My aunty once told me about her old boss and the unusual gift registry she had on her 50th birthday. She asked each of her friends to give her what they were currently into for a birthday present. For example a book they’d recently read, a TV series they were addicted to, a CD of their favourite songs, a voucher to a great new restaurant they’d discovered. It was such a great way to get to know her friends again and to discover new things she wouldn’t have known about otherwise.
It inspired me to start a new segment of reader recommendations. I often run surveys to get more information on the Smagglets, like how old you are or if you have kids or not, but this time I want to know what your obsessions are. So each month, I’m going to ask you for your top 3 recommendations from that month. It can be anything; a vegetable that’s been a staple in your weeknight dinners, a new workout that you’re loving or a fabulous app that’s changed your life. I’d love to hear about it!
Here are my top picks for April.
Dry Body Brushing
I used to teach special needs kids and I worked with a program for boys who had autism. When they arrived at school they’d often be quite spacey and a bit sleepy, so we’d get these little plastic brushes and brush their skin to ‘wake’ them up. It worked brilliantly and they were more alert and receptive to the days lessons. I’m currently doing the Body Love Bootcamp through Barre Body and I just got back from a Luxury Retreats Bali detox and there’s all this talk amongst the die-hard yogi naturalists about dry body brushing. I finally decided to give it a go and I ordered a Body Shop cactus brush. I freaking love it. I give myself a vigorous scrub before I hop in the shower in the morning and it leaves my whole body feeling alive and tingly. I swear it’s made my skin smoother and brighter too. It only takes a few minutes and makes such a difference to my day. Highly recommend it.
True Detective
A friend of ours came over one night and forced us to watch the first episode of True Detective. I had a deadline so I worked all the way through it and consequently, it didn’t really grab me. Mr Smaggle and I decided to give it another go and then we found ourselves awake at 3am having watched four consecutive episodes. There’s only eight episodes in the series and it’s just brilliant. The series stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey and they’re both outstanding although McConaughey steals the show. Personally I’d like to know what the hell happened to McConaughey in the last few years. It’s like he woke up one day and decided to stop doing shitty romantic comedies, where he essentially just played himself and decided to be an extraordinary actor and make excellent career decisions instead. He’s simply phenomenal in this series. It’s worth watching for him alone.
Thursday Plantation Deodorant
I usually like to use a fairly hard-core spray deodorant but Mr Smaggle gets really bad headaches from the chemicals when I spray my deodorant in our tiny flat so I had to switch to a roll on. I couldn’t find one that felt as ‘fresh’ as spray on and gave me that cool, clean feeling and then my beauty therapist at Brazilica suggested I try Thursday Plantation deodorant. It has a lovely crisp smell and is fairly excellent at stopping me from being stinky. It also doesn’t kill Mr Smaggle in the brain so it’s really a win/win situation.
Melbourne Bonus
T2 Cafe in Melbourne Central
I’ve recently been trying to cut back on my coffee consumption to help with my sleeping issues and it’s totally working. The one thing I really miss though is wandering around the city with Mr Smaggle on a chilly weekend, sipping a hot takeaway beverage. I hate paying for herbal tea at cafes because it requires no skill to put a 20 cent tea bag in some hot water, yet they charge $4 for it. Not cool. I was super delighted last weekend to stumble upon the T2 Cafe in Melbourne Central. They do tea lattes which are steeped tea, steamed milk and a little bit of honey. I had a Roobios Tea Latte which is naturally caffeine free and it was the perfect alternative to a coffee. I will be there every Saturday until I move cities or retire. Big fan.