'll taste good I'm craving sesame right now it's all I want moving on weird dessert fixation I've been having lately all I want to do is eat a brownie or a chocolate cake a dense chocolate dessert is what I want right now. Now this is weird because I normally don't care for, I mean, I always love a brownie. I always love a chocolate cake. Who doesn't? There's probably a few people out there, but they're few and far between. That's obviously a delicious dessert. Like obviously, duh. And if it's in front of me, like, yes. But I feel like there was a long period of time there where I'd probably choose something else before I'd choose a brownie or a chocolate cake. But for some reason right now, I am craving that. A dense, chocolatey, super rich, chocolatey, chocolatey, chocolatey baked dessert. That's just what I want. And I did make brownies a week ago and it was very fun to make. It was very fun to eat. But that's just my dessert craving right now. I used to be more of like a chocolate chip cookie, cinnamon roll. I don't know, kind of girl. But like a brownie with ice cream to me right now, that is perfect to me right now. And last but not least, for the list of things that I like right now, I like what I can't have. Ooh, there's just something about it. There's something about what I can't have right now that I like. If I can't have something right now, I like it. I really like it. Yeah. And we'll end on that note. So that's all. That's all for today. I will check back in with you soon on more things that I like. But we have to let time pass because that is how the list forms. So if you enjoy this episode, stay tuned. There'll be another one. I can't tell you when because I can't force the list to be finished, right? It just it happens when it does. But until then, new episodes every Thursday about a lot of different topics. If you want to watch a video episodes, see fun pictures on screen sometimes. That's on YouTube and Spotify. If you want to just listen, you can listen anywhere. Anything Goes is on social media at Anything Goes. I'm on the internet at Emma Chamberlain and my coffee company exists and it's called Chamberlain Coffee. Thank you all for listening and hanging out. As always, it's a joy to psychoanalyze things with you to the point where I start to feel my sense of reality sort of escaping me, to be honest. perhaps that's just who I am as a person. And I'm grateful if you made it to this point in the episode that you can tolerate me that long. So that's a blessing. And I'm very grateful for you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for hanging out. I love you. And I'll talk to you soon. Bye.