Daily Drivers

Waxing poetic about the things that I can't get through a day in Audrey's America without.

“Daily driver” usually refers to cars. Cars that are mundane, practical, and reliable. Cars that you commute in, run errands in, pick up Facebook Marketplace purchases in, and road trip in. Cars that may not be very sexy or exciting, but get the job done. Think station wagon, not sports car.

I don’t limit “daily drivers” to my 2017 Mazda 3 hatchback. Daily drivers are the things I need to get through the day without feeling utterly jilted. They are curated less for personal taste and more for practicality, reliability, and routine. They may be boring, but they are useful. Nothing on this list is sponsored, and I earn zero commissions on links. They are tried, tested, and have the Audrey stamp of approval. Source: trust me.

Vellum Street Tallow

Sharing that I use beef tallow moisturizer never fails to garner polarized reactions, but I digress: regardless if you have an opinion on Nara Smith¹ it works fabulously. I have used the Vellum Street Soap Co. Fat Marshmallow skin fluff every day for almost two years now. It calms redness in my face, deeply moisturizes my dry Scots-Irish skin, smells like cupcakes, and doesn’t break me out. The tallow balms are delicious (my favorite flavors are lemon ginger oatmeal, blood orange bourbon, and lavender marshmallow). The sun cream layered under a little concealer and translucent powder will have you glowing. Yes, dogs may LOVE to try to lick my face, but trust me. Put down the Sephora face creams and SLATHER on the tallow.

Wall Street Journal What’s News Podcast

Every day, twice a day, I fire up the A.M. or P.M. edition of What’s News. I listen to the A.M. edition while gua sha-ing my face, and the P.M. edition while struggling with the chest press at the gym. I like What’s News over other mainstream daily news podcasts because it doesn’t take on the snarky biases of the New York Times’s The Daily or NPR’s News Now, or lean into the sensationalism of FOX’s Rundown. For a daily news podcast, it is direct, comprehensive, and focuses more on the economy and business, which I care about.

I posted about my affinity for What’s News a while back and several months later, Luke Vargas liked it. I imagine he was searching for posts about himself.

Speaking of magnesium supplements…

My supplement stack

Trying different supplements feels like running n=1 trials on yourself, and the supplements that have passed these tests are very important to me. My stack includes:

• Magnesium. This is the supplement that got me into supplements. Keeps the cortisol at bay. I take Bluebonnet Magnesium Citrate, which was first recommended to me by a man with a rattail at Essene Market (RIP!), the type of person I trust the most for supplement advice. If I recommend one supplement to anyone, it’s magnesium.

• Nordic Naturals DHA Fish Oil. Sorry Peaters, Ray was wrong about fish oil—kind of. I do not recommend taking fish oil if you’re just buying any fish oil; without a transparent supply chain, quality control, or sourcing information, you’re probably buying old, oxidized, rancid fish oil that no amount of berries in the world can fix. My pediatric doctor recommended Nordic Naturals to my mother when I was eight, and to this day, it’s the only brand I trust and will take. DHA is great to take as a young woman to support menstrual health and fertility, in addition to the benefits of omega fatty acids.

• Colostrum. It gets marketed as an everything-cure, and as skeptical as this sounds, it kind of is. Supports my immune system, helps with skin, hair, and nails, and has improved my digestive health. If you’re daunted by the price tags of Armra or WonderCow, fear not! I have tried both, and can testify firsthand that you just need to buy California Gold Nutrition brand, which has worked better than any pricer option for me.

• Black Seed Oil. This is one of those things that might be total BS, but I do think it helps my thyroid. The only seed oil I make an excuse for. The Amazing Herbs black seed oil has more thymoquinone than other brands.

• Progest-E. Peat Xwitter will have you convinced that Progest-E is the everything-cure that colostrum is. It’s not, but as a woman who doesn’t take birth control, taking it during the latter half of my menstrual cycle keeps me going when I am otherwise a stressed, hormonal wreck (this is what Progest-E was initially intended for!).

