Mini-Ep 423: Embracing the Microjoys
Doree and Elise get an update from the listener who now regularly sees the free bowler. Then they talk through the practice of embracing “microjoys,” or small pleasures, and take a walk down early aughts gadget memory lane before sharing a few more gift recs for the foodie and the kids in your life.
Mentioned in this Episode
Trader Joe’s Green Chile Chicken Bowl
Trader Joe’s Chicken Shawarma Bowl
Auga Sweet Corn Soup
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Transcript
This podcast transcript is AI generated.
Doree (00:10):
Hello and welcome to Forever 35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Doree Shafrir.
Elise (00:16):
And I'm Elise Hu. And we're just two friends who like to talk a lot about serums,
Doree (00:21):
And this is a mini episode where we hear from you, we share your comments and your thoughts, and we answer your questions to the best of our ability.
Elise (00:30):
And just as a caveat, which we caveat at the beginning of these Wednesday episodes, we are not experts. We are podcast hosts, and we always encourage you to seek support first and foremost from a medical and or mental health professional as needed because some of these questions can be a little hard.
Doree (00:47):
Thanks for taking that one. Elise. Kate always used to do it, and then when we started recording together, I just started doing it, but then for some reason, my brain today was like, this is Elise's part, and then you just rolled with it. So thanks.
Elise (01:00):
Here I am. Here you
Doree (01:02):
Are.
Elise (01:05):
And this is not our last mini up of the year. This is our second to last mini up of the year, because listeners, we are going to go on a bit of a holiday break. It's a much disrupted holiday break to take care of ourselves. Yes, there will still be episodes in your feed, but they will be rerun episodes, which we will be putting out and we're not going to share who they're, it'll be a surprise. It'll be a surprise, surprise, surprise. Some of our favorite guests of the year are going to be in the reruns, but we'll do one last fresh mini app of 2024, next Wednesday, the 18th, and then talk to you again in January. But keep calling.
Doree (01:47):
That's true. Yes. Keep calling, keep writing, keep texting, keep doing all the things
Elise (01:55):
And you know how to find us, I hope.
Doree (01:57):
Yeah. But if you don't, you can email us at Forever 35 podcast@gmail.com. You can call or text us at (781) 591-0390, and we love hearing from you. So please put us in your contacts and text us anytime.
Elise (02:14):
Well do, let's just check in first before we get into the listener questions. How is your holiday prep going? I know your decorations are up. How's your shopping? Do you have people who are very difficult to shop for that you have?
Doree (02:28):
Well, Matt and I are kind of, yeah, I think we're not really doing elaborate Christmas stuff this year just for money reasons. And then Henry is the only other real person that I buy Christmas presents for. He also gets Hanukkah presents. I asked him, a couple of friends of mine who have kids Henry's age were texting me about their holiday plans in terms of presents. And so I was like, Henry, what do you want for Christmas or Hanukkah? And he's like, I want one of those little squishy balls that are spiky. And I was like, I don't think I know what you're talking about. And he was like, well, they were in some of the goodie bags at the birthday party over the weekend, but I didn't get one. And I was like, oh, okay. So I text my friend whose son is in Henry's class, I said, Hey, did your kid get one of these balls? Can you send me a picture of it? And she was like, yeah. And she sent me a picture. It's literally tiny. It's like this big. It's the size
Elise (03:42):
Of a marble.
Doree (03:43):
It's the size of a large marble. It looks smaller than a quarter.
Elise (03:49):
Oh my gosh.
Doree (03:51):
I found it. And
Elise (03:51):
It's a gift bag giveaway.
Doree (03:53):
It's a gift bag giveaway on Amazon. You can get 25 of them for $10, five of each color, five colors, five of each color. They're 1.18 inches in diameter,
Elise (04:11):
So you could just give one a new color for five nights of Hanukkah.
Doree (04:15):
Right. I was like, anything else? Is there anything else that you want? He's like, no.
Elise (04:23):
I was like, okay, you lucked out. He's a cheap date.
