15 Fun Things to Bring Us Some Joy Right Now

Hello and happy weekend! I’m sending a lighter letter today as everything has felt so, so heavy lately. I’d love to hear about your fun things in the comments section. Also under the paywall today are some hot tips from readers from the past week, plus the newsletters I loved and found fun to read this week.

There’s a snowstorm imminent this weekend - stay warm and safe, everyone! If you need a good book to bundle up with, I recommend this previous roundup of the best book recs for winter from friends + Downtime readers.

A big thank you to everyone who upgraded to paid earlier this week! I appreciate you. You can do so here if you haven’t already. This month, I’m donating a portion of my paid subscriptions to the Minnesota-based Immigrant Defense Network in light of the terrible events unfolding there. Things are not normal and not okay right now. Big hugs to our Downtime Minnesotans, I’m in awe of how you’re showing up and fighting back.

15 Recs To Bring Us Some Joy Right Now

1. Sometimes you just need a visual boost of a pick-me-up. This week, it came in the form of these beautiful heart-shaped cakes from baker Lucie Franc de Ferriere. Whoever gets to enjoy these is so lucky!

2. I’ve fallen down a fun Etsy rabbit hole looking for Valentine’s Day stationery supplies, like these pretty envelopes and a custom embossed wax seal. An upcoming interview (and reading The Correspondent) sparked an idea: write my daughter a letter every Valentine’s Day, tuck them away, and gift them to her when she goes to college.

3. I’ll be a guest curator in one of my favorite newsletters about sustainable and mindful living tomorrow. See you there!

4. Attention everyone who read and loved “The Favorites” by Layne Fargo: This romance movie about figure-skating, out now on Netflix, looks like a fun escape.

5. Substack writer Rose Florence has been curating and sharing beautiful art on the Notes feed. I just stumbled across this post of hers with a big list of books, podcasts, and other newsletters to kickstart your own art education. LOVE.

6. This one isn’t a “joyful” rec but it feels joyful to feel like you’e doing something about all this mess around us: I’ve been using the 5Calls app during walks with my dog to call my reps. The app makes it so easy by sharing scripts and your reps’ phone numbers...