Bonus Episode: HIH 2024 Gift Guide!
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So have you started your Christmas shopping?

I have, yes, I i've made a good run at the list, but the problem is I feel like Violet, is that totally an impossible age?

Yeah, I feel the same about jack. I have no idea.

I found jack for us. And already here i've got all.

Oh my god, I know i'm so .

proud.

Hi, and welcome to this bonus episode of happier and hollywood, the podcast about how to be happier, healthier, say, or more creative, more successful and more in saying world. I will craft A T. V. Writer and producer living in lay with me is my high school friend and writing partner, Sarah.

That's me. sarape. On this podcast, we talk about being writers and hollywood, how we baLance a career and friendship, and how to survive the war of attrition, that is, life in less Angeles. And today is, this is one of my favorite episodes of the year. We are sharing our favorite gift ideas for the twenty twenty four, twenty twenty five holiday season.

Yes, in Sarah, we have a lot of ideas, a lot to get through. So we have to try to just cruise through and not spend too much time talking about anyone. item.

No, waxing poetic about everything. Yes, exactly.

So we're gna start, which is sort of our missile ious and and then will have some pet ideas, some things to wear, some books and some yummy stuff to eat or drink eeta. We have gifts from crashes website, my sister and we also have some gifts that are just for yourself.

Those are the ones are most excited.

yes, of course, and the most expensive.

of course. okay. So the first recommendation is not to life milk shake bath soap. Next life milk shake bath soap. Violet and I were on universal city walk about a week ago, and we stopped in the store and just got sucked in by all of their fabulous products. And this one is just so it's somehow so good that makes your skin feel amazing.

Huge fan and is a great gift, I think, for the teen twin age welfare, really anyone, but specifically that age is hard to fine stuff for. I'm definitely don't listen to this violent. I'm definitely getting plan or two for a violent for Christmas.

Yeah, it's super cute. I looked at up the super cute, great gift, by the way, we are linking to all of these. So you guys go to the show notes and find the link to that. All right.

Next up, Sarah, this is something I spotted that I want to get for myself and for basically anybody in my life who, like me, never has a tape measure to measure your waste, your bust, your hips. You know how? So often now, when you order something, you're trying to figure out your size and then, like, say, what the measurements are of each size.

But I don't like, how do I know what my measurements are? And I only have the hard tape measure. And I spotted a so off tape measure that comes an acute little leather pouch, not expensive. And I think anybody would just like to have this because we're all ordering so much online now. Yeah.

and it's just as you say, that makes its so easy to just be like, go, what's my best? Laa a now I know.

Yes, again, willing to that. Now, Sarah, this next item is something that you gifted to Violet and he absolutely loves IT. Yes.

this is for all the Harry potter fans in your life. Violet is a huge herry potter fan, and for her birthday, I got her the Harry potter trivial pursuit game. Oh my god, the hours of fun that we have had playing this game.

I have to tell you though, IT goes deep, right? This is for people who watched the behind the scenes stuff of the and the youtube videos about different things, and how many ones each character broke in the making of the movies and the books and the little characters be. Really, I want to be an expert. I play IT and it's fun.

but I always lose. Yes, I feel like my sister might be able to do okay at this game, but I definitely would not. But IT would be fun to watch others play IT because I do love my Harry potter. yes. And then there another item that you discovered, because I think your step mother and I sent this too violent.

Yes, okay, it's called a surprise gift box explosion. And is that went to Violet for halloween. They come for all different holidays, and it's a little rectangular box.

And when you open IT, all these other boxes explode out of IT. And it's almost like building blocks, shapes of all these little boxes. And you can put a dollar bill in each box.

So it's like, oh, ten dollars. But in this cute, fun way, you can get them on amazon. They're all different brands and holidays and whatever, but they're just such a fun way to do the card with money and IT. Yes.

I mean, I that's why I love you because I feel like the festivity of IT. Yes, so much about Christmas is just the festive presentation or honea, just like, how can I make this interesting? So I love this idea for kind of fun packaging.

So he doesn't come with actual gifts. It's the boxes. And then you put inside what you want. yes. okay.

There are this next item I believe we actually used as a hollywood hack in a previous episode. And this is a purse hook for the table. Now there are, again, many of these.

We are linking to one that I think is just kind of really good looking, one that is small and inconspicuous use. But it's the idea that where do you put your purse when you're at a restaurant? Very rarely is very clear place.

