Unquiet
Things

As another year draws to a close, it’s time for my annual tradition of sharing the things that made life a little more interesting, beautiful, or manageable throughout these past twelve months. While scrolling through my camera roll and peering into dusty browser bookmarks, I’m reminded that our tastes and needs aren’t easily categorized – one day, I’m seeking out antique porcelain dolls; the next, I’m hunting down mushroom-themed kitchenware or researching the coziest socks. So I have tried my best to organize everything but it’s sort of all over the place!

These yearly round-ups have become something of a diary for me, marking not just the things I acquired but the shifting interests and small obsessions that carried me through the seasons. Some are practical solutions to everyday problems, others pure whimsy; a few might spark recognition (“oh, you loved that too?”), while others might seem delightfully bizarre. That’s the beauty of these personal inventories – they’re as much about the story they tell as the items themselves.

Before I dive into this rather extensive list of needful things, I should mention that not everything here is a 2024 discovery. (Some I might have even mentioned in last year’s Needful Things!) Some are old favorites that proved their worth yet again, while others are new finds that quickly became essential. There’s no rhyme or reason to the order, just an honest accounting of the things that brought value, joy, or inspiration to my days.

 

WEARABLE DELIGHTS

❇ Thigh Society cooling shorts (so good for wearing under skirts and dresses)

❇ TomboyX adjustable compression top (good if you got the ol’ body dysmorphia and don’t like the feel of your boobers flopping)

❇ Rio Wolf Protect Trans Folks shirt from Shop Kalma

❇ This perfect black sweatshirt from Altar + Orb

❇ I have a few pairs of basic staples that are stupid expensive but very worth it because they get A LOT of use:

– these yoga pants from Kira Grace (I have both the capri and regular length; I use them as pajamas)
– these even more expensive black linen pants from State the Label (summer pants)
– these black pants from Universal Standard (winter pants)

❇ I bought the Scorpio coat from Lala because I was hoping to wear it to Asheville this past Thanksgiving, but for obvious reasons, the trip fell through. It’s still a great coat.

❇ I’ve always loved the look of Dr. Martens, but I find them complicated and uncomfortable. These Dr. Marten Chelsea boots are easy and perfect.

❇ This frock from Fraktura is my version of the little black dress, but for everyday wear. I got this a few years ago, but it probably gets more wear than anything else in my wardobe.

 

ADORNMENTS & TREASURES

❇ This year, I picked up a few pieces from some of my favorite jewelers, and they’ve become everyday items:

– The Perpetua necklace from Flannery Grace Good

– The Passe-Partout necklace from Under the Pyramids

– These little acorn earrings from Alexis Berger

❇ I also really got into vintage gold jewelry this year and picked up some lovely pieces from the following shops…

– Gold chain and shield from Caron Power jewelry

– Garnet ring from Victoria Sterling Antiques

WORKSPACE IMPROVEMENTS

I’ve written before about my tendency to tolerate things rather than change them, but this year I really tried to not make my life harder than it had to be!

❇ I am on the phone all day for my day job, and I have a permanent crick in my neck from cradling the receiver between my ear and shoulder. I finally decided to join the future and bought a headset. I still hate to work, but OMG, this has made things a million times easier. I hate that my best purchase of the year is the most boring one, but it is true.

❇ Between the books, the knitting, the perfume, the books– and did I mention books??– my desk is a mess. I bought a little shelf to roll under my desk for my books. Second best purchase of 2024.

❇ This is a masking tape and Sharpie mount to stick on your refrigerator, so it’s always handy to date and label the broth you’re freezing. There are probably lots of uses for it, but that’s what I do.

❇ A scissor holster??? Seems like the silliest thing ever? Except when you stop to consider how often you find yourself asking, “Where’s the scissors?” They’re on the fridge, next to the masking tape!

 

SUSTENANCE & PROVISIONS

❇ We’ve been doing soup for breakfast for the past few years, and I like to serve some little sides to go alongside it. These savory, tangy mushrooms are so good! And re: little sides, I love these little scalloped dishes to serve them in.

❇ As someone who does not love pancakes, waffles, or biscuits, I’m forever seeking OTHER uses for leftover buttermilk, and this roasted chicken recipe was probably the best chicken I’ve ever made.

❇ I have been making this Thai coconut shrimp soup at least once a week for the past four months.

❇ I perfected my roast potatoes this year. I’m not a potato fan unless they are mashed into oblivion or have all their inherent potato-iness fried out of them, but even I can admit these are pretty okay.

❇ We’re already big fans of Çılbır, or Turkish eggs, so I was interested when I saw people talking about “Turkish pasta,” or basically a lazy or deconstructed version of a Turkish dumpling dish called Manti. We’ve been making it with Impossible Meat, which is what we had on hand to work with, but I can’t wait to try it out with lamb.

❇ I made A LOT of these two-ingredient bagels this year.

❇ Two YouTube channels for culinary inspiration: we love watching Beryl attempt to make dishes from different cultures around the world, and I also really enjoy Nushi Kitchen Life’s gentle, inspired Japanese meals.

