My favorite sleeping accessories

Because sleep is gorgeous

Helloooooo! Today’s newsletter is all about some of my favorite things to help me sleep. No one asked for this! But I have a passion and I will share it!!!

First, though, here are a couple of links I wanted to share with you:

• I recently had the great pleasure of visiting the Dennos Museum Center in Traverse City, Michigan. They have a permanent exhibition of Inuit art, which made my Alaskan heart happy. They’re also featuring a gorgeous visiting artist at the moment — Louise Jones, whose radiant flowers are almost photorealistic. Check her out, and visit the museum if you find yourself in the area!

• The second season of the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon is complete, but our official podcast is still going for a couple more episodes, and I had SO MUCH FUN talking to Tom Bennett, Kieran Bew, and Clinton Liberty, AKA HUA, aka the Dragonseeds, aka the Targaryen bastards!

• I think Rachel Martin’s new podcast Wild Card is so utterly charming!!!

Accessorizing sleep

When I’m setting up a new online account for something and one of the security questions is “what is your favorite sport?”, I usually answer “sleep.” I take sleep VERY seriously. I don’t know if it’s bccause I spent most of my 20’s and 30’s anchoring early morning public radio shows, or if it’s just IN MY BONES, but I LOVE SLEEPING. And in true Taurus fashion, I have some amenties that help the process along, and I thought it’d be fun to share them here.

First, the sleep mask.

Because I spent more than a decade waking up for work in the dark, sometimes my brain turns on VERY EARLY. Often the sun is a cue for that on switch, so a sleep mask helps me stay conked out even after the sun rises.

I have tried many sleep masks over the years. I started with a cheap easy one on Amazon, and stole one from my mom, and finally invested in this one from Lunya earlier this year.

It is almost gratuitously cushioned. I can’t pick it up and not think of a giant maxi pad. I can’t imagine that it’s even remotely “cute,” but it has several things going for it. It is silk, which feels nice! (It is also not precious — I have accidentally washed it on a warm cycle more than once and it has held up beautifully!)

It comes in two sizes. which means it accommodates those of us with larger domes. The elastic band is super wide and comfortable to sleep in.

It comes in a variety of patterns and colors, including a hot pink called RESPLENDENT FLAMINGO. (!!!!!) I chose the demure “hushed tan” for my first one, but you better bet I’m eyeing that neon pink.

I don’t put it on right when I go to sleep. Instead, after I get up to pee in the middle of the night (which I inevitably do! Thanks, body!), I climb back into bed and put it on, and the z’s just roll in.

Next, the white noise machine.

I love this little doodad. To be totally honest, I find most of its white noises to be very agressive and wind-tunnelly, but alI I need is the rain setting anyway. It’s small, the battery lasts forever, and it’s great at getting my brain to chill out.

This is another one I don’t fall asleep with, but I find it’s super helpful in the early morning hours when my brain thinks it might be time to panic and I can eke out another weird dream or two.

And of course, the sleep tea.

Yes, I AM AN OLD LADY! I love this stuff. I ice it in the summer and drink it hot in the winter. I have no idea if it actually has a sleepsome effect, but it’s such a part of my after-dinner ritual that I have many many boxes stockpiled just so I don’t have to think about whether I’m about to run out. I like to think that it helps me ease into sleep, and ease is what it’s all about, right?

(When I say I ice it in the summer, I mean that at some point during the day, I brew myself a cup of it and put it in the fridge when it is no longer scalding. Sometimes I forget to do this until it’s perilously close to dinner time, and then I put it in the freezer for a while instead. It is an extremely simple method, but I find this is the best way to brew an iced tea.)

IN CONCLUSION, I hope you all sleep like blissful babies forever!!!!!

You’re invited to a zoom book club!

That’s right, we’re doing a zoom hang to discuss this month’s book club pick! I know many of you have already read Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, and I KNOW y’all have thoughts. So we’re gonna hang out! You’re invited to join me on Sunday, September 1 at noon CT. Participation is totally free and you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to!!!!! If you’re interested in coming, just send me an email asking for he zoom link and I’ll add you to the list. I think it’ll be super fun!

And to the rest of you, I wish ye a delightful weekend!

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