Some bars have hooks under the bar, but it's unusual. And so this is a close that you take out. You hooked to the table, you hang your purse from IT and then your purses off the ground one, and then also sort of right by you. So nobody y's gonna take in, you can sort of put IT close enough that you're very aware of IT. So I think this is a great stocking stuffer for anyone who uses a handbag.

okay? The next one is personalized pencils from madrona pencils on esc. It's M A D R O N A. And we found these because someone gifted them to liz dolan. Liz dolan is, of course, a wonderful satellite sister.

He has a new podcast called lisa school because she's spending a year at stanford taking all these wonderful classes, and she's doing a podcast about IT. And these pencillings are so cute, you can personalize them anyway. You want to a hundred percent getting some for Violet.

You maybe getting some. Jack, maybe getting some. They're really great for anyone.

Love those madrona pencils. Now there are here's an experience idea. You know, a lot of people don't want to give things.

They want to give experiences. And here's an idea, sub stack subscriptions. And of course, there are so many different sub stacks. You had a couple to recommend, but you can find whatever would be interesting to the person you're gifting.

Yes, I have mentioned before that I gave just pipers sub stack, which is called the view from rural missouri to my apt who lives in columbia, a missouri. There's a wonderful one called the quiet life with Susan can. But as you say, there are. So managers do a little research on substances, and someone in your life would definitely connect with one of them and appreciate that is a gift.

All right, there are. Next item is something else that I think we used as a hollywood hack one day, which is the launch live volume two in one titanium brushfire. And this is a tool that you discovered which transformed your hair.

You know, every time we show up on a zoo m meeting, you look like you have the most amazing blow out. I got one, two. I've been using IT.

My hair is a little bit like more resistance. So IT doesn't do as a good of a job as I would say IT does on yours. But IT has definitely improved my hair game. Yeah.

I have to give credit to our facebook group for this. Actually, I because people on the facebook group we're talking about IT. IT is so great and it's not that expensive. Some hair products are craze expensive. This one, what did we it's like sixty dollars.

I think so. And I think sometimes it's on sales. You can sort to keep an eye IT and what IT is as one of those brushes that you that is also a dryer.

So as you drag your hair, IT is also brushing IT out for me. I've tried these in the past and my hair is kind of thick in course, and they were just too weak in my hair so I could use them. This one is much stronger. So IT works, even if you have a lot of hair that can be troublesome to get through.

And IT works great on dry here. That's why I like IT if I wash my hair yesterday, but I need good hair today, I can blow dried and IT looks fantastic.

You know, we're always on the search for .

Better heritable.

Are there coming up? We have more gift ideas. But first, this break.

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Okay, let's we're back with more wonderful gift ideas that we love. And this one you gave me for my birthday and i'm a huge fan of IT. It's the away tech kit. It's from the luggage company away they make. This great ticket is small, super organized, and you ve got my monogram and it's so nice.

Yes, I given these to many people in my life, jack of my nieces. It's just a place to put your cords when you travel so that they're all together. And I have one for myself and I love the monogram.

And I just like to put IT in my Carry on bag and just have access to IT. And then I know where all my cords are when I travel. Just keep IT easy.

And there are others I just happened to, like away. So I get the away one. Now, Sarah, this next item is something you and I both love.

You gave me one of these for my birthday course. I love IT IT. Is the al packet a blanket at sarra? And we have talked about this before. Before I think IT was even on our list last year. It's just that it's such a good deal and such a good gift that we .

need to repeat IT. Yeah, I feel like this is on perpetual gift list. It's just so wonderful.

And sarana is a store in oh, and so if you're in, oh, drop in and see them. You can feel how just luxuriously wonderful they are, but you can also order them online. yes.

And the key to this is that this blanket is, I think, around one hundred dollars, but IT looks like IT should be three hundred and fifty dollars. And they have beautiful patterns, beautiful colors. I have mine out in our family room over a chair all times.

I love IT. And then is, I think we use this as a hollywood hot. I am the hugest fan of IT necessary the hand retinal. It's a hand cream with retinal.

I remember you saying at one point you can really tell how old someone is by their hands which I was like, oh my god, like light bob. I just had never thought of that before. And so now i'm like, all my hands so I got this hand cream is so nice. I use IT every single night on my hands before I go to. And I do feel like my hands like really Young and viBrant.

So what is written i'll do for your hands takes care of spots.

Yeah, same thing that does for your face. Yeah, just use fine. I don't know.

Okay, I need to get this is in my basket currently, and I need to buy IT because I need this.

I would just like to tell you not to do that, please. So be IT. There might be some heading your way.

