Welcome to my newsletter

+ What I've been up to in March ☀️🍦💐

Dear readers,

Welcome to my Substack!

I’ve always wanted my own newsletter (I’m not really sure why). No specific theme or niche, just a space to share what I’ve been up to and what’s caught my interest. If you know me, you’ll know I have a journal glued to me 24/7, so consider this as a little peek inside. Travels, exhibitions, books, podcasts, recipes, small life observations—the things that have brought me joy. Think of this as a buffet: take what interests you and leave the rest.

I’ll also share things I've discovered and/or really enjoy doing in The Netherlands. I’m going to signpost them like this: 🇳🇱💡

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Spring has well and truly sprung and I finally feel like I’m in the swing of the year. There are daffodils everywhere. I’ve never realised how much I love daffodils until this year. Maybe because they’re spring’s outriders? 🌼 (Since I first wrote this bit a few weeks ago, the cherry blossoms and magnolias have burst to life too, and they are magnificent.)

Jelle and I started March with a spontaneous trip to Edinburgh to celebrate my birthday and it was everything I hoped it would be. The sun shone, we had pints of Guinness and a roast, ate a big scone with jam and cream, browsed second hand books in charity shops, and spent my birthday morning climbing Arthur’s Head and looking out at the views of the city and the sea. Twenty-seven, wow. As our dear Perpetua would say (in her own words), birthday’s are such an opportunity to be so grateful for another year, and grateful I am.

We also ran the Den Haag half marathon. Winter training runs were at times very trying, but I’m very grateful for my four weeks of sunny “high altitude training camp” at home in December and January. I really felt on multiple occasions during this period of training that it was much more about training my mind to be able to do it than my body. But it all paid off. On to the next!

Before and after — looking much less fresh faced

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Other March highlights and happenings

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to an episode of Desert Island Discs and heard the snippet of music below. It evoked such a strong memory of being in my Granny’s car. A few days later when I was cycling to the train station, by chance, I noticed that this piece was being performed at Tivoli, the concert venue in Utrecht that Friday. I went along and it really tickled a different part of my heart and soul, and reminded me of my grandparents (Lyn and Noel) in such a special way. So, this is my reminder to you to try and engage your senses in a different way.

🇳🇱💡Tip: I’ve discovered that in The Netherlands you can often buy tickets to these kinds of performances on the day for a significantly reduced price if you’re under 30.

Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor:

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I also watched a fascinating documentary film called Facing War about Jens Stoltenberg’s final year leading NATO, at the Movies that Matter Film Festival in The Hague with my work bestie, Vanessa. We really struggled deciding what to watch because the lineup was huge and everything looked so interesting!

But this was a winning pick. The cinematography was chef’s kiss because, in addition to capturing the gravity of the issues, it drew your attention to different communication techniques and quirks in such a comical way. This is what made the documentary so brilliant. 10/10 recommend watching it if you can. It also made me think seriously for the first time in quite a while about the urgency of the situation in Ukraine. The screening was followed by a super interesting panel discussion with a journalist and the Dutch ambassador to Ukraine.

🇳🇱💡This is an incredible event, will definitely be back next year.

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Things I’ve devoured this month (non-food edition)

My media diet predominantly consists of podcasts. Here are some of my favourites this month.

• Londongrad: How the Lebedevs partied their way to power, by Tortoise Media - This is an absolutely fascinating series about how Russian oligarchs infiltrated London society over a number of years. I was hooked in episode 1 when a guest recounted seeing Orlando Bloom, Mikhail Gorbachev, and Salman Rushdie in a circle dancing to the Scorpions at a party hosted by the Lebedev’s at Princess Diana’s childhood home. The series goes on to unpack and raise questions about Boris Johnson’s (Mayor of London, then British Prime Minister) questionable relationship with the Evgeny Lebedev, who’s father Alexander was a former KGB agent. The series leaves you to draw your own conclusions.¹

• Inherited: Michelle Andrews on the very best and worst of life - This is such a beautiful episode about the power of love and finding meaning in the worst times of life. In it, Michelle shares how she’s made peace with her Mum’s brain cancer diagnosis. As a long-term, religious listener of Michelle’s podcast Shameless, I felt quite emotional listening to this.

• The Rest is Politics: Trump’s ‘Bomb Yemen’ Group Chat - Alistair Campbell and Rory Stewart provide such phenomenal explainers and analysis on everything current affairs and the ever-evolving world of Trump. I always turn to them every time something crazy happens (read: all the time!!). Laugh-cried when Alistair likened the infamous group chat to the planning of a “stag do”.

• I've been listening to and loving the audiobook of Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's a wonderful and slightly woo-woo book about saying yes to ideas and creativity.

This section suddenly got much meatier than I expected, but how to choose!? So I’ve decided to break it into two. Here are some more interviews I’ve loved, bursting with actionable tidbits!

• Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee: The Simple Daily Habits That Can Boost Your Brain Health & Improve Your Focus with Brain Coach Jim Kwik - If you take just one thing from this letter, I kind of hope it’s this episode. It’s so short and digestible but full of very sage reminders.

  • “There are only four choices to make a change. You can stop something, you can start something, you can do less of something, or you can do more of something.”

  • “If you fight for your limitations you get to keep them.”

  • Thinking about our brain diet, “What is the dominant question we’re asking ourselves each day?”

• Feel Better, Live More: Dr Andrew Huberman: The One Daily Practice Everyone Should Do, Training your Brain and Reducing Anxiety - Inspired by this episode, I’ve been trying to go on little mini walks most mornings that I’m not going to the office and it’s made a noticeable impact on my mental health and well being in March. It helps that we’ve had so much sunny weather, but it’s been such a lovely way to notice and appreciate all the spring flowers blooming.

• Feel Better, Live More: The New Science of Awe & How It Improves Your Physical & Mental Wellbeing with Dr Dacher Keltner - This is such a powerful episode about the health benefits of Awe and all the different ways we can experience it.

• Feel Better, Live More: How to Feel More in Control of Life: A Revolutionary Approach to Stress, Relationships, & Inner Peace with Mel Robbins: Everyone is talking about Mel Robbins at the moment. Her “Let Them” theory is basically just a re-articulation of focusing on what you can control, but thinking “let them” and “let me” has actually really helped me over the past few weeks.

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I’ll leave you with a life-affirming little poem that I absolutely adore:

🍊 The Orange

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange—
The size of it made us all laugh.
I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave—
They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,
As ordinary things often do
Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.
This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.
I did all the jobs on my list
And enjoyed them and had some time over.
I love you. I’m glad I exist.

— Wendy Cope

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Thank you for reading!

If anything here caught your eye or made you think, I’d love to hear from you—drop me a line anytime. And let me know if there’s anything you think I should check out!

May your next month be filled with small joys,
Jen 🤍

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1. My blood ran cold when the journalist introduced himself as Paul Caruana Galizia, immediately reminding me of a memorial I saw in Malta last year for Daphne Caruana Galizia. Daphne, an investigative journalist, was assassinated in 2017 for her work uncovering corruption and organised crime within the Maltese government, and her work on the Panama Papers. Daphne was Paul’s mother. Evidently, his interest in these matters is deeply personal.