Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. This week is going to be a productive one… at least Mon through Thurs. I have a few different shoots, recordings, some meetings, and… my second vaccine on Thursday. I’m already prepared for a less productive Friday. We will see how shot number 2 affects me but I’ve already stocked up on Gatorade, Pedialyte, and Tylenol. I’m ready!!!! If you have any tips or advice leave them in the comments. I am excited but also tend to be that person who doesn’t handle vaccines very well… even the flu shot had me pretty sick!
In other news, on the reading/media consumption front last week I tore through The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (I read it within a 24 hour period which is the first book I’ve done that with in forever), I’ve been frantically paging through Anthony Bourdain’s last book (I love his words so much and am also desperately craving an irreverent adventure), and I’m currently reading (and absolutely LOVING) The Final Revival of Opal and Nev. I’ve also been especially loving my friend Mollie Chen’s email newsletter. She sends them sporadically but I always drop what I am doing to read what she has to say. Wishing you a great week ahead!
This Week’s Good Things, 4.26.21
Hotel Lobby Candle Company’s Island Candle
Oh, she’s done it again! I have talked about them a few times now but my friend Lindsey’s new venture Hotel Lobby Candles makes the greatest candles (my absolute favorite is the classic pink signature candle!) and their newest fragrance is simply divine: Island. This candle will transport you to a relaxing vacation, making your home feel like a luxe tropical getaway. Notes of coconut, vanilla, almond, jasmine, and sandalwood combine for the perfect island vacation vibe. I love it.
augustinus bader on breaking beauty podcast
You know how much I love Dr. Bader’s face cream (the rich cream!), it’s my absolute favorite. Last week a reader messaged me this podcast episode and naturally I dropped everything to listen to it. A lot of it I already knew, but a lot I didn’t… and it was truly so fascinating to hear from Dr. Bader and his co-founder Charles Rosier on the science behind WHY this cream is so special, and what makes it work. I know what a splurge it is, I oftentimes feel ridiculous rambling on about how amazing it is, but I feel like this episode will help to explain some of the incredible science behind it. (As an aside, I really love this podcast… I haven’t been listening as regularly as I used to and I don’t really know why!!).
Red Clay Hot Sauce (+ Spicy Margarita Salt!)
A new-to-me Charleston obsession is Red Clay Hot Sauce. I love the classic original one – it’s delicious and flavorful, without beingt TOO spicy. All of their hot sauces are cold pressed and then aged in bourbon barrels for complex flavor. They have great honey, too. But something fun is that they have all these other fun items: namely, a spicy margarita salt that blends spicy and sweet… and an “everything spice salt,” similar to the everything bagel seasoning, but spicy. I am hooked, especially the marg salt… so yummy!
Newness from Romy Studio
I have been trying to snag a pair of earrings from Romy Studio since last summer (I featured the brand in this roundup of Black-owned brands I love) but they sell out so fast. They make beautiful lightweight statement earrings in small batches. The brand has gotten so popular that they even did a collab with Madewell. Anyway, on Friday night I sat down to do some work and realized I had an email from them… with new styles available. I ordered this pair on the spot. #yourewelcome
Malin + goetz’s limited edition strawberry EDP
Okay, this perfume smells so good. I think it will be my new go-to this summer. t’s light and airy and exactly what one might imagine a perfume called strawberry might smell like. The fragrance is simple and sweet but not TOO sweet. Besides strawberry, it also has notes of bergamot and pink pepper, warm musks, jasmine and jasmine petal. It is currently sold out on the brand’s website but it looks like you can still get it at Liberty London.
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Photography by Anne Rhett.
So many great things! M+G’s new perfume sounds so nice! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
good lucks with your shot! stay extra hydrated the day before and of the shot. I felt sick for day 1+2 but enjoyed the Netflix binge 😉 sending good thoughts!
Hi, just here to say you look like a GD queen in the cover photo 🙂
Also I drank a ton of water the day of the second shot, and also a glass of white wine at dinner! Maybe that’s why I didn’t have many side effects the next day? That night I felt out-of-body like I’d eaten a gummie, though. Also had PMS-like symptoms a week after the shot (a week earlier than they were supposed to happen) and apparently the shot has messed with others’ cycles as well. Of course menstrual-related symptoms don’t get a lot of attention, and were not included in the clinical trials, but from what I’ve read everything should go back to normal next month.
You look so lovely and relaxed in the photo at the top of the post! We don’t see you with your hair pulled back as often and it’s a nice change!
Good luck with your second shot! I wanted to second someone else’s suggestion of taking both Tylenol and Ibuprofen. Taking the two together really helped me. I was slightly feverish and had body aches, but luckily nothing too severe. I also had a loss of appetite but forcing myself to eat something made me feel better. And after 36 hours, I was back to normal!
Good luck with the second shot! I made sure to take Tylenol regularly and drank Gatorade just in case. I was prepared for the worst but my only symptoms were sore arm, feeling exhausted (pretty much slept the entire day after and was too tired to even eat), slightly swollen lymph nodes in my armpit on the side where I got the shot, and had very minor body aches. I was so relieved I didn’t have the fever and chills. It only lasted 24 hours though so hopefully you don’t have a severe reaction either! I really think taking the Tylenol and staying hydrated made a difference.