Okay, that's the necessary of the hand right now. Okay, sir, taking a turn, let's talk about a couple of .

ideas for pets. yes. So first is the bark box. If you know someone, for example, liz craft, who is just totally obsessed with her wonderful dogs, or me obsessed with my wonderful dogs, this is a great gift, especially if people have multiple dogs, I think, because toys get just so trashed so quickly, the bark box, which is a monthly delivery box every month that has multiple toys and really yum my treats. And it's just a fun box to open cheese. If IT goes crazy every month when this box comes.

Yes, now what I will say about bark boxes, IT is not cheap. No, that is true. But IT is a really fun idea if you just want to get something like for a family fun family gift.

Yes, and you don't have to get like a year subscription. You could just get one box or a few months.

Okay, sir, this next thing, I guess maybe it's really more for the pet owner than for the pet, but this is one of my favorite things. It's the navy pet collection dog treat jar. So nomber is like a you know has a lot of really nice things for the home.

This is a dog jar that the top of IT is wooden and looks like dog ears. And it's just very it's very sophisticated but very cute. It's not cheap at sixty eight dollars but for me its just looks so great on a kitchen counter.

It's just a kind of an elevated pet thing that I happened to love. I got mine, I think from new man Marcus. That's where we link to, but you can probably find them other places too. So that's part of the nomber pet collection. The dog treat this.

We're moving on to things to wear as a litter. You know, I love great socks. And I discovered these socks at a little store in Virginia this summer there, mismatched socks by, so mate, socks that felt S O L M A T E.

They're all kinds of different color ways. I got purple, and there just sucks the dot match, but they look like they kind of do. They're just so cute and so cozy. Yes.

there are. I need to put on twenty five for twenty five list using my sock game, because socks are a thing now in a way that they weren't two years ago. So true, wearing socks that are come higher up, wearing color full socks, wearing socks with designs, socks are a big part of fashion.

And I have not tired into this game at all. So this is a good way to do IT miss match socks by soul made. And we will obviously link to those.

Now, sir, this next item is something I discovered for my trip to england. So gtc en, and I did our big walking trip in england, which was amazing with wildering ness, england, last summer. One thing I got for that trip was the lulu lemon swiftly tech short slave shirt, two point of hip length.

So basically it's a sweat waking shirt, but there are obviously a lot of those out there. I've right on a lot of them. This one I absolutely love.

I haven't black. I really want to get every color they have over time. That's my goal. I love wearing IT to orange theory.

It's auto resistant and IT just looks really good, and it's super comfortable and you can washed in the washing machine again, not cheap, but holds up incredibly well. Lulu lemon really holds up over time. Everybody says that, and IT is true, so that's a little lemon. Swiftly tech shorts, slave shirt, hip length I like the hip length, not the, you know, short cropped one OK list.

Now we're moving on to books. We're putting some of our favorite ite books on the list this year, starting with the women by Christian hanna. I feel like we've spent a lot of time talking about how much we love Christian hanna books this year and how much we love Julia William hood does her audio books. And the women is at the top of my Christian hand alyse.

for sure. yes. And just briefly, the women is about nurses in vietnam. And I would say my dad with this and loved IT I loved IT you loved IT a friend of mine was flying to europe and wanted to book recommendation SHE read IT the whole way over loved IT I have not met a person who does not love the women, male or female next book, Sarah, this is on one that has gotten just a ton of buz.

This is for the person in your life who loves to be like in the know about what everybody's talking about. And that is all for by maranda july. Now this is not for a child, this is a lot of very adult subject matter, but IT is about a woman in authorities who is questioning where he is in life. IT is very racy, but IT really is a great read, credibly well written. And IT is a novel.

excEllent. Okay, i'm going to recommend a mewar lovely one, a member bike. I Brown Jackson, I listened to IT. It's quite long, but IT is so engaging. Cotana Brown Jackson, of course, is the first black woman supreme court justice.

SHE reads the book, and he was orator throughout her high school and college days, and she's just so good as SHE is a performer as well as being a supreme court justice. And her story is so compelling. She's incredibly smart. I would love to just go out to dinner and hang out with her. In the absence of that, this is a wonderful book to read with your ebs or listen to with your ears.

right? And this next book, there is one that you recommended to me that I just started listening to.

Yes, it's called the sister hood, the secret history of women at the C. I A by lisa monday. And what I love about this book is that seems like IT could be kind of dry subject matter, the C I, A.

history. And it's not at all. It's written in such a human whale.

IT really takes you into the lives of these women who were in the C. I. A. And of course, it's exciting because it's the c, but it's also just super engaging and fluid, and you just want to keep breathing.

Yes, so that the sister hood, the secret history of women at the CIA by lisa monday, alright, there. Here is a perennial on our list as kanzas city people. Topsy popcorn, we love.

