Present Joys: Re-arranging furniture, cycles, granola and choshim
Week of March 18, 2025
Re-arranging Furniture
You know when you’re sitting in a room and it’s just not feeling right? I have that feeling often. Most of the time I let it go, but every once in a while (likely if I catch myself in a follicular phase, see above, and I’m in my own space) I re-arrange the whole room. That happened last week when I was feeling really off about our bedroom. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but TikTok came to the rescue. After sleeping with our bed in an arrangement that was not good for Feng Shui for over a year (the top of the bed/headboard was right next to the main entry), I moved it around so that the bed was in the “command position”. It feels so much better and makes me wonder why we waited so long to try something different.
Cycle Awareness / Awareness in Cycles
For a few months I’ve been working on building awareness around my menstrual cycle in an effort to work with my cycle instead of against it. I’ve always struggled with the luteal phase in particular and was hoping that awareness would help improve my experience—which it did! Having had some success, I decided to think about ways in which I could strengthen this awareness and perhaps even make it second-nature. This led me to combine an awareness of my cycle with my mussar practice (a spiritual practice centered on cultivating positive character traits). Simply put, I’ve paired each phase of my cycle with a character trait I am working on and it’s made it all a bit more fun.
Ex: during my daunting luteal phase, or inner autumn, I bring awareness to the phase in my cycle as well as to fostering trust in my life. For me, the luteal phase has always been a very dark time of the month, one in which I feel isolated and lost. Focusing on trust allows me to navigate this time better. The same can be said of the other phases of my cycle and the practice I’ve paired with each (spring/follicular/order because this time brings renewal and energy, etc.). It’s an interesting experiment and one I will keep tinkering with. Anyone else working on cycle awareness?
Believing in a Friendly Universe
How we choose to view the world and move through it is always a choice. Perhaps, in our choosing, we sway others in that direction as well.
Secret Stashes
The other night I came upon a bone that our dog had expertly stashed in the corner of our couch. It immediately made me smile because I’m almost positive he stashed it so well that he forgot it was even there. This made me think about if there was anything in life that’s squirreled away to stumble upon in delight at a later date. The only thing I could think of are memories. That made me smile too.
Impromptu Dessert Platters
Sometimes there’s nothing better at the end of a meal than store-bought cake and a can of whipped cream. Perhaps it was the addition of the strawberries and cream, but this little montage made us nostalgic for the late 90s/early 00s angel food cake craze. I’m very ready for an angel food cake revival.
Packing Proficiency
I’m not the most well-traveled person, but I am proud of how good a packer I’ve become. For our recent travels through Japan, I wore every article of clothing I brought, often more than once and mixed & matched within various outfit iterations. I’ll know I’ve reached peak proficiency when I won’t have to rely on the insurance of extra space that’s always available to me in Van’s suitcase. 😅
Bless Manifesto
After working in branding for nearly a decade, I can get easily disillusioned by, well, branding. Trends can often inspire too homogenous a landscape. I enjoyed the specificity of BLESS’s brand manifesto:
She is an outspoken female—more woman than girl.
She’s not a chosen beauty, but doesn’t go unnoticed.
Without a definite age she could be more between her mid 20s and 40s.
She hangs around with a special style of man.
She has no nationality and thinks that sport is quite nice.
She’s always attracted by temptations and loves change.
She lives right now and her surroundings are charged by her presence.
She tends to be future orientated.
Bless is found in magazines and can be contacted personally by phone.
Everything except sex is available by request.
Bless is interactive—those that dare can take part in the permanent renewal of the Bless world.
Bless allows you to recognize needs at an early state.
Bless works against mass individuality and it´s hidden dangers i.e. fashion overkill.
Bless is a project that presents ideal and artistic values by products to the public.
Bless is a visionary substitute to make the near future worth living for.
Granola Exchange
I participated in
’s Great American Granola Exchange and it was such a joy to send and receive granola via post. The exchange was a timely one as I was craving granola and suddenly had three different varieties to nibble on at any given moment. All participants were assigned a recipient to which to send a package of homemade granola. I received a delicious bag filled with oats, walnuts, and poppy seeds and sent batches of both a sweet (Cafe Cecilia’s recipe) and savory (you know the one).
Choshim (초심)
I recently listened to this conversation between directors Celine Song and Sofia Coppola. In it, Song describes the Korean sentiment of choshim, which translates directly to “first heart.” Often used within a creative context, choshim refers to the magical beginnings we experience when embarking on something new, before any fears or frustrations set in. I love when I’m able to return to my own first heart when starting Present with Michelle. For me, choshim only emerges when we choose to run our business in ways that feel authentic to us. Whether it’s our insistence to infuse our processes with thoughtful gestures or giggling over a silly detail that inexplicably delights us, these are the moments that sustain me.
One such moment was a recent trip to Anaheim to attend our first Expo West, a natural (I use this word lightly…) product trade show for brands in the CPG, health, and wellness space. After the initial overwhelm, Michelle and I surveyed the scene, hugged our dear clients, and chatted with various vendors. By day’s end, we were delirious and somehow both toting multiple bags of products, but I cherished our time together for all the full-bellied laughs and reminders of choshim it provided. It’s our business and we can get sick from an ungodly amount of free samples if we want to!
A Random List of Favorites
Recently, there have been several standout products I’ve tried where my first impression was “Wow, I really like this.” In no particular order:
Balo Orozco’s Cherry Fig Leaf Kombucha (He also sells these on Sundays at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market.)
Sunny Fine Foods’s soon-to-be-launched Miso Caesar Dressing
Miriam Quevedo’s Extreme Caviar Restructuring Hair Serum
Rancho Gordo’s La Paloma Hot Sauce
K-beauty brand fwee’s Lip & Cheek Blurring Pudding Pot
Bub and Grandma’s Focaccia (the addition of cornmeal 🤌💛)
Present Turns 4!
Thanks so much for all who sent birthday wishes and joined us as we celebrated Present Studio’s fourth year in biz. On Sunday, we spent a beautiful morning in Arlington Gardens exploring the grounds, making wishes, and enjoying each other’s company. Cheers to four years!
