Today I want to introduce you to some small delights that make me happy, but first, I'd like to share a LARGE DELIGHT.

Over the course of my adult life, I have published 13 books.

Two for adults (The Long Haul and Little Panic) written under my own name.

Two for young adults You are SO Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah and We are SO Crashing Your Bar Mitzvah written under the name Fiona Rosenbloom.

Nine for kids aged 6-10 called Frankly, Frannie written under the name AJ Stern, about a little girl obsessed with having a job. Each book follows her as she tries out a different career.

(While I am loathe to send you to Amazon for some of these books, the bookshop I normally direct people to doesn't carry a single one of my books!!)

The Large Delight that fell on my lap:

I'm chuffed, delighted, stunned and will be inviting EVERYONE to a virtual viewing when it comes out.

Now onto the main event...

Below, please find a small taste of an added incentive you get when you upgrade.

I have ALWAYS wanted to do The Strategist, "What XX Can't Live Without" Series, but despite wanting, I have never been asked. So, I am taking matters into my own hands, and making my own version.

Today's Small Delights theme is "Peripherals." These are things that I could live without but choose not to.

I understand that Patchouli is a VERY SPECIFIC smell and not everyone can get down with it, but this soap smells good to even the staunchest anti-Patchouli-ites. I buy this at Andrew's Honey in the Union Square (NYC) Farmer’s Market, but it's made by Goatboy Soaps, and you can buy it there also. They have TONS of other soaps scents. This is the only soap I use, and will continue to use until the day they stop making it.

Okay, I'm at it again. YES, I really do love Andrew's products. This is delicious and I eat a spoonful every morning to help ward off allergies. Does it help? Who knows, but it sure is delicious.

I grew up in Greenwich Village and was kicking around Soho galleries when Keith Haring was becoming big. He was really sweet, knew me by face, and even drew me a couple of pictures. I've always had a soft spot for him, which is why I have decals of his dog drawings on my living room wall. But I also have other decals, ingenious decals! These hang over my desk and I keep notes on them because they are DRY ERASE DECALS OH MY GOD WHAT THE????

I'm a person who takes a ton of notes, but the problem is, I don't have one central notebook or place for all these notes I take. This means I spend too much time trying to locate them. So I went on Ebay and bought this beautiful catch-all. And no, I have not yet sorted and typed up all those notes––leave me alone.

Ask anyone in my family, if you give me a present that is for, about, suggests or mentions my dog Busy, I start to cry. I know, I'm a weirdo. Naturally, when my niece Maisie gave me this extraordinary self-embroidered Busy-art I wept like someone who missed their long-deceased dog.

But here's the thing (and not to get too maudlin) I cry not just because I'm genuinely touched (I am!) but because of my front-of-mind awareness that Busy won't be alive for my entire life, and that these gifts will be what get me through during those dark, barbaric-feeling days).

I use this for the tangle of cords that have threatened to overrun my apartment. It's, dare I say, the most handsome cable + charger storage I've ever seen. They don't sell these anymore, but check out the store because they have a ton of other amazing things.

That's all for now! Have the best weekend, if that's even possible anymore!!

And I do hope you enjoyed these small delights!

Until next week, I remain...