👋 I can't believe he's my neighbor...
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Hi, dear friend. Jen Glantz here.
Writing this from Gemma’s room at 3:20am. I’m trying to get her back to sleep and the best way to do that (for now) is to sit in her room, quietly, until she does. There’s a 72% chance this works as long as I don’t make a sound, unless she says: Momma? And I say: I’m here Gemma, go back to bed. I’ll sneak out once she’s dreaming again — but until then, I scribble in a notebook (in the dark dark dark) and hope I can read my handwriting in the morning.
I feel like you’re my real real friend — even though we might never have met IRL or talked in a long time — and because of that, I always think about all the things I want to update you on.
So I made this list (scroll for that below).
👏 Instant Pick Me Ups
🛒: Things I loved so far this month:
New year = time for new socks and underwear. The internet says you should replace your underwear every six months. I definitely do not — but I’m using the start of 2025 to do that.
These are still my go-to every day sneakers. They are great to elevate a casual outfit and some of the stylish Brooklyn girlies wear these with jeans.
I have this top in a bunch of colors. It’s so soft and comfy. Pairs nicely with leggings and jeans.
❤️: Still thinking about LA and sharing the resources from last week here <3
⏰: Before you buy from any store online, triple check their return policy. A lot of online retailers have secretly swapped their policy to state that if you buy anything on sale, it’s final sale. I’ve had this happen twice — both times I bought a handful of items in different sizes to try. Nowhere on the product page or checkout page did it state that I couldn’t return these items for a full refund. After a lotttt of back and forth with these two companies (Aviator Nation and Aritiza), I was able to get my money back. It wasn’t easy and it now makes me more cautious to buy online before reading the company’s return policy.
6 Random Updates About My Life
*I’ve been waiting to share with you!!
I met my new neighbor
AKA the person who moved into my old apartment.
TLDR: In October, we moved down the hall into a 2-bedroom apartment after living in the same tiny 1-bedroom apartment for 5 years! The apartment carried so much meaning (I tell that story here) and it was really tough to move on from it, but we had no choice. Goofy, Gemma, Adam, and I + all our stuff + both of us working from home = the apartment bursting at the seams.
I was so excited to see who would move into that apartment that brought us so much magic and life changes in such a short time (getting engaged, the pandemic, getting Goofy, marriage, Gemma!, etc.).
I finally did!!
On New Year's Eve, I went down to check the mail and I saw a guy stick his mail key into our old mailbox.
"Hi!" I squealed, trying to tame down my excitement. "You moved into my old apartment!"
He was happy to meet me and overall super nice. I told him I lived in that apartment with my crew and he told me he lives there alone.
He felt like he won the lottery with the apartment because for some weird reason (rent stabilization laws in NYC) that one apartment is $1,500 less a month than any other 1-bedrooms in the building and neighborhood (also why it was hard to let it go).
I told him he won the lottery for so many other reasons because the apartment brought us so many good things, memories, life changes.
I hope really big, outrageous, and dazzling things happen to you in that place, I said — and of course later regretted saying,
His smile looked painted on and he nodded along.
A few days later, he threw a 40-person party in the apartment! I didn't know 40 people could fit inside that place but he somehow made it happen. He even hired a DJ who set up turntables (we can see into a corner of the living room from our new apartment — not creepy, I promise).
A lot of people on our floor were complaining to the staff downstairs about the party but didn't realize that we had moved out of the apartment. They were seriously confused how "Jen and Adam could throw a huge and super loud party like that until 4am when they have a baby living there!!!" LOL.
No, we weren't invited to the party and luckily we live down the hall so we didn't hear the noise.
Quite the vibe change for that sweet little apartment but regardless, I hope it brings him good luck, magic even, heartwarming moments too.
I fractured my nose
Gemma and I were having too much fun playing and she accidentally slammed the back of her head into my nose and the thing cracked. Yes, cracked. I remember touching my nose to make sure it was still on my face as I started seeing stars, holding Adam’s hand, saying: I can still breathe! I can still breathe!
A week later, I think it’s healing okay. The swelling is going down and it looks a lot better. I go back to the doctor on Wednesday for a check-up.
My 3rd book is officially out
But I haven’t told anyone about it. There are a lot of weird things about me and top 3 is that I’m incredibly secretive. I guess it’s a combo of control issues, superstitiousness, and this overall desire to celebrate my big moments solo for a really long time before letting the world in.
I need one more week and then I promise I’ll tell you everything about this book and share a dozen publisher rejection emails too. I just dug these up and wow did they make my heart burn.
I’ve been cooking/baking a lot lately
Purely out of necessity because I’m so bored by food lately. I don’t even crave pizza as much as I used to (am I okay??? is this a sign of growing up??).
I’m not good at cooking, but I am good at making a giant mess in the kitchen. I dropped a full and large glass bottle of olive oil on the kitchen floor:
I’m a very picky eater — who is also a vegetarian so these recipes are all meat-free — but you can add meat on top!
Quinoa chickpea salad: sooo easy to make. I added roasted broccoli and chopped pistachios for flavor.
Pumpkin bread: not the season for this but still good and a healthy treat to have in the fridge for the week.
Crispy rice salad: I liked this one. It was a little too flavorful for my palate but Adam enjoyed it and finished all the leftovers.
Peanut butter noodles: this one is super easy. I always add roasted veggies on top.
Carrot and celery soup: easy to make. Dump croutons in at the end!
The only new year’s resolution I’ve kept so far…
I had a few that I wanted to do this year — workout every day (….nope!), write down a summary of my day every night (…see below how far I got with this one):
But the one resolution I’ve kept so far is that at night, after brushing my teeth, I quickly put some oil on my face and use this for 1-minute. I’m hoping it will help smooth wrinkles and make my jawline look “snatched” — will share results.
I’m not using Amazon this month
And it’s been hard!!! Especially living in NYC, I have to walk quite far to get random stuff I need and then lug it back. Amazon makes everything so much easier but I spent WAY too much $$$ last year shopping online and wanted to challenge myself to spend less this year.
In early Feb, I’ll recap how a month without Amazon went and how I was able to make that happen.
I’m really going to miss TikTok
I’m in denial that the app is going away. I know it sounds cheesy but it changed my life as a creator. I met incredibly interesting people through the app, got wild opportunities (press, secret projects, good paying brand deals, and so much more). Plus, I really enjoyed scrolling the app at the end of the day. I found it educational and enjoyable. Instagram leaves me feeling dirty.
The only other social media platform I love dearly is Reddit.
I really hope TikTok doesn’t go away forever.
*Jen note: After writing this, it looks like TikTok is back…for now..but wow, I’ve never had such a sad feeling over a social media app going away. That TikTok algorithm is seriously bananas.
All done with updates. It’s 4:17am. Time to sneak out of Gemma’s room. Talk to me! Tell me what’s new ↓
👏 Pick Me Up for the Week
A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.
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