I loved to read about the mokyoktang! The Finnish sauna culture bears some similarities
-- it's a place to both relax and reinvigorate oneself, there is nudity and a lot of dead skin present, but typically no semi-violent scrubbing. (Then again there may be beating yourself or others with birch twigs but that's another story.) Either way, super fascinating to read about the Korean experience!
I loved your gift ideas, too. I'm a big fan of drinking my tea from a pretty teacup. (Mine is a gilded Dmitrov porcelain cup from the Soviet era.) If everything else fails, fresh flowers are always a great gift.
Wow, sadly my tea cup is not quite that impressive!
As for the birch twigs, I should have said 'whisk' rather than 'twigs'! You bundle together some small birch branches, make it into a whisk, and then you beat yourself or your friend with it to improve circulation in the sauna. It feels amazing and the smell of birch leaves in the sauna is like nothing else. Unesco has a lovely video of the Finnish sauna culture, in case you might be interested: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/sauna-culture-in-finland-01596
Simple daily pleasure- self care- de stressing is a hot bath. Right before bed. The perfect gift for that is bath gel or salts…. Easy gift but high impact.
It does help that my 2 baby girls are 23 + 21 years old and in college😉.
When you get to that point of empty nesting - I know your little ones are still little so you’ve got a while yet- but once there- daily baths!!! Days to look forward to.
Ok so I purchased those green scrubbers after reading a recommendation and I can attest to their sandpaper like consistency! Ha! I’ve never had a professional give me a full body scrub BUT I use it gently in a hot shower on the day following retinol to avoid the dry patches OR on congested patches in the heat of summer and they are magic!!
Yes and it’s as horrifying as you mentioned. Mostly the fact that it’s grey. I didn’t think of my skin as looking so dirty! And, by dirty, I mean dead 😂
Good choices - WSJ should have followed your advice!
Nice soaps and cocktail napkins have always been hostess gifts of choice!
And I have been eating almond butter on my morning toast for 20ish years now - so much easier to get pure almond butter now than it was - thank you Trader Joe’s ( and our dog gets a bit of peanut butter at breakfast and dinner!)
That's amazing! Yeah, even pure natural peanut butter has only become abundant more recently. When I eat regular peanut butter now it's 1) too sweet and 2) tastes waxy because of all the additives.
“The paper specifically asked for products, so “an equitable division of household and mental labour” was out.” ☠️
I loved to read about the mokyoktang! The Finnish sauna culture bears some similarities
-- it's a place to both relax and reinvigorate oneself, there is nudity and a lot of dead skin present, but typically no semi-violent scrubbing. (Then again there may be beating yourself or others with birch twigs but that's another story.) Either way, super fascinating to read about the Korean experience!
I loved your gift ideas, too. I'm a big fan of drinking my tea from a pretty teacup. (Mine is a gilded Dmitrov porcelain cup from the Soviet era.) If everything else fails, fresh flowers are always a great gift.
Googled the cup and wow...https://www.pinterest.com/pin/a-kuznetsov-porcelain-cup-with-saucer-dmitrov-factory-russia-18941917-bukowskis--643451865526533743/
Please do share about the beating with birch twigs...
Wow, sadly my tea cup is not quite that impressive!
As for the birch twigs, I should have said 'whisk' rather than 'twigs'! You bundle together some small birch branches, make it into a whisk, and then you beat yourself or your friend with it to improve circulation in the sauna. It feels amazing and the smell of birch leaves in the sauna is like nothing else. Unesco has a lovely video of the Finnish sauna culture, in case you might be interested: https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/sauna-culture-in-finland-01596
Simple daily pleasure- self care- de stressing is a hot bath. Right before bed. The perfect gift for that is bath gel or salts…. Easy gift but high impact.
Agree! The tricky part is making time for yourself to take one.
It does help that my 2 baby girls are 23 + 21 years old and in college😉.
When you get to that point of empty nesting - I know your little ones are still little so you’ve got a while yet- but once there- daily baths!!! Days to look forward to.
Ah yes, that makes sense. Mine are still climbing in the tub with me! (Which, honestly, I don’t mind 🥹)
Ok so I purchased those green scrubbers after reading a recommendation and I can attest to their sandpaper like consistency! Ha! I’ve never had a professional give me a full body scrub BUT I use it gently in a hot shower on the day following retinol to avoid the dry patches OR on congested patches in the heat of summer and they are magic!!
So siwonhae!!! Do you get the clumps of dead skin?
Yes and it’s as horrifying as you mentioned. Mostly the fact that it’s grey. I didn’t think of my skin as looking so dirty! And, by dirty, I mean dead 😂
I guess bc when it’s dry it’s like a translucent white, and then wet that and it becomes grey? Whatever the reason, it’s shocking for a first timer 😆
Good choices - WSJ should have followed your advice!
Nice soaps and cocktail napkins have always been hostess gifts of choice!
And I have been eating almond butter on my morning toast for 20ish years now - so much easier to get pure almond butter now than it was - thank you Trader Joe’s ( and our dog gets a bit of peanut butter at breakfast and dinner!)
That's amazing! Yeah, even pure natural peanut butter has only become abundant more recently. When I eat regular peanut butter now it's 1) too sweet and 2) tastes waxy because of all the additives.