Bookworm Cottage Style

What small delights are you digging this season? Here are four things I’m especially into right now.

Borrowing DVDs from the Library // To pass the time during peak COVID, my husband and I belonged to an independent video rental store (yes, they still exist!) and were watching roughly 4 movies per week. (Though we don’t have a standalone DVD player, our XBox plays DVD and BluRay.) We kept a running list of all of the movies we wanted to see, and by checking out only two DVDs at time there was minimal decision fatigue about what to watch. Our new home is no longer near the DVD store, and after getting booted off of a shared Netflix account, our access to movies has seriously dwindled. Until I remembered the library. Our local library network is pretty small but we’ve been happy with the movie selection so far, and because there doesn’t seem to be a huge demand for this service, the hold times are rarely long. Although we will probably resubscribe to Netflix eventually, it’s been fun to get our movie fix the old fashioned way and recapture one of my favorite traditions from lockdown time.

Pre-ordering Books // To help balance the budget after buying our home, I’ve dramatically cut back on book buying and instead have been a heavy library user. But one thing I’ve made an effort to do lately is pre-order the handful of books (and cookbooks) that I’m really really excited about. (For example, Catherine Newman’s upcoming novel, Sandwich). I make the purchase through my local indie bookstore’s BookShop.org page, to help pay it forward to my community. 

Sleepcasts from Headspace // Those who know me know I’ve been a longtime sleepcast fan, but I go in waves of listening or not really thinking to put them on. If you’re unfamiliar with sleepcasts, basically they are calming bedtime stories told in soft, soothing voices. Each story begins with a quick “wind down exercise” (such as a breathing exercise or visualization exercise) and then the narrator calming describes the scene. I find that they are most effective when you really try to listen and pay attention to what the narrator is saying, rather than just trying to tune them out to fall asleep. For example, if they describe a purple velvet armchair with stars, really try to create a mental image of a purple velvet armchair with stars. Each sleepcast is roughly an hour long and if you listen to the same one over and over you’ll find that they’re subtly different each night. Some of my favorites are Raindrop Soaps (Helen), Midnight Launderette (Darren), Rainy Day Antiques & Rainy Day Antiques 2 (Simon), Enchanted Moonlight Library (Eve), and Starlight Diner (John). But I do try to mix it up often as I find myself paying closer attention when it is a new-to-me sleepcast, so I’ve probably listened to more than half of the library by now.

Rubber Slides // We try to be a “shoes off” house as much as possible, so last year I got a fun pair of rubber slides from Freedom Moses to leave upstairs near the door to our roofdeck. Now that it’s no longer snow boot season, I want at least one more pair of rubber slides to keep downstairs too. Perhaps near the backdoor by the grill? Or near the door to our unfinished basement? Or by the front door? I like this style since I can just slip into them with socks on.I have not tried the actual Birkenstock rubber slides so I am torn on whether or not to branch out (if it’s not broke…). But in any case, these are the shoes I’ll be living in when putzing around the yard or porch this spring and summer.