It’s been a big week, celebrating both Galentine’s and Valentine’s Days. With love in the air, for the platonic and romantic, let’s talk about other things I’m loving with the Weekly Love List.

the office BFFs by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey

I know a few months ago I said that I wasn’t a reader, but seeing as it has had such a positive effect on my sleep, I think I am becoming a reader. I have even joined my local library. That’s where I came across The Office BFFs.

The TV show The Office, both British and American versions, are beloved across the world. The Office is my comfort show. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I have seen the series all the ways through, probably over 20 times. Every time I watch it, I find something new. But it is familiar and warm, and interestingly, Harry loves the theme song. Why wouldn’t I want to read a book about it?

The Office BFFs is a behind the scenes account of what it was like to make The Office, written from the perspective of two of the stars, Angela Kinsey and Jenna Fischer. Angela and Jenna, who played Angela and Pam, respectively, were friends right from the jump. On the fifth episode of season one, there is a basketball game between the office and the warehouse workers. Pam and Angela were on the sidelines, cheering the players on. This episode took five days to shoot, which meant Angela and Jenna sat next to each other for five days straight, and thus a friendship was born. They retell their experiences of everything from getting cast on the show, to surviving a couple of particularly traumatic episodes, to what it was like to be on a hit show, and the friendships that were formed. The book is filled with personal photos from Angela and Jenna, as well as cast and crew.

Jenna and Angela also host the podcast, Office Ladies, which is pretty similar to what the Office BFFs shares. You could either read the book, or listen to the podcast, and get the same information, but if you are a true fan, why not do both? If you are a fan, you will devour this. It took me five days to read. It’s easy to read, and impossible to put down.

This book is available in hard copy, ebook and audio book.

house of slani jewellery

As I’ve got older, my tastes in jewellery have changed quite significantly. I used to be a silver and white gold girl, all the way. A lot of my fine jewellery is in white gold. But in the last few years, I have moved towards yellow gold. But with that, brings a higher expense. I went searching for good quality pieces that are affordable, and came across House of Slani.

I have been wearing three of their pieces, the Edel Rope Necklace, the Vera Ring, and the Eudora Gold ring. All three of these pieces are 14 karat gold and have held up well to daily wear, and have shown no signs of wear and tear. The best part of all as that all three of these pieces cost less than $100 each.

House of Slani is a Sydney brand started by Norweigan born Mia De Libasic. She was tired and frustrated with a lack of affordable, quality jewellery that is kind to sensitive skin. So after quitting her 9-5 job, she backed herself, and brought her passion to life. All of pieces are made of quality materials, won’t tarnish, and won’t irritate your skin. There are no pieces over $200, meaning we can all have little piece of luxury in our every day lives.

white chocolate mousse with berries

It’s hard to go wrong with a chocolate mousse. It’s delicious, it can be made simple or extravagant. But the best thing about mousse is that it is incredibly easy to make.

I came across recipe about 14 years ago. But then I wasn’t a terribly proficient cook. I struggled to melt cheese successfully. But this was something that I could make well and easily. You whip up the cream, you whip up the cream cheese, you melt the white chocolate, you mix them all together. Easy as that.

When you hear ‘white chocolate’, you generally think of something very sweet, maybe even sickly sweet, but because of the inclusion of cream cheese, it is not too sweet at all. And when paired with some berries, either fresh or in coulis form, this just sings. You can also use this recipe as a filling for cannolis or muffins/cupcakes, a frosting, or however way you like.

You can find the recipe here.

jvn hair air dry cream

If you read last week’s Weekly Love List, you would have read about my recent hair journey. At the beginning of the year, I was really sick of my hair. It was long, dry, with little shape to it. The weather in Sydney was also hot and humid, and I was so sick of having long, heavy hair on my neck. So I chopped it off. Well, I didn’t, the lovely Amy at Sandy Salon did. Historically, having such wavy hair, short hair always seemed to take a lot more effort than long hair. But with a crew of new products, and embracing my natural curls, I have been able to go from being constantly annoyed by my hair, to absolutely loving it.

Last week I wrote about the Sachajuan leave in conditioner. The second product in my new arsenal is the JVN Hair Air Dry Cream.

I use this cream similarly to how I use the leave in conditioner. After I’ve washed my hair, straight out of the shower, I use a 20 cent piece size amount and work through the ends and up towards the roots. When I’ve had short hair in the past, if I wanted to have a wavy hairstyle, I used mousse. This provides a similar effect, but without the crunchy, stiff feeling. It creates enough hold, but doesn’t weigh down my hair. It reduces frizz, it also helps combat humidity. I can’t say enough good things about this cream. It has cut down a lot of time, especially in the mornings, where I don’t have to heat style my hair. I can just pop this cream in and let it dry naturally.

The superstar ingredients of this product include chia seed and linseed extract, hemisqualane, which acts like a silicone without the undesirable effect, and moringa seed oil. The packaging is also environmentally friendly and fully recyclable.

Jonathan Van Ness, who you may know best as a member of the new Queer Eye team, is a person of many hats. TV star, author, podcaster, hair stylist extraordinaire. Their experience styling hair has helped them create a hair care line that is cruelty free, environmentally friendly, with ingredients that really work.

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