There’s fog outside my window, a cup of hot cocoa on my desk, and I’m wearing a pink plaid shirt. Clearly, December is here in full force! That being said, here are a few things that have been making me smile, think, and laugh over the month of November.

Activities
On Wednesday morning, Rachel Rabbit White and I woke up at the crack of dawn to see — and also participate in — Yayoi Kusama’s latest show in New York City. I have loved Yayoi for ages, and her show at David Zwirner gallery is lovely.

There is also a pretty substantial wait to get in. The gallery opens at 10am. Rachel and I were there at 9.20am on a Wednesday and it was still an hour before we able to walk into the infinity mirrored room (aka, the #selfie room). I’ve heard that the wait ranges from 1-3 hours during the weekend, so if you’d like to check it out, get there early, and go sooner rather than later!

Beauty
I’ve been playing with a couple of new beauty items this past month. The first is Essio’s aromatherapy diffuser for the shower! It’s quite brilliant: a plastic arm that clips onto your shower-head, with a little aromatherapy pod dangling off the end. You tilt the arm down into the stream of water and voilà, aromatherapy shower! Essio sent me the starter kit, which has three aromatherapy pods: Clear, Passion and Unwind. As soon as I came back from Australia, I attached the Unwind pod to my shower and stood there, letting the citrus and spice (literally!) wash all my cares away. And for a romantic shower for two (wink wink nudge nudge) or even one (!), the Passion pod is perfection. One caveat, though: if you tinker with the pods, don’t touch your face! Undiluted essential oil on your skin is bad news, it will sting and burn! Don’t go there girlfriend!

When I was at Made Beauty Space in Melbourne, I had my first delicious encounter with Sodashi. I snapped up a bottle of serum to use at night — I was all out of Tarte Maracuja Oil — and I’m obsessed with it. The oil is light enough that it’s not breaking me out at all (which I think the Maracuja Oil was slightly). I wear it over the top of Lancôme DreamTone which I’m loving for fading dark spots and hyperpigmentation. LOVE Sodashi. I can’t wait to head back to Made in November and stock up!

Nest
Our apartment, in winter, is unbelievably warm. Our silver radiators kick on and hiss and splutter, filling our two-bedroom home with coziness. This is wonderful, especially when it’s freezing cold outside, but when you start to feel your internal organs withering up and drying out from excessive heat, you know something has to change. We have become obsessed with humidifiers — little machines that disperse water into the air as a fine mist — and I just bought a new one for our bedroom, which I am psyched about.

The Miu Color Ultrasonic Humidifier is fantastic for a few reasons. It’s small, it’s quiet, it changes colour (yes!), and it diffuses aroma, too… So, if you want to drift off to sleep, put a couple of drops of lavender oil in there. If you want to perk up and stay focussed on a task, some lemon or peppermint oil will do the trick. (You get the idea.)

To go along with it, I bought 6 bottles of essential oil blends, Synergy Blends. In the pack are oils for romance, stress relief, purification, relaxation, hope and alertness. Fabulous!

Read
While aimlessly wandering around Melbourne airport, I decided to cure my boredom by purchasing a couple of books. (How very old-fashioned!) Back in June, I saw The Bling Ring at a media preview, and was so intrigued that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. In fact, in some ways, it left me with more questions than answers. So when I spotted The Bling Ring: How a Gang of Fame-Obsessed Teens Ripped Off Hollywood and Shocked the World by Nancy Jo Sales, I hoped it would contain some clues so that I could file this weird pop culture moment away in a way that made sense to me. Well, I devoured the book in a two-hour plane ride from Melbourne to Brisbane, and yes, I’m still thinking about it. The book is gripping, bizarre, and kind of sick all at the same time. If you’re interested/horrified by pop culture, you will love this.

The second book I picked up at the airport was Behind the Candelabra: My Life With Liberace by Scott Thorsten, Liberace’s ex-lover. Again, I had seen the movie before I had read the book, and it has changed the way I read the book a little bit, but it also adds some depth that Scott isn’t quite capable of conveying. (Sorry, Scott.) I love its glamour, weirdness and kitsch. Liberace was pretty incredible!

Everything I Know is Paul Jarvis’ book, and we all know by now how much I love Paul Jarvis! His book is wonderful: a sleek little tome ruminating on fear, adventure, risk-taking and business. We give a copy of his earlier book, Be Awesome At Online Business, to every single blogcadette, and they rave about it. Everything I Know is no different. Paul is the shit. End of story!

Coreyography: A Memoir arrived on my doorstep on Tuesday evening, and I could barely rip my eyes from the pages. It’s Corey Feldman’s autobiography, told chronologically through his movies, with Corey Haim as a common thread. It covers strange territory — abusive childhoods, drugs, paedophilia, fame, and Michael Jackson — and I’ve been reading it in a kind of trance. Literary genius it is not, but for a quick, easy read (and a lot of eye-popping honesty), it is excellent. If you’re at a loose end as the days get shorter and the temperatures dip, curl on the couch with Corey!

I also ordered If You Want to Write: A Book about Art, Independence and Spirit, which has rave reviews. Looking forward to cracking into that one next!

Watch
I have been all about Louis Theroux recently. I don’t even remember how I found his documentaries, but before I knew it, I was watching them in quick succession: meth, paedophiles, a brothel, Nazis… Weird, weird stuff. Since then, I’ve roped Mike into the strangeness of it all, and we’ve watched his documentaries on swingers, demolition derby, survivalists, and enlightenment (spiritual seekers in India). Fascinating! I can’t get enough, and I think you’d love them too.

It’s been a long time since we went to the movies: very little captures my imagination these days. But I must admit I’m dying to see The Punk Singer. It’s a biopic of my teenage heroine, Kathleen Hanna… And I was super-excited to see that it’s available to watch on Amazon! It’s definitely on my list for this week. (Check out the trailer below!)

Wear
When I came back from Australia, it was a pretty rude awakening to realise that I was going to have to layer up in order to not freeze to death. After putting it off and putting it off and putting it off, I finally bit the bullet one chilly evening, and headed into the Gap.

I picked up a bunch of things that are totally not my normal style — cowlneck sweaters in navy blue, this shirt with birds on it that I cannot stop wearing, flannel shirts (I KNOW), cable-knit sweaters — and honestly, I’m loving it. It’s great to have these simple foundation pieces to pair with my wacky skirts, loud jewellery, knit hats with ears on, etc. Sometimes you can find inspiration in the unlikeliest of places!

I also made a point of stocking up (pun intended) on black fleece-lined tights, as is my winter tradition. I love them because they look like normal black opaque stockings, but secretly on the inside, they’re all fleecey and lovely! They will keep you warm as toast. Go get ’em!

Write
Here are some of my favourite posts from the last month, just in case you missed ’em!
Feeling Uninspired? Here Are 5 Documentaries To Fire You Up!
On Starting Your Own Business, And Being A Productivity Unicorn
I Went To A Séance In Brooklyn…
Surf On, Sister! Hanging Ten In Surfer’s Paradise
Bad Girl Essentials: False Eyelashes, Leather Pants, And A Motorcycle
Being Judged On Television: Why Can’t I Tear My Eyes Away?
And if you missed it last year, check out Your December Activity Guide!

Cocoa-scented kisses,