Hygge. What is it? It sounds like an outbreak of something nasty, but it’s not. It’s basically a cozy epidemic (or the coziest PR campaign by a country EVA: USA=Busy, Denmark=Cozy).
I first read about it in the NYT. Then, all my fav blogs/websites started writing about it. I stumbled upon multiple books on Amazon (I pre-shop books on Amazon — currently have about 50 non-hygge related books in my cart).
Long story short, hygge is basically cool person code for cozy, as in I need to hide under this faux fur blanket from West Elm while I light my Home Goods candle and drink some $3 WFM wine (or in millennial speak: Netflix & Chill, if you will).
May I suggest reading one of these books while you practice hygge?
Currently reading: History of Wolves by Emily Fridlund
I read somewhere on the inter-webs that it was a fabulous debut novel. I love to get in on the ground floor of an author’s work. Plus, I love wolves. Not quite sure where this story is going yet (about 40 pages in or so), but it deals with snow in Minnesota, so it’s def good for hygge. Plus, the cover under the book jacket is gorg.
Up next: Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
This new release from my favorite DePaul professor features a female advertising exec in NYC. Spoiler alert: she takes a walk. It’s a fancy walk through the arguably greatest city in the world as a pioneer woman in the ad industry. This book is right up my alley, and I can’t wait to take a walk in Boxfish’s NYC shoes. I’m going to see Prof. Rooney read from her new book at Anderson’s Bookshops in Naperville next week. You should too if you are nearby!
Previously released: O, Democracy!
Dying to get my hands on: Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
A fantastically smart lady I knew in class at DePaul recommended that I read Bad Feminist. I promptly became obsessed with Roxane Gay after reading it. Plus, she is an English professor at Purdue University, which is my other alma mater. We watch her Ted talk in almost every English class that I teach. She’s actually visiting North Central College tonight in Naperville, but I’m currently too under the weather to attend.
I’m hoping Anderson’s will be peddling some leftover signed copies of Difficult Women when I go to meet Lillian Boxfish next week.
Previously released: Bad Feminist
To wrap up, all strong women deserve some self-love and a personal hygge practice. Whether you take my book tips or not, make sure you develop some kind of personal cozy ritual to get you through the winter doldrums. Maybe adopt a dog from my favorite husky rescue because nothing is cozier or more hygge then snoozing the day away with your very own furfriend. Or, if burning a sweat is more your speed, check out the latest Tone It Up shenanigans and feel the love, errr burn.
PS
Domino magazine recently recognized my favorite new restaurant as one of the coziest cocktail bars in Chicago (that means the most hygge to me)! The food and drink at GT Prime are as dope as the faux fur barstools. I went there for my birthday in 2016, and it made me die a little inside, because I couldn’t come dine there on a weekly basis since I live in the burbs now. Living in the burbs is hard — excuse me while I hygge.
