A Few Things | January 15

Personal updates, links, and recommendations.

Happy New Year!

Hey there. Happy Monday and Happy New Year! I hope you are well. I’m trying something different with this newsletter for 2024. I’ll be publishing free newsletters and paid newsletters. The newsletter format you’re reading right now, which I’m calling “A Few Things” will remain free for all subscribers and will be full of links to articles, personal updates, recommendations, and an assortment of whatever is on my mind. My longer form essays and writing will be sent to paid subscribers.

You can expect to find “A Few Things” in your inbox on Mondays, and the paid essays will show up whenever I write them. If you’d like to read my paid essays, but need a scholarship, you can email me (designmom @ designmom.com — put scholarship in the subject); I’ll be giving out a dozen 3-month scholarships each month.

Personal Update

I can’t explain how awesome it was to have everyone here for Christmas. I truly feel so lucky. All the visits were a bit staggered, but we ended up getting 9 days with all of us together and that feels like a treasure. We hadn’t been altogether for a year and half, so it felt extra precious. The last one to head out after the holiday break is Oscar — he’ll return to Dublin for his second semester this Saturday.

Betty Blair, who is in her senior year of high school, has started the application process for French universities. Betty has decided she definitely wants to study in France and is only applying to universities based here — though she is also hoping to do a study abroad semester/year in Edinburgh, Scotland as part of her university experience (she really fell in love with Edinburgh when we visited in 2022).

Betty is our first child to really navigate the French application system and we have a million questions. All-things-college is definitely on our minds at the moment.

In The News

It’s been 100 days of war in Israel & Palestine. I continue to hate war in all its forms. What a massive waste of life and resources. I’m disgusted by the war crimes. I’m disgusted by reports of the easily preventable suffering that has not been prevented. My thoughts remain unchanged since I wrote them out 100 days ago: I want to see a free and thriving Palestine and a free and thriving Israel. I want to see a two-state solution, but of course, what I want doesn’t actually matter — it only matters what Israelis and Palestinians want. So, with the rest of the world, I watch in horror and pray the war will end immediately.

Also in the news:

From Fortune — COVID levels are up to 19 times higher than reported, WHO says as it warns of the potential dangers of repeat reinfection: ‘We don’t know everything about this virus’.

Related to this, I feel like I’m looking more and more to financial publications for covid-related news. I think they are the most honest about it, I suppose because their job is to help wealthy investors predict the future.

From The New Yorker — What We Lost When Twitter Became X.

From NBC News — 8 years and 215 souls: The names of the unclaimed people buried in a pauper's field in Hinds County. This story blows my mind. So many of these families have been actively looking for their family members.

What I’m Reading/Watching/Listening To

I just caught up on the For All Mankind — a sci-fi series (AppleTV) that starts in an alternative universe where Russia was the first to the moon. Each season jumps ahead a decade or so, but continues a few of the characters and ages them. I’ve really enjoyed series.

As a family, we’ve been watching the new Percy Jackson series (Disney+) — new episodes comes out on Wednesdays and we’ve been eating dinner in front of the TV while we watch the latest episode together. I’m enjoying the series much more than the movie adaptations; I like that the actors match the ages of the characters in the books.

On my reading list is Unshrinking by Kate Manne.

Shopping

I featured two affordable skincare lines in my Stories this week.

One is called The INKEY List — knowledge powered skincare, effective, ingredient-driven products for your skin type. Favorites from the Design Mom Community include the Tripeptide Plumping Lip Balm ($12 — people swear by this product!), and the brand new Bio-Active Ceramide Repairing and Plumping Moisturizer ($20)

I also featured a line called Three Ships. Three Ships believes all beauty product should be 100% natural and 100% affordable. Each product is made with 100% natural ingredients and is certified cruelty-free, and nothing goes to market unless it has been scientifically proven to work, and it’s why all of their products will forever be under $40 USD.

Favorites from the Design Mom Community include the Buttercream Hydrating Lip Mask and the Day & Night Hydration Bundle.

Lots of people are also shopping Gap’s huge sale — with an extra 50% off sale prices. I received at least ten DMs about this Jeweled Pintuck Denim Shirt. Was $79, now $59 + 50% off at checkout. Lots more great pieces on sale.

You can find more of what’s caught my eye in the My Picks highlight on Instagram.

Current Projects

January is a big month for Newlane University — my husband, Ben Blair, is a co-founder with my brother, Josh Stanley. People are naturally making goals this month, and establishing new habits, and completing a college degree is a really wonderful, life-changing goal to make!

If you’ve thought about finishing your degree, definitely check out Newlane.edu. It is by far the most affordable and most flexible college degree program out there — and yes, Newlane is accredited!

You can read more about it here if you’re curious. Or check out this Reel. Even better, schedule an appointment to talk with Newlane — find out if it’s a good fit, and if you’ve already completed some college credits, you can find out how many of your credits will transfer.

On another topic, Ben Blair and I are getting much closer to having a finished manuscript for our parenting book. In fact, we just got an email requesting a first meeting with the marketing team at our publisher to discuss ideas for promoting the book. I find myself much more nervous about this book than I was about my book Ejaculate Responsibly. I know abortion seems like a harder topic than parenting, but parenting is so personal and parenting discussions are so fraught, that honestly, I find it much easier to discuss abortion. Hah! That said, as soon as we have an official title, I will be sure to let you know.

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That’s all for now. I hope you have a lovely week. Feel free to comment on anything I mentioned above, or whatever’s on your mind.

kisses,
Gabrielle