Doree (04:25):
Yeah, he's a cheap date, but I said, maybe we can do theme nights for Hanukkah. That's what we did growing up. It was like one night was book night, one night was clothing night or whatever, and he was like, yeah, I can come up with a letter. And then the gift that night has to start with that letter, but you have to guess what the letter is. I was like, what? This just got way too complicated, so I'm going to get him a few other things. I'm not going to just get him these little fidget balls. But yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. What about you?
Elise (05:03):
Well, we are traveling and there's going to be, there's my brother, his family, his kids to buy for, and then my parents, and I don't know whether to just get smaller gifts that I can pack or wait until I get there
Listener Voicemail (05:19):
And
Elise (05:20):
Buy things there. I think we're going to have to check a bag because it's a two week trip overseas and Rob is saying that his clothes are going to take up a lot of space and everything, so I might just have to relent on my whole one bagging. I know you hate checking bags. I do not like to check a bag, not even 7,000 miles away for two weeks, but if we do check a bag, then I can sneak in a lot of presents. I can pack a lot of presents
Doree (05:47):
That way. That's true.
Elise (05:48):
And I have some ideas. I actually bought my mom gifts in Nepal when I was there in July that I can now finally give to her because they are known for making felt handycrafts and things. Turns out so many of our dryer balls come from Nepal because they make so many felt products.
Doree (06:08):
Oh my gosh. I never knew that.
Elise (06:10):
And so I have some things for my mom already. I have an idea of what to get my dad. It's very difficult to shop for my brother because he is a stylish guy and he's so specific with his tastes, so I'm not sure. I might get him something joint related, like a joint supplement because I both have knee problems.
Doree (06:35):
I thought you meant like a marijuana joint.
Elise (06:37):
No, no, no, no. I mean, joints, tissues, tendons and ligaments. Yeah, we're falling apart and we both have the same knee problem, and so maybe I'll get him a knee brace that's hot.
Doree (06:52):
Merry Christmas to
Elise (06:53):
Roger Hugh.
Doree (06:56):
That's so funny. That's really funny. Yeah, we don't really do, we do generally exchange gifts with the cousins, although that has also sort of died down lately. We were never a big gift giving family, so it's sort of like, I don't know.
Elise (07:20):
That's great for your austerity season,
Doree (07:22):
Which honestly fine with me. I'm not expecting not anything, and nor do I wish to be stressed out about giving things. So that's
Elise (07:36):
Where
Doree (07:36):
We're at.
Elise (07:38):
Yeah. Rob asked me what I wanted and what I really want, truth be told is I want to finally frame all of the art and photos and things that I have been intending to frame for the last two years, but custom framing is very expensive. I tried that frame bridge and the software kept messing up and I just never got around to it. And that is the thing I actually really want to do. And that's a time commitment and not just a spend.
Doree (08:06):
Before we take a little break, we got an update from the listener who texted us about spotting a free bowler in the wild. And this text said, ah, Dorian Elise, I can't believe you read my text on the pod. My sister in Arizona texted me like You're famous BTW. The guy who I fairly regularly see now was eating a kind of leftover smelling food.
Elise (08:39):
Yeah, because my question was what is he eating?
Doree (08:42):
If it was oatmeal, that would've been good, but this was like that odor when you're in an apartment building and you can smell everyone's cooking Anyway, made my night. I know exactly what
Elise (08:54):
You're talking about. I
Doree (08:55):
Do too. And those kinds of things should not be consumed in public. And again, as I said before, I don't know what this person's life is. They might have so many commitments in the morning that they just do not have time to eat,
(09:16):
And I have sympathy for that at the same time, could you make better choices when it comes to the food please? Maybe a Z bar. Yeah, right. Maybe a nice protein bar doesn't bother anyone. You don't need to bring your own flatware. Oh, I'm Ted. Gosh, that's great. All right. We already told everyone how they can get in touch with us, but I do just want to remind everyone we have our website, February 35 podcast.com. We have links there to everything we mentioned on the show. We're on Instagram at February 35 podcast where we post some fun clips from our interviews. We have a newsletter at February 35 podcast.com/newsletter, and you can shop our favorite products at shop my us slash forever 35, and
Elise (10:12):
Not just our favorite products, but also Rachel Goodwin's favorite products. Our guest from Monday, our celebrity makeup artist. We have a shop up for her on our shop. My page, yes. And our holiday gift card, our 2020 fourth holiday gift guide.