• Honorable mentions that I take as needed: B-complex and Vital Proteins collagen peptides.

One of two bags

But I have an image of only one of them!

1. If you live in Philadelphia and are west of Broad, north of Point Breeze, and south of Arch Street, and see a 20something brunette of average height hauling a massive black duffel bag to and from her office, that is me, and I am carrying the most practical bag ever made: the Lululemon City Adventurer duffel, which does not appear to be for sale anymore. This is a travesty. There is nothing, zero, nada, chic or fashionable about this bag—black nylon, gold zippers, huge—but nothing else hauls a laptop, lunchbox, running shoes (in the separate shoe pocket), paperback book, AirPods max, gym clothes, three pairs of glasses, wallet, keys, charging cords, lipstick, hand sanitizer, Stanley, and whatever else I need to simply survive a day at the office up 18th Street better than the City Adventurer duffel. I have brought it across the country. I have packed mason jars of pre-mixed martinis in it and listened to the glass clink on the Acela to Washington, D.C. It never fails, no matter how many pounds of Bala Bangles I weigh it down with.

2. I own three L.L. Bean Boat and Totes. We know them, we love them: stiff canvas begging to be beat up and broken in, cheeky monograms, last a lifetime. My preferred model is the medium tote with long handles.

Various Fun Little Beverages (FLBs)

These include, but are not limited to, water, water with lemon juice and cayenne pepper, hot coffee with sugar, cold brew with milk and raw egg yolk, iced matcha with coconut water, Diet Coke, sparkling water, ginger-turmeric-carrot shot, raw (goat) milk, cold-pressed juice, bone broth hot chocolate, and espresso.

A few years ago, I started a Xwitter account dedicated to “fun little beverages.” I did an abysmal job of actually posting to it, but it taught me lessons of enjoying a FLB. A FLB is any beverage that improves your quality of life, if only for a fleeting moment. I make or buy, and subsequently consume, multiple FLBs a day. They are very good for morale.

A Workout

It is much easier for me to work out every day than to work out three to four days a week. The latter leaves me unmotivated and without a definite routine; the former keeps me disciplined and committed. I usually take off one day a week. Working out is a rare habit where I don’t recommend moderation, or starting with a workout or two a week. I wish I had a median between total gluttonous lethargy and total activity, but, for better or for worse, I know that’s not how I function.

Fortunately, working out is not a chore for me. I thought I was immune from becoming a gym-going run-club-attending endorphin-hooked self-improvement adult, but alas, I was wrong—and this is for the better.

I alternate going to the gym and going for a run outdoors, but this isn’t strict. You need to find what works for you—cardio, classes, at-home pilates, weightlifting, machines, swimming, so on, so forth—and stick with it.

Three Great Things

In elementary school, my mom got my dad, sister, and I into the routine of sharing three great things that happened to us that day over dinner. If we didn’t have three great things, we could share things we were generally grateful for (family, food, life, so on).

I set this reminder on my phone to think about my three great things, every day. Is it cheesy? Yes, but does it force me to pause and be grateful and reflective of the world beyond myself? Absolutely. This is one of the best habits my parents instilled in me growing up, alongside nightly bedtime stories, limited TV time, and lots of trips to national parks.

For what it’s worth, today’s three great things are the shakshuka I made for dinner, hitting the halfway mark in The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, and Sprinkles, the seventeen-year-old family cat, who is snoring on my legs as I write this.

Some honorable mentions…

Slightly less universal recommendations, but essential things in my daily life:

• Wonderskin lip stain in XOXO and OLEHENRIKSEN Pout Preserve in Strawberry Sorbet

• Praying the Daily Office in the Book of Common Prayer (Anglican moment…)

• Cast iron pans and wood cookware

• Apps: Spotify, Strava, Substack, Equinox+, X, Pinterest, Beli, Sweetgreen, M*crosoft T*ams

• Sunglasses

• Wired earbuds

• Stainless steel gua sha

• At least 30 minutes to read

• Breakfast

1. For the record, love her.