Our top is popcorn that comes in big. Tis you can pick up flavors. I think you and I both love karmal and cheese and cinnamon.

yes. And it's again a great thing to send a family or a kid in a dorm. I send IT to my is for a halloween one year at their dorms. Love top is popcorn and IT does come in different sizes.

Yes, you can get a smaller and if you want, but I don't know why you would.

But why exactly?

And then is, uh, we have chocolate covered gummy bears from nuts dot com. I feel like they have changed my whole Candy life when I had one. They are so.

yes, very indulgent, very delicious, the perfect kind of holiday treat. And then they're tell us about magic mushroom powder. Okay.

so this comes from non non polio, which is a website and a cookbook. And I love this stuff. I put IT on everything from eggs to meet just in soup, all of the above. It's a mix of powder for tiny mushrooms, time, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes. And the recipe is on the non on palo website with principle gift tax.

So you can make a big batch of IT, put IT in really cute little jars, print up these gift tags, and give them to people as like a little stocking stuffer, if you like, to give gifts to your neighbors. It's a wonderful neighbor gift. It's just so delicious and just really cute and very personal.

So is this something that you could buy? Or you can only make IT yourself.

You can only make IT yourself. You have to get dried or tiny mushrooms, growing them up in a blender and mix everything altogether. And it's so good.

So it's A D. I. Y. Yes, okay, sir, this next item is something I tried at your house rocked my world. I didn't know this existed. The oil olive oil infused bulson ic vinegar pack so explain this to those of us not a schooled in infused balsa vinegar.

Well, I should say I have four of them on my kitchen counter at all times because they're so delicious and can be used for so many things, obviously salad dressing, but their bosonic vinegar, sometimes White bosonic, sometimes the darker bolsa I S. And they're infused with just the most wonderful flavors. I have a blackberry ginger that I have since found out.

They discontinued and it's brushing me. But they have lots and lots of different flavors. The fig one is amazing. There's a so one that's really good and you can manage, meet in them. They're just wonderful. If you have a foot in your life, getting a pack of these infused balsa omc vinegars would be a wonderful gift. Yes.

I have them at your house on morella tomato? Yes, are a little. Ca, praise y salad and IT rocky, my world, okay. This next item is something you've gotten into this year, the arrow master coffee grinder. Yes.

if you have a coffee person in your life, which I am becoming more and more of a coffee person every day, the arrow master coffee grinder is a great gift, because you can grind just the amount that you want to ground. If you want to grind a lot, you can. If you just want to ground for one coffee cup, you can also do that, and it's very easy to control and manage and clean. I'm a huge fan of this coffee grinder. Use IT every .

single day and then saying, this next item is something you gave me, which I love, the standing poor overset. And it's if you want to make a nice fresh of cup of coffee just for yourself, it's a poor overset and it's from standing or Stanley is very hip right now. So we love our stand and that's a standing poor overset.

I think this would be great for a college student or for someone to vel a lot for work. If they really want a good cup of coffee, this will provide. yes.

And then less. You put the nature mid vitamin d gambie on the list. I think this is so cute.

Yes, Sarah, almost everyone needs more vitamin D. I mean, IT is just a fact. For years I didn't take IT.

I'm very resistant, for whatever reason, taking vitamins, but I discovered vitamin gum. Mies, they are tasty. They're not very expensive.

You take two a day, and I will tell you for years now, since I started taking vitamin d gams, my level is perfect. I have adam taking them, and he also never took vains. Now he takes them everyday.

And I think IT to be a fun stocking stuff for someone in your life. For you think these more vitamin and d which is probably everyone, and you can just get them know at any drug store or will link to ordering them online. Good to eat those gummy every day and stay healthy.

Okay, coming up as we have some items from recent some of my favorites and some gifts for you. But first, this way.

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Okay, let's we're back with more gifts. These are from the wonderful bridges rubin, my favorite. I'm just gonna.

Is the design your year notebook? I have specifically requested this, and I very I did to receive IT. And it's a book where you can really just design your year.

I did the happiness project, what I am doing, the happiness project revisited course right now. And part of what I want this is to keep that kind of intentionality going into next year. So that's the design your year, not book.

Journals are such a good gift, and these are just beautifully designed. Another one that I love, which is new, is called, I want you to know. And it's a journal where you can really fill IT out to tell someone and how you see them.

So I think getting this journal filling IT out for a grandmother, a spouse, a parent and then giving IT to them as a gift is just such a nice stop ful gift. And IT can be so hard to tell people how we feel about them. Sometimes it's easier to write IT down. And this enables that process that's .

so beautiful. And then.