Doree (10:25):
Is it? Yes. There's so much there. Go check it out. And we are going to take a short break.
Elise (10:32):
We'll be right back.
Doree (10:33):
We'll be right back. Okay. We are back. Elise, I don't know if you remember probably a couple weeks ago I was talking about the concept of micro joys, and I was like, we had a guest on who talked about this and maybe even wrote a book about it. And I cannot for the life of me remember who it was, and a listener figured it out.
Elise (11:07):
Oh, thank you, listener. Yeah, I would love to go back and listen to that. I love small things to bring us joy.
Doree (11:12):
Yes. So this listener wrote Dorie. The episode about appreciating the small things was 2 57 with Cindy Spiegel. I'm a therapist and have recommended her book to so many people. I read it while on a getaway with my best friend who is undergoing cancer treatment. She introduced me to Forever 35 more than six years ago. And it has brought so much joy to my life and our friendship should you happen to read this. I love you so much, Bridget. Everyone should read Cindy's book. She writes so beautifully about taking notice of the everyday magic that makes up a life, and her book is called Micro Joys, finding Hope, especially When Life Is Not Okay.
Elise (11:50):
There's another book that's on the same theme that I have gifted before, and I think I gave it to Rob for his first birthday that we celebrated together, and it's called Small Pleasures, and it's from the School of Life. So the philosopher Elaine de Batal.
Doree (12:08):
Yes, you've
Elise (12:09):
Probably heard of his books.
Doree (12:10):
Yes.
Elise (12:11):
But he has this whole vertical called The School of Life, and it's about friendship and relationships and sex and all sorts of things. There's different weight, different product. They have card sets and they have books. And one of the things that they sell is this book called Small Pleasures. So first we will link to that also along with this book Micro Joyce, because it seems like they're
Doree (12:38):
Related. Very, very cool. Thank you for that listener, and thank you for that, Elise. And we got a voicemail that kind of made me chuckle.
Listener Voicemail (12:54):
Hey, Dorian Elise, I was just listening to the Patreon episode where you referenced the MGMT TikTok video of, I dunno, probably 2004 or something. I went to Wesleyan with MGMT and they were known as the management back then, and it was as amazing as that video makes it out to be. They would play concerts every weekend in the various quads and at the Society house called Eclectic. And it was just, the kids' song was the anthem of that era for me of college. And it is so nostalgic to watch them dancing and being hipsters, and every time that song is played takes me right back. But watching the video was amazing also because there aren't that many videos from that time period because people didn't have iPhones back then where that video came from. But thank you to whoever posted it because it was really fun to watch it and show it to my kids and say, that was my college experience. I feel really lucky that I overlapped with them and so many other great bands. Alright, take care. Bye. How cool.
Doree (14:17):
This is so funny. I had a bunch of friends who went to Wesleyan and some of them were in eclectic, and it was just as Wesleyan as you can imagine, if that means
Elise (14:32):
Anything to you. So you mean like artsy, artsy, artsy,
Doree (14:36):
But very cool. And yeah, it's not shocking to me that MGMT would've come out of that scene. I was reading their Wikipedia and I guess they did originally call themselves the management, but then there was another band with that name. So they decided to just call themselves MGMT. And I actually think that, I mean, I'm sure if they had stayed the management, they would've done well, but can't, it's hard to think of them now as anything besides MGMT. So that's funny. Also, this listener brought up a good point, which is this was pre iPhone, so we weren't all walking around with video cameras in our pockets, but there were video cameras on the market. There were digital cameras that also had video capabilities. So it's not like crazy. Also, I was trying to remember when, do you remember flip video? Yeah,
Elise (15:28):
Yeah.
