28 good good GOOD things

to celebrate turning 28

As well as being Hayden Christensen’s birthday, National Clear Out Your Medicine Cabinet Day and the last day of being an Aries for the astrology girlies out there, today is also my birthday - hoorah!

Look my mum’s way ONCE in the entire month of April and without a smidgeon of further encouragement necessary she’ll tell you my birth story (do you know what your mum was cooking when her waters broke? I do!¹) To save you this story, and because it’s technically a Five Star Friday, I thought I’d share 28 things that I’ve loved in honour of my 28 years on earth (though technically it’s actually 29 years now that I’m 28, isn’t it…maths will not be making an appearance on the list.)

Because, not to get sincere on main for too long, but there was a point last year when I didn’t know if I’d get to see 28. The TL;DR is that last year was for me taken up by an illness that has changed me and experiences/feelings that have scarred me for life. Within that, however, I’m sorry to report that the clichés are true, and the experience really has helped me be even more grateful (which is not to diminish the reality of how shit it was, either, because I know hearing that didn’t help me at all at the time).

So in no particular order:

28 good good GOOD things

1. Group chats

2. Tuna mayo

3. Getting a silly little coffee

4. Vinted

5. The 2024 Playlist I’m making with one song every day on it

6. Ghostbusters - both the originals and the new ones

7. The song Wilkommen from Cabaret

8. The self-scanner things in Sainsbury’s

9. The Tony’s Chocolonely X Ben & Jerry’s Chocolate Brownie collab bar ( Emily Ash Powell I know you don’t work there any more but please do pass on my eternal love to whichever colleague is responsible)

10. Going to a gig in the hometown club where you spent a lot of your late teens, and thinking fondly about how far you’ve come

11. Finally having a special “card drawer” for when I need to write a card, and feeling very smug about the fact

12. A letter I wrote to the myself of 5 month’s time on Emma Gannon ‘s retreat last year

13. The golden retriever that presumably lives near me and used to wear a fetching maroon fleece on his walks

14. The lady who owns/walks 2 Borzois in the park near me

15. Dropout.tv²

16. Finding a favourite Chinese takeaway near us

17. Finally popping my Rowan’s cherry

18. Being able to get tattoos again

19. Relatedly (yep, you read that correctly), the Pitbull X Dolly Parton song Powerful Woman³

20. Pistachio flavoured everything

21. Colman Domingo’s red carpet looks

22. Finally putting up the gallery wall in the living room

23. The Wetlands near me

24. Clogs

25. Skincare that makes your face so soft you want to run up to everyone and say “FEEL HOW SOFT MY FACE IS”⁴

26. Having a jar of fancy matches on my desk.

27. The world waking up to Nicola Coughlan’s incredible style

28. The board game Linkee

That list would probably be a whole lot better if I’d thought of it in advance of writing this post — like my friend Alice, who keeps a note on her phone of her current Desert Island Discs, just in case Lauren Laverne rings her up tomorrow and demands she comes on the show — but I kind of like that that’s what came into my head on the fly. I don’t think it’s a particularly impressive or inspiring collection of things, certainly not one that would go down in Lists of Note history, but what is impressive and inspiring about it is that I’m here to write it and you’re here to read it.

So thank you for being here to read it — I really appreciate it. I’ve loved having the freedom to write these Substack posts and the platform to interview people I really want to talk to, and it’s made all the sweeter by having you to read them.

Here’s to 28!

Also not to detract from the wholesomeness and make this birthday post a sales post - personal brands, amirite? - but to celebrate my birthday I’m offering free extras for every booking with my business Eleanor Mollie. Check them out - I’d love to work with you!

1. Pork chops, if you must know

2. Ally Beardsley, Zac Oyama & Grant O’Brien I would die 4 u

3. specifically the bit where Pitbull goes “dalé! ha ha. dolly”

4. Sidenote, how weird is it going from talking to people at school every day to then not having spoken to them since…this just brought back vivid memories of a girl in my class grabbing my hand in a changing room before PE and going “FEEL MY LEGS I’VE JUST SHAVED”. And I literally don’t think I’ve spoken to her since 2014?? Hope you’re well, Charlotte [redacted]!