❇ When Ývan broke his foot this summer, our schedule got a bit disrupted. The Korean grocery store is in a weirdly situated spot where the traffic makes me nervous, so I started ordering what I needed online instead. Sayweee is an Asian grocery delivery service that has amazingly fresh stuff and a really wonderful variety of basically everything you can want. I’m sharing a referral link where if you sign up for it through me, you get $10 or something like that.

 

BEAUTY RITUALS

❇ This year, I’m using two things that probably work the same, but I love them both and alternate between them; I’m From Mugwort Essence & ONE THING CICA Toner

❇ I really like this bright green nail polish and I use this gel-effect top coat with it.

❇ I tried two new lip masks this year, one from Fenty and this manuka honey one. The Fenty one is heavier and stickier, and this one is more…slippy. If you know what I mean? I prefer slippy over sticky.

❇ I’ve gravitated away from crazy lip colors over the past few years and mainly just stick with Black Honey but I love this beetle-winged Medusae lip sheer from Rituel de Fille.

❇ This very silly headband and wristband set that’s actually ridiculously useful for washing your face and stopping the water from dripping all over you.

❇ This sun and stars claw clip from Winona Irene that’s giving 90’s celestial decor and pyramid catalog.

❇ This summer, I gave into my love of Elizabeth W’s Té scent and purchased one of every product that they put it in.

❇ Every year, I sing the praises of the foot soak. Light candles, scent your tub, scrub your tooties, and put on the softest socks afterward. It’s a good time.

❇ I sampled a lot of perfumes this year! Some standouts are:

– Stora Skuggan Hexensalbe smells like the Sleep No More witch’s rave (review)

– Diptyque Tempo is a patchouli that has walked the halls of Hill House (review)

– 4160 Tuesdays Complicated Shadows is a perfume for the insomniac hours of a late-night stroll through your hometown (review)

– Naomi Goodsir Nuit de Bakelite is summer flooded storm drains and the fetid promise whispered by a monster in the dark (review)

– Neil Morris Dark Season is the dramatic tenebrism of all those old, spooky gothic novels and musty 19th-century weird fiction. (review)

– Mihan Aromatics Mikado Bark is a hobbit’s goblincore hauntological playlist (review)

– Eauso Vert Fruto Oscuro is a goth California Raisin (review)

– Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Darling, Darling smells like the tender caresses of a succubus who is feeding you a handful of Smarties. (review found here)

– Arcana Wildcraft On the Wing is the broken-winged beating of the hollow heart, the devastating language of wounds, the darkness that embraces everything. (review)

– Filigree & Shadow Pieces of My Heart like standing at the threshold of revelation, where the raw, messy horrors of being human crystallize into a single, breathtaking moment of grace. (review)

 

DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS

❇ Poetic Puppets on Instagram is all muppet imagery juxtaposed with poetry, and it is beautiful and melancholic and funny and perfect.

❇ Sylvanian Drama on TikTok. OMG. Just…just go look at it. I don’t want to spoil it for you

❇ Here is a quartet of newsletters whose arrival in my inbox I always look forward to…!

– In New Bands for Old Heads, Gabbie shares new music for the sensibilities of people who stopped listening to new music in the nineties and early 2000s.

– In the 70s Sci-Fi Art newsletter, Adam Rowe shares incredible imagery and chatty, cheeky commentary about wild, weird world of retro science fiction art.

– J. Simpson’s Hauntology Now covers all the spooky books and movies and peculiar sounds and sentiments that people like us (whatever that means to you, you’re probably right) are interested in.

– Lady Whistlethreads is a gossipy scandal sheet of all the drama that’s happening on the writer/author side of social media. It’s not something you read to feel smarter; it’s a grab-your-popcorn thing.

 

PRACTICAL MAGIC & PRECIOUS THINGS

❇ It is ridiculous how happy this little flickering nightlight makes me!

❇ I used to keep a water bottle at my desk, but in my (probably perimenopausal middle age), I am peeing ALL THE TIME, so I am hydrating slightly less. Now, I keep a cute little carafe in the kitchen and grab a drink whenever I walk by it. Also, is my pee WETTER than it used to be? So much weird shit they do not tell you about getting older.

❇ Sometimes, Ývan has late-night D&D sessions, and after he broke his foot, I got into the habit of keeping the light on for him after I’d gone to bed. I didn’t want him lurching around in the dark, possibly breaking the other foot. My gorgeous mulberry silk Altar + Orb eye mask got a lot of use this summer and autumn!

❇ Thanks to Roses & Rue’s exquisite taste and keen eye for hauntingly beautiful antiques, this year brought an especially marvelous collection of treasures, each piece whispering its own cryptic tale while gracing my walls, adorning my vanity, and housing my most precious things

❇ Rebecca Chaperon’s artwork transports me to crystalline realms where playful spirits dance with shadows; her pieces are portals to kaleidoscopic dreamscapes, and I was lucky enough to commission a bite-sized version of one of her works for my Patreon (while the full-sized original graces my wall.)