Doree (15:28):
I think I had one. I had one too. It looks like they didn't come out. They didn't come out until 2006, so this would've been after. But I think in that era, people were taking videos. It wasn't like it. There were no videos. You know what I mean?
Elise (15:49):
So if we're talking about 2004, it wasn't really on a digital camera so much because your digital cameras didn't have enough memory to record more than a few seconds of clips. I remember I had a nice Sony digital camera in 2006, 2007, and you just couldn't take a whole song because you would end up using up
(16:12):
All your storage. So I did capture some video clips occasionally then, but it was like four or five seconds and I'm so glad that I did because otherwise none would exist. But then I remember when my daughter was born, and this was by 2012, we had a cam recorder to record video because iPhone bandwidth, even though I got the original iPhone, like what? In 2008 or something, iPhone bandwidth. It was like really cultural. You wouldn't use your phone for video, you would use it for images. And it's so weird to think about how quickly all of that has changed and how now the default, I feel like I default to just capturing video. This has been a cultural shift that has just happened within the last five, 10 years.
Doree (17:00):
Googling flip video also led me to the CVS one-time use video camcorder, which came out in 2005 and it was the world's first disposable digital video camera. Isn't that crazy? It was $30, you could record up to 20 minutes and then you could bring it back to CVS and they would burn a DVD for you for 13
Elise (17:28):
More media. Yeah, all of the media was like hardware. Yes,
Doree (17:35):
Yes, yes. I mean also, but just think about so much waste, like a one-time use camcorder. You just throw it away. I mean, that's also kind of crazy. Wow. Well, thanks for walking down this gadget memory lane with me. Speaking of gadgets, we got a text about another ninja product because I had recommended the ninja slushy maker in our gift guide.
Elise (18:11):
Yes, yes you did.
Doree (18:12):
And this listener wrote in to say, another awesome ninja product is their countertop air fryer.
Elise (18:20):
Oh my gosh. It can
Doree (18:21):
Bake. It fits a 12 inch frozen pizza, air roasts, toasts, warms, and dehydrates. And the best part, when you're done with it, you can stand it on. Its back to take up way less counter space.
Elise (18:37):
Ooh,
Doree (18:38):
Wow. This does sound awesome. And my question with these kinds of gadgets is does it do everything equally well
Elise (18:48):
Because or is it better at some things than other
Doree (18:50):
Things? Is it better at some things? And for example, it says that it toasts. Is it a good toaster or is it kind of like a meta toaster? I feel like that's sometimes the problem with these gadgets, but maybe it does everything really well. I would like to know, please write back and update us. And then they also say, another kind of gift I'd like to share are the cheap kids park gifts. My boys are seven and almost four, every time a kid has a foam airplane at the park or a foam rocket launcher, they run to that kid. One of their Hanukkah gifts are cheap foam airplanes for $7 for two. Who cares if they get lost or destroyed, but they bring a lot of park joy.
Elise (19:37):
Okay, that's a good idea.
Doree (19:40):
I'm listening.
Elise (19:41):
Yeah, my kids played with those a lot in Korea and then for some reason not here in the States. So yes, that's another trip down memory lane. Totally great idea and very affordable. These are not pricey gifts. It's good for Hanukkah.
Doree (19:57):
Good gift for Hanukkah
Elise (19:59):
Because you only have five colors on those tiny squishy balls. That's true. So you still have three other nights. That's true.
Doree (20:06):
It's true. It's true. Okay, we're going to take a short break and we will be right back. Okay, we're back. We have another voicemail.
Listener Voicemail (20:25):
Hi, this message is for the Trader Joe's portion of the podcast. Green Chili Chicken Bowl is great. The freezer for days when you don't have anything to eat or when you're desperate or when you're hungry, you can add a bunch of shredded cheese to it, add some plain yogurt to it, like sour cream, put some tortillas on it, make tacos or meat. Just sprinkle a bunch of hot sauce on it and eat it as the kids, as your WR and the old kids to bed. So anyway, thank you guys. Bye-bye.
