Completely Random (And Amazing) Discoveries You Need To Know About

I am really, really picky about my underwear. I want, for example, for it to not resemble a thong in any way whatsoever (those days are past, my friends). I need it to be a neutral color, to rest in exactly the right spot (not too high, not too low), and to be made of lightweight, soft fabric. I also want it to not look like a pair of hospital pants, but a true balance between “comfortable” and “sexy” is not an especially easy thing to find in the lingerie department.

The GapBody Breathe line is perfection, and is now practically all I wear. (I especially like the bikini pictured above and the hipster, and tend to wear the latter to sleep instead of boxers or pajama pants.) And? They’re totally sexy, in a sporty, I-woke-up-like-this way. Highly recommended.

OK, this product is not for everyone. But I’m not talking to everyone right now – I’m talking to you over there with the armadillo feet: hardened, cracked, and utterly impenetrable to things like moisture.

I hear you. We are foot soul sisters. Nothing works on my feet – not the Vaseline/plastic wrap/socks thing, not the most intensive moisturizers on the planet – and while electric foot files and the Baby Feet peel definitely helped, they never completely eradicated the problem.

I HAVE ERADICATED THE PROBLEM. And it is all thanks to the fact that I own an actual razor that I actually use on my actual feet. After using this microplane (yes, the kitchen tool, except this one is…ok, exactly the same, except it’s marketed as a “foot file”) once, I can now say that I have

…I can’t even believe I’m saying this…

Normal feet. Maybe even adorable feet. They are soft. They are uncracked. They look like the feet you see when you google “feet,” as opposed to the feet you see when you google “terribly, horribly ugly feet.”

If you too suffer from Uglyfootitis (and especially if you have serious callus buildup), you need to own this. And you need to prepare yourself for the pile – and I mean actual pile, like two shot glasses worth, in my case – of skin that you are going to remove from your feet the first time you use it. (I find skin-removal the most satisfying, cathartic experience everrrr, but I also get that this makes me gross. I also really don’t care that this makes me gross because OMG SATISFYING.)

Go microplane your feet, and then write me and tell me how your life just changed forever, because that is what is going to happen.

I learned about this book because Erin sent me a text message with a photo of the cover and a directive to buy and read it RIGHT NOW.

I waited a couple of weeks (just to be stubborn, obvi), but then downloaded Love Warrior to listen to while driving to Los Angeles…and it instantly – I mean by approximately page 10 – vaulted onto my own personal Best Books Ever list.

It’s a memoir of love and marriage and parenting and substance abuse and the the search for self, told in words so brutal and so honest that the book is hard to read at times. But please believe me when I tell you that it must be read, because truth this searing is hard to find in the world – and this book isn’t just a truth-teller…it’s a mirror. I have a feeling that once you read it you’ll know exactly what I mean by this.

Speaking of audiobooks: I’ve been using Audible for a couple of years now, mostly so I can listen to books on long drives. Recently, however, my children decided that I must “snuggle” with each of them in turn while they fall asleep at night, and as the falling-asleep process can take upwards of an hour (yes, each, and yes I know I have to break this habit), a little side-issue has arisen, which is that I way-too-frequently fall dead asleep in a toddler bed, only to wake up with my neck permanently frozen at a 45-degree angle.

I try to keep myself awake by poking around on my phone, but the light keeps my kids awake. And so you know what I started doing? Wearing headphones to our snuggle sessions and getting in a solid block of book-reading time while simultaneously stroking adorable little heads and totally not falling asleep in extremely neck-unfriendly positions.

My mother-in-law swears by this essential oil diffuser and uses it all day long. She bought me one for Christmas (along with a bunch of energizing oils to use during the day and sleep-assisting oils to use at night), and I have to say:  I was mildly skeptical. It seemed like the kind of contraption I’d try a few times and then forget all about…but I started using it anyway, and now I swear: not a night goes by when I forget to add lavender to my doTERRA and turn it to the 4-hour setting. I even frequently wake up in the middle of the night to restart it, because apparently something deep in my REM psyche says GIVE ME LAVENDER-SCENTED MIST AND GIVE IT TO ME NOW.

Does doTERRA actually help me sleep? Debatable. I’ve been sleeping much more deeply than usual since I brought it home (3AM politics-induced wake-ups aside), but I don’t know whether that’s because the thing actually works or because I’m highly suggestible. You know what, though? Whatever the cause of my newly-discovered ability to sleep like a hibernating tortoise, I’ll take it.