things I saved and texted this week
the podcast I took notes on, an auntie nightie I love, and genuinely helpful parenting advice
One housekeeping thing - I’m doing a long overdue reader survey. If you have 5 minutes, I’d love your feedback as I build out the next chapter of Hyphenated by Hitha.
The love language I express is sending videos, articles, and random Reels and Threads posts to my people. It’s also my self-love language—I love scrolling through my saved links and tabs when I have a quiet moment to myself. These are some of my favorite things from the week.
Before we dive in, catch up on what you might have missed:
Do you ever save things for a special occasion? A piece of clothing, a book, even a specific snack?
I indulged in all of these this week.
There’s something magical about a 100% cotton nightie that we saw our Indian moms and aunts wearing—they’re the most comfortable thing in the world, but they’re not exactly cute.
Jyoti created a collection of gorgeous nighties that you could absolutely wear as a dress, and sent me this one a few weeks back. I slipped it on this week and wore it every moment I was at home, and promptly texted her “you are a genius, thank you for creating this.” I promptly purchased this one and this one, because I will be wearing them for the foreseeable future.
In college, my best friend Melody and I lived on white cheddar Cheetos and Diet Coke with Lime (the actual flavor, not DIet Coke with lime added). I did a quick bodega run for this exact snack when I was powering through a big project.
I meant to text Mel a picture of this (and forgot). This is my “thinking of you!” message to her.
“You’re going to have to give up the person you are now in order to become the person you want to be. And it’s scary, but it’s so much better on the other side.”
My friend Keren said this at her book launch on Tuesday. It was the right message, right time, and from the right messenger. I’ve been deep in martyrdom and overwhelmed by the caregiving load I’ve been carrying, and generally feeling sorry for myself.
I needed Keren’s words, and her book. Gilt Free landed in my hands at the perfect time, and I’m taking my time reading and journaling my way through the book.
Julia @smarterinasec and I talk about Bethenny Frankel nearly every time we get together. I find that I learn the most from entrepreneurs I don’t particularly like, and Bethenny is at the top of that list.
I frankly thought she lost the plot when she started ranting on TikTok about chicken salad and drugstore makeup and unnecessary pop culture takes, but there’s a method to this madness—and she built a highly profitable, lean business simply by being herself. It’s actually insane.
All of my questions were answered in this interview, and I took NOTES. I popped them and the transcript into Claude. I’ve been reverse engineering her business plan and brainstorming ways that it could work from me, but the most important thing I’ve learned is to design the work around the life I want to live, and to stop overthinking before filming and posting.
I did a little retail therapy this week:
a new pair of my go-to Birkenstocks. Mine finally gave out after 7 years.
I saw this bag this week and lusted after it, but I couldn’t justify the price. I opted for this one instead, and snapped up matching kitten heels, a Pretty Woman-esque dress, and another pair of kitten heel sandals that will either be amazing or awful.
I want to enjoy our patio a lot more this summer. I want to be a grilling, al fresco dining person, and to keep it low maintenance. I picked up this electric grill, a pizza stone for the grill, and a pretty melamine dinnerware set. I also picked up a set of storage bins to corral all my kids’ shit in PA.
in addition to Keren’s book, I also picked up The Ambition Penalty, Tilt, and I cannot wait to dive into Kennedy Ryan’s Score. BPD rarely gets accurate representation in media, and Kennedy always writes about diagnoses and difficult issues with such care.
Parenting isn’t for the faint of heart, and raising two sons has been the most incredible and hardest things I’ve ever done. I sent this video to my husband to reassure us that repeating ourselves is actually normal, this to help us re-establish a better routine after video games, and this to reassure ourselves that it’s not just us:
sami sage’s video on clipping sent me down a rabbit hole, and is one I sent to my very online friends (along with this article). On the bright side, I question virtually everything I see on my feed (including the joy triggering Off Campus content) and am quick to open my Libby or Kindle app to read instead.
This post also has me questioning every opinion I’ve had about something online for the past 10 years (and garnered an immediate follow).
This article has been making the rounds in my group chats, with a mix of crying/laughing memes and GIFs following it. Yes, we mid-life millennials are in retrograde, and no one is coming to save us.
What’s actually helping - a Cann Lo Boy instead of wine, doing nothing while drinking my coffee in the mornings, and telling my family “I need 5 minutes to myself” and staring at the bathroom wall in silence.
Your turn - tell me something you saved or shared this week.
If you found this helpful, please consider:
tapping the ❤️ below (all engagement helps!)
tapping the 💬 and tell me something. anything!
sharing this with someone who might need it right now
Take care of yourself, the best you can.
xo,
HPN
That navy Veronica beard bag is STUNNING
love that post about Justin and clipping - we are the contrived states of America lol