Sarah, we love this every year. I think we mention this probably at least a dozen times on our podcast and is the one certain journal. This is the idea that I can be really hard to sit down and write a whole page about your day, but if you're somebody who would like to keep a journal, this is writing one sentence a day.

And it's amazing when you go back and look at a sentence from one day, how much you can accept, ate and remind you of that day. And you can do IT on for different reasons. So you can do a general one. You can do IT about having a baby once once a day, about your baby or your first year marriage or whatever you want, but it's a really nice way to keep a journal. And of course, there are all of those are available at the happiness project that come along with the momento journal, which is another one that i'd like to get every year because it's a journal where you can actually put physical items into IT. So some of these things you get every year and then, you know you you have a nice little .

record of your life. Perfect, alright, is it's time for those splurge gifts for yourself, starting with the ora ring.

yes. Now we did a big segment on happier hollywood about your ora ring, and that spelled O U R. A ring comes in silver, gold, rose gold. And this has changed your life. You love the orring.

I really do. That gives you so much information about what's going on with your body, the APP on your phone is really simple, easy to use and clear. I find IT really, really motivating. And it's actually gonna cool looking.

I love how that looks. I love how that looks on you. I think it's super hip and cool. I want to gold one.

Maybe i'll get IT for myself for Christmas or maybe my birthday in may, but I got my eye on IT. Nice OK. This next item, there is something, again, it's changed, your dental care, your oral health.

And that is the water pistoning fusion two point o toothbrush slash. Or explain what IT is. Okay, well.

first I have to say if someone had told me when I was six years old that I feel like, oh my god, a toothbrush flosser the greatest gift ever. I obviously would have been like, you are absolutely out of. But now I am not six years old, and I think this thing is amazing.

Yeah okay, so sin is a drag, right? So the gift you're giving yourself with this is that you don't have to do that horrible, unpleasant flossing sing. You just brush your teeth and with the same thing, use IT as a water pic.

Flosser and IT just makes everything easier. My dental visits are so much more pleasant now than they have ever been. So that is a gift to yourself as well.

So let me ask you, do you have to change the head on IT from toothbrush to floss or saying it's just the same thing? You don't have to change IT.

You don't. It's an electric tooth brass. So you have to, every few months, change the head like you do with any electric. But no, it's just one thing. So easy.

All right, I need to get this. I've been saying that for months, and I mean that I need to get this all right there. Our last item is our most indulgent item, our most for yourself item.

IT is something that you have discovered on your skin care journey, which you've shared with listeners over the last couple of years. Tell us about the doctor, Dennis gross, dr. X spectral light face wear pro.

Well, if you have ever vanished about looking like a storm trooper, but with lights, this is that it's a mask that you put over your face that straps on to the back of your head. And IT is A L D light that is both anti aging and for acne. And then there's a setting that has both at the same time.

And you do IT three minutes a day. You look totally ridiculous and futuristic. But i've been doing detailed up close before and after pictures my face, and i'm seeing changes. And it's really easy, just three minutes before you go to bed, you wash your face, do the thing for three minutes there.

you know. And you also said you can flip IT and do your neck, which I think is a key point. Yes, like hands next, definitely tell .

a story you think.

alright, Sarah, that is very exciting. I'm glad to hear that you're seeing changes.

But as you say, IT is expensive. So this is like the super spurge .

gift and that is IT for this bonus episode of happier and hollywood. We hope this list is helpful. We will link to everything on our website. Some of these gifts will definitely be going to the people we love this holiday season. So if you in that group forget everything you heard.

we should have done a just claim er at the top.

Yes, oops, exactly. We hope everybody has a great holiday season. We will be, as always, continuing new episodes every week throughout the holiday season. So two and a happier in a hollywood. And of course you can always find us a happier in hollywood dot com. And if you want to join our facebook growth search for happier and hollywood on facebook, thank you to our executive producer, chuck read, and everyone at auto c. And of course, as always, stretching rubin and until our next episode, I am always a bit .

proof and I am therapy.

It's a fun job and we enjoy.

They are one thing that I didn't mention that I also really excited about, because a listen or just emailed about IT is personalized. m. And ms, oh, just discovered that this morning.

Oh, that's amazing. I know I saw this morning. This might be a hint, a puzzle lid stand like a wooden puzzle lid stand like I didn't have time to, like, get into IT to put IT on the list, but I just like, oh my god, that's cheap for puzzle genius.

I'm writing IT down now puzzle stand. Okay, thank you for that hint.

Probably onward .

projects.