❇ Alyssa Thorne’s midnight floriography speaks directly to my flower-loving heart – her lustrous blooms and kindred glooms capture both shadow and illumination in every exposure, each print a tenebrous twilight garden that I’ve slowly collected to create my own personal gallery of beautiful darkness.

❇ Open Sea Design Co.’s exquisitely moody stationery has kept me organized in the most darkly beautiful way possible – their witchy notepads, occult-inspired planners, and Victorian-themed notecards transform mundane to-do lists and correspondence into acts of everyday magic.

CINEMATIC SPELLS

Most of my intentional movie-watching takes place during October when I undertake my annual ritual of 31 Days of Horror, a month-long immersion into shadows and spooky stories that serves as my personal ceremony for ushering in the darker half of the year. Here are some standouts that left their mark:

❇ Oddity haunted me with its tale of a blind medium who arrives at her murdered twin’s former home with a screaming wooden mannequin in tow – a slow-burning Irish horror that masterfully builds dread through isolation, betrayal, and one extremely unsettling piece of folk art.

❇ In She Will, the mesmerizing Alice Krige embodies an aging film star who finds dark redemption at a Scottish healing center built upon witch’s ashes – a brooding folk horror that transforms trauma into supernatural power through misty woods and Clint Mansell’s ethereal score

❇ Abigail turned out to be exactly the kind of gleefully gory vampire romp I’d hoped for – what begins as a crime heist (starring Matthew Crawley and Gus Fring kidnapping a tiny dancer!) spirals into delicious chaos when their smol captive reveals her true nature, trading her ballet slippers for glittery sneakers perfect for a night of stylish carnage.

WORD WITCHERY

❇ Two collections of quietly unsettling stories captured my imagination this year: Kathryn Harlan’s Fruiting Bodies, where mushrooms bloom on human flesh and childhood fears take strange new shapes, and Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia, whose economical prose illuminates eerie vignettes of the American Southwest where cave tours go wrong and desert retreats harbor sinister undercurrents.

❇ Psychedelica Satanica by Sybil Oxblood-Pope Pope was a delightfully deranged surprise – a B-movie horror romp in book form that follows two sisters dabbling in dark magic, featuring the scene-stealing Vinegar Bill (a wonderfully snarky demon-goat) and enough absurdist humor to balance out the infernal menace.

❇ Marina Yuszczuk’s Thirst weaves together two haunting tales – a vampire seeking refuge in 19th century Buenos Aires and a modern woman facing her mother’s mortality – through prose as lush and Gothic as du Maurier’s, creating an exquisite meditation on immortality, desire, and the shadows between life and death.

❇ Josh Malerman’s Incidents Around the House plunged me back into the overwhelming uncertainty of childhood through the story of a young girl and the thing in her closet that wants “inside her heart” – a masterfully sustained exercise in mounting dread that had me holding my breath and weeping with terror as I turned each page. (That’s not an exaggeration, this book scared me so bad it made me cry!)

❇ Susan Barker’s Old Soul spins an intricate web from an Osaka airport encounter into a centuries-spanning hunt for an immortal collector of photographs whose passage through time leaves broken lives and inexplicable losses – a patient, elegant horror story that gathers its power through accumulated testimonies of grief and predation. (This is a review for an advanced copy, the book publishes in January 2025)

❇ Elizabeth Sulis Kim’s anthology Spiritus Mundi explores how writers channel creativity through mystical means – from scrying to tarot reading, featuring standouts like Pam Grossman’s phenomenal “Invocation to Iris” and creating its own kind of magic by sparking uncanny synchronicities during my reading experience.

❇ The Sphinx and the Milky Way reveals Charles Burchfield’s intimate observations of nature’s hidden frequencies – from singing sunflowers to humming telephone wires – through journal entries that pulse with the same mystical vitality as his watercolors, offering a glimpse into the mind of an artist who saw magic thrumming beneath the surface of everyday life.

SONIC ACCOMPANIMENT

❇ Two albums dominated my listening this year: Chelsea Wolfe’s She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She, a darkwave journey of industrial storms and gothic shadows, and Pom Pom Squad’s Mirror Starts Moving Without Me, which transforms similar themes of identity and self-reflection into sharp-edged pop – both artists wrestling with different versions of themselves through distinctly different sonic landscapes.

❇ A trio of singles cast their spell in heavy rotation this year – Haley Heynderickx’s “Gemini,“ London Grammar’s “Into Gold,” and Suki Waterhouse’s “Supersad” – each one a different facet of metamorphosis, where past selves whisper to future ones and sorrow transmutes into strange new shapes.

And there we have it – another year’s worth of treasures, trials, and transformations catalogued for posterity. As always, these lists feel simultaneously too long and not long enough; there are surely things I’ve forgotten, discoveries that slipped through the cracks of memory, or favorites that didn’t quite make it onto the page.

I’d love to hear what caught your eye this year – what objects of beauty or utility found their way into your life? What stories kept you up at night, what songs became the soundtrack to your days? Share your own needful things in the comments below.

 

If you enjoy posts like these or if you have ever enjoyed or been inspired by something I have written, and you would like to support this blog, consider buying the author a coffee?