Love that dress!
I was fully expecting misery after #2…and nothing really happened. I got Covid arm/rash both times (this tends to be specific with Moderna, which I got), and *maybe* I had a slight fever the day after shot 2? Just came here to say that we hear a lot about bad reactions ,but people tend to not mention it when they don’t have any 🙂 (although given your vaccine reaction history, this my not apply to you) Good luck!
I felt like total ass after the second one (Moderna) BUT once I had enough energy to get off the couch, I took a really short walk, and the fresh air helped immensely. Walks, saving us this during this entire damn pandemic.
Hi! My siblings and I all received our second doses of Pfizer last week and had differing side effects. I had a headache at first (I got mine Friday afternoon) then woke up in the middle of the night with severe chills, body aches, and low-grade fever. I staggered Tylenol and ibuprofen (I found Tylenol helped more with chills/fever and ibuprofen was better for helping with the aches). I started to feel better the Saturday afternoon, but got a bit worse again Saturday night/Sunday morning. I’m all good now! It wasn’t fun, but I’d take a week of side effects if it means I don’t get the actual thing (or don’t get it as bad as I might otherwise)!
Just hydrate, drink lots of tea, and sleep a lot!
Grace our vaccine struggle is real . Every time I get a flu shot I get fever . Yet I get them . When it came to the Covid 19 shot , I must say I was not sure I would be okay . My friends sailed through both shots and I knew there was no way through it so I was prepared with staples. Everyone was super nice and I was fine that evening . The next afternoon I had chills and a headache and a temp of 100 degrees for about 2 days and it was over. The second shot took about 4 hours to kick in. I dreamt of all those antibodies forming and ordered some of your favorite things . This time no fever, sore arm and very tired and slept a lot. This lasted 4 days. Not really bad . I slept had fresh soup, drank a lot of fluids , watched TV and took Tylenol. I think since your first reaction was so strong , the second will be much better. I’m a very medicine allergic person and let people say what they will. We get it and it’s normal for us . You will move through it because it’s a good thing you must do for yourself and others . Don’t be scared . The reactions are normal for your body. Don’t Google anyone’s experiences . I did and that and it was silly . A few days later you will be fine . Puff will comfort you and your family can pick up soup or fresh bone broth . Let us know how you move through this one . I have the ultimate faith in you. I’m so happy about your move and I’m living vicariously through you. I am from Massachusetts and came to Florida to be with my aging parents . I’m so glad I did . Charleston is a gorgeous city but it will be a while before we come . Feel good and I just know you will be fine ❤️
Good luck with vaccine #2. The best advice I can give is to keep rotating your arm throughout the first 24 hrs. It will be sore but this seems to help with that. Otherwise, side effects should be gone in 24-48 hours.
Ooooo shot 2 hit me hard! I had a lot of muscle pain the day after the shot (mostly back pain) – if you can get a heating pad or hot water bottle! My hot water bottle was a god send on my sore back. I also had loss of appetite but tried to eat some small things throughout the day. Other than that just rest, drink a lot of water, and take Tylenol if you need it!
I drank 3 bottles of pedialyte over the day and the next, and I had no symptoms besides a sore arm. A coworker recommended the pedialyte as it worked for her!! GL!
Good luck with your second shot! I got my second Moderna shot yesterday, before work. Like other readers,I drank a lot of water before the shot. I drank water nonstop after the shot & maybe that did the trick. I slept 8 hours last night & feel fine. Just the sore arm from the shot but no other side effects.
Good luck with your second shot, Grace! I agree with everyone saying stay hydrated – I got really nauseous about 6 hours after the second shot and also had a low grade fever and my leg was shaking uncontrollably. My arm didn’t hurt that bad.
Can you share the link again to that gold band ring you got?
here you go! https://www.starlingjewelry.com/collections/rings/products/classic-wide-wedding-band
Take a Tylenol and Benadryl immediately after your 15 min waiting period is over. My dr recommended this and both my husband and I fared fairly well after both vaccinations. Good luck!
Advice from my lesson learned: stock up on foods that you would “crave” when sick. I wish I had bought some toast/saltines/soup ahead of time! I had no interest in eating the normal food I had in my apartment the day after vaccine #2.
I’m not sure why I’m passing this along since there’s no science to it, but a client of mine said after the second shot, he and his wife took someone else’s advice and ate a big meal (his was a steak dinner). He said the shot didn’t affect him or his wife, or make them sick. So I’m passing it along so someone else can be the guinea pig (I’ve already gotten my shots). What’s the worst that can happen? A few extra calories?
3 days before my second shot, I’ll be loading up on Vitamin C. The first shot was horrible and had me with fevers for 2 straight days and almost delirious.
Oh and I forgot to mention with the sore arm after 24 hours from the shot, biofreeze helped more than heat for me. Just like Covid pain with me, the heat puts my muscles in a spasm. Biofreeze gel is cold and helps keep the area numb.