Elise (21:01):
Have you tried this? That sounds yummy product. I haven't. And I'm ready to add something to my repertoire besides the chicken schwar bowl because I've been eating that a lot, so I will try it. Thank you for the wreck. We got a separate note and we can probably read it in in our final mini up of the year next week. But it was about how we need kind of one central clearinghouse, one page or place where all of our Trader Joe's res from listeners and from us live.
Listener Voicemail (21:33):
So
Elise (21:33):
That, and obviously we know that so many Trader Joe's items are seasonal, but all the Trader Joe's and Costco Res could be on one page. And I do think that's a great idea. So we can work on that in January.
Doree (21:47):
Yes. Okay. The Trader Joe's Harris Serum continues to be controversial. This listener wrote to say, catching up on Min apps, wanted to mention that the Trader Joe's hair serum works well for flyaways. If you are slicking your hair back in a ponytail or bun, at least for my wavy slash frizzy hair, I've never tried it as an actual serum.
Listener Voicemail (22:14):
Okay,
Doree (22:18):
Good to know.
Elise (22:18):
Well, now I know that I need to just buy both. So the conclusion of this frack, this tempest last week was that I'm just going to have to buy both and see which works best for my hair type. I'm going to splurge.
Doree (22:35):
Okay. I'm excited for you. I have a Costco recommendation that I would like to share.
Elise (22:44):
Yes, please do.
Doree (22:46):
It is sweet corn soup.
Elise (22:51):
Oh, well, corn pasta was so big this summer. Corn pasta was big.
Doree (22:55):
It's true.
Elise (22:56):
How perfect to bookend or to end the year in the winter with corn soup.
Doree (23:02):
It is made by a company called Alga, A UGA, and it comes in a pouch shelf stable. It is marked vegan friendly, which I'm like, is it vegan? Is it vegan or not vegan? Is it vegan or not vegan friendly to vegans? There's nothing in the ingredients list that is not vegan. The ingredients are water, sweet corn, coconut cream, corn flour, sea salt, and spices. So I'm confused by this vegan friendly designation. But yeah, it doesn't come in a can. So we like that. No BPA concerns. And yeah, I thought it was quite good. I mean, my husband and I and I now have a joke that every time we get really into a product at Costco, they stop carrying it.
Elise (24:10):
Yeah, it feels like that happens. There's some Murphy's Law to it or something. Yes.
Doree (24:16):
There have been several things that I've bought in the last six months that I've never been able to find again. And Matt was eating these breakfast wraps that he really liked stocking the fridge with them, and then they just stopped carrying them. He actually emailed the company that makes the breakfast wraps and was like, what's the deal? And they said that Costco is just constantly evaluating all of its products and they trial things a lot.
Listener Voicemail (24:48):
So
Doree (24:49):
You might get something when it's on a trial and then never see it again. We were getting the REOs eggplant parm for a while.
Elise (25:00):
Yeah, you've talked about that.
Doree (25:01):
And now it's gone.
Elise (25:05):
So if we do make some sort of collaborative list of all of our recommendations, it could be really more nostalgia, right? Yeah, totally. For the way things were.
Doree (25:17):
I mean, we'll have to put a disclaimer that's like, these are just things that we have liked at certain points in time. We make no promises that these will actually be in stock.
Elise (25:30):
But the corn soup currently is
Doree (25:32):
Corn. Corn soup. Corn soup. Yeah, check it out. I thought it was quite tasty. But I like corn. I'm a corn head. What can I say?
Elise (25:41):
Yes,
Doree (25:41):
Yes. All right. Well, Elise, it was great talking to you listeners. Thanks for listening and we will talk to you soon.
Elise (25:48):
Alright, until next time.
Doree (25:49):
Bye.