Editor’s Letter
I know how much you can learn from an intake. The right questions, asked well, tell you everything. So that’s what this is. The Intake is my new interview series. I’m asking people I find genuinely interesting and would want to sit next to at dinner, to fill out a chart. Their habits, their health, their secrets to well-being.
I first met Alessandra at a brand lunch. She had the worst seat in the house (sat directly between two umbrellas in the blazing sun). The first thing she said to me was "are you the one who makes rest + digest." I liked her immediately.
Alessandra Codinha
Alessandra Codinha is a writer and editor living in Los Angeles. She covers all the best people and places for publications like Vogue and AirMail as well as for her substack, Here We Go. She had her first baby, a boy named Woody, in October.
CHIEF COMPLAINT
Tell me about something you were are struggling with and finally figured out? Mental, physical, logistical.
My sadly very present tense concern is very much all 3 (mental, physical, logistical): lack of consistent sleep! But I’ve realized that I will sleep like I used to again some day. Just probably not anytime soon. I’m adapting!
HISTORY
Name 3 small habits that have had the biggest impact on your well-being.
Walking in the canyon every day.
Avoiding my phone for an hour before bed and for an hour when I wake up (the latter is admittedly more of a goal than a habit)
Learning when to surrender. With new parenthood, it’s most of the time.
Tell us about a time you trusted your gut and it was right.
When we packed up our car and drove to LA from New York five years ago.
DIET + LIFESTYLE
Call time. Do you set an alarm? If so, what time? Walk me through your morning, what happens before anyone else needs something from you?
I have an 8 month old baby! Best case scenario is I wake up a few minutes before he does (typically a few minutes before 6am), and get a moment to drink a lot of water and stretch. But that’s happened like, once this month. Most of the time he’s up, I’m up, and we’re off to the races.
Breakfast. Yes or no, and if so what?
Bone broth! Preferably homemade with chicken feet from the farmers market (check my freezer if you don’t believe me) but Brodo if not. And then matcha with some Needed collagen in it. (It’s flavorless and blends like a dream. So key.) And then a bit later on I’ll do an omelette with some avocado on the side. Toast and salted French butter if we have good bread. And then sometimes on the weekends we’ll go get LA’s best pancakes at Cafe Telegrama. They were my pregnancy craving, and then my breastfeeding craving, and now just my screw it I deserve this craving.
Lunch. What’s feeding you lately? Books, food, people, share all of it.
We get three print newspapers (NYT, LAT, FT) every day and I try to read them all, which feels like a slightly lower-cortisol way of keeping up with what’s going on than through my phone. I have less time to read fiction than I used to, but I’m trying. I just bought Nancy Lemann’s new book, The Oyster Diaries. I’m also a big proponent of re-reading. I read Elizabeth Arnim’s novel The Enchanted April probably once a year, in the spring, because it is such a perfect sunny mood of a book.
As for food, I LOVE Organic Oren. When I was pregnant I started just outsourcing most of my day to day cooking to him and haven’t stopped since. I’ll basically live off that all week. I’m also very lucky that my partner likes to cook and really takes the reins there.
Dinner. Dining in or eating out? 5pm or 8pm reservation ? Who’s at your table and what are you eating and drinking?
If I’m in charge: 5pm! And that was true even before I had a baby. (But it definitely coincided with moving to LA.)
I love restaurants. I recently went to Sqrl for dinner and was really knocked out. The Sqimps!
A Tí in echo park is also one of the best and most underplayed restaurants in LA. It has become my go-to for impressing out of towners. Really exceptional food, A+ drinks, easy vibe, lovely, kind people.
Bedtime. Do you have a bedtime? Walk me through your evening routine.
I used to be really religious about sleep hygiene and my wind-down routine. (I could cry thinking of how beautifully I used to sleep!) It probably goes without saying that the baby’s routine has really superseded mine. But after he goes to bed around 6:30/7 we get to be non-baby people again for a few hours. We usually have dinner and try to catch up with each other. I still try to wind down around an hour before bed: tea, no screens, dim lighting, and read as much as I can before I pass out, but the passing out usually happens sooner than you’d think.
CURRENT HABITS
What does your exercise routine look like and has it changed over the years?
Right now it’s a lot of hiking and home strength workouts Jenna showed me. I definitely go to a lot less HIIT classes and lift a lot more weights than I used to, and I love it.
What do you eat with zero guilt? You know my philosophy. Indulge. Rest. Digest.
Good fries. The Ron Finley “ice cream banana” shake from LA Grocery. Organic Oren’s strawberry mochi brownie. The passion fruit ice box pie from Chainsaw. Ice cream from Awan.
What’s always in your bag?
Lip balm with SPF. I love the way this manuka honey one smells.
REVIEW OF SYSTEMS
What’s on your nightstand? And what’s in it?
An analog clock (I love the OneClock!) and a lamp.
Glasses and a book and a glass of water.
Inside: a lot of different eye masks, of which I think the Lunya silk one is my favorite, Dr Max nipple balm left over from the early postpartum days (iykyk), hand cream.
Below: old New Yorkers and sections of the newspaper I am finished with or keep falling asleep while finishing and forgot to take to the recycling that build up all week until it’s enough of a pile my hand becomes forced.
A wellness purchase you were skeptical about and then completely converted by.
Highbrow Hippie’s insane hair mask (I doubted hair masks as a category, but never the genius Kadi Lee!). It is transformative silkifying splendor for hair. And Saffron latte powder. It’s so good, and I do feel like I feel a positive mood difference when I’ve been drinking them regularly. But maybe that’s just because they’re so good?
The product you’d be devastated if they discontinued.
Beauty of Joseon SPF50. I genuinely think it has de-aged me.
Something that reminds you the world is a soft place.
My 12 year old golden retriever, Hugo. He has never met a stranger, or whatever that saying is. And redwood groves.
SOCIAL HISTORY
Name a cool girl you want to be like:
Selima Salaun. She doesn’t just have fabulous taste or design some of the world’s best sunglasses, she has one of the world’s biggest hearts.
Something uncool that you think is actually cool:
Good manners.
Best gift you ever gave:
A trip to Kona Village.
Best gift you ever received:
Hugo. He was technically a Christmas present! Though dogs in general really are gifts to humanity.
RAPID FIRE
Your #1 secret to becoming a well being:
Being nice to people. Being nice to yourself.
Favorite way to stay warm:
Cashmere socks. Heavy down comforter. Dog on the foot of the bed.
The last thing that made you laugh out loud:
Woody.
What’s your burger order:
Medium rare. Cheese. Lettuce. Tomato. Ketchup, mustard, onion, pickle. If there’s some sort of special sauce in the offing, I’m in.
Guilty pleasure TV show:
The Other Bennet Sister. (To be clear I have no guilt about this.)
Favorite Mug:
My newest mug! From Sea Ranch, where we just went for my birthday.
Thank you for being here! Well Being is my way of reaching those I may never see in the treatment room. A like or comment means the world and helps others find their way here too.
I’ve loved Alessandra’s writing and recommendations since the Into the Gloss days. Flawless!
Love these so much, between Alessandra and Katie, I can't wait for the next one!